All's well that ends well!

Many of you have finished a long project this week (the heritage plays and the scriptwriters' adapted plays) and it must feel good to draw the curtain on what you have done.

Grade 9/10:  What did you do for your heritage play?  How did the whole thing go?  Were you surprised with how it turned out?  Explain.  What was the best thing about it (you might name a scene, a performance, the sound and light, the way you changed your scenes) and what could you have improved?  Provide details.

Theatre Production:  Sum up what you did for your group's heritage project.  Assess how it turned out -- what worked well?  What didn't work well?  What could you do to improve it?

Directing/Scriptwriting:  How did your play turn out?  Did your cast help you change any of the script?  Did it improve once the cast got a hold of it?  Are you pleased with the finished product?  Explain why or why not.

Write a brief review of the other play.

For your original script, which actors would you choose to work with?  Why?

Acting 11/12:  How did you perform in the adapted plays?  What did you do well?  What could you have done better?  Were you an asset to the project?  Explain why or why not.

Drama 8:  What should Ms. Kosar know about you?  (You can include things like any past drama experience, elocution lessons, performance experience -- in sports, in the arts, in a theatre setting).  Do you have stage fright?  (Probably 1/3 of the students in the class share this feeling with you.)  You can also include hobbies and interests you have or your favourite subject at school or what you think of Drama so far, whatever you think will help me teach you better.

Welcome Grade 8's!

Here is your recitation piece -- we will practice it together until you feel comfortable saying it and then, each of you will present it to the class.  You will stand centre stage and recite, paying careful attention to speak clearly and project your voice.  Don't mime it!  Shakespeare wanted to "hold the mirror up to nature" (meaning he wanted his performers to act naturally, or at least, appear to be natural) and it isn't natural to mime what we are saying.  Don't pace -- plant your feet.  Try to appear to be confident.  Lots of actors aren't actually confident, but they know how to act as if they are.  The audience can relax if they think the performer knows what he or she is doing.

All the world's a stage
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances
And one man in his time plays many parts.

If the truth were known . . .

It's the four hundredth anniversary of Shakespeare's death (and also his birthday!) today.  We will celebrate with a cake and I am reading a book called How Shakespeare Changed Everything by Stephen Marche.  Here is a passage in which the British journalist Bernard Levin lists the many phrases we use to this day that were coined by our birthday boy, Will:

If you cannot understand my argument, and declare "it's Greek to me," you are quoting Shakespeare; if you claim to be more sinned against than sinning, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you recall your salad days, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you act more in sorrow than in anger, if your wish is father to the thought, if your lost property has vanished into thin air, you are quoting Shakespeare; if you have ever refused to budge an inch or suffered from green-eyed jealousy, if you have played fast and loose, if you have been tongue-tied, a tower of strength, hoodwinked or in a pickle, if you have knitted your brows, made a virtue of necessity, insisted on fair play, slept not one wink, stood on ceremony, danced attendance (on your lord and master), laughed yourself into stitches, had short shrift, cold comfort or too much of a good thing, if you have seen better days or lived in a fool's paradise -- why, be that as it may, the more fool you, for it is a foregone conclusion that you are (as good luck would have it) quoting Shakespeare; if you think it is early days and clear out bag and baggage, if you think it is high time and that that is the long and short of it, if you believe that the game is up and that truth will out even if it involves your own flesh and blood, if you lie low till the crack of doom because you suspect foul play, if you have your teeth set on edge (at one fell swoop) without rhyme or reason, then -- to give the devil his due -- if the truth were known (for surely you have a tongue in your head) you are quoting Shakespeare; even if you bid me good riddance and send me packing, if you wish I was dead as a doornail, if you think I am an eyesore, a laughing stock, the devil incarnate, a stony-hearted villain, bloody-minded or a blinking idiot, then -- by Jove!  O Lord! Tut, tut! For goodness' sake! What the dickens! but me no buts -- it is all one to me, for you are quoting Shakespeare.

He coined lots of words, too -- traditional, eventful, eyeball, watchdog, softhearted, sanctimonious, deafening -- to name a few.

We closed the play, "Ten Years Later", on Thursday night, with a sold out crowd of eager theatre goers and the cast and crew did not disappoint.  What a great show, to David and everyone's credit, and I congratulate you all for your hard work, dedication and creative imaginations!  It is sad when things are over, and this play really caught the fleeting nature of live theatre, I think, so the regret is underlined for us, but there will be other shows and we will always carry this one in our hearts.

I was very sad to hear that one of my icons, Prince, died on Thursday.  His song, "Forever in my Life", was a song my husband and I thought of as "our song":

There comes a road in every man's journey,
A road that he's afraid to walk on his own.
I'm here to tell you I'm at that road
And I'd rather walk it with you than walk it alone.
You are my hero, you are my future;
When I am with you, I have no past
My one and only desire is to find some way in this doggone world
To make this feeling last.
I want to keep you for the rest of my life
All that's wrong in my world you can make right.

