CAM Speech Delivers at Glenwood

What happens when the right talent is matched with the right piece and the right amount of practice and dedication? You have Angela A. going to All-State Speech in Acting! Congratulations not only on All-State, but also on receiving straight ones in your other category, storytelling.

What a season. My first season as a speech coach, and I couldn’t have had more fun or learned more from these kids. Mrs. Johnson and Ms. Rudolph have been indispensable to my journey. We also have a lot of fun, which always helps!

While I want to bestow my most sincere admiration upon all our competitors – I am so proud of all of you, individually and as a group - , I would like to send out a few extra nods…

…to Hannah A., our freshman representative. Talk about hard work and a willingness to learn and grow! You have three terrific years in speech ahead of you.

…to Paige D., who struggled to balance all of her commitments and talents, battled those nerves, and fought to the finish. It’s moments like those – when you feel beaten by circumstance but you do it anyway – that can define a person. Paige, you conquered!

…to Sawyer, who took on the challenging category of individual improv and gave what I thought was a truly solid and inspired performance at Glenwood. I cannot wait to see what you do next year.

…to Chuck A., who helped coach some of the newer competitors in the art of Radio News and showed me a thing or two about Spontaneous Speaking. You are a natural leader!

…to Mallory D., who scored straight ones in TWO categories, one of which involved an original piece. I suspect she has only begun to scratch the surface of her talent. Next year – watch out! Mallory is on the move…

Thanks again to everyone. Click Here to Read More..

Didn't Old Man Winter realize it's Speech season?

You gotta hand it to these kids. They have missed valuable rehearsal time due weather and whatnots, they experienced delays in getting their scripts delivered, they have had to balance their rehearsal times with sports, jobs, and school, and yet they still made a terrific showing at District Large Group! Their hard word, dedication, and self-motivation earned three groups a I (One) rating, 6 groups an honorable II rating, and one group an honorable III rating. A I rating is dependent upon so many things: group chemistry, having the right piece/material, dedication, desire, and commitment, TIME, memorization when required, and PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE (which, of course, is dependent on time). Our students are pulled in so many directions, which is one of the things that makes them such a diverse, strong, vibrant, and multi-talented group of kids. Between sports, schoolwork, chores at home, jobs, college courses and preparation – how do they ever find the time to rehearse for speech? Well, sometimes they do not. But when they DO find the time, they make as best use of it as they can. They can be pretty creative when they are doing something they love. Their hearts really are in everything they do, and I hope they are as proud of themselves as I am of them.

One group in particular – Kelsey S., Mackaye S., Mckenzie A., Paige D., and Cassidy C. performing a scene and musical number from “Fiddler on the Roof” – deserves a Medal of Honor for having survived one…how shall I put this….not-so-nice judge. This particular judge certainly had the criticism part down, but I am not so sure about the constructive part. Part of giving good constructive criticism is balancing it with positive feedback. Those girls – my heart swells with pride and admiration as I write this – stood there and took it as best as anyone could imagine. Even the audience was squirming, most of us blushing if not close to inciting a riot. It must also be recognized that they put together (with Ms. Rudolph’s help and expertise) a wonderful performance in a very short amount of time. They were less disheartened by their II rating than they were about the experience in front of that judge. No matter what the result, every student who participates in a speech event should leave that room feeling proud, confident, and reflective. Oh well – it wouldn’t be a day of dramatic performances without some drama!

I am also unofficially giving a I rating to:

Mrs. Johnson, without whom no one would ever know what to do or where to go. I should have listened to her suggestion for Readers Theater!! She has more insight into
this performance stuff than she gives herself credit for.

…. and to

Ms. Rudolph, without whom the musical number would NOT have happened, the right forms would not have been filled out or sent in on time, and without whom my job would be that much more difficult.

I am humbled by their knowledge and efforts!

Groups with a I rating:

Michaela S., Caitlin P., and Alex M. in “Starlets in Training”
Angela A., Cassidy C., and Caitlin P. in “The Secrets of Success”
Gage R. and Tyler E. – group improv

Congratulations to everyone. Onwards to Individual Events! Click Here to Read More..

Rules have changed - but the game remains the same

Please be aware that I have amended my classroom rules posted in this blog. The big change is to my policy on turning in assignments. My somewhat liberal deadline "guidelines" spawned black holes for homework. Students were not getting their assignments done in time, which made it all too easy for them to fall behind, which made it all too easy for that particular assignment to enter the vortex of the forgotten, which made it all too difficult for them to make up late work AND keep up with new work. I also shortened the window in which I will even accept an assignment for credit. Why? Because they can do better. Period. Click Here to Read More..

I should have been twittering...

What have I learned about blogging thus far? As a first year teacher of all four years of high school English, there simply isn’t enough time! If I weren’t so opposed to web fads, twitter would probably have been a better choice for its brevity. Therein lies the paradox: brevity is not my forte!

Blogging is for those with a passion for that which they blog about (check!) and with time (not so much…). A few weeks ago I tried to post some poems that the students wrote in Holocaust Literature, but I hit a snag and had to abort the mission.

Would this be a good spot for a New Year’s Resolution? Here it goes: Blog more AND less. Allow me to break it down: more frequently, less looooooooooong. That being said, this is me, signing off for the first time in 2010; may it not be the last! Click Here to Read More..

Students create autobiographical videos - an homage to the NYTs "Characters in Sound and Images" series

Over one month ago (yes, it takes me that long to get things onto my blog these days) I showed the Sophomores a few videos from the terrific New York Times series "One in 8 Million" (http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/1-in-8-million/). The series finds colorful characters in and around New York City and profiles them in a 2-3 minute slideshow (images of them and the scenes and objects of their lives) accompanied by their own narration. The Sophomores then created their own! Here are some highlights:

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I didn’t know “dillydally” was in the dictionary!!

When the school year began we were in the dark ages. Without computers to call their own, students were left wondering: where does knowledge come from? The lack of technology – while a setback for many teachers who utilize technology in the classroom in some way or another – pushed students out of their comfort zone and into those giant tomes called “Dictionaries” and that mysterious region referred to as “the library.”




One of the great experiences about flipping through a dictionary (the heavy, printed kind) is the accidental word discovery. One sophomore, while looking up a word from an Edgar Allen Poe story, stopped when she saw the word “dillydally” and exclaimed excitedly: “I didn’t know ‘dillydally’ was in the dictionary!” Another student was tickled when she found the word “sassy” in the dictionary. What are the odds that I would know of the fantastic word “idiotism” (yes, it means exactly what you think) without having stumbled upon it whilst looking up another word? I highly recommend the experience, at least every once in a while.

In Holocaust Literature, we visited the library for some good old-fashioned research in – get this – books! Pardon my facetious tone, but it seems this activity is rarely done these days. I must say – the students really got into it. A few students even checked their books out, without it being a requirement for the assignment.

Does this mean the technology is no longer a viable resource in education? Absolutely not! Just last week the freshmen were using visual word webs generated at visuwords.com to enrich their vocabularies, and this week the Holocaust Literature students are coming up with their own catalogue of Holocaust research websites in something called a “webliography.” The point is this: exploring new avenues of knowledge acquisition just might include a stroll down some old streets.



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NOTICE: Change in Grading Procedure

Please check my "Classroom Rules!" post for an updated grading procedure. You will find this information under "On Late Assignments.

Thanks for staying involved! Click Here to Read More..