Rockhampton is located just north of the Tropic of Capricorn. It is considered a regional area for Education Queensland. (Education Queensland, 2016) Glenmore State High School is on the north side of Rockhampton. Glenmore SHS has 579 students, 116 being in Year 11. (Education Queensland, 2016) Glenmore SHS has a very low socioeconomic status, and has a number of English as second language students. Of the 116 Year 11 students, 15 are enrolled in senior drama. Of these students, there are 13 Girls and 2 Boys. 2 identify as ATSI, 1 is ESL, and 2 are under special education programs.

The Rockhampton River Festival began in 2015, and was a huge success. As such, it has become an annual event. It is an event that combines food, drink and culture into a three day event. In 2016, the River Festival was conducted on the 15-17 July. The event starts Friday after 5pm, and continues until Sunday afternoon. This is an outdoor festival, although the council erects marquees for shade. It is coordinated by the Rockhampton Regional Council. Since the festival is in its infancy, event coordinators are looking to trial a number of artistic and cultural activities. Glenmore State High School has been approached to provide a short piece of theatre for the free pallet seatery entertainment area. The theme of the 2016 festival is River Revelry. The school considers this to be not only a positive public relations activity, but also an activity that can benefit the Year 11 drama students to further their study into Commedia Dell'Arte, a unit they are currently studying.

NB: as this year's festival takes place in Week 1 of Term 3, dates have been changed for assessment.

 

The unit itself is broken up into four weeks, with four lessons per week. Week one’s content surrounds exploring the characters of Commedia, and the stimulus “River Revelry”. Week two is a drafting week, with a draft due at the end of the week. Week three allows students to apply feedback from the draft to polish their work. The summative assessment is due in week three. Week four concentrates on the performance of the works for the Rockhampton River Festival.

Evidence gathered will be a copy of the script, and a short statement outlining the choices made, which will form a summative assessment for Dimension 1: Forming assessment.

Other evidence can include formative assessment drafts, as well as recordings of classroom and public performances. Formative assessment can also include participation in class discussion and activities, as well as classroom observations.

 

Feedback from all major stakeholders is valuable in improving practice in future years. Depending on the feedback received, it may be beneficial to change the lead time for production, change the assessment task from Forming to Presenting, change the theatre style, or make participation in the festival an extra-curricular activity.