Memory games and paying attention.

We started with reviewing the elements of story - Characters, Setting and Plot.  

I had them get out a sheet of paper to write down each element as we read through the story "Empty Pot" by Henry Holt.   Here is a link to a review of the book.

After the class, Ms. Douglas suggested using a Graphic Organizer for next time. She also suggested using some non-fiction stories too. I'm excited. Today I found a handful of books that might work and they are on hold right now as I write this. A year ago I read a great story with an over arching metaphor for Jackie Robinson and his heroic struggle to be the first black professional baseball player called "Testing the Ice" written by his daughter. This is one of the books on hold and I'm looking forward to revisiting the book and to see if it will work for our class. 

I continued to use "One Second Party" - OH YEAH! and they remembered. 

Another suggesting Cathy recommended was at the top of my class time, ask the students to clear their desks. This will work great as a cue that it's time to begin. In the words of Jack Lemmon, "It's magic time." Cathy noticed that although at the top of the lesson, the kids were a bit noisy - "they were with you".

After we reviewed how The Empty Pot had two main characters and what each of their different "problems" were. We also looked at how all the children of the kingdom, as a group could be considered a 'character' in the story and that their problem/goal was to be the successor to the emperor. We analysed the plot and also talked about we the author's theme or message could be. We talked about honesty and always doing your best.

We then played two memory games. I tied the importance of memory to how an actor will have to remember their lines. We had 12 items on a small table and they had to look (or hear) at all the objects. (some of the kids went out of the room to just listen to us name the objects to make it more difficult)  I then taught them about "chunking" as a memory technique. 

http://lifehacker.com/5946606/improve-your-memory-with-the-chunking-technique

For our last game, I had 5 kids get up and stand in line. I gave them numbers 1 -5 in order. Then they went out and when they came back in - they were all mixed up. The rest of the class had to put them back in order. We played the game two more times with 8 students and then 11! The other kids got it right both times. I was amazed. 

I also taught the kids Meisner's technique how the only two things that effect an actor in a scene is what is going on emotionally with the scene partner (happy, sad, fearful, angry or loving) and the imaginary circumstance.  That's what I remembered at least from studying with David Kagen in L.A.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meisner_technique