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Last fall my teammate, ML, applied through the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History to receive tickets for our students to Hamilton the Musical. The program was designed to provide students from Title I (or Title I eligible) schools with an opportunity to see a Broadway Musical, specifically Hamilton, for a minimal fee. We didn't hear anything for quite a while...then one day during class she was checking email (don't worry, the kids were working on an essay and we were taking turns working with them)....and ML let out a little squeal...We "won" 100 tickets (plus 10 chaperone tickets) for $10 apiece. (We eventually were able to get ten more plus one more chaperone ticket because other schools weren't able to use all their tickets). In the words of the Gilder Lehrman staff, "See Hamilton for a Hamilton".....
The event included not only tickets to the afternoon show but also a morning educational session, including student performances (more below) and Q and A with the Denver cast. This raised a couple issues though...One of the first decisions ML had to make was who was eligible to use the tickets? Gilder Lehrman had requirements for the students--students had to be enrolled in 11th grade US History and each student had to complete a research project on a Revolutionary War/Early Nation Era Person, Event, or Document and turn their research into a performance piece (poem, rap, song, scene) of 1-2 minutes. So, our classes seemed like the best place to start, because we could provide time and structure in class to complete the project. As some of you know, we team-teach two classes that are split between students with an IEP and students without an IEP. When we counted, we had a total of 56 people enrolled in our classes. Hmm....who else "should" be allowed to go? Who would "appreciate" a musical about immigrants and might not ever get to see a show.....How about the ELA (English Language Learners) teamed classes?! (again, classes with two teachers and half students with ELA plans and half in general education). ML shares an office with the social studies teacher who teams ELA, so this was easy to coordinate. This brought our total pretty close to 100, so we opened the opportunity up to students in other 11th grade US History classes--making sure they knew the project performance and had an overwhelming (at times) response. In the end we took 97 students and 11 adults.
The second issue was how to get there....RTD (bus and light rail) with 110 people at rush hour? Urg...School buses? Can't use them in the morning, as they are needed elsewhere...ok...a charter bus (two, actually) it is...Buses are how much? Urg.....Enter GoFundMe....and generous donations from our Life Groups, Book Clubs, friends, family and co-workers...and for the win...our principal who said, "We'll find some money...book the buses".
Issue #3....lunch....GL says "Have the kids bring lunches..."....Students say, "um, I get free and reduced lunch at school every day...what do I do?" While I was planning how to make 100+lunches in the school kitchen after school, ML reached out to her fabulous friend who works for 104.3 The Fan in Denver...and he reached out to his contacts at Sam's #3 in Aurora (and graduates of our high school!) who donated lunches...all the lunches...for free.... (and they were tasty lunches as well....mmm...pickles, chips, fruit, sandwich, beverage....mmmmm). As an added bonus, the fabulous other ML (the teacher who teams ELA classes) bought an extensive and delicious variety of snacks and drinks for breakfast on the bus and a snack on the way home.
Issue #4 Chaperones...really a non-issue--in the end we took the Social Studies team-teaching staff, their ELA and IEP counterparts (me!), the fabulous EH (A former team-teacher of mine who is retiring and also shares ML's office), the 11th Grade English IEP teachers (general and special education staff), an assistant principal (over the Special Education Department), and the school psychologist. It was a fabulous group of adults who all worked super hard before the trip and the day of to make it fabulous for our students.
Not an Issue #5...$10 tickets...I was a little worried about the number of students who we had promised scholarship tickets to...ML was counting money and I was watching. I said, "How much are we short?" She replied, "None...its the exact amount". We recounted...God is good...
Our students created some truly fabulous performance pieces and our fantastic Video Production Teacher volunteered his time and the use of the studio to record several to submit one (as required) to Gilder Lehrman. Unfortunately, our student was not chosen for the live performance, however, we have some really awesome videos for the students who participated.
The night before the field trip I woke up at 3:14 am, not quite panic-stricken, but a little worried about the next day. There were a couple details, some involving specific students and their needs and some involving things like keeping the lunches cold that worried me a little.... I said a prayer, asking for everything to be smooth and for everyone to have a great day. Later, after, the day had been super smooth and everyone reported it was fabulous (great, fantastic, really cool....) ML, my office mate, and I were chatting on the bus. They both noted they had done the same thing....God is good....and He certainly heard us, as the day couldn't have gone better.
While I won't claim that the day and the musical were life-changing, I will say this: (comments in no particular order)
- The play was good--I enjoyed it and have some of the music stuck in my head today. I really enjoyed trying to catch all the Easter Eggs (lines from Pirates of Penzance, South Pacific, Macbeth, 1990's rap songs....). There were a couple instances of historical fiction, but (and?) they didn't interfere with the story. Hamilton was not painted as a hero nor as a villain but as a human (and the same could be said of most of the other characters). King George was hil-lar-ri-us......
- Our students were so great and grateful. They were polite, they were attentive...I couldn't be prouder.
- In fact, as we walked out, one of my students who admittedly doesn't love school said (something like), "Miss...that was really good. And I actually learned something. Cool." I asked, "From the play?" (worrying a little about the couple historical fictions) and he replied, "Nah, from the research project...the play was cool, but the research helped me understand what was going on". (What more can you ask for?) Today the same student walked into class, threw himself into a seat and said to ML and me, "Hey. Thanks a lot. Sigh.". We said, "Um?" He replied with, "I have that song, you know the one that goes ba ba ba ba ba ba ba, stuck in my head....". (Cue laughter....)
- And, as often is the case, my favorite moment was one I couldn't have seen coming....as I sat in my seat waiting for the second act, the student sitting behind me said, "Hey, Miss, is that <student name>? " Since it wasn't an uncommon name, I was racking my brain and scanning the crowd, when a young man, turns around (apparently hearing his name) and says "Mrs. Lemire!!!!!" Before I knew it I was being hugged by a football player sized giant of a high schooler....who left our school a couple years ago as an immature 9th grader somewhat in crisis. We had a few short moments to catch up on his life...and I thought again about all the seeds that teachers plant that and never see flower and reminded myself to remember moments like that one when I'm struggling as a teacher. Needless to say, that made me a little more teary than expected during the emotional second act.
So now I don't know how to end this other than...it was a great experience...ML (who I've bragged about by name on my Facebook page) is fabulous--this was a (possibly) once in a lifetime opportunity for many of our students and they had a fabulous day....It was remarkable as a field trip because there were no emergencies...a couple stressful moments, but nothing like some other trips I've been on or chaperoned....it was just really, really great. Thank you (again) to everyone who made it great...through your donations, your prayers, your excitement to carry us to the actual day of....it was a really, really good day. (The End)......
