Professions of the Elizabethan Era

Its Friday tomorrow right? This week already feels incredibly long and its only Tuesday :( Although I have to say that the best part of my day yesterday was my Mommy. She came to the Springs for a Dr. Appt but brought me lunch and Mommy-food. For those of you who remember the care packages... its that but better because she brings just-cooked stuff too!! MMMMmmmmmm :)

So today I had my first official "lesson" to teach in Shakespeare. I think my fellow MATs are getting a bit of a different experience because, while Dedra is delighted to have me there, we have a focus (getting the play done by next week!) and we don't have time for much else. I keep hearing about these hour-long activities and lesson plans and such that other people are doing, but I was told to keep it very short.... So it was short and sweet but it went well! I started by dressing up (borrowing a hat from Dedra's costume box) as a Cheese Monger - someone who sells cheese. I was pretending to write a letter (with quill/scroll) as the kids came in this morning and asked them to gather-round and help me. I read them my letter (to my Mom who lived in Canterbury) about my life as a Master Cheese Monger in Elizabethan London... telling them about my day, my brother the baker, his new apprentice, going to see a play at the Globe theatre, etc. etc. Then I asked for their help in what else I could write about... they gave some fun ideas -- talk about the rats and the plague, the lords and ladies who come to my shop, etc. Then I had them draw a paper out of a bag -- half of them got a modern-day job (pharmacist, dentist, banker, etc) and half of them got a Elizabethan job (apothecary, cordwainer, haberdasher, etc.) I had picked some hard ones, so they had a fun time trying to figure them out... a few had to read the description on the inside of their paper before they found their match. The best part was that for a project to work on (when they weren't painting the set or rehearsing) was to pick a profession and write a letter to their family pretending to be an apprentice and telling about their life just like I had read to them. They came up with INCREDIBLE stories! They were so great -- being an apothecary and not being able to help people with the plague, being a blacksmith and almost cutting off their thumb, being a cook in the royal kitchen. I was just tickled :) They got up to share at the end of the class today and it was so fun to hear them read.

In afternoon-class we have moved from Language Arts in the classroom to Social Studies. Its not as much fun because I really don't like Social Studies at all, but I suppose that means I should pay that much more attention so I can make it fun to teach and therefore fun to learn :) That sounds good in theory, and I have some good ideas.... so, we'll see. Part of this portion of the class is doing a group lesson -- so my group is developing a lesson on the early history of the Colorado Springs/Pike's Peak area. Should be interesting as I know nothing about it!! Tonight I have to read a education magazine/journal and summarize some "idea"of how to teach something to the class tomorrow. Mine is geography, so hopefully it has something fun I can pull out. Also its very rumbly and thundery outside so I should get off the computer :)