Pre-primary
The Arts Support Materials
Assessment Principle 3
Assessment should be fair
Drama snapshot: Drama Performance
The Arts/Drama/Responding
| Content Description |
|---|
Different places where drama is performed Personal responses expressing ideas and feelings to key moments in drama they view and make |
Nature of the assessment
Classroom task
Purposes of the assessment
To assess students’ knowledge of how actors use their voice and movement in a live performance
To observe students’ ability to respond to drama, expressing their ideas and feelings
Stage in the Teaching sequence
Beginning of a teaching program – formative assessment
Assessment task
Students viewed a video of a live performance of the story, the Piped Piper of Hamelin. The video was chosen because the performance included mime, narration, audience participation and the use of a small number of instruments to enhance the storytelling.
Students responded to key moments in the performance such as, how the actor/s used their voice to lead the mice or how the actor/s used their body to show excitement.
Assessment process
Students viewed the video of the live drama performance. They were then asked to respond, in writing and/or using pictures, to the following questions. (The teacher offered to scribe for those students who were unable to write independently.)
- What was your favourite part of the drama we just watched?
- How did the performance make you feel?
- Where was the drama performed?
The teacher then showed parts of the performance again and led a whole class discussion. During this discussion he asked:
- Why did one of the actors read from a large book? What do we call the person who was reading from the book?
- What did the actor do that told you he was meant to be a rat?
- What did the Pied Piper do to show that he was an important man?
- How did the actors involve the audience in the performance?
- Can you tell me how the music made the performance more interesting to watch?
Using the information
The activity provided reliable indications of students’ early understandings of how actors use their voice and movement to convey their message.
In the next lesson, the teacher drew on the discussion to explain to students how to use this knowledge to create their own drama.