Dear IB DP Theatre Teachers -
My name is Kim Guzowski & I teach DP Theatre at the Dwight School in New York City, NY, USA. I also teach MYP 6, 7, 8 Theatre. I am writing to you because you requested information on the IB DP Theater Facebook group about how we teach IB DP Theatre at my school.
***Please understand that I am just an IB DP teacher like yourself and the information below is just what I do at my school. There are many ways to teach the course and what I am giving you is just how we are teaching IB DP theater at my school right now. I am not an IB trainer, and I encourage you to do the full DP Theater trainings with ISTA and use MyIB online (as well as FB groups) for your questions. That said, I hope the information and ideas I am sending you will be useful to you.***
Apologies if this is overwhelming, but I've included the last four cohorts of outlines of how we've structured the class, which includes pandemic accommodations in two of the years. The main difference in the years is that we used to do YEAR ONE as a prep year and YEAR TWO as an assessment year, as I feel IB intends for us to do when possible, but we found that doing at least one assessment in YEAR ONE eased-up the stress for our 12th graders as they applied to colleges and handled the load of full DP and so was a healthier choice for our students. We made this shift three years ago and it has been more enjoyable for the seniors and has allowed more time to refine the assessments through more writing time, etc., though there is definitely a loss for the students in not being able to return to the projects in YEAR TWO, so I am torn about the new structure we are using, but it does work. My YEAR ONE & YEAR TWO students are co-seated, so each year the YEAR ONE students somewhat follow the YEAR TWO pattern, so which assessments I teach when change a bit each year.
I am sure there are many other plans out there, these are just the four we have done at my school in the past few years. And I will continue to adjust to the needs of the students, pandemic and whether we are co-seated or not. ALSO, the course changes soon, so keep an eye on that. Though the new course is very similar to the old course.
**Most importantly, the plans below are based upon the hours and schedule my school gives us and the amounts of students in our classes (1-12, depending on year). You should definitely customize your own plan based on your own situation, but I hope the below gives you a starting point.***. At my school we are somewhat shy on the required hours and classes are 45 minutes with no double periods.
If you have questions, please feel free to contact me. I hope the below helps!
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KEY RESOURCE: DWIGHT DP WEBSITE:
This is a website I use with my students. It needs some re-organizing right now, but it is useful to have everything on a website they and I can refer to easily https://sites.google.com/a/dwight.edu/dptheatre/home
Each student also has a website for their work. This allows them to easily reference their work in assignment sheets, see video of work in class and have a digital journal (as well as paper journal depending upon student preference). We use Google Sites, Google Classroom and Google Docs so the integration into the website of all of their work is easy.
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PLAN #1 - The way I used to teach the course with a full prep year and a full assessment year - Plan we used in the past, not what we are doing now.
ADVANTAGES: Students enjoy returning to the tasks in year two and putting into practice what they learned in year one. They take great pleasure in getting the chance to employ what they learned in year one and reflect naturally what they have learned because the structure causes these reflections to occur all the time. This layout is what IB intended, I believe, when they designed the course.
DISADVANTAGES: Collaborative happens when they are looking at colleges and doing college apps, so ensemble time and student efforts can be uneven. World Theatre gets short shrift. They are overloaded with IB exam prep in other courses when needing to focus on getting portfolio revisions done, so they don't do great revisions. ***Please note that my course is shy of the recommended course hours by about 27 hours of class and that causes quite a bit of pressure in the second year. The second plan I present is the one we began implementing last year and there is a lot more relaxation in it, but the students do not get to return to the assessments, so that is a disadvantage in deepening skills.
PLAN #1 - YEAR ONE - Old plan
SEPT- Intro to course and Collaborative Prep Unit. Prep Unit is usually SITI Company as the prep research and practical we do together and a Collaborative Project "mini" in which they make and present a SHORT collaborative project in a few classes.
LATE SEPT - EARLY OCT - Individual Professional Company research which culminates in each student giving a workshop on their professional company's methodologies. The workshops are part of how they evaluate who they want for collaborators in their ensemble.
EARLY OCT - Ensemble choosing activities - "speed dating" - quick rounds of interviews about how they want to create and what topics interest them now. Then Ensemble choosing
MID OCT - MID NOV - Create the Collaborative piece
MID NOV - Public presentation and video taping of the Collaborative piece. THIS UNIT IS A DRAFT UNIT, SO THIS PRESENTATION IS NOT USED FOR ASSESSMENT UNLESS STUDENTS WANT THAT
MID NOV - writing of the Collaborative paper UNIT. We walk through how to write the paper and they write a full paper for practice. They are always surprised how low they score.
