A Note to Teachers
from the author of Point. Click. Teach.
My name is Karen Baker. I have taught high school and middle school and college--speech, theatre, drama, theatre arts, even taught debate and English in those lean years when we were so busy winning state the spring before we didn’t have time to go to the junior high to recruit all the little rugrats before they signed up for band.
I know where you are. I was there for 25 years. You meet for an ARD at 7:00 in the morning (and you drag yourself out of bed early ‘cause you’re the only teacher in the entire school who likes this kid; he’s precious in your class and he fixes your sound system when you break it), then you teach 3 different preps, spend your lunch on the phone either getting fussed at by the state drama director ’cause you screwed up or fussing at the state drama director ’cause s/he screwed up. During your conference the Seniors who have early release come to your room because they love you and they need to do their homework before rehearsal and by the way will you watch their college audition monologue? Then rehearsal starts and 2 hours is over in about 7 minutes somehow, but it’s six o’clock anyway. Thirty minutes later, after refereeing one fight in the hall and playing unqualified therapist, you remember that the Theatre One kids finished watching the Twelfth Night video today. (Well, it was a lovely 4 days, but they’re over now.) You fleetingly wonder what people with normal jobs do to feed their families, call and tell your significant other to order pizza (again), and sit down to type up instructions for the Shakespeare monologue assignment and pull scripts from the shelves.
If you’re lucky there’ll be some cold pizza left when you get home.
Some people reading this might think I was making up a cute little scenario all full of hyperbole and whatnot. Those people do not teach theatre.
If you are like me, you spend your clothing money on play scripts and books about acting and the theatre. Then you get to go read the books, which cover things you mostly know, and then go make a handout, assignment sheet, lesson plan, and test so you can teach the stuff in the book.
I am putting my files from the last 25 years on computer. The materials are things I generated in order to have grades to put in the computer lest folks have confirmation that theatre is the blow off class they believe it to be.
Warning: If you do teach a blow off class, you won’t like this program. It has activities in it. Children doing activities are loud and get out of their chairs. You will have to monitor and coach them. They will wear your fanny out.
Now, for the real theatre and speech teachers (you know you are real if your fanny is worn out):
Children who are doing learning activities must be supervised, directed, mentored. They also require your help with time management, sequencing, etc. This can be taught orally, but they won’t all write it down. The ones who are absent won’t have heard it. You can write the instructions on the board and put Do Not Erase en Espanol malo beside it, but you know Maria’s little boy may still have the flu, and her sub is that sweet little Korean man and no way does he read English or Spanish and you don’t even know what Korean looks like so what you write probably won’t be there tomorrow on your lovely, clean, shiny blackboard anyway. (People who do not teach are certain I am making this part up.)
So, here are some of my files from assignments I’ve tested on real-live children. Units are grouped into folders. Units are in sort of a logical order, but not sequenced as you should teach them. I found in my years that the sequence you choose will vary from year to year, anyway. (I saved it in list view by title, but it may come up as icons on your computer. It will be easier to browse if you change the view to folder list view.)
Most of these documents are in RTF (Rich Text Format), so most machines will read them. (I have put in a few in MSWord, if they refused to format well in rtf.) When you save in Word or another program, your document has more flexibility for changes, prettier fonts, borders, inserting graphics, etc.
If you have trouble getting a document to open or if it opens in an ancient alien scrit:
I hope you use this program for the next twenty-five years in your classroom (Godhelpyou). You may make unlimited copies of handouts for all your students. But if a friend wants to raid your files or copy the folder, please ask them to order their own. I don’t make those big schoolteacher bucks anymore, and I need to make my house payment. I hope you feel you got your money’s worth. And I hope you get home before the pizza gets cold for a change.
Carry the torch, my friend.
I know where you are. I was there for 25 years. You meet for an ARD at 7:00 in the morning (and you drag yourself out of bed early ‘cause you’re the only teacher in the entire school who likes this kid; he’s precious in your class and he fixes your sound system when you break it), then you teach 3 different preps, spend your lunch on the phone either getting fussed at by the state drama director ’cause you screwed up or fussing at the state drama director ’cause s/he screwed up. During your conference the Seniors who have early release come to your room because they love you and they need to do their homework before rehearsal and by the way will you watch their college audition monologue? Then rehearsal starts and 2 hours is over in about 7 minutes somehow, but it’s six o’clock anyway. Thirty minutes later, after refereeing one fight in the hall and playing unqualified therapist, you remember that the Theatre One kids finished watching the Twelfth Night video today. (Well, it was a lovely 4 days, but they’re over now.) You fleetingly wonder what people with normal jobs do to feed their families, call and tell your significant other to order pizza (again), and sit down to type up instructions for the Shakespeare monologue assignment and pull scripts from the shelves.
If you’re lucky there’ll be some cold pizza left when you get home.
Some people reading this might think I was making up a cute little scenario all full of hyperbole and whatnot. Those people do not teach theatre.
If you are like me, you spend your clothing money on play scripts and books about acting and the theatre. Then you get to go read the books, which cover things you mostly know, and then go make a handout, assignment sheet, lesson plan, and test so you can teach the stuff in the book.
I am putting my files from the last 25 years on computer. The materials are things I generated in order to have grades to put in the computer lest folks have confirmation that theatre is the blow off class they believe it to be.
Warning: If you do teach a blow off class, you won’t like this program. It has activities in it. Children doing activities are loud and get out of their chairs. You will have to monitor and coach them. They will wear your fanny out.
Now, for the real theatre and speech teachers (you know you are real if your fanny is worn out):
Children who are doing learning activities must be supervised, directed, mentored. They also require your help with time management, sequencing, etc. This can be taught orally, but they won’t all write it down. The ones who are absent won’t have heard it. You can write the instructions on the board and put Do Not Erase en Espanol malo beside it, but you know Maria’s little boy may still have the flu, and her sub is that sweet little Korean man and no way does he read English or Spanish and you don’t even know what Korean looks like so what you write probably won’t be there tomorrow on your lovely, clean, shiny blackboard anyway. (People who do not teach are certain I am making this part up.)
So, here are some of my files from assignments I’ve tested on real-live children. Units are grouped into folders. Units are in sort of a logical order, but not sequenced as you should teach them. I found in my years that the sequence you choose will vary from year to year, anyway. (I saved it in list view by title, but it may come up as icons on your computer. It will be easier to browse if you change the view to folder list view.)
Most of these documents are in RTF (Rich Text Format), so most machines will read them. (I have put in a few in MSWord, if they refused to format well in rtf.) When you save in Word or another program, your document has more flexibility for changes, prettier fonts, borders, inserting graphics, etc.
If you have trouble getting a document to open or if it opens in an ancient alien scrit:
- See if there is a Josh-Derby-type of genius boy in your class who can fix it in a nanosecond while giving you the “you are so old and lame and pitiful bless your heart” look.
- Call the computer teacher down the hall. S/he is a professional educator. S/he will not give you The Look. S/he may make fun of you in the lounge later on, but you’re never in there anyway. You are measuring adolescent boys’ inseams so you can fax the costume rental sheet for the chubby understudies who are taking over roles for skinny flaky actors who failed.
I hope you use this program for the next twenty-five years in your classroom (Godhelpyou). You may make unlimited copies of handouts for all your students. But if a friend wants to raid your files or copy the folder, please ask them to order their own. I don’t make those big schoolteacher bucks anymore, and I need to make my house payment. I hope you feel you got your money’s worth. And I hope you get home before the pizza gets cold for a change.
Carry the torch, my friend.