We saw him perform a couple of years ago and I am so glad we did.  It was a wonderful performance -- he and his band played for a couple of hours and played lots of Prince's hits and other people's songs, too, and it was so great to see him.  He was one of my husband's favourite artists.

Our professional day yesterday was a very educational experience.  We went out to the Musqueam Reserve and learned more about "First Peoples' Principles of Learning" (which are very close to the principles we use in drama, anyway).  The Musqueam people who shared their stories were so terrific and the presentation about residential schools was transformative -- it really made me understand how devastating that must have been.  I will talk a bit about it on Monday when we are back in the saddle at school.

Enjoy your weekends, everyone!

"Ten Years Later"

Tomorrow is opening night for "Ten Years Later", our spring play.  The cast and crew have been working very hard, especially David, and I think it will be another great show for us.  Putting something like this together is really a herculean task and everyone involved is to be commended.  It runs at the theatre on April 18 at 7 and April 19 at 1 and 7, April 20 at 1 (still seats available for this matinee), and April 21 at 7.  Try to come and see it!  You'll be glad you did.  It's funny and surprising and very touching and I think it has been very creatively and ingeniously directed and of course, the cast is outstanding.

I just finished a book called Fifteen Dogs by Andre Alexis about a group of dogs who are given human intelligence by Hermes and Apollo.  It is heart-rending, as animal stories always are, and I was a bit afraid to read it because of that reason, but it was lovely as well and I look at my own Daisy now, and love her all the better.  One of the dogs, Prince, becomes a poet and here is one of his poems:

We bound into the prairie
through ages of Winter grass,
taking the path Ina took.
Her name long gone,
though her roads linger.
The ground will not forget.

One thing we can learn from dogs (among the many things animals can teach us) is their joy in the physical world.  We often seem to relish being couch potatoes, but dogs (at least the ones I've known) are always ready to go out and play and smell things and drink lustily and crunch their kibble enthusiastically.  Daisy can't play -- she is too serious and had to grow up and be a mother at a very young age.  But she loves her walk and is always so happy to be taken out and prances along next to you with such glee.

We went to my brother-in-law's art show yesterday -- it was a show for all the artists in his artists' co-op and Doug wasn't selling anything, just showing.  But we bought a couple of pictures -- I chose one called "Freedom to Be Alone" and it is a multi-media work featuring a black canvas with a swatch of elephants progressing across the savannah, framed in by lions, with a jewel playing the moon.  The artist's name is Ann Redith Pare.  A number of the artists were there and of course, they were thrilled that we were interested and that we bought some pictures.  It is tough to be an artist.  The studio was beautiful -- little artists' cubicles with glorious light streaming in.  Light is always important to a visual artist, I think.  Doug is almost completely blind now and can't do his photography any more, he says.  It always seems like that -- people lose the thing they cherish the most.  But then, resilient humans that we are, we sometimes find other things to cherish.  There are so many beautiful and wonderful things in the world to love and take care of and cherish, aren't there?  I think maybe Doug could turn his attention to sculpture.  He said, maybe.

Numbers

I am working with numbers today because I am trying to do your report cards.  Those of you who have not recited or handed in journals . . . let's get that done before Tuesday.  (I have until Thursday to revise your marks, so you have to give me some time to fix things, if we want your mark to go up!)  Of course, this is your mid-term mark so it is not carved in stone.  It is an indication of how you're doing halfway through the semester, so if it isn't what you'd like, pull up your socks!  (Not that "pulling up your socks" is going to help.  Doing journals in a timely way, or focusing on rehearsal instead of trying to sneak a peak at your phone are ways you can improve!)

I don't like doing report cards and I don't think the letters or numbers really say much about what you are or are not doing.  Make sure you read the comments because that's where I try to give you advice!  In life after school, you won't be getting report cards, but you'll have a sense of how you're doing in most cases.  If people you work with trust you and give you chances to prove yourself, it's likely you're doing well.  If they have to remind you about what to do, and then you don't do it at that point and if they keep sniping at you and/or avoiding you, that's not a good sign.  But sometimes, it's not you; it's them!

I read an interesting article about math instruction.  Apparently, Canadian kids' math scores are not very good and they aren't getting better.  There's a debate about whether the way kids are being taught is effective or not.  When I was a kid, we watched the teacher solve a problem and then we did a lot of practicing with that sort of problem-solving.  We memorized the "times" tables and added up long columns of numbers and practiced "long" division.  I still use those functions now.  I did math up to Grade 12 and for the most part, I did pretty well, but I didn't like it and didn't find it interesting, although I certainly found it a challenge.

