DINO

I've never felt more useless. I worked so hard today to be allowed at rehearsal. I worked so hard last night trying to get caught up in my work so that my 'play probation' would be over. And I did it. I got enough work done on my extended essay, and enough ToK done, and I made an agreement with Mr. Hyer to be 'caught up' in CAS, and at 3:25 I was told I could be apart of the show and rehearsal today.

I don't think I've ever felt that emotion. Hearing that I got the "OK" from mr Hyer nearly brought me to tears. It did, actually, bring me to tears when I walked into the theatre room.

I lost DINO for a day. DINO has been everything to me. I managed to get a lead role, something I never even planned on getting. Like I've said, I never planned on auditioning, it was a spur of the moment thing. But that spur of the moment thing has brought me here.

I've gone through a lot with this show. I've been putting everything I have into it. I'm trying to learn my lines, I'm trying to take every note I'm given and apply it for next time, but in all honestly I don't think it's working.

Especially after today, I feel as though I'm not deserving of this part. I'm trying and trying to learn my lines, but every rehearsal I feel like I have nothing to show for it. Today's rehearsal was painful. I mean this emotionally, of course.

I was all over the place in my lines. Right now it's at the point where I absolutely cannot be this poor at lines. Show is in two weeks, and I still have so much more to do.

I'm still workign on character, I'm still working on lines, I'm still working on blocking. I shouldnt be working on them anymore. And if I had to be working on them, I should be almost perfect. I am no where near that. I'm not sure if I'm going to be either.

My faith in myself isnt strong at this moment in time. I need to step it up. I'm not sure how I'm going to do it. But there is a reahearsal this Thursday and my goal is to get through the full run through with very little pauses of lines.

MUN

I havent been able to attend MUN lately. I've been busy.

I did, however, go to my first debate practice. It was nerve wracking.

I played it safe and didn't speak much. I decided that the mock debate would have been better learning for me if I used it to observe.


I learnd a lot from a 40 minute debate. I've learned that I should be demanding in my questions and jump on any and all faults in the other teams arguments. There is a debate in a couple weeks that I'll be applying what I've learned.

Destination Imagination

And so it begins! My team has chosen our challenge (due to team issues which I'll discuss later) but I do not know what it is..

It's been a really poor start. I don't get along with one of our team members, I won't give a name, but this has happened for the past two years.

We clash when we work together because of our differences in our ideas. Yesterday during our meeting I was yelled at for "controlling" the team.

I wasn't controlling, I was helping another by giving them a challenge to look at, I didn't know it was ours. But --- didn't understand that.

This makes me really nervous. We cannot have a repeat of last year. We cannot be arguing at our first "meeting". As a team we're meeting later this week to discuss things from last year that went well and went poorly.

We're also going to insitute a "constitution" of rules and agreements that we are going to follow so that we can work better together and get things done.

I'll blog on that as soon as it happens. Meeting should be Friday at lunch.

DINO - Two Weeks

I honestly don't think I've ever been more stressed out in my life. I'm supposed to be off bok for Dino. Today is our first FULL run through of the show. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'm nervous, that's how I feel. I think I'm off book, but I don't know. I've always had the crutch of calling "line" when I forget during rehearsal but no longer are we allowed to do so.

The show's in two weeks, and I'm freaking out. Completely and totally freaking out. I never realized how much pressure comes with being the lead role of a play that EVERYONE is talking about. The show is called Dino. I am Dino. I am the show. Alright, that's dramatic, but it's pretty much true.

Everyone is depending on me right now, on a side note. My grades are slipping and they're conflicting with my participation in Dino. At this point I am on "Play Probabtion" and can't attend rehearsal until my grades in ToK, EE, and CAS are up.

Speaking of CAS, here's how Dino has gone so far. I've never been a lead role, so I'm still learning. I've never actually had a  role in which I'm being given stage direction after stage direction, after blocking, after vocal notes, after movement notes, SO MANY NOTES.

This play's teaching me a lot, and I'm proud to be apart of it. I'm learning how to be a better actor, something I'm striving to be. I'm learning how to be patient, too. Things aren't just going to be perfect over night. Everyday I learn something new that I have to change, or do better, or do at all.

MUN

MUN has started, and so far so...not so well. I didn't get to attend the meeting today (group 4 presentation) but that's ok. We haven't gotten our country yet, so right now we're more just talking. There's an MUN blog that I'm following to keep up with meetings that I've missed.

Gotta get this one better journaled. Will do soon!

Destination Imagination

DI hasn't officially started, according to the season. But as a school and team we've started. My team includes Myself, Tildy, Blake and Eric. We're ready this year, and sad to see Lauren not participate. We've chosen to do the Improv Challenge, like we did our first year. We've started (as a school) dealing with the money issues. We are required to pay a lotmore money this year for the activity and in order to do so we've discussed fundraising.

