With Midsummer at a close, Schoolhouse is heating up. I have spent the first two weeks of December choreographing and teaching the four all cast numbers. I have found this show to go from song to song, rather than include of any real scene that is not transition to the next musical number. This is still sufficient for my study because teaching choreography to 7th and 8th graders still requires directing skills to be exercised. The first song I choreographed was part of “Do The Circulation” for the audition. I learned that it can be very difficult to keep track and determine dance ability from a quick phrase that everyone does at once. I do have a new respect for my dance teachers who have choreographed musicals. Preparing the movement, the formations, determining grouping, tracking soloists, predicting timing, and figuring out how to stay on top of it all in a rehearsal period can be difficult. Learning to not harm your voice is another issue that has surprised me. Working to make movement that fits this specific group of students is a task because I am not them. I have been able to easily access all the music from the show on YouTube which has made it easy for me to choreograph to the correct tempo and hear the changes in the music. Even so, I cannot confirm what the middle schoolers will find challenging. So far I have taught each of the group numbers, but we have not come back and reviewed them yet. So, I have not worked on revising or cleaning. They seem to pick up the dances pretty well for how quickly we are going. I believe we are in a good spot right now. Heather, Zak, and I took time to map out all our rehearsals and continue communicating for revisions as we go. This communication is valuable because it keeps us progressing and on time. Within rehearsals Zak and I are careful to share our time teaching the dance and music fairly. Managing time can be difficult when you are trying to get middle schoolers to focus. In my head I hear Adrian taking note, exclaiming, “You’re like a real teacher!” as she has said is a few or our meetings. It is true, I feel like understand the significance of the nuisance of distraction. Heather has advised me to focus on repetition, in the choreographing of the dance and in rehearsal so they can get the movement in their head. At the same time that I want to emphasize repetition in composition of the dance, I want to make it engaging for the kids and audience. As a resolution I have chosen to involve varying formations that can be just as challenging as remembering choreography. I am still figuring out how to go about developing the pieces through communicating and determining what the kids need as direction to get them to a place that they feel confident in.