ACT
I (Spring, 2005): THE
101: Drama and Analysis
Ms.
Eaton adapted the WSU rubric for use in her THE
101, Drama and Analysis, course. In addition
to the criteria on the WSU rubric she had categories
on understanding of the play and writing mechanics. As
this is a Miami Plan Foundation course and most
of the students are in their first year at Miami,
she found it to be particularly important to
talk to the class about what a liberal education
is and what their part is in it. She found
the rubric to be useful in launching discussions
about what critical thinking is and how it pertains
to theatre. In her assessment of the project,
she said, “I believe they became better
critical thinkers simply because they saw the
logic of how a liberal arts education is supposed
to work for them. They were able to conceive
more readily that they were “in” on
their own education. They are not receptors only,
but active participants.”
Assigment
Rubric
ACT
IV (Spring, 2008): THE
101: Drama and Analysis
Students in early drama analysis
often have trouble discerning what might actually
be in the
text with what their well-trained reading minds
assume. This long-term exercise was intended
to refocus the students' minds to read a text
in the specific fashion from the theatre practitioner's
point of view. Students were introduced to the
concepts of Given Circumstances, Imaginary Circumstances
and Research Circumstances.
Students were given a small packet from which
to work. It contained:
• A clipping from Henrik Ibsen's A
Doll House to be analyzed together in
class.
• The short play, Furniture, by
Roberta Flackwood.
• "World of the
Play" two page worksheet
and take-home paper instructions.
• Furniture paper
rubric.
The project was to
assess their abilities after a semester of analyzing
texts. Ms. Eaton also planned to use the information
to find holes in her teaching. Students
had helpful suggestions throughout the process
and particularly at the end of it.
The beginning of the project took
place over about 2.5 class periods. The class
covered A
Doll House. Students were given
approximately three weeks to complete the assignment.
Ms. Eaton learned that the project would be better
if it were expanded and turned into an even
longer-term assignment. She also discovered that
students learned more about how the scene worked
when they actually did it (stood on their feet
and performed the scene.)
On the
day the assignment was turned in, the class held
a post-mortem discussion about it. Students'
informal input centered around the fact that
they wished they knew that they had more freedom
than they did. When Ms. Eaton uses the assignment
in the future, she has decided to not just dub
them all directors, but to go over again just
what a director does, is, is allowed to do, the
responsibilities, etc. Also,
Ms. Eaton would make a more specific rubric with
the gradations marked in ways that reflect precise
reasons the paper is at one end of the spectrum
or the other.
"Furniture" Assignment
"Furniture" Rubric
"World of the Play" Worksheet and Instructions |
