The Play’s the Grade for AP Students

It may look like play but don’t be fooled. It’s really a test.

An Advanced Placement English class at the North Hollywood/L.A. Zoo Biology Science Magnet concluded two months of research, analysis and rehearsal last week with a well-received performance of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” in front of 250 classmates and family members.

“Everyone laughed at all the right places,” said student Laura Rigby, 16,, of Studio City of the 75-minute performance at the neighboring Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Griffith Park.

While the students had fun delivering their lines and dressing in period costumes, the performance and work leading up to it will count for half of their language composition grade this semester.

“This was just my way of being unique with my curriculum,” said teacher Odessa Cleveland-Brown, who introduced the concept three years ago.

For the class of 23, it was more than just memorizing lines.

Months ago, students were divided into groups to research Elizabethan costumes, music, writers and painters. That work gave them insight into Shakespeare and the comedic tale of the ultimate battle of the sexes.

Harrison Coltun, 16, of Sherman Oaks said the music of the era--from the 1550s through the early 1600s--might have presented challenges.

“Shakespeare might have had big ideas that he couldn’t pull off because he was limited,” Harrison said. “There was a lot of wind and strings at that time . . . but he still got the message through with his style of writing.”

Josh Hall, 16, said his research led him to a better understanding of how Shakespeare developed characters.

“I saw where he got some of his ideas for characters,” said Josh, who read Hamlet in middle school but did not understand it nearly as well. “Hands-on is a better way to learn,” he said. “When you become the book, it’s a lot easier to follow . . . I feel like I will remember this play forever.”

All the students got something out of the experience--even those with stage fright, Josh said. “When the lights came up, they just opened up.”

KUDOS

Exemplary teacher: Sandy Collier, a fifth-grade teacher at Glenoaks Elementary School in Glendale has received the John Delmonte Award for Exemplary Teaching Skills, sponsored by the Glendale Chamber of Commerce.

During the 31 years she has taught at the school, Collier has contributed to districtwide language arts and science curricula and has been a leader in drug abuse prevention, music and dance and school beautification programs, school officials said.

Collier’s award marks the first of six to be presented by the chamber to local schools over the next four months.

She received a plaque and a $100 honorarium.