Open Forum

For your general ed intro to theatre classes, how focused are you on teaching to mastery? I mean, if you are teaching characterization, and you have 5 students who knock it out of the park (mastered), 5 who are trying but missing the mark (solid B), another 10 who think its sufficient to show up and say their lines with a nod toward the assignment (low C) - how do you deal with this?

Reteach the skill and redo the same activity? (essentially a re-teach and re-test)
Try a new activity, but focus on the same skill? (while giving your mastered students a new, more advanced focus?)
Move on completely?


------------------------------
Ashley Bishop
Teacher
Birmingham AL
------------------------------

I go with the second option. Reteaching and retesting with the same assignment bores everyone (teacher included!). Doing something new with the same skill objective and further challenging your top students will be much more likely to engage students. It's a bit more work, but will have a better chance for success. 

Cheers!

------------------------------
Nate Fleming
Educator
Shenzhen
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-21-2018 14:38
From: Ashley Bishop
Subject: Teaching to Mastery

For your general ed intro to theatre classes, how focused are you on teaching to mastery? I mean, if you are teaching characterization, and you have 5 students who knock it out of the park (mastered), 5 who are trying but missing the mark (solid B), another 10 who think its sufficient to show up and say their lines with a nod toward the assignment (low C) - how do you deal with this?

Reteach the skill and redo the same activity? (essentially a re-teach and re-test)
Try a new activity, but focus on the same skill? (while giving your mastered students a new, more advanced focus?)
Move on completely?


------------------------------
Ashley Bishop
Teacher
Birmingham AL
------------------------------

I am a product of a great teacher of the dramatic arts. I am a professional in the professional world now.

I have realized that while in school, drama students break down into two groups -

1) Those who want to pursue the arts professionally

2) students who see the dramatic arts as a hobby for now ...

Drama arts teachers provide a great mission for the #2 category of students because they can apply their training under your wing to apply it to anything in their future ...

For those talented students who have the chops to look towards the possibility to be professionals in the arts - it is up to you as their teachers to provide the proper nurturing ...

Isn't that what being a teacher is all about?



​

------------------------------
Tony Rollo
Film Producer/ Director
Nashville, TN
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-21-2018 14:38
From: Ashley Bishop
Subject: Teaching to Mastery

For your general ed intro to theatre classes, how focused are you on teaching to mastery? I mean, if you are teaching characterization, and you have 5 students who knock it out of the park (mastered), 5 who are trying but missing the mark (solid B), another 10 who think its sufficient to show up and say their lines with a nod toward the assignment (low C) - how do you deal with this?

Reteach the skill and redo the same activity? (essentially a re-teach and re-test)
Try a new activity, but focus on the same skill? (while giving your mastered students a new, more advanced focus?)
Move on completely?


------------------------------
Ashley Bishop
Teacher
Birmingham AL
------------------------------

Original Message------

For your general ed intro to theatre classes, how focused are you on teaching to mastery? I mean, if you are teaching characterization, and you have 5 students who knock it out of the park (mastered), 5 who are trying but missing the mark (solid B), another 10 who think its sufficient to show up and say their lines with a nod toward the assignment (low C) - how do you deal with this?

Reteach the skill and redo the same activity? (essentially a re-teach and re-test)
Try a new activity, but focus on the same skill? (while giving your mastered students a new, more advanced focus?)
Move on completely?


------------------------------
Ashley Bishop
Teacher
Birmingham AL
------------------------------

Richard,
Your philosophy is exactly in line with mine.  When I create a 1-4 rubric, I also design it with "3" describing a solid good-faith effort and grade-level appropriate performance and reserve "4" for the truly extraordinary performance.  It's so important to allow for acknowledgment of truly excellent work and also to give students a view of what to shoot for.  It always takes some time within the semester to get students to understand that they should not be expecting straight 4s (or even any 4s, frankly).  Some of them really come into the class that any tepid effort is worth what they consider to be "100%" (Even though, that's not how I use the rubric).

------------------------------
Ryan Moore
Theatre Teacher and Forensics Coach
Royal Oak MI
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-22-2018 09:01
From: Richard Osann
Subject: Teaching to Mastery

For me the question is what level of mastery can I expect from beginning students in a limited time frame. I see students for 12 weeks. I consider mastery (3 level - meting standard)) to be that I can see some recognizable use of specific skills- objective and obstacle, physical and vocal characterization, staging convention, etc. "Knocking it out of the park" would be advanced- 4 level- exceeding standard. Curious to hear what you think!

Rick Osann

Bonny Eagle HS

Standish, ME

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Original Message------

For your general ed intro to theatre classes, how focused are you on teaching to mastery? I mean, if you are teaching characterization, and you have 5 students who knock it out of the park (mastered), 5 who are trying but missing the mark (solid B), another 10 who think its sufficient to show up and say their lines with a nod toward the assignment (low C) - how do you deal with this?

Reteach the skill and redo the same activity? (essentially a re-teach and re-test)
Try a new activity, but focus on the same skill? (while giving your mastered students a new, more advanced focus?)
Move on completely?


