Personal Narrative: What I Learned In A Theatre Class

The movies/stories of High Noon and The Most Dangerous Game are very similar but different in a way. Kane and Rainsford are the main characters of the stories. The two are being hunted down by their arch enemy. Frank Miller is Kane's enemy, and Zaroff is Rainsford's enemy. Kane's best friend, Harvey, wants to be in charge—the Marshall—after Kane leaves town with his new wife Amy. Rainsford defeats Zaroff, and he might take charge at Ship Trap Island if he decides he wants to. Frank Miller's crew hasn't done anything wrong yet to get arrested; however Zaroff did.

My name is Samantha Norton and I'm an Adjunct professor with the Theatre & Dance Department. I teach acting 110.

Most of you probably don’t know this, but I have a very large love of theatre. It seems like a stretch seeing as I’m most likely shaking while reading this right now; however theatre has been a part of my life for a large portion of it, eight years to be exact. The idea of taking on the persona of someone else gives me a rush of excitement only few things can. I have done multiple shows in that time: A Christmas carol, Hairspray, The Wizard of Oz, Greater Tuna, The 25th annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and To Kill a Mockingbird. Most of these shows took place on the same stage in the Hillcrest High School Theater. This stage has special meaning to me as it is where I met a large number of my friends, it is where I met my girlfriend,

I have never thought that I would be put into a situation where I would have to be the mediator for my family. I have never in my life liked conflict, yet here I am putting myself in the middle so that the people I hold dear to me will not end up getting hurt. Never have I thought that I would be the one to get hurt.

In this class, I have learned many new skills to improve my writing, and I have also learned new grammar rules. In regards to my writing, I have learned the importance of freewriting when beginning to write a paper. Additionally, I now know to allow ample time for revising and editing because I can look at my work critically for mistakes and make necessary changes. Furthermore, I have learned about grammar rules such as pronoun-antecedent agreement. This rule is something that I know subconsciously, but being made aware of it has allowed me to find mistakes I make more often.

While not a hugely transformative venture, I have found this semester to be a good vehicle for making my writing more accurate to its intended purpose. Prior to taking this class I did have some experience in professional writing for a few of the jobs I've had in the past, but this class organized those thoughts, gave them name, and pointed out where and how to pursue them. Its been an enlightening experience and provided me with tools I hope to use the rest of my life.

I believe I have grown a lot since the beginning of this course. My writing was severely lacking grammar and punctuation. I didn’t use any punctuation other than periods and very few commas spersed throughout my papers. My papers still need help in that area, but I have improved. I now know where they need to go and when it’s appropriate to use them. My papers aren’t exactly flawless but they are better than before. I would write how I speak at times and I knew it wasn’t right, but I would still do it because it allowed my papers to flow better in my mind. I read my papers out loud to help avoid my problem with writing how I speak. I’ve learned my writing style in this course, or lack thereof. I found a program that would benefit me now and

I spoke in public when I was in high school, 11th grade. I had to present about America and Vietnam war without using the note in my history class. However, I was little shy and scare that people will laugh at me because I cannot speak fluently English, even I was practice a lot at home and in my free times. In that moment I thought that I will give up. But, when I hear my friend’s presentation I feel like there are two person talking inside of me. One is motived me to go and the other one is not. At that time, I choose to step up and speak in front of my class because I know that I cannot hide behind my back forever so I motivated myself that I have to win the afraid in me. After that time, I have more experience, and in 12th grade I spoke

It was a beautiful evening in April, and the weather was finally starting to get warm again. After a tough and bitter winter, little buds were appearing on flowers and trees, and some color was returning to the world. Above, the sun was setting creating various shades of red, pink, and orange across the blue sky. Among an audience, darkness encompassed the room creating an anxious silence. Only after a few seconds the stars came out. The stage lights came on nearly blinding the audience, and the actress said her first line.

Imagine falling of a chair. Not that bad right? Now, imagine falling of a chair in front of the whole cafeteria. Funny? Yes. Painful? Definitely. So embarrassing that you hid in your teacher’s classroom for the remaining time of the school day? Sounds like me! After many years of mental preparation, physiological therapy, and complete avoidance of using chairs in front of others, I was finally able to overcome my tragedy. Like every other day, I ardently waited for lunch time to arrive. As soon as the bell rang, I ran to the cafeteria. I sat, I ate, and just when I was about to throw my food away…

As I looked into the audience, anxiety filled my body. I am a very quiet person who never does anything exciting. Anxiety is one problem in my life that I battle everyday. Last year, I decided to take a huge step out of my comfort zone: I auditioned for the school play. This was terrifying. I have never been a huge public speaker; at times, I can barely manage to get a sentence out because of my anxiety. The director and student director gave me a part in the play. My part was a narrator and I had to be on stage describing the history of theater. My goal with acting was to overcome my fear: public speaking and stage fright.

I have truly enjoyed writing for most of my life and after this class I will continue to enjoy writing hopefully with more skill. I have always viewed myself as a fairly strong writer and this class has reaffirmed that for me, but it has also shown weaknesses in my writing. As an introduction level class this has been one of my favorites; at some point I will take a higher level, even though it is not required for my major. Even though this class is almost over I am continuing to learn. I also love that this class will help me with literally ever other class in my college career. I am not a particularly strong reader, but as my writing skills improve so do the reading skills. While in this class I have learned a lot about everything from what I can improve, to subjects that interest me, and constructing a successful paper.

The first part of our rehearsal was in class during a free session. We sort of just got together as a group and try to figure out our topics and what everyone wanted to do. It was hard for us at first because our schedules were busy so all we had was the time that was given in class. We had time to start working on the PowerPoint. We chose the websites that we thought we wanted to do and that could relate to the topic of the subject the best. We made a PowerPoint that everyone could edit and add what they wanted to. Each individual added some content about how and what they did or have done to help the youth of empowerment. I feel as if we got a lot achieved for just one class period of time, also with a couple of students missing.

I gathered the Information and skills to learn this by writing a lot and always asking someone else their opinion or how to do it if I didn’t know it.

It was a beautiful early september day before the school year started. I was still nervous no matter how perfect the day was. It was my first rehearsal with the Grand Rapids Youth Symphony I had just been admitted into. I looked for familiar faces in the rehearsal room. Only one girl who played violin looked familiar. Nervousness began to take over as the new faces crowded into my head. I looked around and found a group of guys with trombones, the instrument that I play. Not sure how they would respond I decided to go join them.