Cambridge English Class

[Richard Stone]

Richard Stone walked into his English class. He loved his class room, with posters of all the greats, English playwrights, poets, large posters of book covers, pictures of authors. In the front corner of the room, when the students took a sharp left after coming through the door, there was a large bookshelf what was stuffed with novels, poetry books and other books that the students could borrow through-out the year. In the large cardboard box on his desk were the ipads that would be issued to the students for the duration of the year.

Grabbing a dry-erase marker, he walked over to the board and wrote DRAMA in large letters in the middle of the board. With a different coloured pen, in the top right corner he wrote: Mr Richard Stone. And in the left corner: No seating assignments, but I will move you should I see fit. Putting the markers down, he walked back to his desk and took a pile of photocopied papers out of his briefcase and placed it on top of his desk. He was waiting to get some reaction to the word on the board, thinking that this was an English class after all.

Sitting down, he leafed through a tattered copy of an old book as he waited for the first of his students to arrive.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself. She had just come back from the equine clinic and today - of all days - Fée had decided that she would test her strength and had given Cara a mighty nudge. It would have been fine, if the girl had been ready for it, but as she wasn't balanced properly she had ended up falling into a rather dirty pile of straw. After finishing up with the filly, and taking her outside to the yard with her sister, the girl had raced back to her dorm for a shower.

Once she was dressed, in a cornflower blue pant suit, she took a thin section of hair on each side of her head and plaited each into a delicate braid, She then pulled the rest of her hair back into a neat french braid and then wound it into a tight bun, she then wrapped the two thin braids around the bun and secured them into place underneath.

Picking up her satchel, she headed out of her dorm and toward the academic buildings and then up to her English classroom. At the door, she paused for her normal ritual breathing exercise before she entered the room. Today she kept her head down more than normal, knowing that the fading bruise around her eye was still pretty evident and she didn't want to cause a fuss. Glancing at the board, her eyebrows rose at the word drama, but she offered no more reaction than that. She was pleased that there was still no seating assignment as she headed to her favourite seat at the front right of the classroom, in the corner by the window. Sitting down, she began to set up her table.

[Sara Jane Lyena]

Sara walked into the classroom, with Cinder lagging slightly behind her. She was looking forward to spending more time learning about new styles of writing, and really, she was excited to get to English class. She glanced around the classroom, which had changed from the comfortable setup they had had at the end of the last year to the common classroom setup again. She shrugged and glanced at the board, looking for seating instructions. She saw the word 'DRAMA' written on the board, but didn't think about it until she had sat down in a seat a row back from the front of the classroom, and against the wall. She had Cinder lay down in the space between the wall and her chair so he would be out of the way, then pulled out a notebook and green pen. She put them on her desk, then looked up at the board again. Drama... Well, why not. She didn't know much about the genre as a whole, and as far as she could recall, she had only read one book of it, in seventh grade English. She wrote the word in large letters across the top of her notebook, then pulled out a copy of His Majesty's Dragon and started reading where she had left off.

[Samantha 'Sam' Lawrence]

Sam sorted through the jewelry she had thrown in a drawer of her dresser. Of course it had to match her new, never worn, Mrs. Peeta Mellark tee shirt. She found her mocking-jay earrings and necklace. So what if she was obsessed, at least for English she could count it as a book obsession, she had read all three many times. Once her jewelry was on she slipped on her gladiators, then grabbed her phone and bag.

She entered the English classroom. English wasn't her favorite subject, only because of poetry. She hates writing and reading poetry, and would prefer writing 10 essays over one poem. It was the first room she saw that wasn't drab. Yes!! A colorful room!! Her day had been made. Then she looked around the room, where there was three students already in the room. Two girls and one boy. She shot all three a smile, then the teacher, and looked at the board. Drama. The first thing that popped in Sam's head was her old school. The air was sickening with the stench of drama. She now makes fun of it saying she is allergic to Waverly drama. Back from her day dreams, she picked a seat behind Sara. To fit her theme for today she pulled out the second book of the Hunger Games, and began reading from the beginning until class started.

