Children's Theatre (2006) Journal Four

‘…Dispel the idea that the arts are somehow intellectually undemanding…’ [1]

Back at uni this week, and straight back into the thick of it. Although today’s workshop contained a whole script read through, I somehow avoided the anxiety and fear that I normally find from a ‘cold reading’. Readers of my previous journals would understand that my skills of basic reading have been improving over the three and a half years that I have been here. I am finally getting to a point that I can confidently, to a degree, pick up a script and read it verbatim. It has been a challenge, on a seemingly broken record, but I’m finally getting there. Problems this week, unfortunately, are surfacing in other areas of the workshop.

As a result of the two-week school experience prac, the Ed Pack is very unorganised. We have achieved some initial research information, and even some clever ideas for activity design, but a clearer approach is needed. It is a problem that can easily be fixed; the question is just how? Perhaps a production stylebook could be useful for the group. In Drama and the Curriculum, Robin Pascoe provided a ‘draft’ stylebook that allowed students to write down suggestions, and essentially outline their ideas for the production. In this case, the book could offer the group a physical idea of the final Ed Pack, and highlight the gaps that still need to be filled.

A production book in the school classroom works well because it offers the group ownership, not just the teacher. Like the aspects of a journal, it provides the teacher with a physical representation of where the students are in the process, and whether the teacher needs to intervene. As far as an outcomes based approach is concerned, a production book would allow demonstration of high levels of outcomes, yet still offers the teacher a structured way to view, calculate and provide an arena to critique individual student work. Lower outcome levels like ‘Arts Response’ level one elaboration, relies on students working through structured activities, ‘with teacher guidance’ (Curriculum Council, 2005:58). Such scaffolding limits students from achieving higher levels, unless the teacher is flexible to the needs of their students. A production book provides an open-ended document for recording assessment criteria, but also does not limit individual achievement.

I believe the reason that the Outcomes Based approach works so well is its ability to build upon and scaffold a student’s educational approach. The system mirrors the levels in Bloom’s taxonomy, which follows a ‘basic’ to a ‘highly developed’ approach. The six levels of thinking described by Bloom are knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. In theory, one activity could be created based on each individual stage of development. A knowledge example, for instance, could ask a student to correctly identify a police helmet, and describe its purpose on stage. At a higher thinking level, application could be used to ask the student to classify the symbolic representation of the same object. At an even higher level, a student could be requested to create a back-story, which detailed an event that occurred to the previous owner of the hat; thus achieving a synthesis level of thinking.

Each level of the Outcomes and Standards Framework should develop a student’s current knowledge into a deeper understanding of known concepts. ‘One of the outcomes of arts education is the development of students’ ability to understand art as a cultural artefact’ (Eisner, 2002:89). As discussed last week, this is perhaps why it is vital for projects to have significant meaning for the student. It is important to provide ‘tasks and materials that will engage students in meaningful learning, learning that they can apply and that connects with other aspects of the world’ (Eisner, 2002:47). To find an ‘assessment connection’ with a student could ensure the student’s willingness to continue up beyond the various levels. Higher-level thinking requires a subject or activity that is relevant to the student; without it, outcome achievement may not occur.

With this in mind, I plan to start showing some examples of lesson plans that I feel meet with the Outcomes and Standards Framework. For each example, I will provide a short yet thoughtful approach, lesson or program for possible classroom deployment. As a result of assessment being a major issue with the new system, I also hope to provide approaches and/or marking keys for assessing a variety of student outcomes. Most of my lesson evaluations are based on the structure of my previous assignment, however I have not just cut and pasted the information. I have changed specific details where necessary, yet maintained the structure when appropriate. As a teacher, I feel it is appropriate to ‘steal’ from your own resources, though not just at random. If a particular checklist is appropriate to use, but needs some minor changes, use it. It MUST, however, meet with your set objectives; so if it addresses the outcomes, use it! In addition, as I don’t just want to jump from outcome to outcome, I also plan to individually look at each area, and develop a number of alternative approaches for achieving student success.

With drama, I believe the most common area of student assessment deals with Outcome three, Arts Response. I feel it is significant, as it not only invites students to interpret, recreate and respond to ideas, but also because it links into other areas of the outcomes. Arts Response often appears in alternative outcomes, as responses and students interpretations of concepts can clearly represent their understanding of a subject. Say a student purposefully recreates a scene from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet set in a pigpen, student justification can be demonstrated through a need to symbolically communicate the phrase ‘rotten in the state’ through setting. Would it work, perhaps not? It would however highlight a student’s enthusiasm for creative thinking, but a possible need for direction and guidance.

