TPPP examiner feedback

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TPPP feedback from the Subject Report May 2014

As you work with your students preparing them for their TPPP at the latter end of the course you may find the points below, that I have extracted from the Subject Report published in May 2014, of use. The video above is a presentation that you may want to share with your students as an example about being yourself and how to present to an audience. Of course TED Talks offer many other great examples of presenting to an audience that you may also want to draw on.

The range and suitability of work submitted

The viewing of a diverse range of performances is critical for the development of a sharpened critical theatrical eye. Students should see as much theatre as possible.

Always try to have exciting and new responses to work, in other words encourage students to be honest and help them articulate their feeling and reactions to work.

Beware of becoming formulaic in how you teach students to approach this task, this can lead to a dry presentation.

Feedback related to each assessment criterion

A – Analysis

• Remember there should be 2 or 3 pivotal starting points.
• Avoid a sequential narrative of work as this prevents in depth analysis and synthesis
• Remember that you don’t have to include everything
• Look for the relationships between units of work and experiences
• Set research against practice and test the theories of practitioners
• Explain why work has influenced you or why you disagree with certain theorists’ ideas

B – Synthesis

• In this section try to make statements of discovery that show contrasts in world theatre practices and how things are similar are different in their approaches.
• While students are grasping to understand something new or over come a challenge then discoveries will be made.
• Try to include images here that can capture a moment that is explained as a specific moment of discovery to illustrate a point

C – Reflection

• The advice here is to take risks so that there is work that is exploratory and has made the student think. Then they can reflect in an exciting way.
• The tip is to see reflection as a form of exploration – how did they get to this place? Where would they now go? What would they have changed?

D – Application of research

• When referring to research be careful to reference the sources used or attribute the influence
• Always state what aspect of the work is being applied to which aspect of performance, this makes the application more explicit

Recommendations for teaching of future candidates

• Take risks
• Explore world theatre traditions that are really different from one another
• Challenge the work of theorists and have practical exploration
• Encourage students to articulate the focus of their own work and what they want to achieve
• See at much live theatre with your students as possible
• Engage with the shock of the new