Learning Lines

I began drama class today with trepidation. It was the first test of the students' commitment to our school play: I assigned them their first set of lines to memorize. A few students didn't attend, which was disappointing, but of those who did attend, more than half had memorized some of their lines, and two or three had their lines fully committed to memory. One girl's performance of her first monologue was so awesome that I used the dollar intended for MY snack to buy her a package of M&Ms! The good thing is that enough students had their lines memorized that I think it will motivate/inspire/be-a-kick-in-the-rear for the rest... also, if one or two more students learn their lines for next week, then anyone who doesn't is going to stick out like a sore thumb, and social pressure not to let their fellow actors down may start to kick in.