Assessing Preparation

Having spent the last 20 minutes of today's session watching 5 minute recordings of two groups at work, we have arrived at the following conclusions about assessing preparation:

1. Assessment is massively effected by the period of assessment: e.g. if a student is absent,they cannot be assessed at that time. If a student is very creative one day (or when the teacher is observing) but then not particularly effective for the next 3 sessions (or when the teacher is not observing) how can the student's efforts be judged fairly?

2. Students at A2 are expected to discuss aspects of style; the intended impact of the work and to make connections with other work seen / experienced. This is not common amongst the groups observed.

3. Quality of input is largely assessed by the degree of creativity and innovation taking place in discussion or performance.

4. Assessment is in 3 bands roughly corresponding to "weak"; "acceptable" and "good". It is therefore a relatively easy task for students to mark their own efforts after each rehearsal session.

Everyone has a copy of the mark scheme in their DRAM4 Handbook.

My proposed method of assessment is this:
I will give everyone a mark for each section (there are 3, you remember) once every 3 weeks or so, that should indicate how much of your work I am seeing and what I think of the quality. I will enter a final mark for the first half of the rehearsal process in December.

I will adjust December's mark at the beginning of March. Marks could go up or down in each section, depending on whether you have maintained your efforts, improved them or slackened off.

I shall review the marks one week before the examination, let you know what (if any) changes I think are justified.

Let me know what you think either in class or here, as a comment!