Outfit

[Annabelle Archer]

Realizing she would be late for her next class if she didn't leave right then, Belle picked up her books for Cambridge English and walked down to academics building. Looking down at her schedule another named teacher that she had known from her schedule last year. Walking down the hall she quickly picked out the number above the door. The door was wide open from the unknown number of students who had entered before her. She picked out Sara and Cara once again. Then she saw the redhead that had accompanied her in many other classes. Trying to remember her name, Hayley, yes that was it. Not acting upon her recollection she found a seat more towards the front of the class but not exactly in the middle. She was only one seat diagonally away from Cara. Just in case of anything. Belle dropped her books quietly under her desk to put them out of the way. Blue eyes picked out certain words and then went back to read the whole entire poster. The eighteen year old looked around the room to observe who else she may or may not recognize in the class. She hoped that more people would flood in that she would possibly know.

[Jordan Hill]

Jordan picked up her bag out of Chemistry and then started out of the classroom once the teacher had dismissed them out of class. Heading to her next class, she checked her schedule to make sure that she was right. Seeing that she standed corrected about going to Cambridge English next, Jordan headed down the long corridor, now full of students, yet again.

Looking at every door as she passed by it, Jordan finally managed to find Cambridge English, slowly walking in she saw that she still wasn't early to this class, as she normally liked to be, although she didn't understand why. Walking in now, she went straight up to the teacher's desk as she had been told by the Main Office to do so. "Hello Mr.Stone, I'm Jordan Hill, new student." she told him then looking at the board, seeing his name, no seating assignments, and DRAMA. Now turning, Jordan walked to a spot in the room, sitting down next to a blonde with natural curls, it seemed like. Giving her a warm smile before sitting down and placing her bag under her desk after that, she waited looking around the room.

[Diamond Patrick Parker]

Diamond had been confused all day long, walking up and down the stairs and all around everywhere. She had no idea of where to go and had to get help every minute of the day.

She had been through one of her other classes so far, and now was heading out the door and into the large corridor...again. Walking down the hallway in a giant pile of kids, Diamond looked at every door she could see at least. Finding the Cambridge English class, faster than any other, Diamond walked inside.

Seeing she wasn't the only one there, Diamond had no idea of where to go or where to sit. Deciding the teacher would be a nice place to start, she headed up to his desk.

Seeing DRAMA written boldy on the board, Diamond wondered what that was about, then seeing all the additional information, Diamond continued on her task.

Hello Mr.Stone, I'm Diamond Parker a new student here at Blue Ridge. I just got here yesterday. she said then heading to the desks alligned with eachother. Finding one in between everyone, Diamond sat down not knowing who to talk to or what to do.

[Micheal 'Mike' Guiliford]

Mike fumbled with his bag as he left the dorm room. Lithe had been a pain that morning as usual and dug himself into one of Mike's socks. It really wasn't fair for him to be rummaging through is room when Lithe was in a drawer. Momentarily he rethought why he brought Lithe in the first place, but he loved that crazy creature. Mike as ungraceful as he is stormed down through the house and over to the English wing.

After running several minutes late he walked into the room casually like he wasn't late at all. He glanced at the teacher, and his complete coolness shook from inside but kept it's appearance on the outside. Sorry I am late. I had some...glider problems this morning." He thought to himself that he wasn't keeping his, I really am not to interested attitude, as he kept his cool. Mike gave Blair a tip of the head as he took a seat two back from him. He placed his bag on the floor under his chair. For some weird reason he really wanted to keep notes on a laptop instead of a notebook.

[Henrietta Charleston]

Henri pretty much vaulted across the campus, she was in her standards- late. That was something the girl was most certainly never not, and this time would not be an exception. She had asked a particularly over-helping guy where the classroom was and then came the fleeing. She honestly felt like a nutcase, running across the halls, backpack slamming her back with each stride. Only now did she know what a horse felt when some posted incorrectly. Immediately, Henri mentally apologized to the horse she had learned to ride on. Still, there was no time to feel polite as class was starting and she needed to rush. Finally, panting and out of breath, the brunette made it to the doorway.

Henri peeked in shyly, hating the thought of having to interact as she was learning. It was all too different in this school compared to her homeschooling. She would get used to it though, that much she was positive of. The girl frowned at her advanced schedule; it would be difficult to maintain, now that she would be getting homework as well. With all the high school movies she had watched, Henri knew that wasn’t a great thing. Her orbs grazed the board, reading the word “DRAMA” written largely across.

Henri sighed, she hoped it wasn’t the type of drama everyone hated. She doubted it however as she was in an English class after all. Giving the teacher a small smile, she looked around at the class. There were a handful of people in this class as well, and the butterflies flew in her stomach once again. Seeing Sara’s familiar face however jittered the bugs out as she gave the girl as soft smile and sat somewhat around her housemate’s area. It would be good to be next to someone she had made somewhat friends with.

