On Tuesday, January 23, 2007 I observed Mrs. Diaz's third period drama class at Muir Middle School. As I arrived at the school, I noticed the surroundings of the school, as it is located next to the elementary school. The facilities seem rather old and run down and majority of the student population is of Latino descent or African American descent. As I got there, I noticed that the students had a hard time keeping track of what periods they were suppose to be attending or whether it was nutrition time or not. I was kind of confused as well to learn that during this day the kids would only attend 3 periods from their normal schedules (normal schedule is Thursdays), and depending if it is and odd or even day the periods also change. The school is also run on a track system, so some students go off track while others attend. As I sat in the class, I really liked Mrs. Diaz way of encouraging the kids to follow their dreams in their art forms. I also noticed that the way she disciplined her kids was by telling them that she would call their parents if they did not do something she had asked of them or if they didn't behave. The kids have a lot of talent but they are rather shy and have not yet gained that confidence to know that they are truly talented kids. I enjoyed watching how much they actually enjoy their class and how happy they are to be with one another. Yet observing the class I noticed that only a few selected few got to participate in the class while the others were mostly part of the “audience”. Some kids just seemed to be there, although they paid attention to the play by Lexington Hughes and knew the occurring themes, they seemed like they weren’t engaged as much as they would have like to be. I look forward to working with them, but am kind of hesitant on how receptive they might be to my work because they seem so focused on drama and acting. I believe that they will enjoy being able to be active members of their class rather than just observing while selective few get to shine.

Hoping we all enjoy the blog

I'm very happy for having this space to share our ideas and experiences. Hope to see you all contribuiting for the success of this special space.