Based on a true story #2

Grade 8's:

Which fairy tale performance did you like the best (except your own!)  Write a review of your favourite mime.  Give your review a title, and make comments about the actors, the set, the costumes, the music and anything else you think needs to be mentioned.

How do you think your own performance went?  What went well?  What could have been improved?

Grade 9/10's:  Which serious current event scene did you think was the best?  Explain why you liked it.  What did you learn from the performance?  What is one question that you would like to ask about the issue that the scene explored?

Now, think of your own scene.  What went well with your scene?  How could you have improved the scene?

Directed studies:  Write about the performance at the mall.  How did it go?  Make sure you provide details.  What surprised you?  What suggestions can you make about a performance there next year?

Based on a true story . . .

Here are the journal topics for Friday, February 22:


Grade 9/10's:  What news story are you using for your serious scene?  In three or four sentences, tell what happens. Who are you playing?  What will you do to help us take you seriously?  What have you found out about the story by doing research?

Grade 8's:  What fairy tale did you choose?  How did your group decide on that story?  Which character are you playing?  How will you help the audience believe that you are the character?  (Think of what you do, what you wear, what your facial expression will be like.)  How is your group doing?  Who (if anyone) is the leader?  Who (if anyone) is hindering the progress of the group?  What are you doing to help things along?

Directed studies:  Imagine you have been assigned the task of creating a serious scene based on one of the following news issues:

1)  children being expected to wear uniforms to school (even high school)
2)  academic dishonesty
3)  increasing anxiety/depression among young people

Choose one.  How would you personalize the issue?  Tell the story that you would use.  What techniques would you use to make sure the audience took your story seriously?

Now . . . how could you turn the scene into a comic scene?  How would it be different?

Hail to thee, blithe spirit!

Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! 

Bird thou never wert, 

That from Heaven, or near it, 

Pourest thy full heart 

In profuse strains of unpremeditated art. 

That's Percy Bysshe Shelley, one of the great Romantic poets, writing about a skylark, that sings so beautifully even though it is a dull plain little brown bird.  Today is the Backyard Bird Count and Daisy and I walked down to the park early this morning to count the birds we saw.  Of course, there were lots of crows heading down to the inlet to feast, from their roosts in Burnaby (in the morning, there are many flocks of them heading this way and in the evening, they commute home to the warehouse area of Burnaby, where they have been roosting since people noticed these things -- when they started to build up the area, people were afraid that the crows would be displaced, but crows are survivors and they made do with whatever they found -- not like many other animals, who suffer greatly when we stupid humans take over their territory.)  We saw seagulls, which are very hard to identify.  Of course, you can tell they're seagulls, but there are many different kinds of seagulls and try to tell the difference between a California gull and a herring gull or a glaucous-winged gull.  We saw two fine Northern Flickers, hammering away at telephone poles.  I think we saw two starlings, but it was hard to see them way up in a tree being watched suspiciously by a crow.  They are very cute, perky birds, and I remember seeing (and hearing -- they have quite a repertoire of sounds) a bunch of them at Granville Island with a woman who said, laughing, "what are those birds?" to which I replied, "they're starlings".  She was shocked because, of course, lots of people vilify starlings as invasive and pushy and bad for local birds, but to me, it's not the starlings' fault, it's ours for introducing them here.  

Out on the water, we saw mallard ducks and goldeneyes and buffleheads -- all lovely ducks.  I always am interested in birds, but I like the bird count weekend, because perhaps I am more aware of them than usual.  

There is still time for you to take part if you like.  Take fifteen minutes today and go for a walk or sit in your backyard or go to the park or along the dike in Richmond, and see how many birds you can count.  Take along a bird book or a field guide if you don't know too much about birds.  They are amazing creatures and for many of us, one of the only wild animals we see a lot.  We are very blessed to have the chance to see them flying around and living their lives among us.

They do say that people are losing their connection with the natural world and that could be one reason there is so much anxiety and depression.  When you feel like there are wonderful things around you that you can appreciate without doing a thing except looking, it makes you feel at peace, I think.

Happy Family Day!  Tell someone in your family how grateful you are for them.

Stompa!

Journals for February 7:

Grade 9/10:  Listen to the music (Ms. Kosar will play it in class, but if you want to hear it a lot you can access it through youtube -- it is "Stompa" by Serena Ryder) and come up with a concept that could be performed in mime and tableau with the music playing in the background.  Listen to the lyrics -- that will help you.  Explain what the actors would do for the opening, for the chorus and for the second verse!  What is your message?

Grade 8:

Are you good at working in a group?  Rate yourself from 1 - 5 with 5 being terrific and 1 being not good at it at all.  Explain your rating.   How do you think you can improve?  Are you a good leader?  Explain why or why not.  Write about a time when you had to work in a group and how that went.  What did you learn from that experience?