HIGH SCHOOL: Taking the Train to Hadestown Writing in the Humanities focuses on connecting literature with art and music, and classical tales with modern realities. To explore so many intersections, twenty-one Mount Everett seniors and three instructors visited New York City this November to take in a live performance on Broadway. Before the trip, students read the Greek myths of two couples, Hades and Persephone, and Orpheus and Eurydice. After examining symphonies and paintings created in response to the tales, students listened to music from Anais Mitchell's Tony Awardwinning musical, Hadestown. Conversations touched on enduring questions about youth and aging, identity, love, courage, politics and economics. The trip began with a train ride into Grand Central Station, continued with a walking tour of Times Square and Broadway before a lunch at Hard Rock Cafe, and culminated in a matinee at the historic Walter Kerr Theatre. As a result of instruction, students will be able to: • connect classical themes with modern issues, finding how old tales relate to their lives; identify patterns across visual, physical and textual media; and argue the relevance of live dramatic performances. Observations: Most remarkable was watching students experience live theater for the first time, hearing them chatter excitedly on the train ride home, and listening to their responses the next day. Some students cried at the performance. Others looked ready to leap over the balcony railing when the set opened up to re-create the hell of Hades. Many were at a loss for words to describe how vastly their in-person experience differed from reading or watching a film. For many students, this first trip to New York City expanded their world understanding. For many more students, this first trip to Broadway introduced them to a means of expression that they hadn't known. Since then, I've heard “the non-drama kids” singing show tunes, been asked by juniors if we'll do it next year, and had several participants say that they didn't like musicals before the show and now can't stop listening to the same tracks because they want to relive the experience. After the first run of a new activity or text, I often ask my students, “Should we use this again next year?” This time, I wasn't able to ask: students were telling me about when they will go back. MA Standards: English Frameworks (<strong>20</strong>17): Reading Literature 2, 3, 5, 6, and special emphasis on 7 and 9, “Integration of Knowledge and Ideas”; Writing 3, 7 and 8; Speaking and Listening 2 and 3. EDUCATING OUR EAGLES 6
EDUCATING OUR EAGLES 7