For this week’s lesson, I have chosen an activity called Family Photos. Students would be asked to choose from a number of individual close-ups photos, and create back-stories for their character. I believe it to be a great activity, as it would enable students to develop web-searching skills, and enhance their characterisation approaches. It is also an activity that looks at Commedia dell’ arte, and how to make it relevant to the students. The lesson plan starts from the Internet, a fun and accessible classroom tool, into a creative and limitless mime activity. As Robin Pascoe would say, ‘Limit to be free’. Allow students to mime whatever they want, under the guidelines of a clearly established pathway. Autonomy for students is important, as students can achieve greatness if they are properly directed. The ‘Art Response’ comes from the students written critique of their work. As it is only a level two expectation, students have a number of structured activities that are designed to allow them to reflect and investigate possible improvement of their own work.

[1] Eisner, E. W. (2002) The Arts and the Creation of Mind, Yale University Press: New Haven and London. p. xi.

Customer - ‘What! If you come back next year will you be an amoeba?’[1]

Great results today with the Ed Pack file. During the week I decided a file would be more appropriate for the Ed Pack group as it would enable the ability to change pages when corrections are needed, and physically see where all the gaps are. Also, it provided a great forum for us all to write down our current areas of research, and indicate where we would like to go next. The work that everyone is contributing is superb, and the ideas for activities are brilliant. The key is to maintain this wave, and to try to meet our own set goals.

If university was a level on the Outcomes and Standards Framework it would, presumedly, be above level eight. I would suggest this because university often removes signs of structure, as it relies on students already being self-motivated and often only asks students the higher order thinking questions. This is perhaps why an Outcomes Based approach is vital, as it provides students with the correct support to achieve their very best. If a student can develop from level one to eight in their K-12 (Kindergarten to year 12) schooling years, the change to university would be so minimal. This is, of course, not always the case as student development is often not that simple. That is, students may not always learn how to successfully nurture and encourage their own motivation and self-esteem in order to achieve their very best without support. The role of the teacher is ‘to play primarily a supportive role to the child and to let nature take its course (Eisner, 2002:106).

There is absolutely no shock that I enjoy the Outcome that looks at journal writing as its main approach to assessment. Looking further into ‘Arts Response’, I find it is significant as it allows the opportunity to let students justify why an activity is personally important to them. It allows the student to find their own relevance with subject matter, and in turn suggests how they can make learnt theories and (seemingly out-dated) approaches to acting work for them. ‘Similarly, if students are to learn to see and talk about visual qualities, they need occasions for such seeing and talking’ Eisner, 2002:12).

The first two outcomes, Arts Ideas and Arts, Skills and Processes, allow students to work with presented approaches to acting, where Arts Response encourages them to make sense of the concept in ‘their reality’. This can enable students to make sense of the world they are a part of, encouraging them to reflect and constantly expand upon all ideas given to them, thus understanding their immediate culture. ‘By promoting visual culture I refer to efforts to help students learn how to decode the values and ideas that are embedded in what might be called popular culture as well as what is called the fine arts’ (Eisner, 2002:28). The ‘decoding’ that is achieved through reflection is vital, however it only seems to be completed through written assessment. With a need to, perhaps, offer an alternative, I have sort to create a new approach to achieving the same outcome.

This week’s lesson plan is deeply connected with the third Outcome, Arts Response. It takes on the structure and purpose of a reflective journal, however it works in pictures rather than words. This idea came about as a result of viewing students who were reluctant to write in their journals; it just seemed too difficult. In Picture Story, it is assumed that students are well into creating their individual group productions. After a session where the teacher takes a number of photographs of each group’s rehearsal, the teacher can later return with a selection of photos for each group to work with. The idea is the student’s recreate their play by using the pictures provided, while still communicating the appropriate tone, narrative structure and other key drama elements.

The idea is, from the created storyboard of the student’s production, the group can brainstorm on how to improve. The group can physically view their photos, indicate the play’s structure and dialogue, and then move beyond that. Students can draw on costumes, ideas for lighting or even write the internal thoughts of each character in each scene. ‘The aim is to enable students to think like designers, and designers have problems whose solutions are empirically testable’ (Eisner, 2002:31). Typically, as today’s students work better with visual activities, the storyboard will provide the group with the exact same outcomes as a written journal. I have added a detailed rubric to this lesson plan as a means to evaluate it successfully. In addition, I have sort to include the extra ‘Arts Ideas’ outcomes that this activity can also achieve. In fact all ‘Arts outcomes are inter-related and inter-connected. The outcomes holistically describe a process of learning in The Arts’ (Curriculum Council, 2005:11).

[1] This is part of a conversation that I had with a customer at work during the week. The comment was made after I told him about the different animals that I have played over the years in Children’s Theatre.

View Andrew's 'Integrating Drama and the Outcomes and Standards Framework' journal entries...

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