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recentanimenews · 4 years ago

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FEATURE SERIES: My Favorite One Piece Arc with RogersBase

I love One Piece and I love talking to people who love One Piece. And with the series going on 23 years now, there is a whole lot to talk about. As the series is about to publish its 1000th chapter, a true feat in and of itself, we thought we should reflect upon the high-seas adventure and sit down with some notable names in the One Piece fan community and chat about the arcs they found to be especially important, or just ones they really, really liked.

Welcome to the inaugural article in the series "My Favorite One Piece Arc!"

My first guest in this series is RogersBase, a Nintendo Brand Ambassador. For my chat with him, he chose the Zou arc, in which Luffy and his crew head to an ancient civilization that sits upon the back of a giant elephant.

A note on spoilers: If you haven't seen the Zou arc yet, this interview does contain major plot points. Watch the Zou arc starting RIGHT HERE if you'd like to catch up or rewatch!

�� Dan Dockery: In one sentence, could you sell me on Zou?

RogersBase: Okay, here we go — Mystery, romance, and a little bit of the Mammoth Boyz. I think that’s the perfect way to describe the best story arc in the post time skip era of One Piece.

The best? Really?

Yeah, by far. For me, at least.

Yeah, I feel like post time skip has been a certainly interesting array of storylines. I think my personal favorite is Whole Cake. So much of the back half of it as soon as the wedding goes awry is great, and the entire Katakuri fight is a masterpiece.

I think Whole Cake is a totally reasonable answer, and I think you probably like it for the same reasons that I like Zou: the characterization and the drama that isn’t centered around the characters saving a kingdom. The kingdom of Zou has already been destroyed. There’s no saving it at this point. The only thing they want to save is Raizo. So you don’t have to deal with the villain hierarchies and families of say Dressrosa or Wano. And the nice thing about it is that since it’s a shorter, condensed story arc, it really hammers home the motivations of the characters and gives us this terrifying villain that’s not even present for most of the arc.

I really like Jack. He only appears in a flashback for the most part and he’s a scourge of the kingdom. And then he comes back, only to be hit by that elephant. And that’s one of those things at the beginning of the arc, when I saw this massive thing, I thought “Aw, man. I wanna see what that elephant can do. I hope it hits something” and then IT DOES. I flipped out. It was so satisfying. Did you know that Zou would be your favorite when you finished it?

Yeah, I think I did. All the arcs up to that point had really high highs, but some of it just didn’t land with me. So to have Oda move away from these long story arcs that end in big one on one fights and go to this shorter, mystery-focused arc: What’s going on with these minks? What’s atop this elephant? Is Raizo still alive? What is The Voice of All Things? What connection does Luffy have to these giant creatures? And with so many great designs and characters, too, with the Minks. It’s really fascinating, and you have bits and pieces that lead up to it, but there’s so much here.

I feel like the Minks might be Oda’s purest expression of side characters because he’s playing with all of these animal figures that are both interesting to look at and emotionally evocative. It’s him flexing his muscles as a character artist. And the landscape of Zou as well - It’s beautiful to behold.

Especially when you think about the amount of content that’s there in a short amount of chapters or episodes. There’s so much that’s told about the overall world, the Road Poneglyphs, the relationship between the Minks and the Kozuki Family, the Beast Pirates, so much gets touched upon that will expand in later story arcs. There’s beautiful, immediate payoff there and later.

It has such a comparatively goofy start, too. They’re climbing this giant elephant on the back of a cartoon dragon that Robin thinks is adorable. And I’m glad she gets a little bit of focus here because, with the Poneglyphs, Zou is a really big set-up arc for Robin. So her role in One Piece’s endgame has exponentially increased.

Also, the focus on characterization. In earlier, post timeskip arcs, you have these epic clashes that take down kingdoms, but here you get a cute moment with Robin. It’s so refreshing to see her in a natural element where she’s comfortable.

What did you think of the Mink tribe’s living situation? The giant white whale tree and the treehouses and all. Do you have any favorite parts of Oda’s worldbuilding here? Not just as a story designer, but as someone who crafts actual places where races and species can live.

It’s cool to see the animals he chooses for the Minks, and how he constructs the power structure and who controls the land at what time, with the dog during the day and the cat at night. The big pineapple trees and the ruins that you see in the Jack flashback, he created a full-blown, believable civilization. It’s always a pleasure to see Oda working in jungle vegetation-type areas. He really excels in this in Skypiea and in his color spreads. So it seems like Zou is something that he’s wanted to do for a while. And how much effort he puts into it is why you feel so attached to the Minks at the end.

That’s really cool. There are a ton of anime side character animals, like Kakashi’s pet dogs and the little animals that hang out with Goku and pals, but Oda really lets loose here with a whole species. And as you said, we should’ve kinda seen it coming with all the work he’s done with anthropomorphic animals. But then, you have the big Jack flashback. And the stereotype of the One Piece flashback is “Oh boy, it’s ‘bout to get sad.” But Zou’s feels like an epic piece of mythology, and Jack is just this being of pure cruelty without any kind of sad backstory. How did you feel about it? Did it surpass your expectations?

Oh, absolutely! To see a character as violent and ruthless as Jack was something needed, I think. He’s an overall threat, not goofy. And his Devil Fruit is fascinating, as you finally see the return of the Prehistoric Zoan type fruit after you last saw it with Drake turning into an Allosaurus. So it’s cool to not only see that Jack can turn into a Woolly Mammoth, but it’s a Woolly Mammoth fighting on top of a giant elephant. And with the way he gets teased leading up to his appearance in the flashback, I remember thinking “How cool would it be if there was a Woolly Mammoth fruit!” and sure enough, there it is! Jack feels like a fulfillment of the promise of the New World — It’s not going to be a cakewalk. Your opponents will be devastating and Jack is so determined, coming because he knows Raizo’s there and then coming back because he STILL KNOWS Raizo is there. He’s like “You can tell me all you want that he’s not here, but I know, and I will crucify you and cut off your limbs. I don’t know why you’re trying to defend this one ninja, but I know he��s here.”

Zou is kind of a double feature. We have Raizo and the Minks and the lore, but we also have the stuff that leads to Whole Cake with Sanj and Capone. Now, I see Sanji’s whole arc here sometimes referred to as Robin 2.0, because it’s a lot like Enies Lobby on the surface. Guy gets taken by the bad guys and is like “Don’t follow me because they’ll kill you, etc.” That’s always felt a little hollow to me because Sanji is not Robin and they don’t have the same motivation.

