Students will demonstrate their cumulative knowledge over the course of the unit through a final performance.
TEXTS AND LITERACIES:
Texts: Performances of the final assessments. Literacies: Using wins and opportunities to critically analyze the performances
MATERIALS:
None
HOOK:
Get up and move around the performance space. Get their bodies moving and stretched and moving freely through the space. Give them 10 minutes as a group to prepare and go over their scenes. This can also be an opportunity to remind students of the requirements on the rubric they were given and clarify any last-minute questions about how they will be graded. • As the students are getting together, use tape to tape out a round “orchestra” and a square “skene” for the students to act in on the floor.
STEP 1: Assessment
• Have the students sit on the stairs and create a playing space for the students. Have the audience sit in the “theatron” and tell those performing to perform in the “orchestra” space. • Begin each scene with a “1-2-3-ACTION!” lead by an audience member. • Allow each group to perform. • After each group we will lead a brief discussion of what we saw concerning the items on the rubric. Explain that this discussion model is one of “wins and opportunities” A “win” is something that the students did really well. Have the audience list off some “wins” from the performance of what went well based on the rubric. Then have them list “opportunities”. “Opportunities” are opportunities for them to improve the next time they perform. What could have been better or worked better? • Add onto the discussion, if necessary, specific questions from the rubric? o Was the crying/dying believable? o Did the chorus use gesture, shape and exaggeration? o Were they memorized?
STEP 2: Closure
All the groups should have finished performing. Return to the classroom and put the “Greek Graffiti Board” on the whiteboard. Look at everything we have done this unit. Indicate the amount of information gathered during the pre-assessment compared to the graffiti board now. Do you think that the things we have learned in this unit will help you in the future? How? Do you want to continue to do things like this? How do you think we can use Greek performance techniques in contemporary plays? What other things have we learned that you didn’t expect that you would enjoy or be useful?
