My Students Have Been Acting Out Lately

I have been a middle school history teacher for almost 15 years. I love this field and I love instilling the knowledge into the fresh minds that have been assigned to me. I don’t think I’m bragging when I say I’m an excellent instructor. I work hard to instill a love of the subject in my students. I make sure that I’m always available for advice and when it comes to leading the school play, you can count on me.<br><br>It’s funny that I bring that up because this year’s play has been different. This year’s play has been weird. It was as if my students were being their true selves. But that can’t be right, can it?<br><br>The school play is always a great way to get my students excited to learn. I assign each student a character, give them a short script, and let them create their own version of history. I’ve always thought it was a great way to get students involved and excited about learning. I normally pick the history topics out of a hat at the beginning of the year and this year was Ancient Egypt. Everyone knows the story of Ancient Egypt, but that wasn’t the case this time.<br><br>Usually, it’s a dull production if I’m being honest. The kids don’t put too much effort into it, but this year I couldn’t miss the feeling that something was off. Normally, the children like to joke and have a good time. This year they didn’t. They were all business. I couldn’t help but feel like they were hiding something from me. <br><br>I confronted them after our first rehearsal. They say they were playing characters and that’s why they were acting different. I tried to brush it off. It wasn’t until dress rehearsal that I realized this play wasn’t normal.<br><br>All of the children have memorized their lines and I couldn’t help but feel like this was something bigger. I don’t know how to describe it, but they had all outdone themselves. I decided that I was going to record this play so I could send it to their parents. I set up the camera in the back of the auditorium and got into position. The lights dimmed and we began.<br><br>You see, Ancient Egypt was all about the pharaoh, right? Well, that wasn’t the case in this play. The Pharaoh played by my brightest student, Josh, didn’t seem to be the main character. I tried to brush it off and thought that the students had just decided to do something different. I continued to watch the play. The Pharaoh acted like a background character and the main character was the sacrifice. I tried to brush it off and continued to watch the play.<br><br>Every student was acting out of their normal character. It was as if I was watching another family. The mother and father were arguing over their daughter being a sacrifice. She was pleading to not be a sacrifice. The pharaoh was just watching. The play ended and I couldn’t help but feel something was off. I couldn’t describe it, but something was wrong.<br><br>I went to the teacher's lounge to check the footage. I set up my laptop and pressed play. It was a good video. The lighting was perfect and you could hear the students' voices clearly. I continued to watch until I heard something that made my heart skip a beat.<br><br>Why did my brightest student, Josh, say he wanted to die for Egypt? Why would my students act that way? I felt a chill in my spine as I watched the rest of the play. I normally didn’t keep videos of the school plays, but this year I was going to have to keep it.