19 Sept 2026
Well, it's been shitty. How're you?
Two of my plans are taken up by PLT meetings, I'm being observed every week, office hours are taken up with DDI and the theatre construction has halted, but there are no seats or electrics or boards or sound system or anything "new" in the shop other than outlets. There is also no evidence that they intend to install the ADA lift at the apron so my students can access the stage directly, instead of being "othered" by going through the horrifying hallway or dock door, which is always cluttered and takes time to clear a wheelchair path.
AC power cord update: I brought an extention cord from home. I plugged it into the south wall, and plugged the RENT ME AC unit in.
No breakers were injured during this experiment, but the plug was again stupid hot. Since the weather has broken a bit, I did not turn it on again after Monday.
Other than that...it's been great with the students, for the most part. No shitty there.
The kids I have are respectful of the new No Cell Phone law, and I love it. I'm sure all teachers do, I'm getting much more accomplished without that distraction.
My Theatre 2/3 class, that are "advanced"----so identified because they were in the fall play/musical last year---get to have a real acting class this year. Last year, in order to get shows up----Hold Please.
Clarification: when one is literally rebuilding a department from a crater, one must put something on the stage. Unlike bitcoin scams, theatre has to actually produce A Thing for kids to see in order to understand that the theatre exists. One cannot say "join theatre class" with no evidence of theatre performance in the building and expect kids to line up.
So Theatre 2/3 last year-with kids I had cobbled and nursed in the spring of 2025-- was used as rehearsal time for the shows. This fall thus far they have read Our Town and performed the wedding scene using expressionism. As a break before we start the next history unit, they were tasked with a simple improv prompt: find a childhood character you all know and put them on trial for something silly. Five minutes to talk, five to structure, five to rehearse and perform: done.
This was Wednesday, a block day so class was an hour and a half long.
I learned: Nobody had their parents read to them.
Not everyone watched Sesame Street.
Finding a common element without using Dory, which was fine but a few had
watched Finding Nemo as teenagers, and they wanted something from their childhood.
Not a single kid had a single clue how a courtroom trial works.
After an hour and a half, they had decided they all "ish" knew Tom and Jerry. I put it on the TV for them and watching that cat and mouse was pretty entertaining. It's been years. The student who was raised with the show said she calls it "rage baiting" because Jerry is such a jerk, and we all gufawed with laughter. When they began fumbling with the definition of "Prosecution" I had to intervene.
The next class period, we watched a 13 minute video made by some high school kids in Texas that walked through a mock trial.
After that illuminating experience, they got out 3X5 cards to work on their arguments, and watched the video a second time.
They stalled when nobody could remember how to be sworn in.
I heard: " I swear to tell the whole truth because God."
"I promise to swear to tell the real truth and not lie."
" I swear I won't lie, I'll tell nothing but the truth, ask God."
"What even is 'whole truth'? Like you need to say that?"
"I promise to uphold the aims and ideals of the International Thespian Society."
By the end of a 58 minute class they had the words for swearing in, the structure and were writing their scripts.
I'd like to draw your attention to the first intention of this theatre break: improv.
And the second element: 15 minutes.
We are now 148 minutes into a 15 minute break, they've had to write down arguments and they aren't performing until Monday.
This is not a fail, this is an illuminating moment. Kids can't work together without finding common ground first. Second, they have to understand that what they do not know can be learned together and that new information influx supports their goal.
They could have easily let the natural leader choose a character for them without really understanding the character. But they didn't.
They could have left the kid -who not only was never read to but never watched kids movies, only Tom and Jerry DVD's her parents had- behind.But they didn't.
A leader easily could have taken the helm and said "We have 15 minutes, who cares if you understand, I do, so just do what I say." But they didn't.
They represent everything that is great about theatre.
Meanwhile in Theatre 1. I have six kids enrolled second period and four generally show up. I also have six enrolled in sixth period, where three generally show up. Although this week the sixth was added, and she seems to attend, so one day we had four.
I am turning this class into a Theatre Hist/Lit because I do not know how to teach an intro level theatre class with fewer than double digits.
