The Evolution of the Monster

So as many of you know, my life for the past few months has been monsters, swamps, witches, and living trees.  For some crazy reason, I decided to put on a play at West Point Jr. this year.  I put on J. Omar Hansen's "The Horrible Monster of Danky Swamp."  Omar was one of my professors at BYU-Idaho, and I actually acted in Danky Swamp during my Junior year there. Deciding to put this on was a little risky because it would be the first play West Point had put on for many years.  It was hard to go through all the set design, sound design, light design, and rehearsals by myself, but it was totally worth it because I had amazing students to work with.  I also had awesome support from my parents, Soren, faculty members, and community members.

The most challenging/fun part of the project was building the monster.  The monster in the production I was a part of was operated by one actor who was harnessed into a structure that sat on his shoulders with the monster head on top.  I wasn't sure I wanted to try to tackle that and I also wanted to incorporate more actors, so I decided to do a Chinese-dragon style monster instead.  This way, I could have 3 or 4 actors play the monster, instead of just one.  So, I gathered a dryer box (courtesy of Charlie Fuller's Appliances), a bolt of free shiny green fabric left from the previous drama teacher, chicken wire from Home Depot, extra fabric from Joann, two hula hoops, paint, and glue, and got started.  I had no idea what I was doing.

Here's the dryer box.  At this point, I had already cut out the mouth

This is his back.  The fabric is greener and shiner on the other side.

Here's the start of the chicken wireing

Chicken wiring all done.  He went for a test drive this day with the actors.

Soren came and began the paper mache process for me.  It was a big help.

This was the first primer coat.  I was amazed how far I was able to stretch the paint.

Here the paint was pretty much finished.

I finally got the back attached so the actors could use it even though I still had to finish sewing the little scraps of fabric onto him...the little scraps were to hide the actors' feet more and to give him that "swampy" feel. 

This is a picture of the finished product, courtesy of Black Hat media.  I was really pleased with how he turned out.  the cast named him "Gus." 

Here's a front view of Gus, with Lily the tree and Becca the Witch.

Me being eaten by my creation.

It was such a fun experience.  Unfortunately I had to send Gus's head to the dump when I finished, but I still have his back.

Heart Attacked

Last week, with the stress of the show and my Grandpa Kay's funeral, I was feeling pretty blue.  Just in a sort of funk...you know?  And to make it worse, on Friday I was told that our Primetime activity would be to have the students "heart attack" other teachers.  I was not excited for this for 3 reasons: 1.  I didn't think the students would be into it.  2. It's hard to control your students when you send them galavanting across the school.  3.  I had to read all the messages my students wrote in case one of them decided to be mean and write a teacher an unkind note.  Another thing I wasn't excited about was the fact that I was going to be in the Library with my class that day and I didn't want to have to conduct Primetime from the Library.  But oh well, I thought,  it'll probably brighten some teacher's day and that will make the whole thing worth it.

When I introduced the activity to my students, I told them they were going to be secret agents.  Their mission was to write a message to their favorite teacher, sneak through the school, attach the note the the teacher's door, and then sneak back to the Library, all without being seen.  Of course I wasn't being serious about the secret agent thing, but it seemed to get them in the spirit.  I proof read all of their notes and sent them off.  I only read two notes that were for me and as I sent my class into the abyss of the school, I thought to myself, "*sniff*  I hope I get a few notes on my door."  

Pretty soon my agents started returning.  A couple of them had army crawled through the halls, which I gave a thumbs up to.  A couple students came running in and said, "MRS. BARKER!  You've got to see your door!"  Apparently, my door was covered in hearts.  They told me I might have a real heart attack when I saw it.  A few students from other classes even came in and gave me their notes personally because they didn't want theirs getting lost in the shuffle.  They were so sweet.

After second period was over, I headed back to my portable for my prep period.  I really did almost have a heart attack.  Notes from students almost completely covered my door.  Some made it onto the metal of the portable and a bunch got taped to my window.

This got me out of my funk real fast.  I felt so loved and appreciated.  I really work at an amazing school and I have amazing students that I love working with.  Students kept telling me all day that I was clearly the most loved teacher in the school since I had the most hearts.  (I just kept telling them that I taught a really fun subject and that's why I was so popular...if I was a math teacher I probably wouldn't have gotten so many.  Not that math teachers aren't mind-blowingly awesome.)  

It's moments like these that make being a teacher worth every moment.  It's all about the students.