No, absolutely. And I’m glad you mentioned it because it’s phenomenal how well Zou has aged. They manage to give these characterization moments to Robin and Sanji and the crew while introducing all this stuff and managing to make us care about all of it. There are people that are like “I can’t wait for Carrot to officially join the crew,” and it all stems from this story arc.

In terms of characters that get done so well that even though their time with you is brief, they still stick with you for a long time, I think a good example is Pedro. He joins everyone and he’s this stoic, mentor figure, a character type that usually doesn't fare so well when it comes to surviving anime series intact. And obviously, RIP Pedro. But it’s a testament to what you’re talking about because he just joins the crew and you’re like “Yeah, sure. Gimme fifty more chapters of him.”

He’s got this cool eye patch, he has a beef with Big Mom, he knows about the world. And he’s the one who’s sort of the most hesitant to trust the Straw Hats at first after the disaster with Jack and all. But by the ending, he knows that the Straw Hats are the guys that he’s been waiting for. This is the crew that will bring upon that new dawn. And we haven’t even talked about Pekoms yet! He has those ties to Big Mom and to Bepo and to Zou and to Pedro and to Capone, who shoots him.

What do you think of the Poneglyph system? It’s both indicative of the Straw Hat endgame, but it isn’t like this magic map. What do you think of it as kind of a quest marker?

It’s great because you learn that there are a definite few that mean something and that they’re all being held at various places that are run by Emperors. So trying to find them gives you an actual reason to fight these Emperors of the Sea and heading into their territories. They don’t really need to be fighting Kaido in the grand scheme of things, but the Poneglyphs add to the direction of the series.

ONE PIECE LIGHTNING ROUND!

Favorite character?

Trafalgar D. Water Law.

Favorite Straw Hat?

I go back and forth between three, but Sanji.

Favorite villain?

Doflamingo.

If you could live on any One Piece island, where would you call home?

Dressrosa without Doflamingo would actually be pretty nice.

Favorite One Piece fight?

Luffy vs Lucci.

One Piece moment that made you sob the most?

“Raizo is safe!” I was so overwhelmed with emotion, seeing the resolve of the Minks.

One Piece moment that made you cheer the loudest?

Sabo getting the Flare-Flare Fruit in Dressrosa.

Stay tuned for the next installment of "My Favorite One Piece Arc" as we speak with Official One Piece Columnist for Shueisha and Toei Greg Warner about his favorite One Piece arc: Arlong Park!!

Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter!

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features.

By: Daniel Dockery

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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useyourrwords · 6 years ago

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2019 Ahead // It’s Twentybiteen, You Ready?

I’m back! Again!

Your fave chaotic disaster queer took time off once again to get her shit together! Did I???? Kinda???

I’m glad I took the time off, I needed that time and space to sort out and find balance in my life and did I???? Kinda???

So now I’m back! There are going to be a few changes! But I’ll go through that a little later in this post.

2018 was fucking hard man. It was maybe the worst year of my life so far which is not an easy feat, let me tell you!

I’m glad it’s over, I’m thankful for the lessons it gave me but more than anything I’m grateful for the foundation in providing for the next chapter of my life.

2019 so far has been just getting through the delayed effects of the last part of 2018 honestly. But I’m hopeful it’ll only get better from here.

TBR

So what are the books I plan to read this year?? Honestly too many but here are the books I definitely want to get to in 2019.

I was going to talk about my anticipated releases BUT literally, everyone has done that so it’s not like I’d be sharing new information with anyone. No shade! Y’all those lists are amazing and I love them because I am always behind on what is coming out. Those posts just aren’t for me personally to write. But mostly it’s because this year I am focusing on books I actually own and neglected all of last year while I was busy having a love affair with my library.

│The Raven Cycle│Maggie Stiefvater│

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I read the first book in 2017 and then my mum bought me the whole series for my birthday in 2018 and do you think I’ve read them yet??? Of course not! So I want to this year for sure!

│Shadow and Bone Series│Leigh Bardugo│

│

I loved the Six of Crows duology and now that the Grishaverse is getting a Netflix series I have to read the first series! Undoubtedly I will probably reread the Six of Crows duology after.

│The Conqueror’s Saga│Kiersten White│

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I loved the first book in this series and I’ve bought the other two books as soon as they came out but did I read them??? No.

│Montague Siblings│Mackenzi Lee│

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I really enjoyed the first book in this series even though I was in a major reading slump and it heavily dampened my experience but I still enjoyed it so I’m looking to rereading it and then following it with the last book!

│Villains│VE Schwab│

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I loved the first book and I can’t wait for the second one to come out. I ordered it in December but I entered my address wrong so I ended up going to my neighbour’s house to ask if they had it and they did!!!! Thank god for that!

I think I’ll wait to read them until I can get the paperbacks though since I like to annotate but not in my special editions.

│The Dark Artifices│Cassandra Clare│

│

I loved the first book so much and I meant to read Lord of Shadows asap but then didn’t??? Now I’m just waiting for the last book to come out in the small paperback so I can read the series start to finish.

│Harry Potter Series│JK Rowling│

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│ I’m not putting LGBT rep because it’s not actually in the book and JK’s intentions don’t seem genuine to me.

The first time I read this series was 2011. And I didn’t finish it. So I’m gonna try again and watch the movies as I go to compare as well! And every time JK does some dumbass shit I am thankful I bought my copies secondhand.

│Sharp Objects│Gillian Flynn│

│

I fucking loved the TV series, it was so intense! I’m looking forward to reading the book!

│Sadie│Courtney Summers│

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I’ve heard such good things and I need to read it but there’s a huge wait at the library and they do not have enough copies across the state library network so I might just end up buying it??

│Sawkill Girls│Claire Legrand│

│

I’m planning on reading this one this month if I can get a hold of it from the library!

│The Hate U Give│Angie Thomas│

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I neeeeeed to read this one pronto!!!!

│Rejected Princesses│Jason Porath│

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│Bygone badass Broads│Mackenzi Lee│

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So I decided on my new Structured TBR each month (More info in my Month Ahead post!) I’m going to read a certain amount of entries in these each month over the year.

│Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda│Creekwood Series│Becky Albertelli│

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I need to read the book for my fave romcom guys, I just have to.

│Children of Blood & Bone│Legacy of Orïsha #1│Tomi Adeyemi│

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I literally bought this the day it came out and so, of course, I haven’t read it yet.

│City of Ghosts│Cassidy Blake #1│Victoria Schwab│

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I have to read it, it’s a Schwab book. But I am pumped for it!!!

│Percy Jackson and the Olympians│Rick Riordan│

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A childhood classic I never fucking read as a child. Also, I now own almost all or Riordan’s books because they were super cheap secondhand and so I have to read them.

