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7th and 8th Grade: Project Based Assessment

December 28, 2018

The 7th and 8th grade students have just wrapped up another round of our ever-popular and rewarding project-based assessments. In 7th grade, students had to plan and perform a live play set in Ancient Greece. In 8th grade, students had to plan and record a short horror film. The purpose of the PBA is not only to offer students a break from traditional exams, but also to assess students on a wider array of skills that are not normally assessed in traditional paper-based assessments. To perform well on a PBA, students must work collaboratively and diligently on a multi-stage group project. Students poured over a pile of disjointed ideas and toiled over the final selection of what would become the main focus of their project. In 7th grade, students completed heavily structured plot maps, paying special attention to the depiction of theme, symbolism, 3 types of irony, and 3 dramatic speeches. In 8th grade, students completed film storyboards, paying special attention to point of view, camera angles, and camera movement—all to maximize the impact of the elements of horror.

Students learned to overcome the challenges of group communication: competing artistic ideas, time management, and the coordination of afterschool schedules to arrange rehearsal times. In the end, students expressed overwhelming appreciation for the project despite their challenges. They found the experiences of performing a play or recording a short film to be extremely rewarding and fun, and students’ grades certainly reflect a high degree of success and satisfaction. Many students thanked their teachers profusely in their final reflections for the truly unique learning experience. Some of the highlights from the student reflections include:

“I learned so much about filmmaking that my dream is now to work on movies in the future”

“Despite the communication challenges, the project was simply breathtaking and a wonderful experience.”

“I was honored to work alongside such talented actresses. This was just my Shanghai debut, but one day I’ll perform on stage in London or New York.”

(Written and Pictures by Jason Sonnefeldt)