A Web Quest for High School Theater Students

The Exploring Musical Theater Webquest was designed for High School theater students to help enlighten them and broaden their cultural horizons. It has students take a directors point of view, and makes them face some of the difficult decisions a director has to make.

Learners

This lesson is designed for 11th and 12th grade high school theater students. It can be attempted at the 9th and 10th grade level, but some simplifiactions should be made. It could also be done with and advanced level choral ensemble, or even a High School English class.

Prior to beginning this lesson, it is important that students know what a musical is. Although many students are already somewhat aware of this,  it is still important that a brief lesson on musicals, and their history be taught. Students also should be aware of the different voice types-soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor and baritone, and they should know how to use Microsoft Powerpoint. 

Curriculum Standards

The following Delaware State Theater Standards are addressed and met in this webquest:

^{STANDARD 5: Students will manage and produce informal or formal presentations.-----Students are assigned the role of producer. They have the reponsibility of basically casting a play. Even thought they are not actually casting it, they must take a producers view, and determine what musical should be done based on the talent they have to work with.} 

^{STANDARD 8: Students will understand theatre works in relation to cultures, times, and places.---In researching and evaluating the different musicals, students will develop a deep understaning of musical theater, and the influence it had on America}   

Process

Students are given one month to complete this assignment. The first two weeks should be spent in the computer lab, researching  and gathering the information on the different musicals. Once the information is gathered, the students can begin completing the required documents. After, the two weeks in the computer lab is over, should complete the documents and the preperation for the Powerpoint presonation on their own time.  It is important to make arrangements with the computer lab, so students can go and work on the project during their study halls. Most students nowadays have computers at home where they can work. For those who don't, special arrangements should be made to work after school either in your room, or in the computer lab. Most 11th and 12th grade students are reponsible enough to work on the project on their own. However, it is highly recommended that you check on students progress at the end of each week, either by monitoring them closely in class, by viewing the contents of their disk, or having them print out portions of their presentations. These decisions are up to you and should be made on what you feel is necessary. 

Some teachers may find it very difficult to their entire group of students in the computer lab every day. With all the other classes in the building, it is often very hard to get access to the lab everyday. If you  have this problem at your school, then I recommend extending the length of the project to two months, or even three months. It is important that when the students are accessing the computers during classtime, that they spend the time gathering information only, and not typing their documents, or preparing their Powerpoint presentations. If all the research on the musicals is complete, the students may then proceed to work on these documents during classtime. Otherwise, they should do this portion on their own time, outside of class. 

Below is a list of the Web pages given to students to find information on musicals. A brief description of the contents of each page is given.

StageAgent: This website gives a detailed description of the characters in each musical. It tells information about cast size, voice type of each character, whether the role is lead or supporting, and how many chorus members are in the play. Students can use this to find information to complete the Talent Requirement page.

Musicals.Net and Musicals101.com both contain excellent information about plot summary, dates the musicals ran for and other interesting facts.

Songs From The Musicals is an excellent site for students to find information on the songs from each musical. It can help them determine which songs are the most well-known. 

Musicals.nu gives a brief plot summary of several shows, and also includes a plethora of links to other pages about the show.

Resources Needed

The main resources needed to implement this webquest are computers. As mentioned earlier, it important to make arrangements with the school computer lab to reserve the computers for a two week period. Obviously, the computers must all be hooked up to the internet. It is also important that the computers comtain Microsoft Word and Powerpoint software.

Only one teacher is needed to complete this assignment. The teacher should act as a facilitator. Students progress should be closely monitored, and thought provoking questions should be posed while they work.

Evaluation

Students success in this project will be judged on variety of elements. A total of twelve paper documents must be turned in for evaluation. The completed Talent Requirements sheet, the  Justification Paper, and 10 Musical Information papers.

There are three different aspects of the project that need to be carefully judged to determine if the project was a success.

1) Did the student select a musical that was appropriate for the talent they had to work with? The teacher must closely evaluate the students Talent Requirements template and make sure the requirements match up sufficiently. The teacher must also check this information against the information given on the different websites to make sure the student accurately did the research. The Justification Paper should be convincing, and make sense. After reading it, the teacher should be left convinced that the student made the right decision.

 Next, the 10 Musical Questions pages should be evaluated, and checked for accuracy. Does the information they gathered hold true? It should also be checked against the information given on the websites.

The Powerpoint presentation must meet all the requirements on the criteria page. Was it fluently presented? Did it meet the time requirenments? Was all the required  information  included?

If these three areas meet there requirements the project can be deemed a success. If not, students should be required to go back, and fix any problems that may have arised.  

Conclusion

It is important in today's society that students, especially those involved in theater,  are aware of the musical as an art form. All of these students should also be exposed to the direction process, and be aware of all the decisions that are involved in casting a play. In a time where MTV and movies are the only exposure many students have to the arts, this assignment will be very beneficial to young men and women. It will surely enlighten students and broaden their cultural horizons.