Winners and Losers

"There's a point at which it's useful to ask to what extent our lizard brain instincts are serving us."  -- Marcus Youssef
There is a play running at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre called "Winners and Losers". It is written and performed by two local playwrights -- Marcus Youssef and James Long -- and they have toured the show all over the world to great success (which, I guess, makes them "winners".)  It is in a debate format and they discuss human beings' natural desire to compete and to cooperate, and that is what elicited Youssef's statement about "our lizard brains".  I haven't seen the show yet, but I am going at the end of the week and will report back.  My Stoic readings say that, in order to achieve tranquillity, we need to fight against our evolutionary tendencies that helped us survive in the past -- tendencies to give ourselves up to fear and anger.  They were handy when we were running from lions and when we had to fight to defend our farms from interlopers, but perhaps not so much now, when we have guns and bombs and cars and are crippled, sometimes, by irrational fears and rages.

"Meet the Teacher" was a very pleasant event.  I think it was well attended and it was nice to meet many of your parents and talk about the new curriculum and what we're up to in class. The next day, we had a professional development day and we were introduced to the concept of "SAMR" which is a description of the continuum of the use of technology in the classroom.  "SAMR" stands for "substitution, augmentation, modification and redesign" - when a teacher decides to use some sort of technology in class, it probably fits within one of these categories.  Now, many of you know I'm a bit of a Luddite (Luddites were people in Britain who fought against the advances of the Industrial Revolution) but I'm not completely averse to using technology.  I will take your journals by email (which is "substitution") and I invite you to use your devices when we're looking for information or music to accompany your play (augmentation, I think).  Of course, we use technology in the theatre for light and sound and for sets and costumes and props.  But on the other hand, I feel like part of my role is to get you away from your phones and screens and ask you to be present in the moment (a theatre term which asks you to fully focus on what is happening in the here and now and not anticipate what might come next or worry over what has happened before you got to Drama).  We all spend a lot of our day mesmerized by a screen of some sort and so, for 72 minutes in Drama class, I want you to focus on your role as a person here in the theatre, on your place as a member of the class and of your group.  I want you to live your actual life, not your virtual life.  (You've heard me say that countless times, I think.)  I went over the edge when the presenter urged us to look at samples of lessons using this idea of SAMR and one of the lessons was "how to throw a baseball" and another about how to create a painting.  There are some things you can't learn from a computer.

Next week:
Grade 8's, remember, you're going to be reciting "All the world's a stage" on Monday and Tuesday.  Have music for your fairy tale mime on Monday so you can practice with it.
Grade 9's and 10's:  Practice "Speak the speech"!  You will recite soon!  Some of you haven't handed in your heritage stories yet.  The weekend is a good time to interview your family members and choose something interesting to share.
Theatre Production:  Next week, we're setting up for the "Love Boat".  Be ready to work hard.
Acting ll and 12:  Memorize that scene from "Midsummer Night's Dream" -- both parts.
Directors:  Think of how we can organize things for the "Love Boat" interactive theatre production!