Maselli @ Maple

Things to celebrate... This week, the juniors completed what may have been the most challenging unit so far: improvisation. Ms. Wilson and I decided to extend this unit by a week to allow students more time to develop the comfort and readiness needed to prepare students for an evaluated improv performance, and we also gave them a performance task that did allow for a level of preparation while still focusing on some of the key concepts of the unit (see photo below). Students should be very proud of themselves for continuing to persevere through what may have been a difficult unit for them and for their continued efforts to develop important transferable skills such as listening to and building on others' ideas, thinking on the spot to creatively solve problems, and trying new things without fear of failure. These also correspond with the IB Learner Profile of being a communicator, inquirer, and risk-taker, respectively. The seniors made their final push towards presentin...

Things to celebrate... Over these past two weeks, students have been working very hard to understand, showcase, and celebrate their use of the creative process to devise original stories, characters, and material. From the senior students' work as part of the Quest conference's Artonomy series (photos below) to the junior students' work in improvisation, we have been intentionally working on strengthening our critical and creative thinking skills through inquiry-based games, activities, and workshops. Things to look forward to... Our junior and senior drama students will be wrapping up their current units this week as they prepare for final performances (to be completed in class this Thursday and Friday) and unit reflections (due next Monday). Weekly reflection due dates have been changed to Mondays in order to accommodate students who may require additional processing time to reflect on and process the learning completed throughout the week.  Things to ...

A personal note... Unfortunately, I became quite sick over the Fall Break and was not fully recovered when we returned, so I needed to take some additional time to rest and heal as I became feverish mid-week. I try to do my best to take care of my health, but, as many of you know, getting sick while pregnant can be an especially tiring and worrisome ordeal, so I am grateful to the patience and support of students, colleagues, and parents as I continue to work towards recovering fully. Things to celebrate... The juniors students began developing their improvisation skills this week, beginning with focus, attention, listening, and memory, and moving into the important role of imagination and application of all the Actor's Tools from our prior unit. Students learned about the five-step story structure this week, which will help them quickly devise or improvise sketches that--as wild, creative, and funny as they can be--move through a coherent narrative towards a r...

Things to celebrate... In our final week before the fall break, the junior students completed their Vocal Collage performances with their ensembles and for their classmates, and had time to reflect and build upon the work they did in the later part of the Creative Process; specifically, the cycle of using feedback from producing preliminary work to revising and refining to the final performance to reflection and evaluation. Students were given time on the final Friday before the break to begin, continue, or finish (depending on their own pacing and writing process) their Unit 2 Portfolios, which will be graded as part of their final report card mark. Our senior class worked through the initial steps of the creative process in their teams and ensembles and have landed on the ideas that they will be using as their starting point in developing ten-minute plays on the topic of family dynamics (previously identified and voted on as our primary area of focus or source of inspiration...

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 int...

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...

Things to celebrate:  The grade nines and tens further explored the "feedback and reflection" and "revise and refine" stages of the creative process this week as they looked at their videos from last week's performances, identified areas for improvement through peer- and teacher-feedback and self-assessment, and put together an action plan for how to improve upon last week's work, no matter how great their original performances were. Being able to give, receive, accept, and use feedback is an important skill in school and in life, and one that students will continue to apply for success in Drama class. The grade nines also had a workshop in performing others' identities, and used this new information along with their performance videos and feedback from the teacher to redo their performances from last week for a second chance to be assessed on their work, with significant improvements. Due to the extra time and adjustments to our schedule for the perio...

Things to celebrate:  The grade nines and tens worked through the creative process and the steps we modelled together as a class, this time in new groups, with new sources selected by them, and more independently. Students took inspiration from their chosen sources to tackle a wide variety of important and relevant social issues, from bullying related to body image and racism to community issues like newcomer settlement and government corruption. The grade elevens and twelves participated in their most comprehensive workshops yet as they were challenged to think like a producer, both pitching and responding to ideas for new one-act plays. We explored what a producer's role is and why it's important to consider this perspective when developing original work as an ensemble.  Students pitched a variety of original storylines for a prospective one-act production, as peers asked questions to help them assess what would make each show worth supporting and developing if they...

It's been another inspiring week in the Maple Drama studio this week as students in every class created original works of art with their peers! Things to celebrate:  The grade nines and tens worked together as a whole class and in small ensembles to explore the creative process through peer-led activities designed to help us create unique drama works based on a common source. Students showed great leadership, teamwork, and collaboration skills this week as they worked to both lead and follow, developing a hands-on understanding of the process they will use to create a new work based on a new source with a new group next week. The grade elevens and twelves continued to devise a variety of interesting and unique material based on two different sources in small ensembles. Students have been very brave and generous in sharing their work and their feedback with one another as we continue to develop our collective creation skills. We've also been documenting our work and our fe...

The second week of school can often be the time when our new goals, routines, and intentions for the school year are put to the test. Students are starting to get regular homework in class, and falling back into a school year routine can be both positive and negative, depending on whether or not you're trying to establish a new routine this year. After that first week push, where everything seems to revolve around back-to-school, parents and teachers may find that week two is when reality sets in as we go back to balancing all of our other responsibilities with making sure our children and students have what they need to succeed this year. Things to celebrate:  Maple Drama students have now had the opportunity to create drama work with their new peers, share it with their classmates, and even give and receive feedback in some cases. This can be a huge step for students who are new to drama or those who are just getting back into the habit of creating, sharing, and discussing wi...

What a great start to the 2018-19 school year! As tough as it can be to get back into our school routines in August (especially for our grade nines, who are new to the early-start school schedule), it can be very rewarding when the Labour Day long weekend arrives and you realize you get to enjoy it free from that back-to-school anxiety that is so common for students, families, and yes, even teachers! Here's what you need to know heading into our second week. Things to celebrate:  Maple Drama students should be very proud of themselves for a week of meeting new people and trying new things! The grade nines and tens played a few new drama games this week to help introduce them to some drama skills and to one another. They then finished their week with their first performances of the semester, where they created tableaux to demonstrate different qualities of teamwork--a key to success in drama class. They also made thoughtful contributions to our classroom expectations. The gra...

The week before a new school year begins is typically a time for students and families to prepare all the things they will need for a successful academic year. This may include getting back into a school-year routine, gathering supplies, and maybe even reviewing material from last year's classes. One of the very best ways to prepare your child for success in school, however, is something that can be done year-round and that begins at a very early age: teaching your child emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence sounds like one of those "soft skills" that is easy to dismiss in this competitive, technological world we feel we are living in, but, if anything, it is in fact one of the most crucial and often one of the most overlooked ways to prepare our children for such a world. Students with emotional intelligence will likely be equipped with the ability to learn from their mistakes more quickly, as they are able to effectively and efficiently process the emotions ...