Dying detectives and a morning at the theater...

During the week of December 15-19 we read drama, discussed drama, and saw it performed at the theater.

Early in the week, students got a taste of Sherlock Holmes when they read The Dying Detective, a play in which Holmes is featured. The Dying Detective is a short play based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's story, "The Adventure of the Dying Detective". Students broke up into groups of 4-5 and read the script aloud. Following their group reading, they discussed topics such as Holmes's creative methods of catching criminals, the props that would be necessary to stage this play, and the purpose of the play's stage directions. The Dying Detective is the first of two plays we will read in class as part of our drama unit.

On Wednesday we braved the sleet, snow, and chilly temperatures and traveled to the Berklee Performance Center in Boston to take part in the theater experience and watch five plays put on by the Chamber Theater, a national touring company that performs adaptations of short stories for middle and high school students.

Below is a list of the plays we saw. The plays that are written in bold type are short stories that we read in class in anticipation of our trip to the theater.

• "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe
• "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving
• "The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs
• "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant
• "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" by Mark Twain

If you haven't done so already, check in with your child to see how he or she enjoyed the theater.

Returned Assignments

Open Response #1 (a 20-point assignment) about the characteristics of a short story was returned to students this week.  Students evaluated their own work and reflected on the areas where they succeeded and the areas where they could improve.

Have a safe and happy holiday! See you in 2009!