T.E202

Talking Statues

Students will be assigned to groups of four. If necessary, the teacher can use some groups of three if there are not enough students to have four students in each group. Students will read an article from a British newspaper that describes a project involving “talking” statues. Using this concept, each group of students will improvise and perform their own scene by vocally and physically recreating real people and fictional characters. Each performance will be video recorded for later scoring.

Students will be scored using a rubric with three dimensions: 1) how they used their voices, 2) how they moved, and 3) how they used their improvisational skills.

This item has not yet been field-tested.

Teacher Booklet

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Student Booklet

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This is an analytic rubric. The column on the left shows the dimension that is being measured in the student’s performance. The levels across the top row indicate the performance level in the dimensions. Occasionally all dimensions and performance levels are exemplified by multiple students in a single recording.

TEACHER SCORING RUBRIC

  • Dimension

  • Use the Voice Effectively

  • Movement Skills

  • Improvisation Skills

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4

  • Monotone and/or hard to understand; stumbles over words

    N/A at this time.

  • Attempts to vary pitch and tone, but needs to monitor tempo

    N/A at this time.

  • Attempts to vary pitch and tone while monitoring tempo

    N/A at this time.

  • Near mastery of pitch, tone, and tempo

    N/A at this time.

  • Mechanical and repetitious; lacks variety

    N/A at this time.

  • Begins to use a variety of gestures and body stances, but wandering around makes motivation unclear

    N/A at this time.

  • Uses a variety of gestures and body stances with some sense of character motivation and development

    N/A at this time.

  • Uses a variety of gestures and body stances with a strong sense of character motivation and development

    N/A at this time.

  • Appears distracted; is often out of character

    N/A at this time.

  • Makes attempts to remain in character, but voice and movement are easily disrupted

    N/A at this time.

  • Remains focused and concentrated, thus maintaining character; however, does not focus on other interactions with surrounding actors

    N/A at this time.

  • Remains focused and concentrated, thus maintaining character while also focusing on interactions with surrounding actors

    N/A at this time.
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