Friday, October 22^nd 

We are nearing the end of the study, and all I can think is “I’m not ready to end!”  I guess this is a common theme with classes.  By the time you finish the curriculum, you feel like you’re just beginning—like this project should be year round to really go into any depth.  But, it is what it is, so I must find a way to conclude.  This week we continued working on the story idea for the novella.  I’ve decided for lots of whole group work now, just to get the story up on its feet and moving.  I’ve discovered a really great way to devise the scenes using everyone.  Volunteers will come up as actors, and the audience suggests what lines they will say.  It’s a little Boalian!  And it works.  The students remain engaged in the activity, and they have a good time watching their dialogue come to life.
  On Thursday, we voted on one “problem” and suggested ideas for a “solution.”  They had no trouble brainstorming, and the majority of the problems had to do with the aliens coming and attacking the theme park.  Once a student mentioned this, every subsequent idea was partly based on this idea.  I asked them to think about any problem they might have at a theme park—aliens or no aliens, and there were a couple like “bad food” or “falling out of a rollercoaster”—but I also agreed that the idea of aliens seemed like much more exciting television.  Again, I felt like we weren’t really staying true to the genre.  But the idea of really utilizing characters we created as a team was exciting.  We acted out a couple of the problems: bad food and aliens becoming invisible and tricking people—then we ran out of time on Thursday.  
     They had worked on creating a spell that turns the aliens invisible—and away from class, the classroom teacher came up with a rhyming version—so it was good to have them connecting outside of class.  The kids also mentioned today how another story they read took place at an amusement park.  Anyway, the second scene has the aliens starting to play tricks on the characters.  I decided to have them play 2 tricks, so it becomes a larger problem.  Then, the people decide to create lots of music because the aliens are scared of it.  This was very impromptu, but me and the teacher decided to create this large sort of band—with different people creating different instruments.  It was so much fun—and a way to include everyone who wanted to participate.  This is how we ended.  We still need to have characters spray paint the aliens, so we can see them before we play the music…and then find a way to end the episode.  Next week, we will actually write down the lines & figure out who is playing what.  I hope it doesn’t get too tedious.  And then I want to bring in some simple costume pieces just for fun.  I am really enjoying working with this group.  They match my energy and ideas each and every class, and it is thrilling.