April 30-May 11
We completed our reading of Medea. As a group, we discussed human emotions and identified which emotions we felt most related to our characters. Then we created a Greek style drama mask to display the emotion of our characters.
April 16-27
We enhanced our knowledge of ancient theater by reading, not only about the Greeks, but about Japanese Noh theater and theater in Elizabethan times. We also began to read a selection from Act I of Medea, a classic Greek drama.
March 26-April 5
We completed our notes on the documentary dealing with the origin of theater and the influential Greeks who wrote some of the greatest surviving tragedies.
To see part two of this documentary, click here.
March 12-23
We have been studying the history of theater by watching a documentary dealing with the origin of theater and influential Greeks. We have been taking notes on this documentary and have completed part one.
To see part one of this documentary, click here.
February 27-March 9
We have reviewed the SCORE skills and talked about some teachers who demonstrate these skills. We discussed the teachers as positive role models and will continue to practice these skills, especially exercising self control. We also viewed a PowerPoint Presentation on the purpose of theater and discussed what type of performance we like the most.
February 13-24
We have finished the role-play situations for the last of our SCORE skills, Exercising self-control. We also discussed how teachers can serve as a model for all of the social skills we discussed. Students were asked to complete a scavenger hunt to identify a different teacher who demonstrated one of each of the five SCORE skills.
January 30-February 10
We have reviewed the last of our SCORE skills, Exercising self-control. We discussed the three steps to regain control of a situation: a) silently counting to five while deep breathing, b) asking a question to gain an understanding of the situation, and c) saying "OK" or "Thanks" to clarify the situation. We also discussed how to remove yourself from a situation in order to prevent yourself from losing your composure. We practiced deep breathing exercises while paying attention to our posture and facial expressions. The deep breathing is a practical way to calm yourself down during the first step of trying to regain self-control. We will be role-playing and practicing these skills in the next few weeks.
January 16-27
We have finished our role play situations where we practiced Recommending a change nicely no another person. We were able to apply the three skill steps in our situations. We also started the fifth and final SCORE skill, Exercising self-control. A discussion was held detailing why exercising self-control might be hard, but why it is beneficial to do. The class was taught the first step to exercising self-control: Recognizing when you are getting out of control, or about to go out of control, and stop and count to five silently to regain composure. All of the students were asked to practice this before the next class.
January 3-13
We have continued our discussion on the Recommending changes nicely to others skill. We discussed the use of tact and using "I feel" statements when bringing up an area of change to someone else. Next week we will role-play situations where we practice the three steps of this skill:
- Give the other person a relevant compliment (For example, "You have a really great sense of humor...)
- Tactfully bring up the area of change (For example, "...however, I feel sometimes you joke around too much.")
- Give a suggestion for a new behavior (For example, "Try only telling jokes during break or lunch and not in the middle of class.")
December 12-23
We learned about our diaphragm and how this muscle helps us adjust our tone and pitch of voice. We also discussed the fourth SCORE skill, Recommending changes nicely to others. We will be discussing personal experiences where we would like help or would like to change and will practice giving our advice to each other in a neutral tone of voice.
November 28-December 9
We role-played situations where help or encouragement may be needed. We also reviewed the first three SCORE skills and discussed situations where practicing these skills would be helpful, such as in the classroom, at home with family and when with friends.
November 14-25
Due to the exam schedule, we missed one day of class. During the week we did meet, we covered the Offering help or encouragement skill, the third of the SCORE skills. We discussed why helping is nice, but what to do if someone doesn't want your help. We will be practicing this skill in the next class.
October 31-November 11
Due to the snow, we missed one day of class. This past week, however, was business as usual. We worked on the second SCORE skill, complimenting others. Students wrote compliments for everyone in their class and will share feedback and thoughts next week.
October 17-28
We continued practicing our sharing ideas skill. We presented role play situations to the class in which we practiced having a pleasant look on our face, a pleasant tone of voice and eye contact with the person we were talking to. We also practiced active listening and waiting for our turn to speak. We completed our role plays with assigned partners and chosen partners.
October 3-14
We were introduced to the first step of the SCORE skills, the Sharing ideas step. We reviewed how to share ideas effectively and discussed reasons why it is beneficial to apply this step. We started a paired role play and wrote a "script" to follow in order to share ideas effectively when making plans with someone else. When we meet during the week of October 17, we will present our situations to the rest of the class.
September 19-30
This class has begun to learn about the SCORE skills cooperative learning strategy. We were introduced to the strategy and completed Cornell notes on common terminology. We also started to discuss facial expressions and nonverbal communication cues.
September 6-16
Due to the storms we had this year, we did not meet as a full class for our first Performing Arts session. During our full class together, we discussed what information would be covered throughout the year. We also began to discuss the SCORE skills cooperative learning strategy and how this will help us in class.
