Performance Anxiety within students at Seth Low

8th GradeMusical Theater Elective

Mr. Derek Capobianco-DiBlasi

DCapobianco2@schools.nyc.gov

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

In this unit, we will be exploring performance anxiety and the effects it has on students at Seth Low. In groups we will develop the best solution for how students at Seth Low can begin to overcome performance anxiety. 

 

Many students in our school community have shared that they are very nervous when it comes to presenting dialogue or having to perform in front of their peers.  Why do we think this has become such a problem in our school community? 

 

What many students don’t know is that the skills being taught in a theater classroom can help fight performance anxiety and allow students to grow and support one another. 

 

As a group, we will work together to research the effects of performance anxiety and how we as a school community can make it a norm to allow ourselves to express and support one another.

 

TASK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 At the end of this webcast, your group will be able to:

(Product that they are creating/presentation)**

  1. Identify the causes of performance anxiety in students.
  2. How performance anxiety affects students in their theater classes.
  3. Work in groups to develop a survey that will be used to collect data from the school population regarding performance anxiety. 
  4. Survey the student population with three questions on the effects of performance anxiety and one question on how they believe we can overcome this fear here at Seth Low.
  5. Use survey results to figure out how we can help students overcome the fear of performing in a classroom/performance setting?
  6. Creating a PSA that showcases a solution to the data collected from surveys.
  7. Give feedback to peers on presentations before they are presented to students.
  8. Revise presentations based on given feedback.
  9. Present to student population

 

PROCESS/RESOURCES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Students will be placed into groups assigned by the teacher.

The process should follow the steps of PPA as previously discussed:

  1. Defining the problem
  2. Gather Evidence
  3. Name the causes
  4. Evaluating an existing policy/solution
  5. Develop a solution for the problem at hand
  6. Select the best solution for our school

Day 1: Discussion Board: Click to respond.

●       Read the following article on performance anxiety (pages 18-25)

●       Watch this video on performance anxiety and why it can be a good thing!  

●       Then in your groups, you will begin to discuss further your responses to the Discussion Board questions and what you learned from the performance anxiety article.

●       By the end of today’s class, your group should have THREE focus points on the effects of performance anxiety in students. 

Day 2:

●       Your group will create a survey that will be rolled out to the student population here at Seth Low. 

●       You will then discuss and create an action plan as to how you will administer this survey to the school community.

●       You will plan the days of the survey rollout.

Day 3:

●       Your group will go through the survey responses and begin putting together a spreadsheet that showcases students' concerns about performance anxiety.

●       Your group will be able to figure out the area of focus that students feel is the most common effect of performance anxiety.

●       Your group will create a working google doc/google spreadsheet to organize data collected.

●       You should create a visual (graph, chart, etc.) that will showcase your findings in order to share with the school community to find a solution.

Day 4: Action Plan

●       As a group, it is now time to formulate your action plan as to how we can limit performance anxiety in our school community. 

○       Use these articles/resources to assist you in your planning:

■       Article 1

■       Article 2

Day 5: PSA Creation

For your work today, your group will create your presentation that you will share with the school community on this topic. 

●       You must make sure that the presentation is organized, shares the student population of Seth Low’s feelings on performance anxiety, and the solutions your groups have developed that will assist students in overcoming performance anxiety. 

●       When doing this, be creative and think of ways of presenting to students in the most effective way.

○       TikTok Videos

○       Instagram Stories

○       Screencasts

○       PowerPoint Presentation

■       Make sure that you are reaching all students at Seth Low.

●       Once your presentation is complete, you will upload it to our classes google classroom assignment.

●       Each of you must respond to at least one other group's presentation providing feedback for students to edit their work before we roll out.

Day 6:  Review Feedback/Revisions

●       View peer feedback

●       Make edits to your presentation based on the feedback that will best suit our student population.

●       Finalize presentation and submit to google classroom. 

 

EVALUATION

 

Your assessment will be graded on a rubric based on three sections:

  1. Your Presentation
  2. Group Work
  3. How you formulated the data you collected

 

 Category

 4

3

2

1

Group Work

Students worked together in a timely and professional manner.  All students’ ideas were heard.  Students delegated specific roles when completing tasks.  All students had a positive experience in their group.

Students worked together in a timely and professional manner.  Most students’ ideas were heard.  Students delegated specific roles when completing tasks.  Most students had a positive experience in their group.

Students struggled to work together in a timely and professional manner.  Some students’ ideas were heard.  Students struggled to delegate specific roles when completing tasks.  Some students had a positive experience in their group.

Students did not work together in a timely and professional manner.  Students’ ideas were not heard.  Students did not delegate specific roles when completing tasks.  Many students did not have a positive experience in their group.

Presentation

Students’ presentation was:

Effective, organized, clear, entertaining, and well put together.  All students participated in the presentation of their work and were proud of the final product.

Students’ presentation was:

Mostly effective, mostly organized, clear, often entertaining, and put together.  Most all students participated in the presentation of their work and were mostly proud of the final product.

Students’ presentation was:

Somewhat effective, not fully organized, often clear, lacking entertainment, and not fully together.  Some students participated in the presentation of their work and were somewhat proud of the final product.

Students’ presentation was:

Not effective, not organized, unclear, not entertaining, and not put together.  Some students participated in the presentation of their work and were not proud of the final product.

Data Collected

Data collected by students was:

Reflective of the topic at hand, organized, clearly stated in presentation, had a solution that was effective for our school community.

Data collected by students was:

Mostly reflective of the topic at hand, organized but could be stronger, stated in presentation, had a solution that was mostly effective for our school community.

Data collected by students was:

Somewhat reflective of the topic at hand, not clearly organized, somewhat stated in presentation, had a solution that was somewhat effective for our school community.

Data collected by students was:

not reflective of the topic at hand, not organized, did not state data in presentation, had a solution that was not effective for our school community.

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

As a class, we have studied the effects of performance anxiety on our students at Seth Low.  We have created surveys that allow us to find the central problem and develop the best possible solution to overcome this problem. 

During this unit, the 8th grade students of my Musical Theater Elective have surveyed the school population on the causes/effects of performance anxiety here at Seth Low.  The students did research on the topic and used the data collected from their surveys to find the best solution(s) to overcoming performance anxiety for students at IS 96 Seth Low.  They created presentations in the form of Tik Toks, Instagram Posts, video presentations, screencasts, and more to get their message out. 

They did this by following the 6 steps of PPA:

  1. Defining the problem
  2. Gather Evidence
  3. Name the causes
  4. Evaluating an existing policy/solution
  5. Develop a solution for the problem at hand
  6. Select the best solution for our school

 

 

 

 

STANDARDS

 

ELA State Standards:

Key Ideas and Details:

STANDARD 1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly/implicitly and make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

STANDARD 2: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

STANDARD 3: Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

STANDARD 7: Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including across multiple texts.

STANDARD 8: Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.

STANDARD 9: Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or top

Research to Build and Present Knowledge

STANDARD 5: Conduct short as well as more sustained research based on focused questions to demonstrate understanding of the subject under investigation. STANDARD 6: Gather relevant information from multiple sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others. STANDARD 7: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Theater State Standards:

Responding

6th TH:Re8.1.6 a. Identify the relationship between artistic choices and personal experience.

7th TH:Re8.1.7 a. Explain how artists make choices based on personal experience.

8th TH:Re8.1.8 a. Recognize and share artistic choices when participating in or observing a drama or theater work

6th TH:Re9.1.6 a. Use supporting evidence and criteria to evaluate a drama or theater work.

7th TH:Re9.1.7 a. Explain preferences, using supporting evidence and criteria to evaluate a drama or theater work.