Student Data
I'm still not teaching full time, but will be in a week or so. Accordingly, my exit card plan has not yet been implemented. I am, however, working with students more and more frequently. I'm working out ways to deliver instruction more clearly and to avoid my own personal tendency to just give them the answer. I'm working with a student in Advanced Acting who is doing an old age makeup project, and at first I caught myself simply telling her which step to take next, but I have since been transitioning to a more discovery-based questioning approach to the process. You can't learn to do makeup without actually putting on makeup, no matter who is telling you what to do.
Adult Data
I had a visit from Charleen and she observed my lesson on costuming in Acting I. Everything went well, just a few hiccups which I received several good suggestions for. One thing I learned was not to tell students that they'll be making their own groups before I've explained the activity. The directions quickly get drowned out as they begin to talk to one another about who will be in who's group.
I also spoke to Beth about the lessons I've been teaching in her acting classes. She had generally positive things to say about my teaching, pointing out specifically that I make good use of demonstration and thoroughly explain what we're working on step by step. She also seemed pleased with the feedback I've been giving the students as we work.
Personal Data
Sleep log hasn't been much changed this time around. I'm still averaging 7-7.5 hours a night. I'm getting a little more comfortable with the schedule and confident with my energy levels, so I've been more willing to stay up a bit later to get things done or attend events (like the play last Monday night).
Attitude check-ins are mostly unchanged, as well. I suspect they'll begin to vary a bit more when I'm teaching all three classes, but for now I spend most of my time feeling content or interested, with the occasional "bored" creeping in (mostly when the students are rehearsing in the acting classes and none need my help).
Reflections focused a lot on my experiences in theatre and how I'm connecting it to my experiences in the English classes. I spent a lot of time watching Beth prepare the students to put on the play and learned a great deal about the whole process of putting on a production. I've been involved before, certainly, but never from the director/teacher's point of view. It was a very enlightening (and a little bit frightening)experience for me.
One memorable moment in the Freshman English class: We've been studying The Odyssey, and one lesson plan involved students acting out the famous "Test of the Bow" at the end of the story. We have a student in 1st period who is also very involved in Theatre. She's a Freshman, obviously, but she completely blew my mind when her group left to prepare their presentation. I tagged along to watch, and she basically morphed into a director for their little scene, teaching and coaching her classmates on stage movement, blocking, and remaining open to the audience. It was so awesome to see a student apply knowledge from one class to another in a meaningful way, and I'm excited to keep exploring ways to integrate theatre into English classes.
No comments:
Post a Comment