Past Grey Reads

Book Review // Girl Made of Stars – I Am Broken

Book Review // Everything Leads To You – A Quite Love Story

Book Review // The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – What Do You Mean She’s Not a Real Person???

TBW

Basically here’s a bunch of movies and seasons released this year that I want to watch!

│The Hate U Give│

│Jan 31│

George Tillman Jr.│

Amandla Stenberg, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby│

Australia sucks so this only just came out here but I am ready.

│On The Basis of Sex│

│Feb 7│

Mimi Leder│

Felicity Jones, Armie Hammer, Justin Theroux│

Looks like a good feminist film!

│Captain Marvel│

│Mar 7│

Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck│

Brie Larson, Gemma Chan, Samuel L. Jackson│

What is this??? The first solo Marvel film for a female Avenger??? I have been waiting!

│Avengers: Endgame│

│Apr 24│

Anthony Russo, Joe Russo│

Brie Larson, Bradley Cooper, Karen Gillan│

I am not ready. Not even a little bit. I’m just glad it’s confirmed that our lil spidey survives somehow.

│Detective Pikachu│

│May 9│

Rob Letterman│

Suki Waterhouse, Ryan Reynolds, Kathryn Newton│

When I first saw the trailer I legit thought it was a very cleverly put together fan trailer and died when I realised it was real.

│Aladdin│

│May 23│

Guy Ritchie│

Will Smith, Billy Magnussen, Naomi Scott│

I am so excited, it’s gonna be so magical!

│Rocketman│

│May 30│

Dexter Fletcher│

Richard Madden, Bryce Dallas Howard, Taron Egerton│

I never knew I needed it but then I heard of it and then I watched the trailer and now I’m already a fan.

│Men in Black: International│

│Jun 13│

F. Gary Gray│

Rebecca Ferguson, Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson│

This movie is for the bisexuals.

│Spider-Man: Far From Home│

│Jul 4│

Jon Watts│

Zendaya, Jake Gyllenhaal, Cobie Smulders│

Okay blogging secret, when it comes to the directors, creators and stars of this segment I always just copy and paste from IMDB because I’m lazy and can we just appreciate the fact that Tom Holland—the literal star of the movie, the person who plays the main character—isn’t even listed at the top as part of the top stars.

Also, I’m very excited to watch this. Tom and Zendaya are my children and they must be protected at all costs.

│It: Chapter 2│

│Sep 5│

Andy Muschietti│

James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Skarsgård│

I’m ready for adult loser club thanks.

│Star Wars: Episode IX│

│Dec 19│

J.J. Abrams│

Keri Russell, Adam Driver, Richard E. Grant│

I’m always happy with a new Star Wars film.

│To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before 2│

│

Susan Johnson│

Lana Condor, Noah Centineo│

YES YES YES YES YES.

│Brooklyn Nine-Nine│Season 6│

│Jan 10│

Daniel J. Goor, Michael Schur│

Andre Braugher, Andy Samberg, Stephanie Beatriz│

I’m so glad NBC saved this!!!!

│One Day At A Time│Season 3│

│Feb 8│

Gloria Calderon Kellett, Mike Royce│

Justina Machado, Todd Grinnell, Isabella Gomez│

This is probably mine and mum’s fave sitcom that makes us piss ourselves laughing but also makes us sob.

│Game of Thrones│Season 8│

│Apr 14│

David Benioff, D.B. Weiss│

Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington│

I won’t make it to the end of 2019, not because of depression

but because I’m going to die while watching this, I know it.

│Stranger Things│Season 3│

│Jul 4│

Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer│

Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Winona Ryder│

I just want the gang together and happy.

│Mindhunter│Season 2│

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Joe Penhall│

Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, Anna Torv│

I gotta watch it and live text my thoughts to my aunt who is hugely into true crime (so much so that she is studying criminology). Because I’m hilarious and also I know she’ll appreciate it and also I no longer have a best friend to do this shit with.

│Big little Lies│Season 2│

│

David E. Kelley│

Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley│

Big Little Lies rocked my world and made me realise I actually like thrillers.

│RuPaul’s Drag Race UK│Season 1│

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I’m just excited to see what a season would look like that isn’t hosted and judged by RuPaul.

Past Grey Watches

Grey Watches // I Wanna Bone Jude Law and Kate Winslet – The Holiday

Grey Watches // It Has To Be A Shit Show – A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding

Grey Watches // I Hate It So Much I Love It – A Christmas Prince

Yes I know I said I wouldn’t change the appearance of my blog while I was gone but we all know I’m a dirty liar.

Besides, it’s only some small tweaks here and there and I won’t be going back through my past posts to edit everything to match. A year of posts is too many. I promised myself and my mum I wouldn’t do it again.

This year I’m going to be posting less! Like half the amount I did last year.

Last year I eventually got to a schedule of four posts a week and this year I will be doing two.

I’m doing this for a couple of reasons.

I exercise and eat healthy now and it turns out those two things take up so much time.

I wanna start actually dedicating time to working on my new WIP and maybe have a draft by the end of the year????

I’m planning on doing more Grey Watches post this year, and my book review posts will now be called Grey Reads and I might try and do more discussion posts called Grey Speaks and maybe WIP writing updates in Grey Writes??? It’s all about that branding.

But who knows what I’ll do, honestly I don’t even know myself! I’m terrible with follow through but we’ll see!

My Ancient Archive posts will be moved to once every two months as well because those posts take ages and as much as I love them I just don’t have that kind of time. And they’ll also get a rename—Grey Learns

I was also going to start requesting physical ARCs from publishers but ahhhh turns out I don’t actually enjoy writing reviews??? And there’s always the risk that I’m not gonna like it and I’ll feel obligated to finish it and I don’t have time for that either so I’m not doing that, I’ll be requesting far, far less from Netgalley.

I’ll be posting book reviews roughly once or twice a month, instead of once a week. I’ll still be writing reviews for all the books I read but they’ll be a lot shorter and I’ll mostly just post them on my Goodreads.

If you notice I am reading a book you wanna see a review of over on here, let me know and I’ll be sure to post it!

Past Month In Review

Month in Review // Christmas is Over Thank Fuck – December

Month in Review // November – I Already Hate Christmas

Month in Review // July, August, September & October – New Post Series!

Goals

Get to a point where I walk 10000 steps a day.

On the reg, like every day for the most part. At the moment I just have my step goal as 8000 a day because small steps literally.

But I hit my first 10000 steps on the 16th of last month so that was very exciting for me especially since it was on the day I don’t go for a walk and proved why that is my day off because it’s my shopping day so I’m clearly walking plenty, to begin with!

