Open Forum

How do you deal with assessment when doing scenes? My problem is one member of the scene will be absent and so we can't see the scene. We have to allow three days after an excused absence for make-up work. So, one day missed, three days to rehearse and do the make-up work, that puts the student 3-4 days behind the rest of the class, not including the scene partners who was present having to wait for a grade. If we are doing group scenes the train goes totally off the track!

How do you deal with absentee students?

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John Perry
Drama Instructor
Atherton High School
Louisville KY
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By the time I am assessing them for a grade, I should have already seen the scene at least twice (I do one or more presentations to the class for critique & feedback and one "mock" scene - where I grade them as if it was real, but it doesn't count, they keep the grade sheet). So if you miss a day, at MOST you would get a single day to rehearse before going for a grade, usually I give them a chance to run it a few times in the hall while I grade someone else's scene.  The point is, there should be nothing they need to "make-up". They should have been ready to go the day they were absent, and if not, then tough. How do other subjects handle it in your school? Both academic and elective? I am sure the music teacher doesn't wait three days, nor do the science and history teachers wait for a kid to do their presentation they missed, education would grind to a halt.

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Jeffrey Davis
Plainsboro NJ

Original Message:
Sent: 02-07-2016 11:54
From: John Perry
Subject: Absent Students

How do you deal with assessment when doing scenes? My problem is one member of the scene will be absent and so we can't see the scene. We have to allow three days after an excused absence for make-up work. So, one day missed, three days to rehearse and do the make-up work, that puts the student 3-4 days behind the rest of the class, not including the scene partners who was present having to wait for a grade. If we are doing group scenes the train goes totally off the track!

How do you deal with absentee students?

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John Perry
Drama Instructor
Atherton High School
Louisville KY
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Does the 3 day make up policy require that they be given the time during class?  

I also view/assess the scenes a few times during the rehearsal period.  I have 2 Director's Conferences where the team meets with me to discuss their choices for character and then for movement.  Conferences are held during rehearsal periods so other teams are working while I'm holding conferences.  They have a peer evaluation day and then a dress rehearsal.  If someone is absent, the scene partner or team still performs with a Stage Manager and then I make arrangements for a makeup performance for the absent one.  Depending on the situation, I have offered to give them their dress rehearsal grade.  

Dealing with absences is a pain - especially when you know a student is absent because they are avoiding the "test".  I treat it like I would any performance situation - the show must go on and all.... and then the absent student's grade goes in as a zero until they make it up, which provides a little bit of extra incentive to get it done.

I think the most important thing here, is to create a policy that assures the student doesn't get further behind and one student's absence doesn't impact the rest of the class.  It's a challenge for sure, and really depends in part on each school's absence work policies.

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Amy Learn
Ballwin MO

Original Message:
Sent: 02-07-2016 11:54
From: John Perry
Subject: Absent Students

How do you deal with assessment when doing scenes? My problem is one member of the scene will be absent and so we can't see the scene. We have to allow three days after an excused absence for make-up work. So, one day missed, three days to rehearse and do the make-up work, that puts the student 3-4 days behind the rest of the class, not including the scene partners who was present having to wait for a grade. If we are doing group scenes the train goes totally off the track!

How do you deal with absentee students?

------------------------------
John Perry
Drama Instructor
Atherton High School
Louisville KY
------------------------------

Original Message------

How do you deal with assessment when doing scenes? My problem is one member of the scene will be absent and so we can't see the scene. We have to allow three days after an excused absence for make-up work. So, one day missed, three days to rehearse and do the make-up work, that puts the student 3-4 days behind the rest of the class, not including the scene partners who was present having to wait for a grade. If we are doing group scenes the train goes totally off the track!

How do you deal with absentee students?

------------------------------
John Perry
Drama Instructor
Atherton High School
Louisville KY
------------------------------

I am similar in approach to Bill.  I have all present students perform their prepared scene on the due date.  Any absent students must make up their scene the next day they are present in class or they receive a zero.  On the due date, any group with absent members asks someone to read for the missing part from a script.  When the absent person returns, the other group members, who have already been graded, get to use their scripts.  

I used to have many students conveniently absent on performance days until I did this.  There are still a few who go missing, but their grades are terrible, and they never make it to the next level.  

Good luck :)

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Lisa Dyer
Henrico VA

Original Message:
Sent: 02-08-2016 10:35
From: Billy Houck
Subject: Absent Students

In my beginning class, too often when a student is absent, when they finally do return they aren't ready to do the scene anyway, so I allow the student who is there to do the scene with someone who is holding book, then when the partner returns, it's their job to tell me when they are ready to do the scene, which will be a 0 until it is completed.

