Lesson+(Project)+Summary


 * Let's Write a Play for the THEATERFEST!**
 * > **Specific Answers to**
 * Assigned Questions** ||  ||< **Corresponding**
 * Color of Text** ||
 * > 1 Project choice; goals ||  ||< GREEN ||
 * > 2 New design; goals ||  ||< PURPLE ||
 * > 3 New tool/s ||  ||< ** ORANGE ** ||
 * > 4 Why this tool ||  ||< BLUE ||
 * > 5 Standards used ||  ||< **BOLD BLACK** ||
 * > 6 Teaching improved ||  ||< RED ||
 * > 7 Student learning improved ||  ||< BLUE ||

**STANDARDS FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING which are targeted with this project include:**

__**COMMUNICATION** __ **Communicate in Languages Other Than English**
 * ====**Standard 1.3:** Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics. ====

__**CULTURES** __ **Gain Knowledge and Understanding of Other Cultures**
 * **Standard 2.1:** Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the culture studied

__**CONNECTIONS** __ **Connect with Other Disciplines and Acquire Information**
 * **Standard 3.1:** Students reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines through the foreign language
 * **Standard 3.2:** Students acquire information and recognize the distinctive viewpoints that are only available through the foreign language and its cultures

__**COMPARISONS** __ **Develop Insight into the Nature of Language and Culture**
 * **Standard 4.1:** Students demonstrate understanding of the nature of language through comparisons of the language studied and their own
 * **Standard 4.2:** Students demonstrate understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons of the cultures studied and their own.

__**COMMUNITIES** __ <span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica;">**Participate in Multilingual Communities at Home & Around the World**
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica;">**Standard 5.1:** Students use the language both within and beyond the school setting
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica;">**Standard 5.2:** Students show evidence of becoming life-long learners by using the language for personal enjoyment and enrichment.


 * Using our language to develop and communicate a specific idea (2.1; 3.1-2) concisely, with respect for the audience (4.1-2), practicing the language skills we have learned, then performing before that audience (1.3; 5.1), is a highly desirable assignment, which touches on all five of the above-listed National Standards for Foreign Language Education ;** all of these Standards are listed here:

@http://www.actfl.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3392


 * Working together to support each others' learning, while achieving a common goal makes a worthy classroom (as well as real-world) target (5.2, etc.). **


 * Taking young people to a college campus for a day when the day is filled with student entertainment geared to our enjoyment -- in our target language (5.2), is truly an honor and a pleasure for me, and of course, also very valuable and rewarding for my students (5.2). **

On the Fourth Thursday in April each year, Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts hosts the Annual DEUTSCHES THEATERFEST, the event which makes the above all come together.





@http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/germ/theaterfest/

What's the cost of attending the THEATERFEST? Hard teamwork of choosing a topic we want to bring to the stage, researching it for accuracy; establishing the outline; writing, editing and polishing the script, and then finally making that script come to life. If we feel that we have planned and practiced well enough to be able to deliver an entertaining piece of theater, then we are able to attend, and compete in, this annual Festival. Should we fall short of our target, we have still will have presented our work to our school audience as well as our home community. We will not have accomplished as much of the Fifth Standard as hoped.

Our German Program at NKHS has participated over 25 times in the past 33 years. By now, it should run like clockwork. But it's such a huge challenge to bring the entire class together in a short period of time. When the curtain calls, we have to be ready. And when we are not ready, it's an enormous disappointment for everyone not to be able to make the trip.

Step One is key: Coming up with the entertaining concept, which will sustain us for the next 2 months.

Step Two is to devise an accurate and concise outline of our concept, so that we can divide scenes for each student to develop, and bring to life.

Step Three is where this project is critical. In the past, we have wound up with an unwieldy pile of individual papers, which needed a great deal of TLC in order to bring our class to the next phase: assigning rolls and beginning our rehearsals. All these individual pages, when taped together stretched across the entire wall of our classroom. The project to sew these scenes into a collective and cohesive whole was far too large for any one student, so the students lost responsibility for the overall play. Yet the clock was ticking. Ideally before the next class period, a unified, edited script would be presented. Also, the sooner the script is ready, and lines can begin to be memorized, this kicks of another process, in which each individual keeps their observations and inspirations in a journal -- auf Deutsch -- regarding staging, costumes, set pieces and props.


 * That's where the WIKI came in in 2009. Using a WIKI to collectively share all of our scenes was an enormous improvement over the loose pages taped onto the wall! Still, the program proved ** discouraging in its own way. I'm not sure why my students were reluctant to write in what they might have considered a public space. Only two-thirds of my students actively participated, so the efficiency, while helpful, didn't pay off for a full third of them, as they only managed to help from the periphery. Without everyone in the class being thus fully invested in the project, we were unable to have really productive rehearsals. We wound up extending our rehearsals into the April vacation time slot, but many couldn't attend. At the last minute, and despite enormous sacrifice by so many, and despite some really wonderful scenes, I realized that we didn't have one well-rounded piece of entertainment, and I had to cancel our trip to the THEATERFEST. It was a huge disappointment all around.


 * Therefore, in 2010, I tried using a GOOGLEDOC rather than a WIKI . Most of my students had GOOGLE accounts, so our work took place on more familiar territory. The editing is also more straightforward, and we had 100 percent participation. We managed to keep in touch with each other regarding rehearsals, and car pooling helped keep attendance high when we had to meet on weekends, and, once again, during Spring Vacation. Now that we know how to speed up the editing process by using a GOOGLEDOC, this leaves more time to learn our lines, more time for rehearsal, more time to become familiar with our characters, as well as to add flair and polish. **


 * This organization paid off. Our school has won 9 prizes at this festival in our 25 appearances, one being last April. Provided we can come up with another good idea in 2011, we are hopeful that we'll again be able to create, polish, and bring to life another successful play IN GERMAN. **


 * Partly because the positive blogging responses I'm getting from my students this year, once our script is finalized and we have moved into the performance phase, I intend to move the individual journal-writing segment That way, I feel that one student's shared brainstorming can more expeditiously inspire others. Students tend to write more carefully when they write for a wider audience, so that I'm also hoping that it will also upgrade the quality of writing, the language being practiced and learned (see our Target Vocabulary: "Hals und Beinbruch!" Bühnensprache, which means "Brea **** k Neck and Leg!" Theater Language), and the entire journal-writing experience. **


 * Furthermore, being certain that one is accessing the most current version of the script helps students tackle the arduous task of memorizing their lines. They are also required to fully understand the content and vocabulary the of our play. This takes additional oral partner drills, prompts, quizzes, and rehearsal time. **