Teaching Post 2-Elisabeth

3. Assessing theatre students.
Assessing understanding seems almost easier in a theatre class than more “academic classes.” Theatre classes are very activity based, so you can often see if they are understanding what you are working on simply by watching them as they work. So as you do activities, there is a lot of informal assessment. One thing I’ve noticed with jr. high students though is that they have a lot of trouble fully committing to what they are doing. You see them do something brilliant for a second, but then they realize that people are watching them and stop doing it. Even when they are performing for a formal assessment, they are still acutely aware of the fact that they are being watched and might look silly. So you have to watch them closely to see if they are understanding, to catch the moments they forget they are being watched. That's easier to do with three of us in the room, but it will be harder when I'm the only teacher. And then there’s trying to find a way to get them past that fear, but that goes under a different section.