Performance as a Culminating Activity Transcript

GLASSES
00:00:01 Now, all rise for the honorable Judge Zeus.
TIMOTHY [sync]
I am the mighty Zeus. And you know this when you see my lightening bolts.
TIMOTHY
00:00:11 Today, it was our final presentation. I played Zeus, the god of all gods. We had to research, come up with the entire script. It was tough work, but we came through.
00:00:24 [TITLE: Arts Integration: Performance as a Culminating Activity]
DAVID COOPER [sync]
00:00:28 Welcome to our presentation day. Done a lot of work to get here. I’m really proud of all the work you’ve put in and I can’t wait to see your final presentations.
DAVID COOPER
00:00:37 I teach 6th grade Social Studies, prehistoric time through ancient civilizations, all the way up to the Roman Empire. We’re always looking for opportunities to integrate arts into our curriculum. Today’s project was a culminating activity for the entire unit.

00:00:52 This is a Getty lesson on Greek Mythology.
00:00:56 [TITLE: FIND THESE RESOURCES AT GETTY.EDU]
[TITLE: Ancient Greek & Roman Talk Show Lesson]
DAVID COOPER
00:01:00 Well, the first step in the unit is to introduce students to Greek and Roman mythologies and the mythological stories so they can get to know some of the gods and the goddesses. Once they have some exposure to the stories, they started writing a script.

00:01:15 They create a talk show or a courtroom drama based on those gods and their mythological stories and then create props and costumes, especially with the attributes. It was a requirement that they- if they’re a god or goddess on stage, they had to have that god or goddess’s attribute with them.
TIMOTHY [sync]
00:01:34 We are gathered here today to discuss the kidnapping of Persephone by Hades.
CLASS
Boo.
TIMOTHY [sync]
00:01:46 Without further ado, would the defendant please tell his side of the story?
JASON
00:01:50 It was dark and gloomy in the Underworld like usual. I was feeding my hellhounds and suddenly I saw the most beautiful woman picking flowers in the meadow. And I vowed to make her my wife.

00:02:00 When we were in my palace, I asked her if she was hungry. She said she must go home. I told her to take a pomegranate and she left.
DAVID COOPER
00:02:06 When the students have to write dialogue and create context for that dialogue as a specific mythological character, it gives the students an opportunity to own the learning themselves.
TIMOTHY
00:02:18 We had to work the hardest on the script. We had to use the correct grammar because I don’t think the gods knew what grammar was back then.
DAVID COOPER
00:02:27 So, this culminating activity addresses Common Core standards in both speaking and listening and in writing. For speaking and listening, students have to adjust their speech based on the context they’re given. They were doing accents. They were emphasizing dramatic sentences.

00:02:42 Writing standards were also addressed. Students had to create a narrative. They had to come up with dialogue. They had to come up with context.
00:02:51 [TITLE: Common Core Standard ELA]
[TITLE: Write narratives using descriptive details & event sequences]
ANGELICA
00:02:55 Because we tried to make it, like, funny, yet, we try to add facts so they would learn stuff, the students would learn stuff while they’re being entertained. For example, Hades – since he lives by himself in the Underworld, we figured that he would probably be like mean and cruel.
TIMOTHY [sync]
00:03:14 If you are done, let’s hear Persephone’s side of the story.
ANGELICA [sync]
00:03:19 So, I’m Persephone. You know this when you see a crown or a pomegranate. I’m the goddess of vegetation. I was in a meadow and this ugly, black figure grabbed me. Then he took me to Underworld and made me eat six pomegranate seeds.
JASON
00:03:33 I object! That did not happen. You no-good, pomegranate-faced…
DAVID COOPER
00:03:38 To assess the performances today, I’m focusing on, first, that the students include god and goddess attributes. Not only are they making props for those gods and goddesses, but they’re including them in the script, which was a requirement.
TIMOTHY [sync]
00:03:52 Do either of you have evidence to support your cases?
MICHELLE
00:03:55 I have evidence that will turn this case around.
TIMOTHY [sync]
Hurry up. We don’t have all day.
MICHELLE
00:03:59 Here are the six pomegranate seeds that Persephone ate in the Underworld.
TIMOTHY [sync]
Let me see that now!
DAVID COOPER
00:04:05 I’m also looking to see that the students created enough context for the audience to be able to follow the script and whether or not they knew the story well or not.
JASON
00:04:16 Isn’t it said that if you eat pome- food from the Underworld, you must stay there forever or six months?
00:04:19 [TITLE: COMMON CORE STANDARD ELA]
[TITLE: Adapt speech to a variety of contexts]
TIMOTHY [sync]
00:04:21 Yes. Yes. You do have a point there.
DAVID COOPER
00:04:25 These are middle school students, so they understand drama. That’s the great hook with Greek mythology. Once they see the drama, they really get into the material. So, I focus them on drama. I tell them, “When you’re presenting, think about what you would want to see in terms of good drama.”
TIMOTHY [sync]
00:04:44 Has the jury reached a verdict?
GLASSES
Yes. On the account of Hades kidnapping Persephone, we find him guilty. On the account of Hades forcing Persephone to stay in the Underworld, we find him not guilty.
TIMOTHY [sync]
00:04:57 Hades, you have to pay $1200 for the kidnapping of Persephone.
STUDENT
Yeah.
TIMOTHY [sync]
00:05:02 Persephone, you have to stay in the Underworld six months out of the year, every year with Hades. Case closed!
DAVID COOPER
00:05:12 My learning target for today was, “I will demonstrate my knowledge of Greek mythology.” My focus was more on the students demonstrating their knowledge than having the students in the audience be trying to learn specific things that they didn’t necessarily know before.
DAVID COOPER [sync]
00:05:28 Terrific job with the- with the trial of Hades over the kidnapping of Persephone. So, Persephone ate the six pomegranate seeds. What was Persephone’s sentence because of being found guilty?
JASON
00:05:38 She will stay in the Underworld for six months each year.
DAVID COOPER [sync]
And did you read enough of the myth to find out what that caused on Earth?
TIMOTHY [sync]
00:05:45 Yes. That caused win- the winter months.
DAVID COOPER [sync]
That’s right. That’s how the Greeks explained the seasons.
DAVID COOPER
00:05:51 When I spoke to the students in the little debrief after their performances, I wanted to reinforce something that they did well or something that we have learned. I was proud of my students and their culminating activities today. Synthesizing that information to create something new – it’s a terrific example that they’ve learned what the unit set out to teach them.

00:06:14 The thing I like best about teaching this unit is it puts the ownership of the learning on the students. And anytime I can make the students responsible for what they’re learning, they’re going to learn better.
GODS
00:06:25 Jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle, jingle-ee-dee. Jingle, jingle, jingle, God-Away’s a real thing. Yeah. God-Away!
00:06:36 [TITLE: See – Wonder - Think is adapted from the Visible Thinking Routines developed by Harvard University’s research group PROJECT ZERO.
00:06:45 ***FILE END***