------------------------------
Ashley Bishop
Teacher
Birmingham AL
------------------------------

They have however long it takes to get to mastery in my class. That's by district mandate but even before then it was the way I worked. 

I always move to a next assignment and often it's building on the prior skills taught. I use more advanced students in mixed groups with those struggling so that reteaching is coming through peer coaching and support (further proof that those I think have reached total mastery have if they can teach it to someone else), and I also do the opposite, grouping struggling students together on the next assignment so I can visit a mastery group and add a layer of challenge to their work, then spend extra time with groups of students who haven't mastered yet, reteaching and supporting through the new assignment myself. Mixing it up keeps everyone challenged.

As each assignment builds on more and more assable standards on my rubric I don't drop off any standards I'm assessing until I reach a mid range mastery level on that item for every student. If they hit that basic mastery at any point in the school year I will go back and change their grade, but I try to build it into 9 week developments with a culminating project at the end of the nine weeks as a catch all so that I'm only working in one terms grades. Usually we all hit it by then as I slowdown adding stuff towards the last two weeks.


------------------------------
Kathleen McNulty Mann
mcnulkl@bay.k12.fl.us

Program Director
Arnold High School Theatre
Thespian Troupe 6371
Panama City Beach, FL

District 10 Chair & State Logistics
Florida State Junior Thespians

Board Member
Membership Committee Chair
Florida Association for Theatre Education
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-21-2018 14:38
From: Ashley Bishop
Subject: Teaching to Mastery

For your general ed intro to theatre classes, how focused are you on teaching to mastery? I mean, if you are teaching characterization, and you have 5 students who knock it out of the park (mastered), 5 who are trying but missing the mark (solid B), another 10 who think its sufficient to show up and say their lines with a nod toward the assignment (low C) - how do you deal with this?

Reteach the skill and redo the same activity? (essentially a re-teach and re-test)
Try a new activity, but focus on the same skill? (while giving your mastered students a new, more advanced focus?)
Move on completely?


------------------------------
Ashley Bishop
Teacher
Birmingham AL
------------------------------

For me, the beauty of an Art Form is that mastery comes at many levels.  I would consider myself a Master Carpenter, for example, and I would also say that I am not a master of that craft by any stretch of the imagination.  Doing things over, playing many parts over time-- leads to new skills, new outlooks, new analysis, new research-- new opportunities for growth.  As a projects based learner, this is the beauty of a craft, it can be done again.  Certainly, the drift wood lamps that I made as Christmas gifts in 1978, I was 14, were excellent in nature and still serve there function as both a thing and as Art in the homes where they reside, would I do it differently, now, yep.  But I'm not interested in driftwood anymore, my interests lay elsewhere, but I can still grow at my craft from another project.

It's about opportunity-- many of the same skills reside in different opportunities.

Hope that makes sense.


------------------------------
Michael Johnson
Trinity NC
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-22-2018 10:57
From: Kathleen McNulty Mann
Subject: Teaching to Mastery

They have however long it takes to get to mastery in my class. That's by district mandate but even before then it was the way I worked.

I always move to a next assignment and often it's building on the prior skills taught. I use more advanced students in mixed groups with those struggling so that reteaching is coming through peer coaching and support (further proof that those I think have reached total mastery have if they can teach it to someone else), and I also do the opposite, grouping struggling students together on the next assignment so I can visit a mastery group and add a layer of challenge to their work, then spend extra time with groups of students who haven't mastered yet, reteaching and supporting through the new assignment myself. Mixing it up keeps everyone challenged.

As each assignment builds on more and more assable standards on my rubric I don't drop off any standards I'm assessing until I reach a mid range mastery level on that item for every student. If they hit that basic mastery at any point in the school year I will go back and change their grade, but I try to build it into 9 week developments with a culminating project at the end of the nine weeks as a catch all so that I'm only working in one terms grades. Usually we all hit it by then as I slowdown adding stuff towards the last two weeks.


------------------------------
Kathleen McNulty Mann
mcnulkl@bay.k12.fl.us

Program Director
Arnold High School Theatre
Thespian Troupe 6371
Panama City Beach, FL

District 10 Chair & State Logistics
Florida State Junior Thespians

Board Member
Membership Committee Chair
Florida Association for Theatre Education

Original Message:
Sent: 09-21-2018 14:38
From: Ashley Bishop
Subject: Teaching to Mastery

For your general ed intro to theatre classes, how focused are you on teaching to mastery? I mean, if you are teaching characterization, and you have 5 students who knock it out of the park (mastered), 5 who are trying but missing the mark (solid B), another 10 who think its sufficient to show up and say their lines with a nod toward the assignment (low C) - how do you deal with this?

Reteach the skill and redo the same activity? (essentially a re-teach and re-test)
Try a new activity, but focus on the same skill? (while giving your mastered students a new, more advanced focus?)
Move on completely?


