A Midsummer Night's Dream in March

In Language Arts this morning the sixth graders got on their feet and presented some tableaux based on their reading so far of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. While many of the students are chomping at the bit insofar as wanting to start acting out scenes, we are still cementing their understanding of the characters’ delemas, and how those conflicts drive the play. Today the in class assignment was for the students to show their understanding of the relationship between the four lovers, Hermia, Demetrius, Lysander, and Helena. A couple of the groups added the character, Egeus, into their tableau. The students were asked to try their best to be disciplined in their presentations, by holding their freezes, as well as concentrate on expressing their understanding of the text.

By working with silent tableaux the students were able to tackle the play while taking a break from negotiating Shakespeare's language. The tableaux were well thought, and the comments and suggestions by the students who were audience members were quite constructive. When they return to the text they should be better equipped to recognize the humanity of the characters behind Shakespeare's dialogue.

Homework:

Read for at least thirty minutes seven nights a week.

Cultural Studies homework due Tuesday, March 8th. Populating the Earth handout.

Cultural Studies homework due Wednesday, March 9th. Prepare for Cultural Studies test on Sections 1, 2,3.

Language Arts homework due Wednesday, March 9th. Weekly Word Quiz; Five sentences with spelling words.

Language Arts homework due Friday, March 11th. Hand in Reading Response Letter to Norman.