[daine2]

Bronwyn smiled happily as she bounced towards her English class. She wasn't late! The girl hated being late to classes. Her long blonde hair swung behind her as she skipped down the hall, humming under her breath. Her schedule showed that she had an advanced english class, which was awesome, in her books. Most of her classes came very easy to her, and English had always been super easy for her to fly through in.

She stopped skipping outside the door and walked in after making sure she still looked nice. Her gaze was drawn to the board, which held the word 'drama' and the teacher's name along with a word of warning, all of which she read quickly. The girl turned and gave the teacher a smile and a wave, "Good day, Mr. Stone!"

Bronwyn then turned and studied the other students for a moment before takig seat right in the front of the classroom, facing the deak, the teacher, and the board. In just a matter of minutes she had paper and a pencil on her desk and was rummaging around in her bag for the novel she was currently engrossed in. Finding the thick book, she opened it to the middle and soon was zoned out reading the science-fiction book Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000.

[Richard Stone]

When the students had gathered and taken their seats, Richard placed down the book he had been flipping through, rose to his feet and walked to the front centre of the room. "Welcome to Cambridge English." He said. "My name is Mr Stone and I am going to get you to really think while you are in this class." He walked back to his desk, picked up the book he'd been holding and held it up for the students to see the cover while he walked back to his place by the white board. "This is The Crucible, and we are going to be working through this for the first semester." He paused as he looked over the students. "Now, some of you may be wondering why we are going to be reading through a script book during English. However, we aren't just going to read through it, we are also be looking into it. Getting to know the characters, the history of the area that the play is in and why things are happening the way they are." He walked around the room and placed a copy of the book on everyone's table. "Before we start reading, let's find out what you already know about the book." He reached his spot at the front of the room again, his eyes swept over the students. "Who wants to start?"

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara kept her head down as the classroom filled with students. She had always made sure that she kept her head down during class-time, her main reason for sitting at the front of the room, and chose not to fraternise with the other students. Class was for work, not making friends.

She glanced up through her eyelashes as Mr Stone stood up and addressed the class. She was interested when she had seen drama written on the board and now they were about to find out how the young teacher was going to incorporate it into the English class. Her eyebrows rose when he held up the book. She'd studied it a couple of years ago at St Mary's and was keen to reassess what she already knew.

Even though she knew it was going to happen, she still flinched when the man placed a book carefully on her table, and as soon as he walked away she looked at the book as though it were a poisonous snake, she would ask Mr Stone if he minded her using her own copy - she made a habit of not touching anything that may have already passed through many other hands.

Never being the person to be the first - or ever - to raise her hand in class, she picked up her black pen she wrote The Crucible - Arthur Miller in the centre top of the page in large fancy calligraphy. Replacing the black pen and picking up the blue, she began to write:

Inspired by the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s, Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, focuses on the inconsistencies of the Salem witch trials and the extreme behaviour that can result from dark desires and hidden agendas.

Miller bases the play on the historical account of the Salem witch trials. In particular he focuses on the discovery of several young girls and a slave playing in the woods, conjuring — or attempting to conjure — spirits from the dead. Rather than suffer severe and inevitable punishment for their actions, the girls accused other inhabitants of Salem of practising witchcraft. Ironically, the girls avoided punishment by accusing others of the very things of which they were guilty. This desperate and perhaps childish finger-pointing resulted in mass paranoia and an atmosphere of fear in which everyone was a potential witch. As the number of arrests increased, so did the distrust within the Salem community. A self-perpetuating cycle of distrust, accusation, arrest, and conviction emerged. By the end of 1692, the Salem court had convicted and executed nineteen men and women.

Miller creates an atmosphere and mood within the play reminiscent of the historical period and of Puritan culture. The inhabitants of Salem lived in a restrictive society. Although the Puritans left England to avoid religious persecution, they based their newly established society upon religious intolerance. The Puritans demonstrated their faithfulness, honesty, and integrity through physical labour and strict adherence to religious doctrine. They considered material and physical wants — especially sexual desires — as the Devil's work and a threat to society. The Bible and the minister's interpretation of the Bible determined what was considered socially acceptable behaviour. The Puritans had no tolerance for inappropriate or unacceptable behaviour and punished individuals publicly and severely if they transgressed. Miller captures the intolerance and religious fanaticism of the period and effectively incorporates them into the play.

