Maselli @ Maple

Things to celebrate... We kicked off a new unit in senior drama last week, in which students will work in smaller teams and ensembles to begin generating material that can be used in our class's collective one-act by developing mini-collectives. This unit is designed to help them review the creative process and the collective creation technique while giving more students an opportunity to share their voices, ideas, and perspectives than would be possible if we were working on a whole-class level at this stage of development. After several hours considering a variety of student data (portfolio entries, preference surveys, conversations and observations in class, etc) two ensembles and four teams were created to help support students in revising / developing material for our mini-collectives, with each student being given a specific production role (director/dramaturg, designer/producer, stage manager/producer, and performer). We used a few different techniques to select a starti

Things to celebrate:  Our grade nines and tens have now had lots  of practice not only exploring the different actor's tools we learned about throughout our second unit (stage image, physicalization, and vocalization), but also gathering feedback as they learn to layer different elements and techniques into their performance work. As they began to work through the early stages of the creative process this week in preparation for their final performance (and assessment of  learning task) for this unit, they have demonstrated increasing proficiency and skill not only in each of their actors' tools but also in the process of developing work from a source. Meanwhile, our grade elevens and twelves have showcased a variety of production skills via their differentiated assessment of  learning performances this week. Their scene studies explored perspectives on themes related to our earlier activities, such as identity, family, and independence. Performances continue into Monday fo

A Personal Note What a busy couple of weeks! Between interim reports last week and our upcoming parents' night, students and teachers alike have probably been busy juggling a number of responsibilities and assignments all at once. This Thanksgiving weekend, I was grateful for some much-needed time with family, but also to have a job that keeps me engaged, even if it does mean I have trouble keeping up with everything at some points. These past two weeks have been exceptionally busy, not just with the marking and planning that go into regular assessment and teaching, but also an influx of department-, school-, and board-level responsibilities that came down the pipes these past couple weeks--everything from planning for upcoming school events and performances with our Drama Council to collaborating with colleagues about upcoming leadership meetings and arts programming across the board! As I write this at 5pm on Thanksgiving Day after six hours of working, I am grateful to be busy