
We are beginning the year reading Great Expectations in preparation for seeing the play at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in mid-October. The English teacher is approaching the book from a language/writing perspective and I'm helping the kids analyze the book from a visual perspective. My students will be creating their own comic books, character maps, and geographical maps based on our reading.
A week before we leave for a four-day trip to Ashland and the Shakespeare Festival, I'll switch gears with the kids and discuss travel journals/urban sketching as the students will be keeping sketchbooks for the entire trip. The journey to Ashland is an annual event for our school and virtually every student will go on the trip.
When we get back from Ashland, we'll do about a week of closing assignments surrounding our travel experiences, and then we'll dive into our theater unit with dizzying intensity. The youngest middle school students will be learning and performing Midsummer Night's Dream while the older kids will tackle Hamlet. Some of the older students (who have already done Hamlet) may spin off to perform Eddie Zipperer's Don't Fear the Reaper. During the theater unit, I help the students learn the material through the creation of a journal. This year, each student will be constructing an accordion-folded journal that holds vocabulary lists/definitions, act summaries, Shakespeare caricatures, and faux illuminated pages.
Whew! You might be as tired from reading all that as I am in planning/doing it. Last week, I came home every day and fell into bed. I'm hoping as the days progress that I'll be able to find a healthy rhythm that leaves me with energy at the end of the teaching day to do my own stuff. I am trying to get back into journaling and other small projects (while preparing my show for hanging) so the photo I've included in this post is of my latest spread in my small "Unexpected Convergences" journal.
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2 comments:
What a great trip for your students! I love visiting Ashland. I hope you have a wonderful time!
What a fantastic school experience your students have! I can see, though, that as fun as all that is (!) it's beyond tiring for those creating it. All the best as you journey through school and your final prep for your show.
-Ellie