Thursday, December 9, 2010

Coffee House Response!

Congratulations, Freshmen!

You have successfully completed a public performance. I hope you enjoyed the coffee house and will participate in future ones.

Part of our goal this year is for you to get to know your strengths and weaknesses by completing a myriad of assignments, projects, and performances. Self reflection is an important component to learning. As such, please write a comment on:

How you felt you did last night as a performance. If you had to do it over again, what would you do differently? What did you learn about public speaking by performing your writing last night? What surprised you about the performance? Who's performance did you particularly enjoy? Did you notice anything different between the Freshman performances and the other Creative Writing performances? What did your parents say or think about the performance?

Afterward, please continue to practice and write your group slam piece. That's all. No homework. Congratulations again!

15 comments:

Caleb Whittier said...

I wouldn't have told the crowd to shut up. I learned public speaking is much more challenging than it seems. I was surprised at the feeling of self-accomplishment after the performance ended. I really enjoyed the sophomore performances. The older kids seemed to know what they were doing more, but the young'uns didn't know what they were doing. My parents didn't go to the performance because it was my brother's birthday and he refused to go.

Evan said...

I felt i did alright. If i could do it over again i would have more eye contact would show more emotion. and i would have read the one i felt was not as close to my heart as this one was.

Maia Simon said...

Before I got on stage, I was shaking. I tried to hold a paper, but I could barely read it due to the intense shaking. Yet, once I got on stage, I wasn’t nervous anymore. I ignored everyone and it was just reading. I learned that people won’t be mad at you if you mess up. My parents were surprised about the amount of talent in the class, and how well we handled the situation. Also, they liked how supportive the ninth grade class was about each other. I particularly enjoyed Clara’s performance, but everyone did amazing. If I could so something over again, I would try to control the pitch of my voice when I said thank you. But apart from that, I was proud of the performance of everyone.

Ju-Lie said...

Yulyia Otchych

I felt that I did well. Sorta...Maybe...They clapped. That's a good sign.
I would have pronounced my words more clearly.
I learned that it's not as bad as going up to the stage. It was nerve wrecking just to walk across the stage, not to actually preform. That was also what surprised me.
I enjoyed everyone's performance. I loved Jack's singing the most because it was about a person i know. My poem and his song had that common theme.
The poems had different meanings. The 9th graders wrote poems that were darker than the others.
Mother enjoyed the performance. She really liked Darren's.

Dominic Barbarita said...

It felt natural. Knowing that I was second to go up on stage I thought I would be nervous. But my performance was even better than when I rehearsed at home; I thought of different body movements I could do when reading my poem as I actually felt what I was reading. It was great, and i look forward to reading my work to an audience again.

Tess said...

Tess Austin
I think I did OK, but if I were to do it again I would try to speak a little slower. I learned that it's difficult to look at the audience without getting more nervous. I was surprised by the small number of juniors who went up and performed. I really enjoyed Neriah's performance. I noticed that the freshman performances were much more practiced than the upperclassman's. My parents said that they enjoyed it, but my sister said that the majority of the poems made her want to slit her wrists.

Clara OC said...

The performance felt good, but I had way too much adrenaline. I have learned that no matter how much you practice your poem, you can still make mistakes. I really liked, neriah's, cyasia's, and basically everyone else. We sounded much more practiced and performancy than the older performers. My parents thought we were all spectacular.

Amelia Carter said...

i think it didnt go as badly as i thought it would, i didnt love it, but on the other hand, i didnt die, did i? it wasnt really that bad, apart from the whole freak out stage about a minute before i went up. if i could do it again, i would practice me piece more, so i wouldnt stumble over certain lines, and i would work on my pacing better. i learned and was surprised that performing really isnt as bad as i thought it was. i really liked all of the seniors, and the documentary, and everyone in our class. i think the middle schoolers were really brave to get up there and preform without any coaching.
my family was all really surprised at how well everyone did, and the things were were writing about were really mature.

Adriana said...