Find a way to be more financially stable somehow.

Whether that be by a full-time job or maybe work out a way to get paid for doing what I love??

I don’t know. I’m trying to be more open to different paths to get to a place I want to be.

Also, it seems like I may be forced into this sooner rather than later thanks to things out of my control so that’s exciting but also terrifying because ANXIETY.

Finish a draft for my WIP.

Have I started writing it yet? Absolutely not but I’m gonna try!

And I’m very excited about the concept. Think queer banshees and witches and strong women and girls supporting each other. That’s the plan.

Read 50 books.

I read 100 last year and 130 the year before that but with focusing on writing and my health I feel that trying to keep reading that many books is just going to stress me out so I’m not doing it!

Also, I’m already struggling to get through a book a week right now and I need to if I have any hope of just reading 50.

Legally change my name FINALLY!

And guess what guys that one is very close to being complete!

I’ve submitted to the paperwork and now it’s just the waiting for it to get approved and then I can pick up my new birth certificate!

I’ve been waiting for this moment for years so I’m very excited!

Continue going to therapy.

I’m in a much better mental space than I was last year but I still need therapy. Especially since last year was basically just me venting about how fucked up my family is and this year is about me so I want to use my therapy to focus on my shit, get official diagnoses and maybe testing out medication???

Also find a better way to deal with my paranoia because guys, it’s been especially rough lately.

Take regular mental health days

This is much needed!!!!!

And by mental health days I mean spend one whole day doing nothing but maybe watching Netflix and reading and crying if I need to.

My mum and I don’t really stop and so we get hit with emotions at really inconvenient times so I’m hoping that if we schedule a day where we can allow ourselves to be emotional then it might help?

I want to aim for once a month but we’ll see.

Play more video games.

Because they’re fun and I like them and I keep telling myself I don’t have time because it’s not important but fuck important, sometimes you just gotta do shit because it’s fun and pointless.

Past Month Ahead

Month Ahead // Happy Birthday To Me + Hiatus Announcement – January

Month Ahead // December – I Already Hate It

Month Ahead // November – New Post Series

2019 is all about growth and glow ups guys, I can feel it.

What are you doing this year? What are you reading? What are your goals?

│Blog│Goodreads│Instagram│Twitter│Tumblr│

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succeedly · 7 years ago

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Literature Performance Odyssey with Drama and Student Leadership

Marynn Dause on episode 318 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

They only had a 2 ½ weeks to teach the entire Odyssey. So, teacher Marynn Dause met with her students. They decided to follow the pattern of Homer and become storytelling bards themselves with powerful results. Marynn shares this innovative approach to teaching the Odyssey invented by her students along with their advice for using this method in your classroom.

Listen Now

Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher

Stream by clicking here.

***

Enhanced Transcript

Marynn Dause: Literature Performance Odyssey

Link to show: www.coolcatteacher.com/e318 Date: May 23, 2018

Vicki: Today we’re talking with someone I made friends with on Twitter, Marynn Dause.

She is a ninth-grade literature teacher.

Marynn, you are doing something fascinating with teaching The Odyssey.

Tell us what you’re doing.

Marynn: Yes, hello, and hello to everyone listening.

My students and I were sort of stuck with two and a half weeks to tackle twenty-four books (or chapters) of The Odyssey by Homer.

We had 2 ½ weeks to cover 24 chapters

We have a very collaborative classroom, I let the students lead their learning as much as possible.

So, during our Monday morning meeting, I just said, “You know what, guys? We don’t have a lot of time. There are a lot of chapters, and frankly, I have never taught this in a way that has worked for all or my kids. I need your help.”

We brainstormed, and what we ended up coming up with was the kids said, “How did people originally interact with this text?” Because that’s something that I want to emphasize is the original intent of the author and how they wanted their audience to receive it. I explained about Homer as being a poet, a bard, an oral storyteller.

The kids said, “How did people originally interact with this text?”

They said, “Well, why don’t we do that? Can’t we just tell the story the way that HE would have?”

So I took their idea and did some research and ran with it, and what we ended up doing is we parcelled the story out and the kids took charge of learning the chapters, and reciting and performing them for their classmates exactly the way that Homer would have two and a half thousand years ago.

Vicki: Wow, so they memorized it? Or they just filmed it? Or how does this work?

Marynn: Different groups chose different strategies, and it really ended up depending on the strengths of the teams themselves. I gave them a wide variety of options. When we were planning the whole thing, I had the kids brainstorm different ways of storytelling and they came up with thirty-seven different ways to tell a story.

Vicki: (laughs)

Marynn: Yeah! (laughs)

We talked about different tools, and we worked on, “Okay, how are we going to do this?” But most of them ended up deciding that they preferred actually doing spoken stories.

Most of them preferred actually doing spoken stories

We had skits. We had popsicle stick puppets. We had miming. We had the type of thing where people hit a scene, they freeze, and the narrator steps forward and narrates what’s going on, and then they do that a couple of times.

So lots of different live performance options that the kids ended up preferring as they went along.

Vicki: Now did you film these? Did you capture these on film for the kids who weren’t there? How did that work?

Marynn: Yes, I did somewhat. We have to be a little bit careful about our photography rights and recording and that kind of thing with the students, but any time that we knew somebody was going to be gone, we would record it and send it just to that person.

Or, I mean we actually do have the books themselves. Sometimes the kids would say, “Don’t worry about it, Ms. Dause, I’m just going to read the chapter.”

One thing that I was really pleased by was that, as we went through this process of taking the story chapter by chapter, the kids began to feel more confident in their reading ability, and so they were not intimidated by the text anymore.

The kids began to feel more confident in their reading ability

They would say, “Oh, I’ve already done my chapters with my group. I can handle this one. It won’t be a big deal.”

Vicki: Wow. So did you cover it all in time? Were you able to get through, or did you get stuck? Sometimes teachers are afraid of projects because they’re like, “Oh, we just won’t get it done! They’ll spend the whole time playing!”

Marynn: I know what you mean.

We actually did, and it was one of those things where having the limited amount of time sort of lit a fire under us, you know what I mean? It’s like, “Okay, well… we have to get this done one way or the other. It is a curriculum requirement.”

“If we fail, and we’re right back to where we started, where we have less time to read the full things, so, go, go!” And the kids would cheer each other on.

What we did is we took two and a half days at the beginning — I teach on a four-by-four system, my classes are ninety minutes long — about two and a half days at the front end for the kids to read their chapters, annotate it like crazy, and a lot of them either wrote skits or sort of did bullet-point plans on a piece of paper, and then they would put together costumes.

