Stories as Theatre - Long Story Short Model Cornerstone Assessment

Title:  Long Story Short
Grade Level:  High School Proficient
Authors:  Anna Brock & Nikki Toombs
Artistic Processes:  Creating, Performing, Responding, Connecting

Task Description:  Understanding that actors are storytellers, students will synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences and write a one to three minute original monologue which they will perform for an audience. The purpose of this exercise is for students to establish that storytelling and connection are important elements of acting, which can be used to evoke emotion and influence society.

Evidence of student learning:  Script Reading Performance, Original Script

"Long Story Short" demonstrates ways to measure student learning in theatre, assigning students the task of creating and performing an original story as a tool for instruction and assessment. This Model Cornerstone Assessment (MCA) is based on a unit which was piloted in the classroom by the authors. Although in an MCA the emphasis is on the evaluation tools, an MCA does offer enough information for any teacher to create a similar unit of their own. Click on "View the full MCA" below to see strategies for embedding in instruction as a guide for re-creating this unit and assessment customized for your classroom. 

MCAs model effective assessment practice and demonstrate that teaching theatre is specific, rigorous, and measurable by sharing a glimpse into one teacher's classroom. The MCAs on this website come packaged with a suggested strategy for assessing student learning, types of evidence to collect, model rubrics, and samples of student work demonstrating their process and learning. The samples of student work illustrate the unit in action by providing a snapshot of a moment in time showing student response to instruction.   

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