Shake-in Things Up!

In preparation for our field trip to the Southwest Shakespeare Company tomorrow, the Sixth Grade Drama classes have been putting all their focus on Shakespeare and the world of the Elizabethans.

As we did with Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky, we are now taking William Shakespeare's Hamlet speech (ACT III, Sc. II) and memorizing it (and explicating it) piecemeal. This speech allows us to 1) Learn one of Shakespeare's famous monologues (while honing our memorization skills), 2) Gain exposure to Shakespeare's language, 3) Get a good "lesson" about acting from the famous Bard (that holds up well in today's contemporary theatre), and 4) Practice breaking our work down into small pieces, in order to understand it, as well as to pace ourselves so that we don't fall into overwhelm (it is, indeed, a lengthy piece).

After reading some background information on Shakespeare and the Elizabethan theatre last weekend, we delved right into the world of the Elizabethans on Monday, discussing their beliefs about the great Chain of Being as well as their world views on "Big and Little" (macrocosm and microcosm - which are also two of our latest vocabulary words). The students participated in a "Great Chain of Being"/hierarchial activity where they first had to get themselves into an orderly line from tallest to shortest (without speaking), and then in order from oldest to youngest (via oral communication).

Tuesday and Wednesday led to discussion about the Elizabethan's love of language and the sparring of wits. This brought us to the specific discussion of how our modern ideas of language are not all that creative or interesting - especially when it comes to the use of expletives. The student's learned how the people in Shakespeare's time truly enjoyed being able to "top" one another with a wonderfully-worded insult. And so, we spent Tuesday putting together our own Elizabethan insults (using the very language the people who lived in merry old England used).

Tuesday night, each student memorized their insult and on Wednesday came to class prepared to lay some low (but very fun) blows. Following an in-class insult fest, the students "took it outside" where they paired up and worked with a "given" scenario (i.e. "Two friends fight over what is better: chunky or creamy peanut butter."), culminating with their memorized insult.

Each pair had the opportunity to present their scenario for the rest of the class, and we all enjoyed a rousing show of creatively performed pieces. Next week, the students will have the opportunity to learn some basic stage combat and will then pair their insults up with their fight skills to create a new scenario.

After reading a synopsis of The Comedy of Errors for homework last night, the students participated in a "mirror" exercise of the story today. Mrs. Veenstra served as our "guest reader", while I pantomimed the story and the students "mirrored" my movements. Following the Mirror exercise, students broke into small groups and worked together to create (given) "tableau pictures" (still life 3-D pictures) of different scenes from the play. By engaging in both activities, students (hopefully) "got" a deeper understanding of the story in their bodies, as well as their minds.

Tomorrow we will depart for Southwest Shakespeare Company at 9:00 AM for a 10:00 AM performance. I know that the students, Mrs. Stoyanoff and myself are really looking forward to the trip. I have no doubt that you will hear all about it from your students.

Have a wonderful (R & R) weekend!

Cheerio,
Ms. Nicky Pitman