We're selling carnations again this year. It's previously worked well in the past and we're hoping that it does so again this year. I'm starting my selling this Friday during break and lunch.

Nothing really to reflect upon yet, just that it's really stressful trying to raise so much money in such little time. Crossing our fingers!

Oh, and my team needs a new coach, so that's a team challenge that we're trying to work through. So far we have afew ideas but no official coach or possibilities. Still looking! I'm thinking about asking Mrs. Botsford to coach ust his year.

Prom Committee

Prom committee has been an interesting activity so far. I'm having trouble making some of the thursday meetings during lunch due to another committment to MUN, but i've been keeping up. What I've been doing so far is doing actual work outside the meetings. For example, during Open House I sat the entire time at a table promoting our fundraiser for the gift cards, the tag sale, etc. Tonight (October 20) I'm working with Lauren McCann at the open mic night to acquire more tickets for the gift card raffle.

I'm excited this year to be apart of prom committee. I've never done it before so I'm afraid to speak up. I wish I was able to always attend the meetings regulary, and I'm hoping that I Can start. MUN has moved dates for meeting so that is definitely a plus.

STAGE - DINO - Almost Off Book

Dino is going...well. It's been tough so far. I've never realised just how much work is involved being the lead of a school play. I have to say that being the lead actor is a hell of a lot different than being the stage manager. I'm always wanting to be directing other actors and it's real tough triyng to keep my mouth shut. I feel like authoritatative, which obviously makes sense. It's also kind of nice to be less authoritative, despite my desire to be.
I like being told what to do. It's one less thing I need to do (tell people how to act). I enjoy being told where to walk, how to walk, what to say, how to say it, etc. It's also really hard. There's so much that I'm always being told to do, so many notes that I have to write down. The tough part is all the blocking. There's always new blocking, always things changing. It's tough to keep up with it all, but I'm doing my best.
 Somthing that I'm personally having trouble with, actually somethings that I'm having trouble with include:

• Articulation
• Lines
• Pacing
• Pauses

My biggest thing though are my lines. The off book date is NEXT WEEK. October 29th to be exact. For the most part I'm off book. My problem is being confident in myself to know the lines. I've studied them over and over until I've fallen asleep, but I can't seem to bring this to the stage to show it. I'm in need of the crutch that a script provides and I'm really nervous for next thursday when I will literally have that crutch taken away.

Now Cast : DINO - STAGE

The school play has officially been cast and rehearsals have begun. It's been two weeks since this activity has started and there's a lot to reflect upon.

First off, my "goals" for this activity have changed. Why, you ask? Well, I have become unable to be the Lights/Sound Manager due to a last minute decision to audition for the show instead. I wasn't planning on auditioning, considering the work I have going on with my classes and the IB. But then on Thursday when I showed up to watch and get a feel for the show I couldnt help my self. I filled out the audition form and was auditioning for a role.

The cast list went up the next day (although there was an issue that I'm going to address in just a few moments) and I was cast as the lead role. This was a huge moment when I found out and I was extremely excited and proud of myself. The only thing that bothers me slightly about it is that I'm afraid that I only recieved the lead role because I am a senior and devoted to the STAGE program. I've been assured that this is not the case, and that I've earned the role because of my talent and potential, but I cannot help but feel like that.
The issue that came up was that the night after I auditioned I recieved a call from Chelsea Corners, our Stage Manager. She told me of my potential role. It was potential because she was calling to tell me that I needed to meet with her, Mrs. Botsford and Brian Paul to discuss the situation. Brian and I have not been friends lately and are currently on very bad terms. They needed to determine if we could work together. Anyways, we werent supposed to know of our roles, so it put me in an awkward situation when people found out. Now, I'd like to point out that I had no idea I was not supposed to know. Regardless it still put Mrs. Botsford, Chelsea, myself, and Brian in an awkward situation. It has since been worked out.

So rehearsals have started. There have been 4 so far. We did a complete read through of the play in the first two days and it went extremely well. We all were so into our characters and the show. It was a great start. Then we started blocking some of the act 1 scenes, and that went pretty well. I've never personally worked under Mrs. Botsford as an actor, so it's really interesting and different to be doing so. She has a completely different directing style than Mrs. Yalden, who has been my main "director" of shows/skits/scenes/etc. We've been doing more blocking and working on the scenes and it's going really well so far.

More to follow at the end of this week. I will blog on a weekly basis, not on a daily. That way I can reflect upon the week as a whole, seeing how we rehearse twice a week.

