All the Big Doings in Class!

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2015 – A Day at the Improv and Seasons Greetings… THERE’S JUST SO MUCH GOING ON! Yesterday and today, The Company of Watson’s Winners was immersed in historical improvisational performances entitled, A Day at the Improv. It was a sold-out show! Some of the paparazzi pics are below…

            

As you know, our over-arching theme in social studies and science is “Force Causes Motion, and Motion Causes Change.” We began our study of American History with the Middle Ages in Europe and Asia, simply as a way for the students to understand how history is an ongoing cycle of cause and effect. Example: The religious forces of the Crusades caused a massive movement of people, goods and ideas, which in turn created great change ~~ the death of the feudal system and advent of The Renaissance. As the intellectual and economic forces in that era grew stronger, a movement of explorers in search of trade routes led to the discovery of the Americas (massive change). More religious and economic forces caused settlement and colonization, and this is where we are now – just past Jamestown and Plymouth.

Previous to this, students completed another culminating piece called The Roads That Led to America. This was Google-based, with Google Drive and Chromebooks utilized throughout. Students used the many websites on this blog, our library research sites, as well as others they found to research, take notes and make inferences related to the ideas above. They then wove their notes and inferences into “essays in disguise” writing in different historical voices/characters within each era (they also used babynames.com, historical map images for exact locations, Google translate and websites related to formal/middle English vocab, also on my blog). They then drafted and published their essays in disguise. 

For this Improv project, which was also Google-based, students honed in on the life of one historical character from the eras above (Middle Ages through Crusades, Renaissance, Exploration, Settlement) and investigated that character’s life through the lenses of particular questions (see project link, below). They then wrote a first-person “Faux Autobiography” (narrative nonfiction) in the voice of this person, again focusing on the big picture ideas that they researched.  Once they “had become their characters” by writing and re-reading their pieces, we conducted a two-part event (with props, costumes and accents) called “A Day at the Improv” in which by turns two seemingly random people from history were be picked out of my Tiffany Bag and had to hold an improvisational conversation in front of the audience – with the goal of finding out more about each other, but also finding the connections, similarities and differences and historical impacts that they each possess ~~ and seeing the cause and effect aspect of history.  Audience members participated after each performance. After all performances were complete, we will hosted a post-performance “Mocktail Reception,” at which students mingled in character and held more conversations with each other, all while enjoying some post-performance FESTIVATIONS!

(And here’s a blank copy of the project, so that you can see for yourself what your kids had to do to prepare for these performance days.)  A Day at the Improv!

Speaking of FESTIVATIONS, I cannot believe that we have just finished Day 75 and that the Holiday Break is upon us. (For those able to attend, our Class Party is Wednesday the 23^rd from 11:30-12:15, and parents are welcome to join us.) During this special time of year, it is my fervent hope that you and your family get to take some time and unwind, just to relax and enjoy each other and the dear ones in your world.  These are trying times that we live in, and it seems more important than ever that we spend time each day doing the things that really matter with the people who matter most to us. My greatest wish though is that, in the weeks, months and years ahead, our world will become a place in which the love, peace and fellowship of being one humanity will be extended to and be felt by all. Enjoy the rest of your Holiday Season!

Good night and have a pleasant tomorrow – Cathy