Let it Shine

Teaching someone else to do something is truly rewarding. When they put what you taught into practice and do it well, that is a thing worth celebrating.


In the Listening & Speaking for Academic Success class students are taught to listen to lectures and take notes, to participate in classroom discussions, to debate academic topics, to give presentations, and to perform in front of an audience.


This term (Fall 2014) I wanted to take the performance component of the class to another level by leveraging it to help prepare the students for professional success by focusing in on their critical thinking skills and preparing them to be adaptive for the inevitability of change. So, I handed them a book and asked the question, “Who Moved My Cheese?”


“Who Moved My Cheese?” by Spencer Johnson, became the focus of class discussion and the foundation on which the students’ performances were built. The students were given the task of writing their own script, based on the book, and performing it in front of an audience at the end of the term.


The 22 students in class were divided into four groups with a leader serving as the main author in each group. The group leaders were: Duy Tran, Yuh-Rong Chen, Thu Anh Ngyuen, and Maria Vieyra. The four scripts you are about to read were written by the group leader with the input of the rest of the group.


The plays were recorded and published to YouTube. Links are found on the Facebook page titled “Professor Gizelle Ponzillo’s Classes.”


I hope you enjoy reading the scripts and watching the plays as much as my students, several NOCCCD employees, and I have.