I really enjoyed the experience we had with Higher Achievement and the final performance. It was so nice to see the kids get involved and excited about a project, a nice break from their usual studies and homework sessions. Although there were definitely bumps in the road with trying to focus the kids, I did feel like we not only gave them an exciting experience, but they learned something out of the process. We managed to teach them who Shakespeare was and both explain/show them what the play Midsummer Night’s Dream was about. I’ll never forget the moment when the crazy and complicated love triangle clicked for one of our students. Or when we helped improve their vocabulary by explaining certain words in Shakespeare’s texts.

While there are clearly many improvements that could have been done to our actual performance, I think the value of the experience lies in the process. We managed to build a relationship with these kids that I didn’t even realize we were building. During the practices, I felt like the kids didn’t always want us to be there and were sad when we made them switch from theater games to actually practicing their lines. But then, when we had finished the final production, I was talking to the girls in our group and they said they were going to miss us and kept asking their Higher Achievement person what they would do on Tuesdays from now on. They even asked to take a selfie with me at the end! Overall, I thought the experience was beneficial for both us and the students and given the few practices we had, they did well in their performance.