Inservice on Reader's Theatre and Movement

I spent the morning at Salter enjoying the Pat Yates inservice on Reader's Theatre. Since this concept is built into our reading series, it only makes sense to have a little help with how to do it better and how to interject some new ideas. From the smiles on faces, this seemed to be one you enjoyed, and it was certainly not a "sit and get."




I heard equally good things about Mary Foshee's work with grades K-2 at R. L. Young.



Pat Yates talked briefly about the joint production of To Kill a Mockingbird in which Mountain Brook High School and Fairfield High School joined forces. Here is a YouTube video featuring still shots and music (and yes, the music is actually those students singing) from that production.) Realize that YouTube is blocked from within our school system, so you can view the video from home.




Here is an article from The Washington Post on the performance. The production was also the subject of a PBS documentary and was featured on the Today Show. You may also read the Resolution from the Alabama State Board of Education.

These inservice activities were made possible by grants from the Talladega City Schools Foundation, the Alabama State Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment on the Arts.

Performances at the Ritz

The Ritz is sponsoring two professional productions exclusively targeting first through 4th graders.

Rapunzel is being presented on Tuesday, October 28th at 11:00 for 3rd and 4th graders.

The City Mouse and the Country Mouse is being presented Monday, November 17th at 11:00 for 1st and 2nd graders.

Both performances are being offered free of charge to our students. Thanks to George Culver and the Historic Ritz Theatre for bringing these opportunities to our students.

Thanks for a Great In-Service!

Thanks to our elementary teachers for a great in-service this morning! It was fun, and it was significant. Providing students with a well-rounded education is no small task, particularly when we can never be quite sure what tomorrow's world is going to demand from our young people.

If we can arm them with a firm command of basic knowledge, they may do OK. If we can augment all of that with the ability to think critically, to look at what everyone else has looked at yet see what nobody else has seen, to get up in front of other and be animated and interesting, and to not takes themselves or anybody else too seriously, then I have a feeling we are sending them into the world prepared to succeed.