Adriana Perhamus
I was not looking forward to reading at the coffeehouse at all. I dislike performing in front of anyone, let alone being on stage all alone in front of a crowd. However, when it became time to choose a piece and begin rehearsing, I wasn’t nervous at all. Somehow, I thought this newfound ability to perform without nerves would last. Unfortunately, once the day arrived, I fell victim to a severe case of nervousness.
I felt that my performance was solid last night. I don’t think it was the best performance of the night, but I didn’t faint, or throw up, and I managed to get through it without too many mistakes. I’m proud of myself for that. If I had to do it over again, I would add more gestures and emotion to my voice. I think those would make the performance more believable and better to watch. I was surprised that the most intimidating thing for me was the idea of making a mistake, opposed to being in front of an audience. I was more comfortable with being watched than I thought I would be, and was mostly scared of messing up and tripping over all of my words.
I think the main difference between the freshman pieces and the sophomore, junior and senior ones was the confidence level. With the older grades, I felt that they had more of a grasp of what they were doing and felt more comfortable up on stage- having performed before and being more at ease with what they were doing.
Overall, I think everyone did well. No one made blatant mistakes that ruined their performances, and everyone had solid pieces and performances.

Anonymous said...

Coffee House was awesome! I felt I did really well. If I had to do it again, I would try to look up at the audience more often and try to add some body motions. I would also try to leave all the laughing to the audience. From my performance last night, I learned that public speaking can be fun. I was surprised how well we all did. I thought that some of us would do terribly, but that was not the case. I enjoyed my own performance very much, of course, but I could not make a list of who I think did the best because everyone did so good. I noticed that the later grades put much more into their performances than we did. My mother congratulated me on my performance and said that she thought everyone did really good.

Good job everyone!

->Asia<- said...

Before my performance I was really nervous. I thought I would mess up or stumble over my words. Overall I think I did an ok job. I think I just need to learn to relax and let things flow. It's really not as bad as I thought so I would definitely do it again now that I have had my first experience. Though I thought everyone did an excellent job I really enjoyed Neriah's, Vanessa's, and Clara's performance. I wish that next time we can hear a piece of writing from our writing teachers that would really be awesome!

Vanessa said...

I would try working on the first sentence in my poem because i got tongue tied by my words. I'm used to performing in front of big crowds, so it shook me up a little but it didn't scare me at all. The thing that surprised me the most was hearing the other kids poems. they really had deep poems that made me want to go write some more to my poem! I enjoyed all the freshman's poems. I felt that us ninth graders were more ready than the other performances.

Djana Sefo said...

Djana Sefo

I really enjoyed the Coffeehouse Performance. However, I was extremely nervous about getting up on stage. Once my name was called, my confidence boosted and I took a deep breath and said the first words of my poem. After that first standing ovation, I realized I wouldn’t mind reliving this experience. If I had to do it over again, I would change the way I stuttered a couple times when I was trying to pronounce the words correctly. I guess my nervousness kicked in…(lol ☺) From performing last night, I have learned that you need to achieve confidence in the world of public speaking. If you believe in yourself, you will do great! I particularly enjoyed everyone’s! I think that everyone did a nice job and had solid performances. I noticed that the Freshman class seemed more organized and confident than the other creative writing majors. My mom and aunt enjoyed all the performances. I wished it would’ve last longer. ☺

Great job everybody! You all did fantastic! ☺

raven Marrese said...

Raven Marrese 12/9/10
Mr. Craddock Creative Writing

Last night at my first coffee house performance, I felt I did great. I was proud that I went up and read my poem with ease. If I was to go up and redo my performance I would have made my poem longer. I felt I wasn’t up there for enough time. I learned that public speaking is a looter harder than it looks, but once you overcome your fear it almost as easy as breathing. I was surprised that so many people went up and did fantastic for there first time. I enjoyed Cassidy Hammond’s group because there piece was amazing because beauty is extremely hard to define. I noticed that the freshman were the best! My parents were amazed that we were all so good.

Unknown said...

Sierra Robinson December 9, 2010
Mr. Craddock Creative Writing


How you felt you did last night as a performance. If you had to do it over again, what would you do differently? What did you learn about public speaking by performing your writing last night? What surprised you about the performance? Who's performance did you particularly enjoy? Did you notice anything different between the freshman performances and the other Creative Writing performances? What did your parents say or think about the performance?

Last night at my first I wouldn’t say I was great and I wouldn’t say I was bad. I know I could’ve done better and if I had a second chance to do it again I would have more confidence in my self and give more eye contact to the audience. I learned that going up on stage isn’t as scary as we make it out to be. The most thing that surprised me more was that the freshman’s seemed more confident than many of the sophomores. I would say we did well for our first time. I would have to say I loved Neriah’s performance because no matter how scared she was she kept her flow. I notice a lot of differences. The freshmen’s were very brave to go in front of so many people and they did a great job. My parents didn’t attended but I think they would have loved to watch and listen to everyone’s poems. Overall everyone did a great job. Kudos to everyone.

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