Richards ISD

Theatre 8

Ms. Joelle Dulaney, Instructor

Course Description:

117.213. Theatre 8. General requirements. Students may fulfill Texas Fine Arts requirements for Middle School Level 3 by successfully completing this full year performing arts course.

The performing arts offer unique experiences and empower students to explore realities, relationships, and ideas. Theatre engages and motivates all students through active learning, critical thinking, and innovative problem solving. The fine arts develop cognitive functioning and increase student academic achievement, higher-order thinking, communication, and collaboration skills, making the fine arts applicable to college readiness, career opportunities, workplace environments, social skills, and everyday life. Students develop aesthetic and cultural awareness through exploration, leading to creative expression. Creativity, encouraged through the study of the fine arts, is essential to nurture and develop the whole child.

Foundations: inquiry and understanding; creative expression; historical and cultural relevance; and critical evaluation and response--provide broad, unifying structures for organizing knowledge and skills students are expected to acquire. Through the foundations: inquiry and understanding strand, students develop a perception of self, human relationships, and the world using elements of drama and conventions of theatre. Through the creative expression strand, students communicate in a dramatic form, engage in artistic thinking, build positive self-concepts, relate interpersonally, and integrate knowledge with other content areas in a relevant manner. Through the historical and cultural relevance strand, students increase their understanding of heritage and traditions in theatre and the diversity of world cultures as expressed in theatre. Through the critical evaluation and response strand, students engage in inquiry and dialogue, accept constructive criticism, revise personal views to promote creative and critical thinking, and develop the ability to appreciate and evaluate live theatre.

All students will be expected to participate in classroom performances including a memorized monologue at the end of the school year which will be performed on the school stage for an audience (yet to be determined based on administrative decisions).

Course Outcomes:

Upon completion of the course, the student will have completed the following TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills):

(1) Foundations: inquiry and understanding. The student develops concepts about self, human relationships, and the environment using elements of drama and conventions of theatre. The student is expected to:

(A) evaluate characterization using emotional and sensory recall;

(B) explore preparation and warm-up techniques;

(D) demonstrate an increased understanding of the mechanisms of vocal production;

(E) apply knowledge of theatrical vocabulary and terminology; and

(F) explore and evaluate the structure and form of dramatic literature.

(2) Creative expression: performance. The student interprets characters using the voice and body expressively and creates dramatizations. The student is expected to:

(A) demonstrate safe use of the voice and body;

(B) portray characters through familiar movements and dialogue;

(C) create characters, dialogue, and actions that reflect dramatic structure in improvised and scripted scenes, individually and collaboratively; and

(D) express thoughts and feelings using effective voice and diction.

(3) Creative expression: production. The student applies design, directing, and theatre production concepts and skills. The student is expected to:

(A) recognize and select specific technical elements to suggest environment, establish mood, and support character and actions for performance;

(B) create theatrical elements such as scenery, properties, lighting, sound, costume, makeup, and publicity using the principles of design;

(D) use technology in theatrical applications such as live theatre, video, and film.

(4) Historical and cultural relevance. The student relates theatre to history, society, and culture. The student is expected to:

(A) demonstrate theatre as a reflection of life in particular times, places, and cultures through performance;

(B) explore theatre heritage such as historical and cultural influences as it is preserved in dramatic text, traditions, and conventions; and

(C) explore the roles of theatre, film, television, and electronic media such as key developments, figures, and works on American society.

(5) Critical evaluation and response. The student responds to and evaluates theatre and theatrical performances. The student is expected to:

(A) understand and demonstrate appropriate audience etiquette at various types of live performances;

(B) develop a knowledge of the terminology and process of evaluation such as intent, structure, effectiveness, and value and apply this process to performances using appropriate theatre vocabulary;

(D) explore career and vocational opportunities in theatre.

Grading Policy:

Your final grade will be based on class effort/completion, creativity, technical skill progress, and class participation. Your projects will include a written and verbal critiques, vocabulary reviews, historical quizzes, scriptwriting, improv, puppetry, and a memorized monologue (real or virtual to be determined). Each 6 weeks students will reflect and do a peer and/or self evaluation and develop their own journal for a grade. No assignments may be corrected for a higher grade, but only one single assignment may be corrected for a highger grade as an extra credit during the last week of each grading period. Grading is 20% participation, 20% classwork/homework, and 60% Projects/Tests.

Participation Grading Scale:

A = Superior work, outstanding commitment and daily effort, beyond the norm.

B = Good quality work, strong commitment, growth, quality of effort.

C = Average performance, variable commitment and effort.

F = Poor participation, poor quality or late work, non-participation.

Your classwork/homework grade will be based on your completion of both written or creative projects.

Supplies

Students will purchase makeup supplies during our makeup unit in addition to classroom school supplies. See Supply List page for complete list and additional optional supplies that may be helpful.

Throughout the year we will be doing some exciting things. It may be necessary to modify this list and have you bring in other supplies for projects based on your own creative ideas. Donations of theatre supplies are appreciated.

I look forward to a fantastic year of creativity with you!

jdulaney@richardsisd.net