This year I learned a lot in science class, even though it was a bit hard at first. In elementary school, we didn’t really have a regular science class, because it always depended on the unit of inquiry at the time. I think it was good that we started having science five periods in a week, because there was a lot to catch up on. We learned tons of different things, from how to light bunsen burners, to how fast crystals form in water. Like in elementary school, we had different units, but there was one for each subject instead. We went in a general framework with something about chemistry, then biology, then physics, and over again. I think I also improved a lot over the year, because my grades improved as I got used to the subject.
Recently in drama we have been focusing on performance poetry. We started by saying a poem called Sweet Lips with the whole class. It was about different body parts made out of candy. After that we got a piece of paper with several different poems, and experimented with a few we liked. After that we got into groups for our final performance. I was with Tomoka, Jack and Connor. We chose to do two poems, Sleeping and Stupid Alarms, because they both were kind of about the same topic. We decided that me and Tomoka would perform Sleeping, and then Jack and Connor would do Stupid Alarms, one after the other. Right before the end of their poem, me and Tomoka got up and joined them, to finish as a group. Here is our performance:
In this unit we have been exploring different types of performance poetry. We looked at different techniques to use, like changing your voice, making patterns, and even physically being an object with your body. Performance poetry is quite interesting, because it takes several elements of drama and puts them together in one big piece. You can do almost anything while reading a poem, besides maybe mime, because you wouldn’t be able to talk. It was really fun to try to put lots of different things in our performance, because there are so many different options, and sometimes people completely forget about a few.
Before we started this unit in drama, I didn’t know much about poems, let alone using them in a performance. I always thought of rhyming words and Haiku’s, but there is so much more than that. Performance poetry is about making the words come to life, using your voice, body and imagination. I learned a lot about this topic during this unit, for example that performance poems are often written in strange shapes, or in circles or patterns, just to influence the way the people perform it. A lot of thought is put into the format and writing of the poem, and every person does something different with it. I also learned that it can be hard to get timing and order right, because in one line of the poem, Tomoka and I both shout BANG! at the same time, and during the practices we kept messing it up. Luckily in the performance we got it right, though.
I still want to know more about what professionals do when they perform, and how they think of so many good ideas. It was hard for me to figure out things like how to become a cloud or something, because in the beginning I kept doing everything straightforward. By the final performance I was better, but I could’ve improved a lot more. In performance I can use this style of poetry when I have to act something out, or just recite a poem. It makes it a lot more interesting for the audience to watch, because they can really see what’s happening right before their eyes. Overall, I think this was a really interesting unit, but also important, because it was different to the other things we have done in drama before. I can’t wait to see what we’ll do next year!
In English we made a reflection on voicethread about our Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark symbolism presentation. Each person in our group talked about one topic. I talked about which presentation I enjoyed from other groups in our class. Enjoy!