Now, apparently (I haven't been in a math classroom for a long time, but this is how it looks for my kids) teachers are using the "discovery" method.  There isn't just one way to solve a problem and they present it to kids and ask them to figure out how to solve it.  They don't spend time adding up numbers or memorizing things (because kids will use a calculator for that when they have to).  They can use drawings or blocks to figure things out.  I don't know what I think about all of it.  I know both my children have had struggles with math as have many of you.  Is it, as one person in the article said, because teachers haven't fully committed to "discovery" methods?  Or because, as someone else suggested, students don't understand the basics of how numbers work because they haven't done the memorization and practice?  I don't know the answer but I am interested in anyone's experience in this area.  And now I'm off to add long columns of numbers!

Under the Weather!

The weather is nice outside but inside . . . not so much!  I'm going to bed as soon as I post your journal topics for this week and hope I feel on top of the world tomorrow.

Remember, if you are going to see "Ten Years Later" (that's A and D Blocks), bring $5 for your ticket next week!  If you are in B or C, you will have to see the play in the evening, or with another teacher. The shows run from April 18 (at 7 p.m.), through April 19 (1 p.m. and 7 p.m.), April 20 (1 p.m.) and April 21 (7 p.m.)

Grade 8:  Whose "show and tell" speech was most memorable?  Explain why.

Grade 9/10:  Have you done better in rehearsal this week?  Explain why or why not.  What are you good at when you put together a play?  In what way do you need to improve?

Theatre Production 11/12:  What do you think of the way we've painted the stage?  What effect do you think the colour and pattern will have on an audience?

Acting 11/12:  How do you "get into character"?  When you read a script and are told you are to play a certain character, how do you approach it?  Would you say you were good at "taking direction"?  Why or why not?

Directors:  Remember to keep track of your progress in rehearsal.  Name one actor who is doing a great job -- explain why.  Is anyone causing you problems?  What can you do about it?

Namaste!

Yoga is in the news this week!  Most of you have seen that amazing picture of our prime minister doing the peacock pose (in 2013) -- can anyone imagine Stephen Harper doing that?  or David Cameron?  or DONALD TRUMP?  (I think I can imagine Obama doing it.)  The best thing about seeing the photo of Justin Trudeau doing yoga was that they aren't sure where he learned his yoga -- his wife is a certified yoga instructor, but his father (the super cool Pierre Trudeau -- who might have been even cooler than his son!) was also a yoga practitioner and there was a photo of him doing the same pose outdoors, taken a year before Justin Trudeau was born.  I remember the days of Trudeaumania -- people actually screaming for Pierre Trudeau and running after his car (just like they did for the Beatles).  He wasn't as handsome as his son, but he was very intellectual and sophisticated and I remember everyone saying that Canada was cool to have a prime minister who was so cosmopolitan and cultured and intelligent.

Then I also read that in Georgia, they have forbidden kids to say "namaste" after they do yoga.  Some parents felt that it was promoting Hinduism.  My understanding is that yoga is not a religious practice and that "namaste" is simply a salutation indicating respect, but I would be happy if any of you could enlighten me if I'm wrong.   In reading about Georgia, I also saw (in The Guardian), that they executed a man who had been on death row since 1994.  The man had been 19 when he murdered a companion over a set of car keys in a drunken and drug-fuelled rage.  He had grown up under horrific circumstances with a drug addicted mother whose boyfriends had beaten him, he'd been homeless and hungry.  I know it is terrible to have killed someone, but when a child grows up and feels like no one cares about him and that the world is a cruel and hopeless place, what do we expect will happen to him when he becomes a man?  I wish that no child would have to go hungry and homeless.

April Fools' Day #2

More Journals (no foolin'!):

Drama 9/10:  What do you still need to do to finish your heritage story?  Write a list of "to do's" and describe how you will accomplish the things on the list.

Theatre Production:  Create a prop list and costume plan for your heritage play.  Write a scene by scene outline including sound and light cues.  Draw a sketch of your set, remembering the "kiss" principle.  (Keep It Simple, Silly.)

Acting 11/12:  Who are you playing in the adapted plays?  Give your character's name, age, personality traits, and backstory.  What does your character want?  What is preventing the character from getting his/her goal?

Directors:  What is the message of your play?  How is your rehearsal going?  What are you doing well?  What is presenting a problem?  Keep a daily record of your rehearsal time.  Each day you should have a plan -- what you want to accomplish, what scene you want to work on, what you hope the actors will do -- and then at the end of each day, you should assess what you were able to do.  Different directors work differently, of course.  Some will have blocked out the entire play and tell the actors explicitly what they want them to do.  Others want the actors to find things on their own and will ask them questions about what their character wants and what is motivating their characters.  Others do a little of both.  None of these ways is "right" -- you have to find your own way of doing things.

Happy April Fools' Day!

Did you play a prank today?  I told my sons that school was cancelled because of a potential wind storm, but they didn't enjoy the prank because they were really hoping it was true.

Journals for Grade 8:  Which lesson from the Aesop's Fables stories do you need to learn?  Tell a story about why you need to learn that lesson.

Remember, your "show and tell" presentations will begin on Monday.

Other journals to follow . . .