Reading about the Salem witch trials and the paranoid frenzy going on at the time is one thing, but witnessing the trials first hand is quite another experience. Miller permits the audience to do just that by transforming the faceless names from history into living, breathing characters with desires, emotions, and freewill. Miller did make adjustments to the ages, backgrounds, and occupations of several of the individuals mentioned in the historical records, however. For example, he lowers the age gap between John Proctor and Abigail Williams from sixty and eleven, respectively, to thirty-five and seventeen, enabling the plot line of an affair between the two. Proctor and his wife Elizabeth ran an inn as well as a farm, but Miller eliminates this detail. Proctor's friend Giles Corey was actually pressed to death a month after Proctor's execution; however, Miller juxtaposes his death and Proctor's. Finally, Miller chose to omit the fact that Proctor had a son who was also tortured during the witch trials because he refused to confess to witchcraft.

Although no one can know for certain what the actual individuals thought, felt, or believed, Miller's incorporation of motive into the play's characters provides his audience with a realistic scenario that is both believable and applicable to society. For example, when the play was first produced during the 1950's, as McCarthyism submerged America in paranoia and fear, audiences could relate to the plot because Americans were turning in their friends so they would not be labelled as Communists. Although today's society may not be engaged in so-called "witch hunts," stories of an individual attempting to re-establish a relationship with a former lover by eliminating what he or she perceives to be the only obstacle — the person currently involved in a relationship with the former lover — are not uncommon. This classic love triangle appears repeatedly in literature, not to mention the supermarket tabloids.

Miller's exploration of the human psyche and behaviour makes the play an enduring masterpiece, even though McCarthyism has faded into history. On one hand Miller addresses a particularly dark period in American history — a time in which society believed the Devil walked the streets of Salem and could become manifest in anyone, even a close neighbour or, worse yet, a family member. On the other hand, Miller moves beyond a discussion of witchcraft and what really happened in Salem to explore human motivation and subsequent behaviour. The play continues to affect audiences by allowing them to see how dark desires and hidden agendas can be played out.

Abigail is a young woman who seizes an opportunity to reverse fate. She has had an affair with Proctor, who now refuses to continue the affair out of a mixture of guilt and loyalty to his wife. Abigail takes advantage of the chance to eliminate Proctor's wife by accusing her of witchcraft, giving Abigail the opportunity to marry Proctor, while elevating herself within the Salem community. Although Abigail enjoys being the chief witness of the court, her chief desire is to obtain Proctor, and she will do anything to bring this about, including self-mutilation and murder.

The Putnams also seize opportunity. The Royal Charter was revoked in 1692 and original land titles became invalid, creating a crisis of property rights. Individuals no longer felt secure with their landholdings because they could be reassigned at any time. As a result, neighbours distrusted one another and feuds broke out regarding property rights and clear deeds of ownership. Miller incorporates this aspect of the period into the play through the character of Mr. Putnam. Like Abigail, a hidden agenda guides Putnam, namely his greed for land. He too, will stop at nothing to satisfy his desire, even if attaining his goal means murdering his neighbours by falsely accusing them of witchcraft so he can purchase their lands after their executions.

Miller's title, The Crucible, is appropriate for the play. A crucible is a container made of a substance that can resist great heat ; a crucible is also defined as a severe test. Within the context of the play the term takes on a new meaning: not only is the crucible a test, but a test designed to bring about change or reveal an individual's true character. The witch trials serve as a metaphorical crucible, which burns away the characters' outer shells to reveal their true intentions and character beneath. Throughout the play, Miller carefully peels away the layers of each character so that the audience not only can identify the character's motivation, but also can re-evaluate the character through his or her actions. In other words, the audience observes the character as he or she is tested, and the audience ultimately determines if he or she passes the test.

Proctor provides an excellent example. His affair with Abigail results in a fall from grace, not only with his wife Elizabeth, but also within himself. Proctor believes he is damned and cannot possibly regain Elizabeth's love and respect, not to mention his own self-respect and moral uprightness. Proctor is tested severely when he goes to the court to defend Elizabeth. In order to save his wife, he must publicly announce his sin and, therefore, lose his good name. Although he gives up his good name in court, he regains it at the end of the play by destroying his signed confession.

She placed the pen back down at the top of her desk and read through what she had written, pleased with what was on the paper she waited to see what they would do next.

[Henrietta Charleston]

Henri focused intently at the teacher as he began the lesson. At the thought of really thinking in the class, she sighed. She wondered how long that would last her, though her fear of it being too hard caused the butterflies to start up again. The girl still held a normal looking face and stayed attentive to his entire talk. She watched as he held up the book he had been flipping through as she had come in. Her eyebrow raised, surprised to see a book she actually hadn’t read before. The idea of reading another script made her wince however, she wasn’t so good with those. Still, Henri had enough smarts to get through it.

