[SML] Aggregate hours for majors?

[John McAfee]

Semester at a time is good advice.

Currently Intro to Theater owes 25 hours/semester and in my 4 and a half years (after upping the number from 10 and making it part of their grade), I’ve had about 75% completion on that, but with a fair number finishing by doing the drudge cleaning and sorting in December/May.

The classes I teach, Stagecraft and Stagecraft II (often a lighting course) owe 33/semester, with 4 required as load-in and 4 as strike.  I have good numbers on those, but the more assiduous ones are non-majors.

We have practicum classes that owe 30/semester that I use to pull running crew because otherwise I had no crew who would be there tech through strike.

I would love to have work study students, though there is no way to pay them real money (I’ve been trying) and so the notional scholarship money they earn-but-never-see keeps retention hard from week to week.

I currently offer morning hours on Monday, Friday, and Saturday (10a-2p) and evenings on Tuesday (4p-8p) and Thursday (6p-10p) and I usually have between 2 and 6 students, mostly from Intro.  I tried offering standard hours each day, but so many students would come talk to me about how their work schedule or class schedule wouldn’t allow them any hours, so I just keep the weekly schedule consistent.  The shop is pretty sound-proofed, and I have had good luck negotiating stage time with directors when I need it.

Students teach each other.  I make sure of that.  That is the best way for everyone to get the most out of it.

Most of our students are Acting/Directing and won’t be bidding jobs, but I do have a bidding project in my Stagecraft II class because it is important, and a sense of the budget necessary for performance is important even if you won’t be running a shop or freelancing.

The biggest problem that I see (with this facet) is that we don’t have buy-in from the majors that they need to be helping on the tech.  I had required load-in put in the “contracts” of those cast in the current show and about a third showed up (most of whom are in my Stagecraft class and they knew they would have grade issues if they didn't).

I know that I’m doing both them and myself a disservice by putting up the set myself because then they learn that if they don’t show up, the shoemaker’s elves will do it, so I’m thinking about making a policy that if I don’t have at least two students at a work call, the work call is cancelled, and they get the set (and lights) that they earn.  But, as our department is struggling to gain recognition on campus, I think that would hurt the greater cause and the students who actually show up.

So, near as I can tell, the next option is majors are required x hours per semester.  There is a portfolio project that they are supposed to complete as a graduation requirement, and the backstage hours would be a portion of that portfolio, so it wouldn’t be credit per se.  I agree there should be more than a “do this or you don’t graduate” piece, but the mentality should be about helping your department and your classmates look good.  

Ideally the student theater guild should be pushing this, but we’ve had to cancel both of the events that they had planned this semester due to lack of organization.


(All of that said, this is so much better than it was when I first got here)


> On Nov 9, 2015, at 12:21 AM, Paul Schreiner via Stagecraft <stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:
> 
>> Measure it a semester at a time, so if something goes pear-shaped in a
>> student's life, she has a hope of getting back on track.
> 
> Agreed.
> 
>> I've seen requirements ranging from 30 to 50 hours per credit depending on
>> school and tasks included. Students either get credit or paid; no one works
>> for free. If the experience is educational (and it should be) then credit
>> should be offered and the time should be considered a lab component of a
>> technical theatre class or a practicum experience.
> 
> Hmmm.  I don't see a fundamental issue with requiring a small number
> of service hours as a criterion of remaining in good standing with the
> department.  It's like being required to do a few community service
> hours as part of a club that has other functions.  However, this
> should not be the primary labor pool, but an adjunct to give the
> students a chance to give back to the department and to broaden their
> horizons.  And it should definitely not be burdensome to achieve.
> 
>> We're having good luck with a Monday evening session of hours as there are
>> fewer class conflicts and the solid multi-hour block means a lot of work
>> gets done without interruption.
> 
> Not always an option, depending on rehearsal schedules and whether
> there is (a) a large enough (and separate, acoustically-isolated)
> scene shop to handle it and (b) how this affects rehearsals when
> you're at the installation part of the build.
> 
>> Ask students what skills they want to learn and strive to give them tasks to
>> match. Have more experienced students help supervise less experienced ones.
> 
> Part of a healthy department culture, IMNSHO.
> 
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