The Theatre Classroom -- School is About to Start

Summer is almost over and we have to begin thinking of the new school year.  As I write this I am sitting in the rustic craft’s cabin on Flathead Lake waiting for my 4:30 charges to arrive, listening to 100 voices practicing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by Queen.  I am teaching a four-day drama improvisation class to seventh, eight, and ninth graders who are attending the Missoula Children’s Theatre Fine Art’s Camp.  This is a glorious location – a glacier feed lake surrounded by mountains just one hour from Glacier Park. It is hard to think about getting back in the swing of blogging and teaching my over 50 crowd but all good things must come to an end and one needs to buckle down and get to work.

As you are getting your room ready for your new students, please take a few minutes to review my August 5 2008 Blog that deals with some great “get to know you games.” I’ve used all three here at camp.  I would also like to offer another suggestion that I found very helpful.  My last blog suggested that sending a letter home to finish the year was a good idea.  An even better suggestion is to send a letter home at the beginning of the year, introducing yourself and your course.  You could even send an email to that effect, if your school has those capabilities.

I had done this the last several years of teaching but made a BIG mistake my last semester.  I felt that because it was my last semester I didn’t need to do this!  WRONG! I had calls from disgruntled parents about my subject matter, etc.  It had all been spelled out in my letter. Dumb me! 

Oh, I know, I know, there are only 24 hours in the day and you are only one person but it is time well spent. I am including my three letters: the beginning drama class (Drama 1), my advances class (Drama 2), and my first semester English class (Sr. English) for those of you who also teach English.

In my future blogs, I will cover some of the information included in these letters along with some other great activities. 

Have a super opening of school.