You described my life. I teach middle school theatre, and my largest class has 26 students. 43 minute class periods every day for nine weeks. There are always a group who don't want to be there and do everything they can to throw off the class activity. I've found that it helps to give them as much control as possible. Give them input for choosing groups, scenes, and activities. We do lots of warm up games, tableaus, and building scenes based on popular movies or fairy tales that they choose. I haven't had luck showing video clips because many students tune out or talk over it. I'm going to try out a musical theatre unit this quarter to have groups choreograph dances to songs from musicals they like, since a few kids are begging to do something with Hamilton. We'll see how that goes. I've had trouble with individual monologues because it takes too long for everyone to perform and the rest of the class gets bored and unruly. To protect the grades of the kids who try, everyone gets an individual grade for their role in a scene, and each student has to complete a character analysis, floor plan, and blocking instructions. This also helps the kids who struggle with acting since the grade isn't all about the performance.
And bug your principal for another desk. That's just terrible that there aren't enough! Or, better yet, get rid of desks in the room altogether. I've got clipboards for when they're writing and we don't have desks. Best of luck to you, and keep fighting the good fight! You're impacting the students whether they show it or not, and they're lucky to be in your class.
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Pamela Podolner
Berwyn IL
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-02-2019 08:23
From: Cathy Archer
Subject: Lesson plans
Yesterday was another awful day in middle school land. I have 24 seventh graders in a classroom with 23 desks. I know it was the day after Halloween but.... My plan included a game of one word story....took five minutes to set up and we got through half of the class before it became inappropriate and the students were not listening to the words. Next up was a game of greetings your majesty which sort of worked but many students did not want to get up and be the speaker. Next I had an activity designed to create a fractured fairy tale. As soon as I handed out paper some threw it on the floor, others made airplanes.....you get the picture. A core group of tenish worked on the project. The plan was to show fractured fairy tale videos after they shared theirs. We have three rules each dealing with respect, which I reminded them of. I showed the video but again about five or ten students were talking and being disrespectful. At the end of the class I pointed out we were going to be together for 17 classes.....we meet every other day for 68 minutes. I asked them to think about what they would like to learn about Effective Speaking or theatre....I know some don't care but I am hoping some will have some ideas so there will be some buy in. This is a new class, an impossible class according to everyone which has been allowed to behave pretty much anyway they like. I am thinking that if all else fails....they will be watching videos of different kinds of speeches and writing/ critiquing them so they can get a grade. I am a 36 veteran teacher and I am really frustrated. I also teach high school and do not have these issues there. Thank you for listening and any help would be much appreciated.
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Cathy Archer
Rutland VT
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