Each table would perform one chapter, and we would do feedback from the group. I included a question and answer session after each performance so the audience could make sure they understood what had happened, and they got bonus points for asking questions. Answering questions was actually one of the requirements for the performers.

Answering questions was a requirement for the performers

Then we would take a day after each round and prep for the next one, and anything they couldn’t fit in in class, that was their only homework.

I usually assign three or four really quality-thinking assignments each week, but I said, “Look, guys, this is going to be a lot of work, so as long as you’re working on this, I’m not going to give you anything extra because I want all of your attention for my class focused on this effort.”

Vicki: Marynn, before we started recording, you showed me that you have a lot of observations from your students that they had — things they wanted to share.

Tell us the things the students want everybody to hear and know about this method of approaching The Odyssey.

Marynn: Absolutely.

I did tell them, “I can’t find anybody else who’s done this before, so you are learning for all the schools in America, you might be, so who knows.”

A couple of major points. I asked them for highs, lows, and for advice that they would give other schools.

I asked them for highs, lows, and advice that they would give

Vicki: Awesome.

Marynn: Their highs, summarized, were that:

this is very creative and interesting

it’s engaged and made the text come alive

I felt that I could move and understand it

it was interactive and fun, lots of stars around fun

It improved my comprehension,

I learned a lot out of my comfort zone

I remember the whole story

One little guy said, “Usually, when I read, there’s so much going on, I can barely keep up with the story. Forget the characters, it’s not going to happen. But now, when we’re talking about the characters, you can say, ‘Yeah, you’re Achaea remember? And I can remember, and that helps me comprehend.”

Some of their lows were, “It’s time consuming!” (laughs)

Vicki: (laughs) Yeah, they had to work, right? (laughs)

Welcome to teaching, right? But it’s great that they’re doing it.

Marynn: Several of the kids said, “It was a lot more work than I expected.”

I did think it was interesting that they pointed out, “This is really fun and most of us prefer to do live acting, but that didn’t fit everybody’s style.”

It really does depend on your learning style. You need to know performing techniques. I messed that up. I didn’t show them stage drama techniques until the second and third round, because I didn’t predict how much they would need to know.

They wanted to get that learning about the skills at the front end.

The other thing they noted is that, “If the performance is unclear, if the group has a tough chapter with a lot of details and a lot of characters, it can get a little muddy. It can be hard to understand.”

So they said, You really have to emphasize the Q&A structure.”

And we also, in the middle, we started having the groups to read a summary of their annotations before they performed. That way, we knew what we were looking for before they went on stage.

Vicki: But they recommend this for other classrooms?

Their advice column was actually the long one

Marynn: Absolutely, and their advice column was actually the longest one.

Vicki: So what’s their advice?

Marynn: I’m going to try to pick the most pertinent moments.

They said practice. Do not procrastinate. For the love of all that is good, make sure that you practice!

A lot of the kids said just do it. Just break out of your comfort zone.

Understand that everybody in the room is going to be doing the same thing, and the sillier you look, the more we enjoy it. So just GO.

They did actually recommend — several of them set up Google Remind accounts, like remind.com, and they used Remind instead of a group chat. So they would all be on a Remind group together so they could communicate when they were at home. That way, they didn’t need to know each other’s numbers, but they could still talk.

Vicki: Yeah. Wow.

Marynn:Yeah, I thought that was good.

Other than that, they said definitely work on your group collaboration at the front end. Like have a really clear conversation about who is going to be in charge of what, and how you are going to make sure it happens, first?

Vicki: (agrees)

Marynn: Several of them, I actually led some conflict resolution workshops because they found out the hard way that they didn’t know how to do conflict resolution.

Vicki: Yeah. And that’s so great about having teams and working in this way, because you’re teaching much more than your topic, and you’ve got done on time! We do want to say that!

Marynn: Yeah.

Vicki: So, Marynn, the thing I think I would like to most point out to our teachers, besides the fact that this is a fantastic teaching method…

But I like what you’ve modeled for us by going to your students and saying, “Students, what do you want to say to people about this method of teaching?”

Actually, we’ve had 301 episodes as of the day we’re recording this, and I’m sitting here thinking, “You know, we need to all do a better job of getting feedback from students and letting the students speak, and then we could be the voice for them.”

I think that you’ve really modeled something powerful that we all need to be doing a better job of when we’re talking about teaching strategies. Because I really like their recommendations and, you know, when kids say it’s time-consuming, or a lot of work, I hate to say that I don’t mind that, but the point is you don’t really give homework.

They’re really doing most of this work in class, so their goof-off time goes away. A lot of kids want a little bit of goof-off time and they’re just not getting it, and we’re okay with that.

So remarkable educators, I think this is a fascinating way to teach. It’s a teaching oddysey in itself, and we’ve just learned so much.

So thank you! And tell your kids thanks!

Marynn: Oh, I certainly will.

Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford [email protected]

Bio as submitted

I’m Marynn HS Dause, M.A.Ed, NBCT, and non-traditional innovator extraordinaire. My secondary ELA classroom in King George, Virginia is more laboratory than lecture hall, and my passion is helping teachers and students progress with excellence and purpose. I’m enthusiastic about the possibilities of edtech for better learning, excited about pedagogy, and always up for a new adventure. I’d be happy to collaborate with you on Twitter!

Blog: http://mdause.wixsite.com/thedauseclause

Twitter: @DauseClause

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” This company has no impact on the editorial content of the show.

The post Literature Performance Odyssey with Drama and Student Leadership appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Literature Performance Odyssey with Drama and Student Leadership published first on https://getnewcourse.tumblr.com/

0 notes

strivesy · 7 years ago

Text

Literature Performance Odyssey with Drama and Student Leadership

Marynn Dause on episode 318 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Listen Now

Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher

Stream by clicking here.

***

Enhanced Transcript

Marynn Dause: Literature Performance Odyssey

Link to show: www.coolcatteacher.com/e318 Date: May 23, 2018

Vicki: Today we’re talking with someone I made friends with on Twitter, Marynn Dause.

She is a ninth-grade literature teacher.

Marynn, you are doing something fascinating with teaching The Odyssey.

Tell us what you’re doing.

Marynn: Yes, hello, and hello to everyone listening.

My students and I were sort of stuck with two and a half weeks to tackle twenty-four books (or chapters) of The Odyssey by Homer.

We had 2 ½ weeks to cover 24 chapters

We have a very collaborative classroom, I let the students lead their learning as much as possible.

The kids said, “How did people originally interact with this text?”