------------------------------
Ashley Bishop
Teacher
Birmingham AL
------------------------------

So at a nut and bolts level, the consensus seems to be:

1. Yes, keep everyone engaged by moving to a new activity that may have a different focus, but that incorporates already taught standards (spiraling/scaffolding of course).
and
2. Yes,  change a grade from a previous unit if during the new unit student demonstrates mastery of the previously focused skill, regardless of the specific task/activity/circumstances of when/how the skill is demonstrated

Which means making sure there is an opportunity for the student to demonstrate mastery  I.E.: If not all of my students have demonstrated mastery (whatever "mastery" might look like at "x" grade level) in say "projection and articulation," the teacher should NOT move on to a unit on costume design until the class spends more time in acting world to give those students an opportunity to practice and improve their projection and articulation.

and Tony, I'd add a third group to your two:

3. Those who were put in the class by their counselors who have no interest in drama at all for any reason. :)  This student is not interested in achieving mastery :)

------------------------------
Ashley Bishop
Teacher
Birmingham AL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-23-2018 14:13
From: Michael Johnson
Subject: Teaching to Mastery

For me, the beauty of an Art Form is that mastery comes at many levels.  I would consider myself a Master Carpenter, for example, and I would also say that I am not a master of that craft by any stretch of the imagination.  Doing things over, playing many parts over time-- leads to new skills, new outlooks, new analysis, new research-- new opportunities for growth.  As a projects based learner, this is the beauty of a craft, it can be done again.  Certainly, the drift wood lamps that I made as Christmas gifts in 1978, I was 14, were excellent in nature and still serve there function as both a thing and as Art in the homes where they reside, would I do it differently, now, yep.  But I'm not interested in driftwood anymore, my interests lay elsewhere, but I can still grow at my craft from another project.

It's about opportunity-- many of the same skills reside in different opportunities.

Hope that makes sense.


------------------------------
Michael Johnson
Trinity NC

Original Message:
Sent: 09-22-2018 10:57
From: Kathleen McNulty Mann
Subject: Teaching to Mastery

They have however long it takes to get to mastery in my class. That's by district mandate but even before then it was the way I worked.

I always move to a next assignment and often it's building on the prior skills taught. I use more advanced students in mixed groups with those struggling so that reteaching is coming through peer coaching and support (further proof that those I think have reached total mastery have if they can teach it to someone else), and I also do the opposite, grouping struggling students together on the next assignment so I can visit a mastery group and add a layer of challenge to their work, then spend extra time with groups of students who haven't mastered yet, reteaching and supporting through the new assignment myself. Mixing it up keeps everyone challenged.

As each assignment builds on more and more assable standards on my rubric I don't drop off any standards I'm assessing until I reach a mid range mastery level on that item for every student. If they hit that basic mastery at any point in the school year I will go back and change their grade, but I try to build it into 9 week developments with a culminating project at the end of the nine weeks as a catch all so that I'm only working in one terms grades. Usually we all hit it by then as I slowdown adding stuff towards the last two weeks.


------------------------------
Kathleen McNulty Mann
mcnulkl@bay.k12.fl.us

Program Director
Arnold High School Theatre
Thespian Troupe 6371
Panama City Beach, FL

District 10 Chair & State Logistics
Florida State Junior Thespians

Board Member
Membership Committee Chair
Florida Association for Theatre Education

Original Message:
Sent: 09-21-2018 14:38
From: Ashley Bishop
Subject: Teaching to Mastery

For your general ed intro to theatre classes, how focused are you on teaching to mastery? I mean, if you are teaching characterization, and you have 5 students who knock it out of the park (mastered), 5 who are trying but missing the mark (solid B), another 10 who think its sufficient to show up and say their lines with a nod toward the assignment (low C) - how do you deal with this?

Reteach the skill and redo the same activity? (essentially a re-teach and re-test)
Try a new activity, but focus on the same skill? (while giving your mastered students a new, more advanced focus?)
Move on completely?


------------------------------
Ashley Bishop
Teacher
Birmingham AL
------------------------------

This is a question regarding many of your responses, and I hope it is okay to pose the question in this thread.  We are converting to the 4 pt. scale based on standards, but are at the beginning stages.  Would any of you be willing to share your rubrics? We adopted the National Standards for Theatre Arts in our state (Iowa), so I am particularly interested in information regarding those--but I would love to look at others as well.  (And also any information you could provide if you have converted your classrooms.)  

If you are willing, please send to: lronca@ballard.k12.ia.us

------------------------------
Lisa Ronca
Ballard High School

------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-21-2018 14:38
From: Ashley Bishop
Subject: Teaching to Mastery

For your general ed intro to theatre classes, how focused are you on teaching to mastery? I mean, if you are teaching characterization, and you have 5 students who knock it out of the park (mastered), 5 who are trying but missing the mark (solid B), another 10 who think its sufficient to show up and say their lines with a nod toward the assignment (low C) - how do you deal with this?

Reteach the skill and redo the same activity? (essentially a re-teach and re-test)
Try a new activity, but focus on the same skill? (while giving your mastered students a new, more advanced focus?)
Move on completely?


------------------------------
Ashley Bishop
Teacher
Birmingham AL
------------------------------