Trip To Abbey Kelly Foster Journal/Reflection

The Trip that I went on today to the Abbey Kelly Foster Charter School in Worcester, Mass was such a rewarding experience. I had no idea what to expect on the ride up there and me and the six other students that went on the trip were speculating on what was going to happen and what we would say. I myself only expected to talk to a few of the administration people but I was so wrong. We sat down with all the kids who are taking on the IB program this coming school year (there was about 14-16 students) and some of the teachers. We also talked with the IB Coordinator at the school. Mainly Mr. Steedman talked to him. We (the students) talked mainly with the AKF students to begin with. We first went to the cafeteria in the new building that the charter school just opened yesterday and sat down at two of the tables. We ate lunch and eventually started talking to the AKF students. They had no idea what to expect from the IB and seemed very hesitant with their questions. We, especially myself, were/was unsure of where to even begin. We really had no idea brand new IB students (who had no knowledge of the program) were going to be there as well so it was even more of a challenge for us. I was sitting at one of the tables with Justine and Marrissa and we kept looking at each other hoping one of us was going to have some idea of what to say. Eventually we were lucky and one of the kids asked us one question. "Is it really hard?" The three of us looked at each other and sort of gave a bit of nervous laughter. "Yes." The three of us were in perfect agreement. And it went from there. Our answer got other students to want to ask their questions, mainly about the classes and things like that. We talked until the teachers from AKF told us that we were going to move into the lecture hall. Now the seven of us were lined up in the front of the room, in front of five of AKF's teachers, their IB coordinator and all of the IB students.

I have two things to say about this shift of scenery. It first made it easier for us (the Sturgis Students) to answer and talk to the whole group (including the students who sat at the other table AND the teachers.) But secondly, it really made the students more hesitant to speak up. There were only a few students out of the 14-16 that were really asking questions. The others were watching and listening to us seven speak, but they all seemed to want to ask something. The teachers had lots of questions of us, and Mr. Steedman prompted us with questions of his own to get us to speak. We talked about the HL/SL courses, which we took and the differences. We talked about work loads and homework. We briefly touched upon the IAs we do. We talked a lot about the extended essay. Each of us told them our topic or the idea and direction we were going in. A major focus of our IB discussion was TOK. There was so much to say and we could only say so much so as to not confuse them, or scare them away! We gave them person stories and experiences we went through (good and bad) and shared with them a piece of advice. We were honest with them, and that was the best part. We didn't try to make the IB seem like something easy, because it isn't. We wanted both the students and teachers to know exactly what they were about to take on from first hand accounts.

The learning objectives I aimed to achieve were 4. Worked collaboratively with others and 6. Engaged with issues of global importance. I think I managed to reach both objectives.

I had to work alongside six other students from my senior class to accuarately explain the IB program in a way that was easy to understand. This wasn't so hard to do. I have been going to school with the other six students that went up to Worcester for three years going on four. I've been in and out of classes with each of them and we've all been through the same thing. Together the seven of us shared our experiences of the ups and downs of our first year through the IB program. We worked off of what one person said. Prompted each other, and let everyone get their fair share of talk time.

Then for global importance issues, I think this trip as definitely of that. The seven of us (eight counting Mr. Steedman) traveled up to Worcester for one thing: To tell AKF Charter School what we know and wish to share about the IB program. The IB is all about worldy things, hence the International part. We wanted to tell them about the IB, to brace them for the next two years ahead of them. We wanted to inspire them to do their best in this program, to keep pushing, and to follow through. If more people were getting out in the community and traveling to other schools (as Sturgis likes to do whenever the oppurtunity arises) the IB could become a lot more known. This was just a start of what the seven of us who went on the trip wish to do. We talked more on the way back from the school about what we can do. We loved talking to the school and students. We even want to go to other schools to tell them about it. I want to be apart of something thats going to get more people involved in the program, and this trip is just the beginning.

STAGE Reflection

STAGE has come to its conclusion for the year. There is so much that I want to talk about, but I’m going to keep this as reflective as I can.

I started STAGE as a simple member. I heard about it, joined, went to a few meetings, but then I realized something. STAGE was getting out of control. I approached Ms. Heick about how I felt and she decided to make me one of STAGE’s two officers. It was such an honor to have been chosen for this leadership role in the group and I knew then that STAGE was going to be the most rewarding experience for me all school year.

I chose to use learning objectives 2 and 5 and I feel like I have met both of them. Objective two is undertaken new challenges. I did this for the STAGE winter production of A Simple Task. I was not on STAGE for the show, I was not designing costumes, I was not building a set, I was Stage Managing. And I’ve never done that before. I’ve never been that involved in theater until this year and all of a sudden I decided to become basically a co-director. I was involved in every decision made from the auditions to the actual character personalities and costumes and set and everything else. I sat through every audition. Took notes on every auditioner and then sat with Ms. Heick and discussed each of them. It was a tough process. Choosing who to task was nerve racking. I never realized how much work putting on a show actually is. Director’s make it look so easy but it was a long process to get to our final product. Most of my role as STAGE manager was to oversea everything that went on. Ms. Heick was always actively working with actors while I was quietly observing, quietly working until the final week of rehearsals. Tech Week was when I stepped up. A Stage Manager really only shows significance when it gets to this point. Because once it comes down to opening night the director takes her place backstage or in the Wings and takes a step back. During the show I was constantly running around making sure my cast was in position or ready or SOMETHING. This activity helped me realize that I have the potential to hold leadership roles.

