Short post today: With the block schedule we do three periods each day. Wed and Fri are the days that I don't have a conference period, so it's non-stop boys from 830-330 with a half-hour lunch. Very tiring (much too tiring for complete sentences). Plus I have a 6th period which I think will be very challenging. Many low-skilled, high-energy students with after-lunch energy....got milk?
I'm getting closer to squaring the circle--tighter organization to "guide" behavior but still student-centered instruction to deepen the learning. I think the answer lies in cooperative learning groups. I'm consulting my sources.
I want to insert a brief musical digression. Somehow I have gotten hooked on "Show Boat," the ground-breaking 1927 musical by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II based on Edna Ferber's bestseller. The score includes such classics as Ol' Man River, Can't Help Lovin That Man, You Are Love, Bill, Make Believe, After the Ball, and others. It revolutionized the American musical theatre, bringing an intense drama that followed a show business family for 40 years and included topics such as segregation, miscegenation, alcoholism, and wife abandonment.
Before Show Boat, American musicals had been pale imitations of Viennese and French operettas. I have listened to 4 or 5 different versions from different revivals and films. It's a great score with songs that support many interpretations and speak to the heart. Ol' Man River usually steals the show, of course, and has had immortal interpretations by Paul Robeson, William Warfield, Frank Sinatra, and others, but the other songs are also great.
Show Boat is strong evidence that the 1920's were a creative high point in the U.S. Remember that the Harlem Renaissance was in full swing. Show Boat includes Black performers working right along with the white performers, unheard of at the time. The score also reflects the emergence of jazz--"Black" music--into American popular culture. I highly recommend that you check it out.
That's all for now. Day 4 tomorrow.
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