Reflection and Self-Assessment for ____________________________________
Objectives:
1. The student will describe in detail and then analyze his/her performance and will be able to pinpoint strengths as well as areas that need more work.
2. The student will practice the skills of civil discourse and the giving/receiving of critiques.
Procedure:
All participants sit in a circle with paper and pen at hand.
Begin with one-sentence responses around the circle: Example: In one sentence describe some person, thing or moment you observed during the performance. Seek specific descriptions. Encourage use of descriptive adjectives.
(It may be useful to model self-analysis using "Thinking out loud." )
Students will form pairs by turning to the person sitting next to them. Together they will describe and analyze their individual performances based upon the following performance standards
Did the audience understand it? (ex: physical & vocal techniques)
Did the audience believe it? (ex: emotional truth and playing inside the character)
(These two questions as a means of assessing performance come from Jairo Cuesta who used them in an acting workshop I participated in. As he pointed out, everything you care to examine belongs in one of those two categories and ultimately affects whether the audience does or does not believe your performance or understand your performance.)
The actors will take notes as they anaylyze with their partner. List strengths and things that need working on.
(Note that Marshall has found that this pairing is a useful technique to get everybody thinking and talking. Often group discussions become dominated by the vocal while other students may have difficulty interjecting their opinions. Students need practice in thinking through problems and then articulating them before they get to the actual solving part of the process.)
Sharing: Pull circle back together again. Each student will state one strength and one area in which s/he needs to improve.
Suggestions may be offered for ways to improve and/or students may be asked to work out an action plan to address specific problems. Ex: A student's major problem is lack of projection. A plan may be to review proper breathing exercises and begin to practice them at home on a daily basis.
The following is best used as soon as possible after a performance. Reflection and assessment are much more powerful when the memory is immediate. Lessons learned upon close reflection will go from short term memory into long term memory and prove useful over and over again.
This is based on Dr. Marvin Marshall's "class meeting" technique, which can be found in his book Discipline without Stress, Punishments or Rewards. Find out more at his web site:
