It is really hard to describe the incredible growth and learning that happens through putting together a big event in the Adolescent Program. Adolescents thrive on real, big, creative work that happens in community with others. When I say “real work,” I mean work that has a purpose besides one’s own learning, work that affects other people, work so complex that if you don’t pull your own weight other people and the quality of the whole will suffer. The recent Shakespeare Dinner Theater, our classroom Gala project, was one of these events.
I was reflecting on the skills and qualities I observed students developing throughout the two months or so of preparation for the event, including: organizing, delegating, communicating, grit and perseverance, problem-solving, critical thinking, follow-through, a sense of personal responsibility, a sense of responsibility to one’s community, time management, leadership (including when to step back), risk-taking, receiving and implementing feedback, offering constructive feedback. Do these sound familiar? Look up any list of “traits of successful people,” “top desired qualities of college graduates,” “15 traits of successful people that all business leaders should cultivate,” and so on, and these qualities are on the top of the lists.
The beautiful thing that can be so hard to make transparent is how a Montessori adolescent program helps students to develop these qualities and skills. It comes back to Dr. Montessori’s vision of the Prepared Environment. The prepared environment of our Adolescent Program, by design, provides opportunities and support for students to have experiences in which to practice these skills on a regular basis. The prepared environment includes both the physical (materials, buildings and grounds, schedules, lessons, etc.) and social environment (guides, students, administration, customers, adult experts; expectations for grace and courtesy, civility, kindness, etc.).
Here’s a peek behind the scenes at the creation of the Shakespeare Dinner Theater event, and the essential skills it helped the students develop:
The Script - Critical thinking, compromise, creativity, communicating, writing, flexibility
In the winter term, students read either A Midsummer Night’s Dream or Romeo and Juliet. Somewhere along the way the idea was floated and voted on to create an original mashup of the two and perform it as our Gala project. When it came time to write it, a group of about 6 or 7 students, a Guide, and our guest director (a parent in the program), sat together and brainstormed a general storyline. Pairs or small groups of students then went off and wrote scenes by abridging and combining scenes from the original Shakespeare. Pulling out the lines that would keep the essence of the stories and the language intact while also creating a new story, was no small feat. These 7th, 8th, and 9th year students showed incredible understanding of the plays to feature key scenes from the original and to create original transitions to give the new plot continuity. The students also had to be adaptable as we went through rehearsals and had to add, cut, or change lines to better fit the actor or the staging.
Blocking / Choreography - giving, receiving, and implementing feedback, discipline, grit, patience, flexibility
“Let’s take it from the top!” “One more time, from Puck’s line.” “We are going to do the sword fighting dance again, but slightly faster this time.” “Yes, we need you for running this scene, even if you only have one line.” Creating the play took many iterations and a huge amount of patience from everyone.
Memorizing Lines - Follow-through, personal responsibility, helping one another, honoring different learning styles
Shakespeare in the park! Students worked on memorizing lines in New York City on the spring trip (and in the van, and at home, and at school…).
Acting - risk-taking, self-confidence, trust, receiving feedback
The growth in each student from the beginning of this project to performance night was incredible to witness. Some of the students who said at first “I don’t want to have speaking lines” ended up as powerful forces on stage with long scenes. Others knew they wanted a big part from the beginning but may have ended up taking on a role that was quite different than they had first imagined. Each person made incredible leaps throughout.
Music & Dancing - risk-taking, communication, personal responsibility, follow-through
Why not add live music and a dance while we’re at it? Many students, and guides, drew on their skills as musicians and dancers to add to the festivities. Others performed in a court dance even though they may never have danced before. Some students tried it and were able to advocate for themselves that it was just too far outside of their comfort zone. In all of these cases, students found their areas of challenge and worked through them to contribute to the whole.
Costumes & Set - organizing, asking for help, delegating, communicating, time management, leadership, perseverance, problem solving
After many trips to resale stores, generous loans of costumes from school families, sewing by both students and guides, and a lot of creativity, we created costumes for everyone (some students had more than one as they played multiple roles) and turned the side of the AP building into a beautiful setting for the play and the dinner. We battled with the wind and problem-solved our way through many different ways to secure an outdoor set. Thank you to our parents and other community members for your generous support!
Logistics & Set-up - high level executive functioning, willingness to pitch in, grit, organization, delegation
During this event, students and adults were on stage, cooking, serving food, plating food, cleaning up, washing dishes, and more. They had to know when to stop plating and get in their places back stage for their next scene, then immediately move on to their next task, whether it was clearing the next course or changing costumes to play a different character.
This was incredibly complex. Our student kitchen manager for the event spent many hours creating diagrams and grids of how this would be organized. We wrote one grid on the kitchen white board of what needed to be prepped, who was outside on stage, and who was in the kitchen. The white board in the project room, which served as our backstage and plating area, was a detailed grid of who was serving, prepping, clearing, acting, playing music, checking in with guests, and cooking for every scene. This was a huge organization challenge and all of the students stepped up to do their part.
Cooking & Cleaning - organization, delegating, communicating, follow-through, perseverance, problem solving, time management, leadership, offering support
We prepared and served a four-course meal. What this means behind the scenes is weeks of brainstorming courses, cooking and revising meals through community lunches (lunches prepared by students for our community of 20 people), offering feedback on what worked and how dishes could be improved, pairs of students finalizing recipes, scaling the recipes for the 14 guests we would be serving, creating shopping lists, going to the grocery store, prepping ingredients ahead of time, cooking the food, having each course ready at the correct time, and plating the food in the most appealing way. This involved seeking advice from adults experienced in the restaurant business and a lot of trial and error. We also did lots and lots of dishes!
Serving & Welcoming Guests - presentation skills, poise, grace and courtesy, organization, delegation, communication
While all of these pieces going on simultaneously behind the scenes, each individual had to take a steadying breath and calmly greet our guests and then interact politely and graciously with them to serve and clear their meals. In some ways this dinner theater was more difficult than just being an actor in a play, because it required students to be in character on stage, remembering their blocking, choreography, lines, inflections, etc. and then switch into server and chef mode. As if being a young actor wasn’t already a challenge! These students found new depths within themselves and honed a multitude of skills along the way.
Celebrating!
And finally, everyone departed for a good night’s sleep to start to consolidate all of that development!