EARLY - MID DEC - Solo Piece Prep unit (often still writing Collaborative paper as part of homework). Who I use depends upon which theory explorations I want the group to experience with me.
MID DEC - Collaborative papers due to me before winter break - full drafts so that I can really assess where they are in their long-form writing and rubric following skills.
MID DEC - EARLY JAN - winter break - I assess the Collab. papers
EARLY JAN - MID FEB - create a solo piece. This is a sample solo piece for them to get practice, not the final, though they can use it as the final if they love it.
MID FEB - perform the solo piece for public performance.
LATE FEB - Write the solo paper with guidance. Again, this is a sample, not what they give to IB
MARCH - MAY - Practical directing unit with public presentation of scenes they direct in class. I like Picnic on the Battlefield by Arrabal or No Exit by Satre, but you can use any published play. We do a lot of directing on their feet, terminology, blocking notation, etc. and assemble a director's notebook together as a class.
LATE MAY - EARLY JUNE - A light touch on World Theatre - World Theatre does not get enough attention in the plan where we have a draft year and a finals year
PLAN #1 YEAR TWO - Old plan
SEPT- Intro to course and Collaborative Prep Unit. Prep Unit is usually SITI Company as the prep research and practical we do together and a Collaborative Project "mini" in which they make and present a SHORT collaborative project in a few classes.
LATE SEPT - EARLY OCT - Individual Professional Company research which culminates in each student giving a workshop on their professional company's methodologies. The workshops are part of how they evaluate who they want for collaborators in their ensemble.
EARLY OCT - Ensemble choosing activities - "speed dating" - quick rounds of interviews about how they want to create and what topics interest them now. Then Ensemble choosing
MID OCT - MID NOV - Create the Collaborative piece. Attention to documentation of explorations: video, images & journal writing.
MID NOV - Public presentation and video taping of the Collaborative piece. THIS VIDEO IS EDITED AND SUBMITTED
MID NOV - Collaborative paper and video editing.
EARLY - MID DEC - Solo piece research during class and writing Collaborative paper at night.
MID DEC - Collaborative papers due to put in a "drafts" folder by winter break.
MID DEC - EARLY JAN - winter break - I assess the Collab. paper drafts
EARLY JAN - MID FEB - Create the Solo Piece. Attention to documentation of explorations: video, images & journal writing. ALSO - Conference on their Collaborative paper & revisions on that paper.
MID FEB - Perform Solo for public audience.
LATE FEB - Solo paper at night & Director's notebook during class
MARCH - Mock exams. We do a full 4-hour mock in which they work on their director's notebook and research a World Theatre Form.
LATE MARCH SPRING BREAK - I assess the Solo paper draft. Students finish their Director's Notebook and do context research on World Theatre form.
APRIL - RETURN FROM BREAK - Hand-in director's notebook end of first week back (homework). In-class do World Theatre explorations. Solo paper conferences on drafts (lunch).
EARLY TO MID-APRIL - World Theatre explorations and creation of their drafts. Revisions on Solo and Director's Notebook assessments.
MID-APRIL - Record World Theatre Research Presentation.
MID-APRIL TO END APRIL - Last revisions and upload.
END APRIL - End of course. They spend May in IB exams which Theatre does not have
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PLAN #2 -Below is a sketch of how we taught the 2-year DP theater sequence for the Class of 2020
- in spring of Year 2 we were in the thick of the pandemic, but they only had paper revisions left to do when we were put online, so it all worked out fine for my students, as if it were a regular year.
ADVANTAGES: Students are able to be more relaxed in their YEAR TWO while looking at colleges, doing college applications and handling a very heavy DP load. This especially worked out in the pandemic when the students really needed more time and had half the access to the actual theater that they usually would have. DISADVANTAGES: Students miss the experience of revisiting the assessment projects and a certain level of joy and deeper understanding they gained by doing the practical performance tasks twice. They take great pleasure in getting the chance to employ what they learned in year one and reflect naturally what they have learned because the structure causes these reflections to occur all the time, this is diminished when the units are only taught once.
For our community, the key seems to be doing some of the final assessments in Year One and not having anything too heavy or collaborative in the fall of Senior year because of college applications.
PLAN #2 YEAR ONE- TRIMESTER ONE: Preparatory Units and Begin Director's Notebook
Sept - November
* This year, concurrent with our DP Intro unit, we did an acting unit on The Seagull as a way of looking at performing and theater, but we may choose to not do this again in favor of giving more time directly to the assessments.