They said, “Well, why don’t we do that? Can’t we just tell the story the way that HE would have?”

Vicki: Wow, so they memorized it? Or they just filmed it? Or how does this work?

Vicki: (laughs)

Marynn: Yeah! (laughs)

We talked about different tools, and we worked on, “Okay, how are we going to do this?” But most of them ended up deciding that they preferred actually doing spoken stories.

Most of them preferred actually doing spoken stories

So lots of different live performance options that the kids ended up preferring as they went along.

Vicki: Now did you film these? Did you capture these on film for the kids who weren’t there? How did that work?

Or, I mean we actually do have the books themselves. Sometimes the kids would say, “Don’t worry about it, Ms. Dause, I’m just going to read the chapter.”

The kids began to feel more confident in their reading ability

They would say, “Oh, I’ve already done my chapters with my group. I can handle this one. It won’t be a big deal.”

Marynn: I know what you mean.

“If we fail, and we’re right back to where we started, where we have less time to read the full things, so, go, go!” And the kids would cheer each other on.

Answering questions was a requirement for the performers

Then we would take a day after each round and prep for the next one, and anything they couldn’t fit in in class, that was their only homework.

Vicki: Marynn, before we started recording, you showed me that you have a lot of observations from your students that they had — things they wanted to share.

Tell us the things the students want everybody to hear and know about this method of approaching The Odyssey.

Marynn: Absolutely.

I did tell them, “I can’t find anybody else who’s done this before, so you are learning for all the schools in America, you might be, so who knows.”

A couple of major points. I asked them for highs, lows, and for advice that they would give other schools.

I asked them for highs, lows, and advice that they would give

Vicki: Awesome.

Marynn: Their highs, summarized, were that:

this is very creative and interesting

it’s engaged and made the text come alive

I felt that I could move and understand it

it was interactive and fun, lots of stars around fun

It improved my comprehension,

I learned a lot out of my comfort zone

I remember the whole story

Some of their lows were, “It’s time consuming!” (laughs)

Vicki: (laughs) Yeah, they had to work, right? (laughs)

Welcome to teaching, right? But it’s great that they’re doing it.

Marynn: Several of the kids said, “It was a lot more work than I expected.”

I did think it was interesting that they pointed out, “This is really fun and most of us prefer to do live acting, but that didn’t fit everybody’s style.”

They wanted to get that learning about the skills at the front end.

So they said, You really have to emphasize the Q&A structure.”

And we also, in the middle, we started having the groups to read a summary of their annotations before they performed. That way, we knew what we were looking for before they went on stage.

Vicki: But they recommend this for other classrooms?

Their advice column was actually the long one

Marynn: Absolutely, and their advice column was actually the longest one.

Vicki: So what’s their advice?

Marynn: I’m going to try to pick the most pertinent moments.

They said practice. Do not procrastinate. For the love of all that is good, make sure that you practice!

A lot of the kids said just do it. Just break out of your comfort zone.

Understand that everybody in the room is going to be doing the same thing, and the sillier you look, the more we enjoy it. So just GO.

Vicki: Yeah. Wow.

Marynn:Yeah, I thought that was good.

Vicki: (agrees)

Marynn: Several of them, I actually led some conflict resolution workshops because they found out the hard way that they didn’t know how to do conflict resolution.

Vicki: Yeah. And that’s so great about having teams and working in this way, because you’re teaching much more than your topic, and you’ve got done on time! We do want to say that!

Marynn: Yeah.

Vicki: So, Marynn, the thing I think I would like to most point out to our teachers, besides the fact that this is a fantastic teaching method…

But I like what you’ve modeled for us by going to your students and saying, “Students, what do you want to say to people about this method of teaching?”

They’re really doing most of this work in class, so their goof-off time goes away. A lot of kids want a little bit of goof-off time and they’re just not getting it, and we’re okay with that.

So remarkable educators, I think this is a fascinating way to teach. It’s a teaching oddysey in itself, and we’ve just learned so much.

So thank you! And tell your kids thanks!

Marynn: Oh, I certainly will.

Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford [email protected]

Bio as submitted

Blog: http://mdause.wixsite.com/thedauseclause

Twitter: @DauseClause

The post Literature Performance Odyssey with Drama and Student Leadership appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Literature Performance Odyssey with Drama and Student Leadership published first on https://medium.com/@seminarsacademy

0 notes

growthvue · 7 years ago

Text

Literature Performance Odyssey with Drama and Student Leadership

Marynn Dause on episode 318 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Listen Now

Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher

Stream by clicking here.

***

Enhanced Transcript

Marynn Dause: Literature Performance Odyssey

Link to show: www.coolcatteacher.com/e318 Date: May 23, 2018

Vicki: Today we’re talking with someone I made friends with on Twitter, Marynn Dause.

She is a ninth-grade literature teacher.

Marynn, you are doing something fascinating with teaching The Odyssey.

Tell us what you’re doing.

Marynn: Yes, hello, and hello to everyone listening.

My students and I were sort of stuck with two and a half weeks to tackle twenty-four books (or chapters) of The Odyssey by Homer.

We had 2 ½ weeks to cover 24 chapters

We have a very collaborative classroom, I let the students lead their learning as much as possible.

The kids said, “How did people originally interact with this text?”

They said, “Well, why don’t we do that? Can’t we just tell the story the way that HE would have?”

Vicki: Wow, so they memorized it? Or they just filmed it? Or how does this work?

Vicki: (laughs)

Marynn: Yeah! (laughs)

We talked about different tools, and we worked on, “Okay, how are we going to do this?” But most of them ended up deciding that they preferred actually doing spoken stories.

Most of them preferred actually doing spoken stories

So lots of different live performance options that the kids ended up preferring as they went along.

Vicki: Now did you film these? Did you capture these on film for the kids who weren’t there? How did that work?

Or, I mean we actually do have the books themselves. Sometimes the kids would say, “Don’t worry about it, Ms. Dause, I’m just going to read the chapter.”

The kids began to feel more confident in their reading ability

They would say, “Oh, I’ve already done my chapters with my group. I can handle this one. It won’t be a big deal.”

Marynn: I know what you mean.

“If we fail, and we’re right back to where we started, where we have less time to read the full things, so, go, go!” And the kids would cheer each other on.

Answering questions was a requirement for the performers

Then we would take a day after each round and prep for the next one, and anything they couldn’t fit in in class, that was their only homework.

Vicki: Marynn, before we started recording, you showed me that you have a lot of observations from your students that they had — things they wanted to share.

Tell us the things the students want everybody to hear and know about this method of approaching The Odyssey.

