No Holiday Potluck and Performance this Year!

I am sorry that the decision has been made NOT to hold the annual potluck that has been a tradition in our B.Ed. Program for the past several years. I did not want to overwhelm you with Performance plans before your Practicum and the Art Show, but I was planning to show you, when we got back, how a whole school performance can be pulled together quite quickly, with small groups contributing from their strengths and from learning that has previously occurred, such as the Green Onions Hand Jive or the Step Sisters dance. Drama pieces around a theme can be inserted without endless rehearsing using Readers' Theatre or Poems for Two Voices. A possible title might have been "EY Rocks, Jingles, Claps and Stomps! We might have used "Dear Santa, I can Explain..." as a theme, with short vignettes or dialogues drawn from children's literature, as demonstrated in the mini-skits presented by the Drama Strength group. However, another key piece of learning that I hoped you would acquire in this course is that traditions and special events in schools must be flexible and decisions for each year must be made in response to current needs or priorities, for example, to protect learning time, manage scheduling difficulties,or to reduce workload or stress. So this year, we are sad not to have this special time to come together as a larger community. But I am also quite sure that at least some of you are relieved that the pressure of preparing a performance for your peers is off.If you are disappointed because you had a great vision or a role you hoped to play, please save all your good ideas - you'll need them when you are teaching and they will not go to waste! And one more thing about grading for 406 - we will move the "performance" emphasis in your blogs to our third assignment, with group presentations in our last class - I'll explain and demonstrate when we get back. Part of the 50% mark for your blog will now be on your thoughts about the classroom presentation for this third assignment rather than about your contribution to a Holiday Potluck Performance.