Blog #4: Anthony Chen: Period 7: 2/11/20

Anthony Chen

Period 7

Feb. 11, 2020

Today in class, we mainly acted out 12 Angry Men and pretended to be in a court setting. Overall, it was a pretty good experience and it was much more enjoyable than simply just reading the play ourselves. Acting it out and giving ourselves roles really sets the mood for the play and what is going to happen.

Do Now: Today’s Do Now question was a hypothetical one which asked what would people do if they were trapped in a room where it was extremely hot and there was no food. 

• This was a very interesting question and it sort of provides a gateway into the play as the the court would suddenly become very heated and everyone would get mad. A couple of my classmates bought up good points and very interesting ideas with the prompt. One in particular that I found the most interesting was Steven’s response. He said that everyone would try to be the leader and make everyone else follow them. However that wouldn’t work as them you would just have 11 people trying to be the boss and it would create chaos. Eventually, the people would give in and just follow orders but now no one is willing to lead so once again, the problem is still at stake. This is a very good point and a very unique way of looking at the situation. Personally, my group and I discussed how everyone would try to work together in the beginning, but eventually someone would reach their breaking point due to the incredible heat. They wouldn’t be able to handle it eventually and chaos would emerge whether they want it to or not. Overall, this was a very interesting Do Now prompt and it brings out a lot of questions and ideas about human nature and the court case, or at least that’s how me and my group saw it. 

Collaboration

• The next part of today’s lesson was a collaborative thing in the fact that we split into rows of 6 to act out 12 Angry Men. We gave out roles of jurors, a judge, and a guard. We read directly from the play and acted it out as if we were in the book, which is a great way of collaborating and reading the play. This is much more engaging and fun than simply reading it ourselves. I personally didn’t choose a role myself, but I was still able to listen along and watch my classmates act it out. We were only able to act out a couple pages due to time, but I’m sure we will continue tomorrow in class.

Nearpod

• The last part of the lesson today was in nearpod. We had to answer a simple question of whether the man on trial was guilty or murder or not. I personally chose that he was guilty due to the  overwhelming evidence. We’re barely done with half the play and there is already a ton of evidence that is pointing to how he is guilty of murder. My group mates also seemed to agree with me as well in the fact that he was guilty. 

Summary

• Overall, this lesson was one of the better ones of the semester so far. It was much more enjoyable to act out the play and I’m glad we get to do so too. We started off with an extremely interesting Do Now question that sparked a lot of ideas, and then moved on to a collaborative part where we gave ourselves roles to read the play. We then finished with a nearpod question that simply asked whether or not you thought the man was guilty of murder, which I answered yes in.