Marynn: Absolutely.

I did tell them, “I can’t find anybody else who’s done this before, so you are learning for all the schools in America, you might be, so who knows.”

A couple of major points. I asked them for highs, lows, and for advice that they would give other schools.

I asked them for highs, lows, and advice that they would give

Vicki: Awesome.

Marynn: Their highs, summarized, were that:

this is very creative and interesting

it’s engaged and made the text come alive

I felt that I could move and understand it

it was interactive and fun, lots of stars around fun

It improved my comprehension,

I learned a lot out of my comfort zone

I remember the whole story

Some of their lows were, “It’s time consuming!” (laughs)

Vicki: (laughs) Yeah, they had to work, right? (laughs)

Welcome to teaching, right? But it’s great that they’re doing it.

Marynn: Several of the kids said, “It was a lot more work than I expected.”

I did think it was interesting that they pointed out, “This is really fun and most of us prefer to do live acting, but that didn’t fit everybody’s style.”

They wanted to get that learning about the skills at the front end.

So they said, You really have to emphasize the Q&A structure.”

And we also, in the middle, we started having the groups to read a summary of their annotations before they performed. That way, we knew what we were looking for before they went on stage.

Vicki: But they recommend this for other classrooms?

Their advice column was actually the long one

Marynn: Absolutely, and their advice column was actually the longest one.

Vicki: So what’s their advice?

Marynn: I’m going to try to pick the most pertinent moments.

They said practice. Do not procrastinate. For the love of all that is good, make sure that you practice!

A lot of the kids said just do it. Just break out of your comfort zone.

Understand that everybody in the room is going to be doing the same thing, and the sillier you look, the more we enjoy it. So just GO.

Vicki: Yeah. Wow.

Marynn:Yeah, I thought that was good.

Vicki: (agrees)

Marynn: Several of them, I actually led some conflict resolution workshops because they found out the hard way that they didn’t know how to do conflict resolution.

Vicki: Yeah. And that’s so great about having teams and working in this way, because you’re teaching much more than your topic, and you’ve got done on time! We do want to say that!

Marynn: Yeah.

Vicki: So, Marynn, the thing I think I would like to most point out to our teachers, besides the fact that this is a fantastic teaching method…

But I like what you’ve modeled for us by going to your students and saying, “Students, what do you want to say to people about this method of teaching?”

They’re really doing most of this work in class, so their goof-off time goes away. A lot of kids want a little bit of goof-off time and they’re just not getting it, and we’re okay with that.

So remarkable educators, I think this is a fascinating way to teach. It’s a teaching oddysey in itself, and we’ve just learned so much.

So thank you! And tell your kids thanks!

Marynn: Oh, I certainly will.

Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford [email protected]

Bio as submitted

Blog: http://mdause.wixsite.com/thedauseclause

Twitter: @DauseClause

The post Literature Performance Odyssey with Drama and Student Leadership appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Literature Performance Odyssey with Drama and Student Leadership published first on https://getnewdlbusiness.tumblr.com/

0 notes

patriciaanderson357-blog · 7 years ago

Text

Literature Performance Odyssey with Drama and Student Leadership

Marynn Dause on episode 318 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Listen Now

Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher

Stream by clicking here.

***

Enhanced Transcript

Marynn Dause: Literature Performance Odyssey

Link to show: www.coolcatteacher.com/e318 Date: May 23, 2018

Vicki: Today we’re talking with someone I made friends with on Twitter, Marynn Dause.

She is a ninth-grade literature teacher.

Marynn, you are doing something fascinating with teaching The Odyssey.

Tell us what you’re doing.

Marynn: Yes, hello, and hello to everyone listening.

My students and I were sort of stuck with two and a half weeks to tackle twenty-four books (or chapters) of The Odyssey by Homer.

We had 2 ½ weeks to cover 24 chapters

We have a very collaborative classroom, I let the students lead their learning as much as possible.

The kids said, “How did people originally interact with this text?”

They said, “Well, why don’t we do that? Can’t we just tell the story the way that HE would have?”

Vicki: Wow, so they memorized it? Or they just filmed it? Or how does this work?

Vicki: (laughs)

Marynn: Yeah! (laughs)

We talked about different tools, and we worked on, “Okay, how are we going to do this?” But most of them ended up deciding that they preferred actually doing spoken stories.

Most of them preferred actually doing spoken stories

So lots of different live performance options that the kids ended up preferring as they went along.

Vicki: Now did you film these? Did you capture these on film for the kids who weren’t there? How did that work?

Or, I mean we actually do have the books themselves. Sometimes the kids would say, “Don’t worry about it, Ms. Dause, I’m just going to read the chapter.”

The kids began to feel more confident in their reading ability

They would say, “Oh, I’ve already done my chapters with my group. I can handle this one. It won’t be a big deal.”

Marynn: I know what you mean.

“If we fail, and we’re right back to where we started, where we have less time to read the full things, so, go, go!” And the kids would cheer each other on.

Answering questions was a requirement for the performers

Then we would take a day after each round and prep for the next one, and anything they couldn’t fit in in class, that was their only homework.

Vicki: Marynn, before we started recording, you showed me that you have a lot of observations from your students that they had — things they wanted to share.

Tell us the things the students want everybody to hear and know about this method of approaching The Odyssey.

Marynn: Absolutely.

I did tell them, “I can’t find anybody else who’s done this before, so you are learning for all the schools in America, you might be, so who knows.”

A couple of major points. I asked them for highs, lows, and for advice that they would give other schools.

I asked them for highs, lows, and advice that they would give

Vicki: Awesome.

Marynn: Their highs, summarized, were that:

this is very creative and interesting

it’s engaged and made the text come alive

I felt that I could move and understand it

it was interactive and fun, lots of stars around fun

It improved my comprehension,

I learned a lot out of my comfort zone

I remember the whole story

Some of their lows were, “It’s time consuming!” (laughs)

Vicki: (laughs) Yeah, they had to work, right? (laughs)

Welcome to teaching, right? But it’s great that they’re doing it.

Marynn: Several of the kids said, “It was a lot more work than I expected.”

I did think it was interesting that they pointed out, “This is really fun and most of us prefer to do live acting, but that didn’t fit everybody’s style.”

They wanted to get that learning about the skills at the front end.

So they said, You really have to emphasize the Q&A structure.”

And we also, in the middle, we started having the groups to read a summary of their annotations before they performed. That way, we knew what we were looking for before they went on stage.

Vicki: But they recommend this for other classrooms?

Their advice column was actually the long one

Marynn: Absolutely, and their advice column was actually the longest one.

Vicki: So what’s their advice?