Objective Five is a little harder to reflect upon. It’s the one about showing perserverance and commitment in my activity. But I look back and I think to myself “there were so many times when I said to myself: ‘Dylan, this is not even worth it.’” There was one actor, and to be polite I will not mention his name, that was so difficult to work with. He didn’t take the notes and critisim that were always given out to specific people after rehearsals. He never showed improvement until the night or the night before of the show. He made me nervous because I felt that one actor was going to ruin the show and I just kept thinking “Why do we even bother trying?” But we did try and we did push to make him go on stage and put on a FABULOUS display of great acting. I was blown away and I was glad that I helped push him to get where he was. There was also one scene that included a “passionate embrace.” We (Ms. Heick and I) wanted to have the two characters actually kiss. So we tried it out. The “stage kiss” didn’t work. It just looked fake, so Ms. Heick wanted to cut it. But I knew that the scene NEEDED the kiss to be in there for it to be great like all the others. So I told Ms. Heick that I wanted to keep it and she told me to work with Brian and Emily on it and if she liked what she saw it would be kept. So I worked with Brian and Emily and when we worked alone it was great but it was too awkward for them to do it in front of the rest of the cast so Ms. Heick pushed to cut it. At first I said “ok” because she gave me my chance and I failed. But then I kept seeing how the scene didn’t work and I worked with them again because I knew that I could make it work. And I did. I showed so much perservance with this play that I brought the scene to its next level and Ms. Heick was definitely pleased with the results.

I was pleased with the results. STAGE did prove to be a rewarding experience, and not just because it was a great way to goof off when we weren’t doing a show and play games. Even when we weren’t doing a show I was still keeping my Officer position. I even ran a couple meetings on my own when Ms. Heick couldn’t. STAGE has helped me develop new theater skills that I know are going to help me in other areas as well.

Sturgis Singers Reflection

Sturgis Singers has finally come to a close. After a year of hard work on our music we finally ended at the Senior class of 2009’s graduation. We sang our final piece with two of the people that have been the heart and soul of the group for so long this afternoon.

I went in to Sturgis Singers for many reasons. My reasons that I put for CAS were learning objectives 1 (to increase my awareness of my own strength and areas for growth) and number 2 (undertake new challenges).

So objective number 1….This was not my first time singing in a choir. I Started last year doing the lunch chorus and then later transferred in to the Chorus 10 class. I had previously had the ability (and talent) to sing (well) so this was not a new challenge for me. At first I felt that I wasn’t learning much. I had conflicts with the way Ms. Davis taught things and didn’t appreciate what she was teaching the group. But now as I reflect upon what I have done this year I think “Wow, I learned SO much.” I learned so many things I never even dreamed about. So many terms that I had no knowledge of! I had no idea what a run, or a ritardando, or a descant, or a bridge, or any of the fancy musical terms that she used. I also learned a lot more about how to better control my breaths; for example I had poor breath control when I started this, and I displayed that at my audition. But now I have learned when and where it is ok to take a large breath, when to take a sneak breath, and when to just simply use the breath I have when I have to hold long notes. Ms. Davis taught me a lot.

So as far as objective number 2 goes, I don’t really think I took on any new challenges. Previously I had hoped that Sturgis Singers would help be take on new challenges but looking back I realize that I did the same things I also did before, just at a more advanced level.

However, I do think that I met learning objective 4 even if I did not plan on that. Objective four is working collaboratively with others and boy did Sturgis Singers require that. There ended up being 12 of us by the end of the year and we were not 12 different people. We were one group of people that depended on each of the 11 members. We all needed to sound as near perfect as we could get (and believe me when I tell you that perfection is completely unattainable when it comes to music) so that when we performed we sounded flawless. If one of us was off key, everyone was off key. We had to help each other in so many ways that we became so close. When it came to Seasons of Love, Ms. Davis didn’t think that we could learn the piece in such short time. But we persisted. We told her we could do it. And she trusted us and we performed that song at graduation today.

Sturgis Singers has been such a rewarding experience. Though I have journaled negative things about it, I look back now and see how much good Sturgis Singers has done for me. It doesn’t matter if I was having fun while doing it, because what matters is that I did it, that I persisted even when it got tough and almost unbearable.

I need to blog things. I don't know what to do.

Went back to stage today for the first time and had a mixture of feelings about it.

I CAN DO THIS ON MY PHONE! YAY:D

This is My CAS Blog.

I shall attempt to post things on this CAS Blog.
But I cannot make any promises.
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