Billy Houck

I also have students who are there perform and they have someone fill in on book, understanding that it won't affect their grade at all.  My directing class is embedded in my acting class, so generally there is a director who has been working with them on the scene who can step in fairly easily with minimal weirdness in blocking and such.  If not, my acting classes are all levels so I point them toward someone who has more experience and can step in easily.

The kid who was absent is then responsible for making up the performance.

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Laura Steenson
Theatre Director
Reynolds High School
Troutdale OR

Original Message:
Sent: 02-09-2016 14:29
From: Lisa Dyer
Subject: Absent Students

I am similar in approach to Bill.  I have all present students perform their prepared scene on the due date.  Any absent students must make up their scene the next day they are present in class or they receive a zero.  On the due date, any group with absent members asks someone to read for the missing part from a script.  When the absent person returns, the other group members, who have already been graded, get to use their scripts.  

I used to have many students conveniently absent on performance days until I did this.  There are still a few who go missing, but their grades are terrible, and they never make it to the next level.  

Good luck :)

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Lisa Dyer
Henrico VA

I am trying to find a reasonable way for absent students to "make up" a performance. When there is no way to bring in another audience, and not being able to create the exact circumstances of having a missing actor for them to learn from the experience, it becomes punitive and not something that I want them to learn.

Suggestions?

Warren Kerr - Theatre Arts
Auburn High School
Auburn, WA

Sent from my iPhone


Original Message------

I also have students who are there perform and they have someone fill in on book, understanding that it won't affect their grade at all.  My directing class is embedded in my acting class, so generally there is a director who has been working with them on the scene who can step in fairly easily with minimal weirdness in blocking and such.  If not, my acting classes are all levels so I point them toward someone who has more experience and can step in easily.

The kid who was absent is then responsible for making up the performance.

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Laura Steenson
Theatre Director
Reynolds High School
Troutdale OR
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I have had students write a paper before. They have specific questions they have to answer about what it means to be in an ensemble, explaining get the different roles in the theatre, and what happens when someone isn't there and how it impacts the ensemble. That's for someone who misses without an excuse.....and I consider that a re-do according to our grading policy and the highest they can score on it would be an 80. I have only had to do that twice so far, knock on wood. I had understudies technically for both.m

If I know in advance, I can adjust and they can do before hand tech work for their grade. I had one emergency situation that I flat out forgave and just "exempted" the kid from the grade.

Sent from my iPad


Original Message------

I am trying to find a reasonable way for absent students to "make up" a performance. When there is no way to bring in another audience, and not being able to create the exact circumstances of having a missing actor for them to learn from the experience, it becomes punitive and not something that I want them to learn.

Suggestions?

Warren Kerr - Theatre Arts
Auburn High School
Auburn, WA

Sent from my iPhone

In response to Warren Kerr, with the slightly different focus of, I am assuming, class productions that happen in the evening?

We are on our second year of mounting class productions. Right now we're preparing our March Shakespeare season (Othello and Much Ado About Nothing). An initial insurance is that both productions are double cast, with the expectation that those who aren't performing will be in attendance to watch the other classes and support, and also write a production critique (when they can focus on another play and not on what they did right/wrong).

The first year we did this I had about 6 absent students. This year I have had 2, with the Shakespeare production being the last go round in class productions this year. I stress to the students from day one of the class (or the first day they enter the class, as the guidance merry-go-round of re-distributing students wheels round) what dates they need to have cleared, or that they need to conference with me if sports/life/etc comes up. Because the productions are double cast, that can usually be figured out and scheduling taken care of. I stress to the students that it is a major component of their grade, representing the culmination of everything they have been learning in class, as well as their ability to work as a team yadda yadda blah blah. As such, the students soon learned that if they deliberately miss (sickness or laziness) then they will basically fail the class. As a backup, I allow the students to take an end-of-semester style test, which, if they've been paying attention and taking notes, is a fair way to salvage their grade. Because it is a public performance, it becomes near impossible for them to do a 'make-up' as that would mean assembling the entire cast again, selecting and arranging a date in the auditorium, and all that.

I think this is about as fair as I can stretch to, but I equally would like to hear ideas about the best way to serve absent students from public (class/curricular) productions.

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Phillip Goodchild
Theatre Arts Instructor/Assistant Department Head of English
Ruskin FL

Original Message:
Sent: 02-15-2016 09:25
From: Warren Kerr
Subject: Absent Students

I am trying to find a reasonable way for absent students to "make up" a performance. When there is no way to bring in another audience, and not being able to create the exact circumstances of having a missing actor for them to learn from the experience, it becomes punitive and not something that I want them to learn.

Suggestions?

Warren Kerr - Theatre Arts
Auburn High School
Auburn, WA

Sent from my iPhone