Marynn: I’m going to try to pick the most pertinent moments.

They said practice. Do not procrastinate. For the love of all that is good, make sure that you practice!

A lot of the kids said just do it. Just break out of your comfort zone.

Understand that everybody in the room is going to be doing the same thing, and the sillier you look, the more we enjoy it. So just GO.

Vicki: Yeah. Wow.

Marynn:Yeah, I thought that was good.

Vicki: (agrees)

Marynn: Several of them, I actually led some conflict resolution workshops because they found out the hard way that they didn’t know how to do conflict resolution.

Vicki: Yeah. And that’s so great about having teams and working in this way, because you’re teaching much more than your topic, and you’ve got done on time! We do want to say that!

Marynn: Yeah.

Vicki: So, Marynn, the thing I think I would like to most point out to our teachers, besides the fact that this is a fantastic teaching method…

But I like what you’ve modeled for us by going to your students and saying, “Students, what do you want to say to people about this method of teaching?”

They’re really doing most of this work in class, so their goof-off time goes away. A lot of kids want a little bit of goof-off time and they’re just not getting it, and we’re okay with that.

So remarkable educators, I think this is a fascinating way to teach. It’s a teaching oddysey in itself, and we’ve just learned so much.

So thank you! And tell your kids thanks!

Marynn: Oh, I certainly will.

Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford [email protected]

Bio as submitted

Blog: http://mdause.wixsite.com/thedauseclause

Twitter: @DauseClause

The post Literature Performance Odyssey with Drama and Student Leadership appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

0 notes

ralph31ortiz · 7 years ago

Text

Literature Performance Odyssey with Drama and Student Leadership

Marynn Dause on episode 318 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Listen Now

Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher

Stream by clicking here.

***

Enhanced Transcript

Marynn Dause: Literature Performance Odyssey

Link to show: www.coolcatteacher.com/e318 Date: May 23, 2018

Vicki: Today we’re talking with someone I made friends with on Twitter, Marynn Dause.

She is a ninth-grade literature teacher.

Marynn, you are doing something fascinating with teaching The Odyssey.

Tell us what you’re doing.

Marynn: Yes, hello, and hello to everyone listening.

My students and I were sort of stuck with two and a half weeks to tackle twenty-four books (or chapters) of The Odyssey by Homer.

We had 2 ½ weeks to cover 24 chapters

We have a very collaborative classroom, I let the students lead their learning as much as possible.

The kids said, “How did people originally interact with this text?”

They said, “Well, why don’t we do that? Can’t we just tell the story the way that HE would have?”

Vicki: Wow, so they memorized it? Or they just filmed it? Or how does this work?

Vicki: (laughs)

Marynn: Yeah! (laughs)

We talked about different tools, and we worked on, “Okay, how are we going to do this?” But most of them ended up deciding that they preferred actually doing spoken stories.

Most of them preferred actually doing spoken stories

So lots of different live performance options that the kids ended up preferring as they went along.

Vicki: Now did you film these? Did you capture these on film for the kids who weren’t there? How did that work?

Or, I mean we actually do have the books themselves. Sometimes the kids would say, “Don’t worry about it, Ms. Dause, I’m just going to read the chapter.”

The kids began to feel more confident in their reading ability

They would say, “Oh, I’ve already done my chapters with my group. I can handle this one. It won’t be a big deal.”

Marynn: I know what you mean.

“If we fail, and we’re right back to where we started, where we have less time to read the full things, so, go, go!” And the kids would cheer each other on.

Answering questions was a requirement for the performers

Then we would take a day after each round and prep for the next one, and anything they couldn’t fit in in class, that was their only homework.

Vicki: Marynn, before we started recording, you showed me that you have a lot of observations from your students that they had — things they wanted to share.

Tell us the things the students want everybody to hear and know about this method of approaching The Odyssey.

Marynn: Absolutely.

I did tell them, “I can’t find anybody else who’s done this before, so you are learning for all the schools in America, you might be, so who knows.”

A couple of major points. I asked them for highs, lows, and for advice that they would give other schools.

I asked them for highs, lows, and advice that they would give

Vicki: Awesome.

Marynn: Their highs, summarized, were that:

this is very creative and interesting

it’s engaged and made the text come alive

I felt that I could move and understand it

it was interactive and fun, lots of stars around fun

It improved my comprehension,

I learned a lot out of my comfort zone

I remember the whole story

Some of their lows were, “It’s time consuming!” (laughs)

Vicki: (laughs) Yeah, they had to work, right? (laughs)

Welcome to teaching, right? But it’s great that they’re doing it.

Marynn: Several of the kids said, “It was a lot more work than I expected.”

I did think it was interesting that they pointed out, “This is really fun and most of us prefer to do live acting, but that didn’t fit everybody’s style.”

They wanted to get that learning about the skills at the front end.

So they said, You really have to emphasize the Q&A structure.”

And we also, in the middle, we started having the groups to read a summary of their annotations before they performed. That way, we knew what we were looking for before they went on stage.

Vicki: But they recommend this for other classrooms?

Their advice column was actually the long one

Marynn: Absolutely, and their advice column was actually the longest one.

Vicki: So what’s their advice?

Marynn: I’m going to try to pick the most pertinent moments.

They said practice. Do not procrastinate. For the love of all that is good, make sure that you practice!

A lot of the kids said just do it. Just break out of your comfort zone.

Understand that everybody in the room is going to be doing the same thing, and the sillier you look, the more we enjoy it. So just GO.

Vicki: Yeah. Wow.

Marynn:Yeah, I thought that was good.

Vicki: (agrees)

Marynn: Several of them, I actually led some conflict resolution workshops because they found out the hard way that they didn’t know how to do conflict resolution.

Vicki: Yeah. And that’s so great about having teams and working in this way, because you’re teaching much more than your topic, and you’ve got done on time! We do want to say that!

Marynn: Yeah.

Vicki: So, Marynn, the thing I think I would like to most point out to our teachers, besides the fact that this is a fantastic teaching method…

But I like what you’ve modeled for us by going to your students and saying, “Students, what do you want to say to people about this method of teaching?”

They’re really doing most of this work in class, so their goof-off time goes away. A lot of kids want a little bit of goof-off time and they’re just not getting it, and we’re okay with that.

So remarkable educators, I think this is a fascinating way to teach. It’s a teaching oddysey in itself, and we’ve just learned so much.

So thank you! And tell your kids thanks!

Marynn: Oh, I certainly will.

Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford [email protected]

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Twitter: @DauseClause

The post Literature Performance Odyssey with Drama and Student Leadership appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

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