We tried learning the improv game "Questions", only to have it break their brains. They like creating short scenes with a prop or given dialogue, and I like that they work together. I started with the Greeks and Oedipus as the roster was changing and collaborative work is impossible when there are different kids present in every class. So we started with history and lecture and vocab.
So in the name of "tableaux" they created original scenes this week, and had a great time. I am encouraged enough to believe we can do two person scenes next week, but if one of the randos shows up I'll have an uneven number...whatever. Three person scenes are historically a shit show, because one of the three never comes to class, and someone else ends up subbing in.
I'll give it a try this week, and if it fails we'll shift to creating fairy tales with combat and mime. 'Tis my Go To.
Stagecraft are my new favorite people. I love these kids. They watched Legally Blonde and tracked the tech vocab, then we read She Kills Monsters and they chose a tech to track. They created a morgue of their tech, and last week worked on sketching the design and they are in it to win it.They are grateful to work with their hands and use their creativity outside of an art class. They are deeply appreciative that they do not have to perform, and were deliciously agreeable to adhering to the rules as we ventured into the costume shop.
No notes. Once the musical is locked in, I am confident these kids will turn into hungry hungry tech hippos.
Peer to Peer is rough without a stage. Last year we would work 90% of the time in the classroom, but go down to the stage once a week for a "field trip" where they could stomp and jump and scream and roam around. Five weeks trapped in the classroom(s) with or without AC has been tough. And I still don't know what I'm doing, I have no idea how to teach Sped in any real capacity. I've pumped Harp for ideas, and their "What I Love" speech/slideshow went really well two weeks ago. I'm trying to work on creating something more hands on than the sock puppets----which we'll do, they love those----but not individual. Something they all build. Like the acting machine we all did in our intro classes, but with physical pieces. I make them build animals and locations with their bodies, which is about as abstract as they get. When we have "down days" they have jenga and leggos which are a huge success.
I'm not on solid ground with these kids yet, even after welcoming Sped into my IB classes at Hink. That worked because there were eight IB kids and eight SSN kids---it was one on one. Last year P2P only had two Gen Ed kids , the total enrolled was 18 and I forced them to do two shows in the fall. This is 21 kids with just me and one Gen Ed kid and no stage to perform on. I will probably write them a spooky Halloween play they can invite their parents to come see in the classroom.
We have chosen a musical, I'm waiting to hear about rights. It's one I did at Littleton and it was the greatest/worst experience of my career. Since all signs are pointing to this being my last high school musical, it will close another circle.
I've been closing circles for six years, dude. Edward Albee said "Sometimes it's necessary to go a long distance out of the way in order to come back a short distance correctly." Jerry commits suicide by coersion to come back a short distance to make a human connection. I get that's my journey and why I'm at Kennedy, and why this is the end; my short distance correctly. So there's nothing deeper to closing the circle, or knowing the department will not make it regardless of my efforts.
Hink was my great distance out of the way. Literally and figuratively. I knew going in that it was temporary, I just didn't fully grasp why.
In my neurotic hubris, I assumed it was to save me from the disaster of COVID. Had I pursued legal action against my previous buiding, it would have dragged out into the following August 2020.
We all know what happened in March of 2020.
But this was October of 2019, and I had no idea what was coming. None of us did.
Had I chosen to move forward, I would not have had a job at all during the lockdowns. God floated Hink at me as a life boat to get across the great distance. It was only temporary, and I knew that.
I had decided to just do as I was told and "be still, and know that I am God" and figured if something else was supposed to happen, it'd have to do so without me applying to every open job.
Kennedy literally called on my cell phone in September of 2024. Yes, the building itself called me. :) The AP had come from Hink, and said the words "Do you want to come here and do what you did for Hinkley?"
I said yes. Because I didn't apply, I didn't ask;it appeared.
I also knew it would be my last high school teaching job. I have no interest in leaving until I'm booted out. This is where I'm supposed to be. This is the final destination to come back a short distance correctly.
Hink is where I learned what I needed to finally Do It Correctly.
I'm not there for the district or the building. I'm there for the kids.
I don't care if it's 100 or 10. It's not about that. It should never be about that.
They came to school. They signed up for theatre. I teach theatre.
If one ignores the flaming dumpster of education and fear, I'm actually doing very well.
Scene.
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