Good Stuff!

Friends! The Glass Menagerie was really good! acting is great! and I loved the concept of the show! If you know the show by having seen it before or read it you will know that it is not the happiest of plays- yet it is a classic and well worth seeing! especially being produced by the Mortal Fools Company! it is playing thru March 27th. check out their website! Mortalfools.org

A New Way to Think About Media

The idea of looking at media and then translating it to different mediums is really interesting. I think that teaching students to look at media forms in this way can really help them to open their minds to what the media is really telling them.
I think that it could be a really fun project to take a play, and have the students take a photograph/make a six-word-memoir type project expressing what they think the theme of that play is, or what they think the design of that play is, etc. in one image. Or to take a photograph and write a scene/10-Minute Play, etc. from the story they see in the image. There is so much to learn when we take something we are familiar with and we look at it in a new and interesting way. Translating through various media forms is just one way to get started, and I think it is a really cool way that I want to start looking at media in my life.

The Glass Menagerie...PTC!!!

FRIENDS!!!

So this weekends I am going to see The Glass Menagerie!! at Provo Theatre Company!
I am really excited about this for a number of reasons...

1- The Mortal Fools Theatre Project is who is putting it on- this is a group that includes very talented people and it is exciting to see such high quality theatre! I have never been dissapointed by one of their shows!

2- I actually get to see the show for FREE! Why? - because I am posting some blogs about them! double bonus eh?!
check out their website!!!

http://www.mortalfools.org

President Eyring

Our Hearts Knit as One was an amazing talk, and reminded me why I love President Eyring! I liked how he started out with talking about how we each come from different circumstances. I think as teachers we need to be aware of that from our students, not that we judge them or expect more or less from them based on that information, but that we know where they have come from in their life. It also stood out to me when he talked about unity that he said "The need for that gift and the challenge to maintain it." I want to remember to maintain the unity that we have, so it's something I am constantly working on and building with my students. He mentioned praying and working for unity in the Lord's way, I wonder what that means specifically. How can I work for unity in the Lord's way? There was a promised blessing that when we are blessed with unity we will have joy, I want joy in my classroom and to feel joy when I work with students to accomplish tasks.

Our Hearts Knit as One

This was a very interesting article. I love the way that president Eyring addresses the congregation. He has such power in his words. As I read these words again, I was thinking about how our religion and how our faith really plays into our teaching. Even though we know that we can not preach what we know to be true, we can still live it. We can be an example of it everyday of our lives. We can be that shinning light that president Eyring described. It can be the litericy used in our classrooms. Much of our beliefs are based in moral life principals. If we live in the way we know to be right, we will be blessed as people. We will see how our decisions influence us around us and people will take notice. This is important for teachers to remember. We are working with very influentail kids. They need that role model that will teach them how to be a good person, a good adult. This comes not from the words you use, but from the way that you treat the people around you.
I also really enjoyed the part that talked about judgement. It reminded us not to judge to quickly. As teachers, we will be constiantly judging the situation of our students and the classroom. We need to look at the situations that arise with love, compasion, and justice. My favorite concept is that God loves us with justice and mercy. We also need to find that balance in us as we teach our students. If we live it, they will see that, and hopefully apply it to their lives.

kristy #13

I really liked reading this talk and relating it to my future classroom. Elder Eyring says, "We are moving toward becoming one. The miracle of unity is being granted to us as we pray for it in the Lords way." I think that in the classroom unity really is a miracle sometimes. and something that we individually will have to hope and pray for. because "joy comes when we are blessed with unity". It really is a joyful and exciting thing then there is unity among students, more is accomplished and a greater level of success is achieved. In his talk Elder Eyring speaks about gathering together so we can seek and qualify unity with others, because it cannot happen alone. I think that in the classroom as well its not about groups or cliques either, but the class as a whole. This has started me thinking about ways that I can "gather together" my students to help them create this unity within our classroom. The talk also points out that everything that Alma and his people did was inspired to help people choose to have their hearts changed so that they could be one. That is something that I need to be able to do as a teacher. Help others choose. It is the students choice - yet I can assist the class in the way that I direct them and teach them and am an example to them to put away differences and be one, unified as a classroom. I remember In Jr. High and High School drama classes that were not as unified and didn't work as well together and other classes that were together and unified and the support and encouragement and strength that was found there. What an amazing difference it makes!
Even though this is an educational setting where we cannot talk about the gospel which is the main source of people being knit together- I believe that there are basic principles of human truth that can be brought up and discusses and discovered in our classrooms- respect, love, tolerance, service, etc. As these important things are discovered, discussed and implemented into our classrooms the students will be knit together as one! And even though its not a gospel based situation a great blessing is we always have the Holy Ghost to guide us and help us to achieve this.

Spiritual Literacies

Understanding that "literacies" is the "how to" access a text, I think there are a couple of literacies to teach our theatre students. The other day, I was actually reading about spirituality from Elder Oaks and I think the things he discussed can be found in a theatre space. As a result, I think one thing that I can teach my students is following through with their impulses. Theatre is the one time that you don't need science or logic or rationale. Instead you just have your emotions or your "gut feeling" to go by. However, if my students are not use following through with those impulses, much of their progress could be stiffled. Therefore, in addition to teaching them things of the text book, I can teach them how to "listen" to themselves as theatre instruments.
As far as teaching spiritual princples without over proselytizing, I think it's actually very possible to do. I first think that Heavenly Father's princples are eternal, therefore they are intended and designed for all of his children to access - not just His Saints. Therefore, with humble prayer asking for guidance in how to make spiritual principles more palletable for the nonmember, I'm confident He will answer. Also, when you think about it, the Gospel is really basic. (e.g. Love one another, strive to do your best, serve each other, develop talents and abilities). All these things can easily be taught in a classroom; there just might have to have slight semantic adjustments.