* Intro to DP Theatre including Intro to the Four Assessments:
* What each assessment unit entails
* Planning to see live theater
* Intro to TEAM explorations
* The Journal
* Intro to research and citing sources
* Exposure to the material for the choices they will need to make: World Theater, Theorist, Collaborative Professional Group, Play for Director's Notebook
November - December
* Director's Notebook Prep
* before the trimester is out, students have to choose their play for their Director's Notebook and are expected to read it in full over the winter break in one sitting (just as you would view a play in one sitting, so ought you to read your play the first time - straight through). When they do the first read, they journal their first impressions (this material is used in the Director's Notebook when they write it).
* mini-exploration in directing with the prologue of Romeo & Juliet (this is the time of year that we also have one of our mainstage productions, so we try to keep this time lighter in homework)
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PLAN #2 YEAR ONE- TRIMESTER TWO Director's Notebook Prep and Assessment Begins
January-Mid-February
* Director's Notebook Prep Unit: A month of class work on Satre's No Exit to prep them for their Director's Notebook:
* class table read of the play
* context work
* director's concept - learning what this is and doing a power point presentation on your concept, including production elements, casting ideas, etc...
* casting considerations
* production elements - design - hands-on labs and theoretical considerations
* stage plan - how and why to create
* blocking - how to do this and how to notate
* open rehearsal of a moment of No Exit with feedback from peers and teachers
Mid-February-March 1st (end of trimester)
* After we finished the No Exit unit, we returned to their own Director's Notebook and they began the assessment with mini-assignments on the sections along the way to help them organize and prep their work.
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PLAN #2 YEAR ONE TRIMESTER THREE: Director's Notebook & Solo Project
March 1st -March 15 Work on Director's Notebook in class
March 15 -April 1st Over Spring Break they finished their Director's Notebook DRAFT
April 1st - June 1st. Director's Notebook Revisions (homework) & Solo Project
Solo Project
1 week - Solo Prep exploration = Solo mini project. Split into groups and invented theater theories. Then everyone created a short solo based on the theories
3 weeks - Explore theorists and choose a theorist.
Research theorist's theories, context and choose aspect(s) of theories to focus on.
12 minute presentation on your theorist to class and do a practical workshop in chosen aspect. Take questions and receive feedback.
5 weeks to explore theories and create piece
June 1 (a Saturday) - Solo night. The pieces are 4-8 minutes, but the talkback for each piece can go on for ten minutes, so, if you have a lot of students, you may need a longer presentation period or multiple presentations. Also, if a student chooses a theorist and wants a specific audience or venue, they can be accommodated at a different time. Need audience feedback, so talkback or surveys, etc.
The next week is our Spring Exam period. Students hand-in their Director's Notebook final and write a section of their solo paper for the exam
PLAN #2 SUMMER VACATION WORK
* Finish DRAFT of Solo paper - to be handed-in Day 1 of Fall Trimester
* Choose World Theater form
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PLAN #2 - YEAR 2 - TRIMESTER 1 - Solo Paper & World Theater Research Presentation
September - Early October
* First day: hand-in draft of solo paper
After they hand solo paper in, they get it back to self-assess against the rubric
They hand it in again and then I give their papers to their peers to do peer assessments and peer conferences
They then asked for and were granted a week to do revisions during homework time while we begin the World Theatre Research Project in class
* World Theatre Research Project Orientation
* Assessment orientation: structure, requirements, what is a performance convention: We explore these through Pantomime and Kathakali (which means these forms are removed from the list they can choose from)
Early October - Mid November
* Do research on World Theater Research Presentation
* Present Context & Demo draft in class for feedback on this work
* Create convention in moment of theatre; Present draft of this section for feedback
Mid-November
* Perform the 2-minute performance of your convention before a live audience - This is not a DP assessment requirement, but we do this so that the seniors can partake in our scene night and so that the other students benefit from seeing world theater forms
- Create draft of full Presentation
- Present draft of full Presentation for feedback
* Present formal 12-15minute presentation for final assessment. Recorded and submitted to IB
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PLAN #2 YEAR 2 - TRIMESTER 2
End November - Mid-December
* Collaborative Project Orientation
* Intro. to Devising and Collaborative Professional Companies
* Research into Collaborative Professional Companies
* Present on chosen Collaborative Professional Company includes practical workshop for peers
January
* Do ensemble choosing exercises: conversations and labs
* Choose ensemble
* Begin Creating piece
* Present draft of piece for feedback
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Beginning to Mid-February
* Present draft of piece for feedback
* Perform piece mid-February
Mid-February - March 1
* Write collaborative portfolio DRAFT & edit video
March 1-March 15
* MARCH 1: Turn-in Draft
* Receive feedback on your draft
* Begin revisions
- Mock Exam - 4 hours - work on Collaborative Portfolio revisions and other revisions
Spring Break
* Create your final draft of Collaborative Portfolio
Beginning of April
* Collaborative Portfolio due
April
* Clean-up Solo paper and Director's Notebook and ready work for upload
- Some fun classes on things we haven't done for class - Improvisation, Shakespeare, etc...
