Acknowledging Patience

Last week I learned a valuable lesson about acknowledging patience and effort in students.

I taught a lesson about the myth of Daedalus and Icarus. The class was split into groups and each group was tasked with creating a one minute skit depicting one scene of the story. Groups needed to work together to decide on two actors, two narrators, and how they would use their bodies and voices to share the story.

Every group worked together so differently. Some had themselves organized into well-oiled rehearsal machines, while others struggled to make decisions and understand each other. One particular group I noticed especially was struggling to agree and move forward in plans. One student in particular was right on the verge of bursting out in frustration. They managed to hold it together and instead came to me, stuttering and shaking because they were so frustrated with their team, desperate for help and guidance from me. I helped a little, and then tried to back off and let them figure more out by themselves.

By the time each group was ready to present, most groups were ready and did well. However, this particular group awkwardly presented a scene to the class that was difficult to understand because they all had different ideas in their heads about what the plan for acting and narrating was. At the end, I noticed the kid who had come to me frustrated early looked especially disappointed in themself and their team. The team had not presented what the student thought they were capable of, the student's ideas were unheard and overlooked, and as a result, the student had stood in place at the front of the class, unsure of what to do because the cues they were expecting for their acting never came. They had been embarrassed in front of peers. The team sat back down at their desks, and I noticed the child was shaking.

I immediately felt very guilty. As the teacher, I knew was responsible for the group's failure. I should have provided more scaffolding to bridge the gap between what they were able to individually and what they were capable of as a team. I should have guided them through the decision-making process more clearly. I shouldn't have let a child become so frustrated that they sat back down at their desk, shaking from embarrassment. In a last-ditch effort to apologize, I approached the student after class and told them I had noticed it was difficult for them to work in a group, but I was impressed by their effort to be patient and try their best even when it was very hard. I left class that day feeling very guilty for the failure I had caused the student and the social/emotional tragedy it had appeared to be for them.

The next week, I spent extra time preparing a lesson where I knew all students would be successful because team decisions were much more guided by me. As I was walking to the classroom to begin setting up for my lesson, I passed all my students on the playground. The child who had been so frustrated the week before saw me. I thought, "Oh good. This is their time to relax and prepare for what they are afraid will happen in drama class again." But to my surprise, the student did a double-take, looked at me again, and then threw the basketball back to their friends and stopped playing their game while they turned to face me. They looked straight at me, walked towards me and smiled, nervously. "Hello Mrs. Buttars" they said pleasantly. In their tone of voice and facial expression, I could tell they were very excited to see me. They almost felt a special connection to me, and they knew I valued them. I was shocked. Why would they be excited to see a teacher who set them up for failure?

That's when I realized the value in acknowledging when students try. Even though last week did not go as planned, I had acknowledged the child's effort and patience, which communicated I was proud of them, rather than disappointed. And the child had remembered.

Students may not remember every lesson, but they do remember how we as teachers make them feel.

Pandora's Box Lesson Plan

9/30/16 Drama Lesson Plan

Pandora’s Box

6^th Grade, Mrs. Geer’s class

Objective: Students will create possible solutions to the problem of hopelessness in real-world problems in the context of Greek civilization by listening and participating in dramatic activities depicting the myth of Pandora’s Box.

Warm up- Sculptor (8 min)

1.       Clear away desks

2.       Toe to toe

3.       Look across the room and go toe to toe with someone you haven’t worked with before for the dance or the drama group last week

4.       One of you kneel down, one stands up.

5.       Person standing, you are the clay. You are frozen in place because clay can’t move itself until the sculptor molds you. Person kneeling, you are the sculptor who is going to be molding your friend. Sculpture begins by standing in a neutral position; the sculptor slowly moves their body into a new position according to the theme that is being explored. Ideally this is done without talking so that all communication is through body-language. Facial expressions can be shown by the sculptor for the statue to copy.

6.       Give them no more than 30-60 seconds per pose.

7.       You may like to give the sculptors paper and pen so that they can write a title or caption for their masterpiece and put it in front of the statue.

8.       Depict Zeus, misery, hope

9.       Come sit on carpet.

Storytelling

1.       Notice how I use my body and voice- next week we’ll do some theater and I’ll want you to use your bodies and voices.

2.       Zeus was very very angry- why was he angry with Prometheus?

In your Zeus voice, tell me why you are so angry with Prometheus

He stole fire from Hephestos, the blacksmith and gave it back to the humans.

