Week 6! More Fun!

This last week's flagship was dedicated entirely to painting the masks students had made. We had a new member, a girl, join our group...she said she had thought the Drama Flagship had ended a long time ago, and never realized it was actually happening until she heard some other girls talking about it. Because she didn't make a mask the previous week, Sarah and I thought on our feet and got her some paper plates. The best part was she didn't feel left out that she was painting paper plates instead of paper mache...her monkey mask was actually quite cute. I know last week was the end of the quarter, so I think everyone was feeling the stress (6th graders have end of quarter projects and tests...right?) so painting for the students eliminated a lot of unneeded stressful energy. There is no Flagship for the next 2 weeks...so Sarah and I are gearing up for the back stretch of this great experiment! So long!

Week 5: Everybody Must be Feelin' the Stress!

Sorry for the days later post. Last week was crazy for myself, Sarah, and our students and this is the first time I've had since then to reflect. The end of the quarter is coming up, and the students could definitely feel it. The girls had a hard time focusing on their mask making. We tried to get out some of the hyper energy by playing the Numbers game, but the girls just got frustrated that they weren't reaching their goal. Then we made paper mache masks. We definitely could have used some music because I think the girls just wanted to get out some of their stress. Focus was a hard task last week, but I know the girls were stressed so I definitely understand. They are great girls, we couldn't ask for a more hyper bunch! I think, in reflection, a more active day would have suited their needs better. This week we are painting our masks, so we shall see if the end of the semester stress will be released by some painting. Maybe I could bring some relaxation music to start the day. The girls seemed to really enjoy the isolations when we did them and it may just give them a chance to unwind. That...or maybe we could do a 10 minute dance party to get out the energy! Until later!

Week 4: Finally! Some Excitement!

So, this week in Flagship was just us girls. We had 2 new girls and a girl who is a regular. Today's discussion was warm-ups and character (trying to fit 2 weeks of stuff into 1 because of last week's mishap.) We talked about why warmups are important: responses from girls were..."gets you into character," "warms up voice so you don't get tired," etc. We did some body isolations and relaxation, then we warmed up our bodies. Even as a 22, almost 23 year old, I still love to pretend to walk through honey, or mashed potatoes, or clouds. Brings out the little kid in me I guess! Then, we warmed up our voices with tongue twisters such as "Unique New York, Unique New York, New York is Unique" and others. One girl even remembered "To sit in solemn silence..." from the Mikado. However, the biggest breakthrough came from when we played the party host game. This game, a frequent on Who's Line is It Anyways, was an instant success. Every girl wanted to go out into the hall to be the host, even multiple times. Plus, after the first round we didn't have to come up with many suggestions for quirks. Sarah and I got to play ourselves, which was very exciting. Overall the creativity of the quirks coming from the students was amazing! We had: vampires, grandmas, one girl was lactose intolerant, it was great! At five, the girls were sad to go and wanted to play some more. Next week, however, is students' choice of game...so I told them we could definitely revisit that in the future. Next week we are also making masks...which will be super fun! Until next time!

3rd Week: A Little Bump in the Road!

So this week Sarah and I showed up to Flagship, fully knowing two of our students wouldn't be attending. Little did we know, none of our regular students would show up at all (Turns out 6th Grade had a ski trip today and hadn't returned yet.) We did have one new girl sit down at our table, but she didn't look too enthused to be the only one there. Sarah and I discussed our options and we felt that we didn't want to scare this girl away from the group forever, by Sarah and I just teaching warm-ups to her. This girl didn't seem like an "all eyes on me" sort of person, so we encouraged her to come back next week to join the rest of the class then. Sarah and I sulked (sort of) back to our respective cars, unable to do anything with the group, and unable to teach Flagship today. However, I think in the long run...this was the best decision, as all of our kids put "how to act" on what they would like to learn. Being warm-ups are an integral part to actor training, or at least for middle schoolers, the students will really benefit from the new material next week. Sarah and I have decided to keep with our original plan and stick to our outline, so we will be doing half of this week's material and half of next week's material next Wednesday.
Also, I have been placed in a drama classroom at MHMS for my final classroom observation. Sarah and I could always use more kids, so my cooperating teacher and i had the idea to maybe hold mini drama groups during lunch at the school. This way, students could test out drama and see if maybe the after school flagship program would be fun! Until next week!