* Upload to IB
* Course is finished by end of April
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PLAN #3 -Below is a sketch of how we taught the 2-year DP theater sequence for the Class of 2021 - the pandemic cohort. My school is in New York City, NY, USA. We were hit very hard by Covid in the spring of 2020 and so went online, but we taught in person from September 2020-Winter 2021.
PLAN #3 FOR CLASS 2021 WHICH WAS CO-SEATED WITH 2020 & 2022
YEAR ONE - co-seated with Class of 2020 and in the pandemic
FALL - September-November
Intro to DP Theatre
World Theatre Research Prep Unit
World Theatre Research Assessment Unit
WINTER - December-February (two-week winter break in Dec)
Collaborative prep unit
Collaborative assessment unit research, devising, performance
SPRING - March-June - Pandemic hit hard so all classes online (2-week break in March)
March-beg April - Collaborative paper - draft & revised
Mid-April - June
DN prep unit
DN beginning - choosing a play, context research, summer plan making
SUMMER - DN work
DN shorter papers, so that I could see the work - had some conferences with student
Work on DN draft, leaving moments until we came back to school
PLAN # 3 YEAR TWO - co-seated with Class of 2022 and in the pandemic, but back in-school on hyflex model
FALL - September-November
Directing Unit - practical directing experience while working on DN draft & experimenting with moments
Directing Unit was coupled with an Acting Unit
Second Years directed First Years to test their moments and were able to perform, as well
Moments were presented as public performance for our High School Scene Night (recorded masked with no audience and broadcast to communit)
Draft of DN handed-in end of November
WINTER - December-Beginning of April (has two two-week breaks in this span for winter & spring vacations)
Solo Theatre Prep Unit - December
Solo Theatre Assessment Unit - Research, Creating, Presenting Draft, Filming Final - Dec-end of Feb
SPRING - March & April
Solo Theatre Assessment Unit - paper writing - March Draft (use mock time to finish draft)
Solo Theatre Assessment Unit - paper writing - April hand-in revisions
Look at DN again and revise, if they wish
Upload work
Have fun by helping Year One students with their World Theatre Research Project
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PLAN #4 -Below is a sketch of how I am currently teaching the 2-year DP theater sequence for the Class of 2022 - the pandemic cohort #2. These students are mostly in school on the hyflex model with the class split into two cohorts who alternate being in-school or on Zoom. This is cutting their time working in the theater in half. We have periods entirely on Zoom for Quarantining after breaks. The pandemic makes some of this plan risky in terms of if/how we actually get it done, depending on the virus, but this is the plan...for now....
PLAN #4 FOR CLASS 2022 WHICH IS CO-SEATED WITH 2021 & will probably be co-seated with 2023
YEAR ONE
FALL - September-November
Intro to DP Theatre
DN Prep: Directing, Design & Acting; DN mini (5 pages based on final assessment) used The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, sometimes I use Picnic on the Battlefield by Arrabal
Year Ones directed by Year Twos
Some Year Ones also directed - scenes were recorded and broadcast as performance. Lysistrata was text (adaptation by Ellen McLaughlin)
WINTER - December-February (two-week winter break in Dec)
December
Solo prep unit
Decide on Solo Theorist (if they couldn't decide by break, then I met with them over winter break)
January-February - Solo research, explorations, creation of piece
SPRING - March-June - Pandemic hit hard so all classes online (2-week break in March)
March Week 1. - Record performances which will be shown to community & feedback will be talkback on Zoom and surveys
March Weeks 2 & 3 - solo paper writing for homework and in-class prep unit on World Theatre Research Presentation
March Weeks 4 & 5 - spring break with conferences on solo drafts
April - revise solo paper (homework). In-class World Theatre Research Presentation prep unit & then start assessment. Hand-in revised solo by mid-April
May - World Theatre Research Presentation.
June - Just see them for a few classes and a final exam. Use final exam to either tape WTRP or to do DN intro for summer work. Probably have them all read one or more plays in their final exam, if WTRP is done. A play for the DN can be a one-act.