To get revenge, he forged a plan to doom the rest of humanity forever.

3.       Making of Pandora

Zeus made Pandora. Athena gave her life. Aphrodite made her beautiful. Hermes made her charming and deceitful.

An offer was made to Epimetheus for Pandora to be his wife. Prometheus discouraged him because this was Zeus’s way to make up for his loneliness away from Prometheus. (5 min)

4.       Wedding- Tableau with thought tracking

Have children make a frozen image of the wedding.

Assign roles: Zeus, Pandora, Epimetheus, Prometheus, Hymen?, Hephestos, Humanity, other gods

Use your bodies to show me what your character feels like here. 15 seconds- then frozen. (10 min)

Thought tracking- Go around with a microphone and ask the characters what they are feeling at the moment in the story.

5.       Gift

            Zeus gave a box to Pandora as a wedding gift, but gave the key to Epimetheus and told

            Pandora never to open it.

6.       Pandora’s curiosity made her attempt to open the box 3 times. Each time she decided against it

            at the last minute.

7.       Decision Alley- Should Pandora open the box or not?

a.       Review sides- What’s the decision?

b.       Persuasion- What does Pandora want? Does she even care about humanity? How could you come up with a reason for why it would be better for Pandora if she didn’t open the box?

c.       Review the elements of persuasion- the reasoning must be attractive from the point of view of the person deciding.

d.       Try decision alley again. (10 min)

8.       The box is opened and all evil escapes.

a.       The world is very sad and hopeless.

b.       Hope remains inside the box.

9.       Town meeting

Teams create ways to use hope in badness of world. What might it might mean to the Greeks and what would they discuss in a city/state town meeting? Teacher acts as a director of the assembly of Athens on the hill of Pnyx. “Welcome males 18 yrs old and older who are wealthy. Jobs to do: organize food, discuss our upcoming military protection. Sparta is totally outranking us. But first- we need to find a way to inspire our people. In committees, discuss possible solutions to the following problems:

                Disease/sickness

                Death

                Poverty

                Depression

                Hatred

                Jealousy”. (40 min)

Standards-

6.T.CO.3: Investigate universal or common social issues and express them through a drama/theatre work.

6.T.R.1 Demonstrate audience skills of observing attentively and responding appropriately in classroom presentations, rehearsals, and live performance settings.

6.T.P.4  Communicate meaning using the body through space, shape, energy, and gesture.

Meet Mrs. Buttars

Hello there! My name is Mrs. Buttars. I am an elementary education major at Brigham Young University who is scheduled to graduate in December 2017.

I really could say I have always wanted to be a teacher. As the oldest of six children from a small town in Washington state, I had plenty of opportunities to teach. I enjoyed mentoring gifted and talented middle school students in the national History Day competition every year. I also volunteered for a preschool in my church where I taught lessons and singing to children ages two and three. As a teen I volunteered to direct and teach teenage girls in small musicals, and I enjoyed teaching piano to five elementary school students on a one-on-one basis over four years. My favorite youth experience was teaching ballet to a class of second grade girls.

As an elementary education major at BYU, my experience in teaching has expanded. I interned in Romania as a kindergarten English teacher and orphanage caretaker for three months. I was the sole designer and developer of units, curriculum, and individual kindergarten lessons to four different classes of young children ages three to six. At the orphanage, I worked with one and two-year-old orphans on developmental milestones. I also traveled to Peru where I again created and taught English, Spanish literacy, and dance lessons to a fifth grade class, sixth grade class, and to 60 children at an after-school program. I designed all the after-school center policies, library, and discipline system. In Peru I spoke fluent conversational Spanish to parents, teachers, and community members. I also have a TELL minor and teaching endorsement. I am fluent in conversational Spanish.

I was introduced to the idea of Arts Bridge by Teresa Love, the faculty facilitator for drama in Arts Bridge, and my Drama in the Elementary Education classroom teacher. She recommended I apply, and I am so glad I did! My interests include music, dance, and theater. I have a contemporary dance minor from BYU and volunteered with BYU’s Kinnect dance program teaching core-curriculum subjects to classes of varying ages through a creative dance medium. Having the opportunity to continue my interest in drama and the arts in a 6th grade classroom is such a priviledge.

This opportunity is granted to me on the generosity of many BYU Arts Bridge donors, the schools of education and fine arts at BYU, and of course, the patience of my mentor teacher, Mrs. Geer. I am so excited to get started!