Just the thought of getting a new read was always exciting however and the girl couldn’t help but smile and utter “thanks” as he handed her a book. Unable to contain her curiosity, the girl grabbed the edge of the thick paged thing and flipped through it a bit. Getting to know the characters seemed to be interesting, though she really hoped he didn’t make them act it out. Henri bit her lip at the thought of awkwardly stumbling around as she attempted to act out something. While she had head of the play, Henri didn’t have much info on it.

She looked down at her binder as Mr. Stone asked them what they already knew about the book. Henri decided against raising her hand and risking sounding like an idiot, before she noticed another girl already flying away with her pen. The girl smiled, happy for another alternative. She could certainly write what she knew and answer in case he decided to pick on her even if she didn’t raise her hand. It was one of the warnings Clarence had given her about normal teachers. She unclicked a blue pen before beginning to write up her little knowledge on the book.

”The Crucible” is a play written by Arthur Miller. It is a dramatization of the Salem Witch Trials that was held in Massachusetts Bay during the 1960s. The play itself is supposed to be quite eye opening and quite tragic as realistic as it gets about the ridicule of the Salem Witch Trials itself. To make it even sadder, it starts off with a few young girls that cause the whole witch issue. The Deputy Governor is the true villain in the play, though the whole thing ends quite tragically.

Henri sighed and clicked her pen closed, happy to have some sort of knowledge on the book. At least she wouldn’t be completely clueless if the man called on her.

[Becca Walsh]

Becca sat listening to her teacher. She could already tell that she would enjoy this class, especially since English was one of her favorite subjects. The class was of moderate size and she was pretty excited to hear what the other students would have to say throughout the year. When the teacher handed the book to her, she thumbed through the pages for a few moments, as if to get a feel for the book. The pages were soft and already a bit worn, which excited Becca, who had always ended up reading her own copy of brand new books.

She's heard of it, but never read it, for which she was grateful. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy reading books twice, but she liked the element of surprise that came with reading a book along with a group of other people who were reading and feeling the same things. Opening her notebook, she uncapped a pen and began to write in heavy black ink.

"The Crucible" is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1952. It explains the Salem witch trials that were held during the 1690's in Massachusetts. It's very historically correct, though the characters do no represent real people. The play is considered to be a tragedy, though some do not agree with this classification.

[madison]

It was her first class on the campus, English – something she was actually capable of. Writing and reading were two things she actually liked and both things she usually did fairly well. Apparently being on time wasn’t an option, she had to stop at the main office as her schedule had been changed. The secretary had offered a note in excuse of being late, Madison nodded thanks and tucked it in her planner. She had gotten dressed with plenty of time that morning, risen before her alarm clock as scheduled and headed down to the barn. She wasn’t responsible for feeding her horses but she liked to check on them before she headed to class. She had pulled clothes out of her “school” side of her closet and drawers, it was still rather warm out but cool enough in the mornings. She had pulled on a dark maroon colored pair of pants, a light sweater and accented with gold accessories. Now as she sped down the halls her golden cross necklace bounced against her chest. Reaching the door to the class she was just like 2 minutes late. She pulled the door open and slipped in, taking an empty seat she caught him say “My name is Mr. Stone.” relief flooded over the student as she sat quietly, opening her back she pulled out a notebook and a pen. Then reverted her attention to the teacher once more, she had the note tucked in a folder and could produce it if he was going to question her. No matter the case she twirled a piece of blonde hair around her finger and looked up listening to the rest of what Mr. Stone had to tell them. Her seat was towards the back of the room which she didn’t mind at all. His voice was audible with no straining and no-one was blocking her view to the board.

The Crucible; that title sounded familiar. Wracking her mind she didn’t bother to write things down, he hadn’t asked them to do anything of the sort. Instead she just ran over a few facts in her mind. The play itself was about Salem witchcraft trials, Madison was pretty certain it was set in Puritan village in Massachusetts colony in the 1690’s. The girl hadn’t read the play, or seen the movie but she had certainly heard about it. Already intrigued and interested she was eager to get reading .Looking up to the board past the other students her pen stayed capped, attention on the prof she waited smiling. Fingers twirled her hair around, wrapping the curls over and over as she bit at her lip, patience was growing thin. She wanted to get reading.

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