SUMMER - DN work
DN - find a play
Probably some preliminary journal writing, a conference with me over the summer and beginning of context research - maybe - because of pandemic, they all need time away from computer more than usual, so may do no intense research til fall
PLAN # 4 YEAR TWO - co-seated with Class of 2023 and no idea what our in-school to zoom pandemic will look like
FALL - September-November
Directing Unit - practical directing experience while working on DN draft & experimenting with moments
Directing Unit was coupled with an Acting Unit
Second Years directed First Years to test their moments and were able to perform, as well
Moments presented as public performance for our High School Scene Night (recorded masked with no audience and broadcast to communit)
Draft of DN handed-in end of November
WINTER - December-Beginning of April (has two two-week breaks in this span for winter & spring vacations)
Collaborative Prep Unit - December
Collaborative Theatre Assessment Unit - Research, Creating, Presenting Draft - Jan & Feb
Performance of Collaborative - Feb
SPRING - March & April - The IA timing here is tight for you. I recommend doing Collab earlier if you can, just to give room for you to assess and get uploaded by earlier April date that IAs are due. I don't do collaborative in the Fall because students are looking at college and so are often unreliable in their rehearsal commitments, but it does make my life harder in the spring.
Collaborative Draft - done by spring break (use mock for this).
Revise Collaborative paper at very beginning of April
Look at DN & Solo papers again and revise, if they wish
Upload work
Have fun by helping Year One students if there is any time
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NOTES:
* ***IF THEY DON'T KEEP A GOOD JOURNAL, THEY CAN'T DO THE WRITING PART WELL !!!***
* What I've found with my students
SOLO PROJECT NOTES
* they enjoy this project very much
* is incredibly time-consuming when they decide to do theorists with intense technical requirements, but if they will put in the time, then these projects go well. We hire outside help for some of these because of the expertise needed sometimes. That's not an IB requirement, but we are a New York City school with ample experts around us, so it makes sense for us.
* in-text citing and making sure they are rigorous in their academic writing takes some work
* giving them journal assignments is essential
* having them do a presentation on their theorist with a workshop on their aspect is well worth the time - this is not a requirement of IB, but is something we do to focus them and raise the stakes on their research and explorations
* I encourage them to study with experts outside the school depending upon their theorist. i put money in my budget to help subsidize trainings for the students.
COLLABORATIVE PROJECT NOTES
* they enjoy this and, again, if they get deep into technical needs, then this becomes time consuming
* giving them journal assignments is essential
* having them do a presentation on their professional collaborative company with a practical workshop is well worth the time - this is not a requirement of IB, but is something we do to focus them and raise the stakes on their research and explorations AND it helps them decide on their ensemble groups.
* ***IMPORTANT: ensembles are chosen after they have done their professional collaborative company research and this research should be a part of how they choose ensemble groups. ***There must be a process they go through to choose ensemble groups - they have to write about this in the portfolio.***
DIRECTOR'S PROJECT NOTES
* This is unexpectedly difficult for many of our students. They think it is going to be easy and get tripped-up on the layers of thinking that are asked for and on the time it takes to layout a graphicly styled notebook.
* Keys to this assignment:
* defining a "moment" of theater
* blocking annotation education
* SEEING LIVE THEATER - can't do the assessment without seeing live theater, HOWEVER, it is permissable that they see video of live theater (though not preferable)
* teaching TEAM - they have to use the TEAM vocabulary in their writing or are docked points
* time for layout and even lessons in layout, if they need them
WORLD THEATRE RESEARCH PRESENTATION NOTES
* My students think this will be easy because it is like what they do in other courses, and then they find it's difficult because each section is SPECIFIC and because they find they have so much to say that they go over time
* Focus them on the PERFORMANCE CONVENTION: something a performer DOES with body and/or voice - gesture, movement, voice
* Each section should be roughly equal in time in the presentation - don't have an overly long context section
* The must do in-text citing while presenting their report. They need to know this and make sure to practice this.
* Learning to perform a convention of a wold theater form takes time! My students get in trouble if they stay in the computer research mode and don't move to on their feet work quickly. I encourage them to study with experts outside the school. i put money in my budget to help subsidize trainings for the students.
- Doing the TWO contrasting demo units in Pantomime and Kathakali has been very successful in helping students understand how to approach their chosen World Theatre form.
Take all of the above with a grain of salt and always adjust to your own students and circumstances. For instance, if the pandemic forces us back online in the next month, then some of my year one students who are working on their solo will suspend their process and come back to it when we have the theater again - summer or next year.
Please let me know if any of this was helpful to you and if you have any other questions.
Enjoy teaching the course!
Sincerely,
Kim