<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Semester at a time is good advice.<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">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.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">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.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">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.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">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.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">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.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Students teach each other. I make sure of that. That is the best way for everyone to get the most out of it.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">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 <i class="">is</i> important, and a sense of the budget necessary for performance is important even if you won’t be running a shop or freelancing.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">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).</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">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.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">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. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">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.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">(All of that said, this is so much better than it was when I first got here)</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Nov 9, 2015, at 12:21 AM, Paul Schreiner via Stagecraft <<a href="mailto:stagecraft@theatrical.net" class="">stagecraft@theatrical.net</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">Measure it a semester at a time, so if something goes pear-shaped in a<br class="">student's life, she has a hope of getting back on track.<br class=""></blockquote><br class="">Agreed.<br class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">I've seen requirements ranging from 30 to 50 hours per credit depending on<br class="">school and tasks included. Students either get credit or paid; no one works<br class="">for free. If the experience is educational (and it should be) then credit<br class="">should be offered and the time should be considered a lab component of a<br class="">technical theatre class or a practicum experience.<br class=""></blockquote><br class="">Hmmm. I don't see a fundamental issue with requiring a small number<br class="">of service hours as a criterion of remaining in good standing with the<br class="">department. It's like being required to do a few community service<br class="">hours as part of a club that has other functions. However, this<br class="">should not be the primary labor pool, but an adjunct to give the<br class="">students a chance to give back to the department and to broaden their<br class="">horizons. And it should definitely not be burdensome to achieve.<br class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">We're having good luck with a Monday evening session of hours as there are<br class="">fewer class conflicts and the solid multi-hour block means a lot of work<br class="">gets done without interruption.<br class=""></blockquote><br class="">Not always an option, depending on rehearsal schedules and whether<br class="">there is (a) a large enough (and separate, acoustically-isolated)<br class="">scene shop to handle it and (b) how this affects rehearsals when<br class="">you're at the installation part of the build.<br class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class="">Ask students what skills they want to learn and strive to give them tasks to<br class="">match. Have more experienced students help supervise less experienced ones.<br class=""></blockquote><br class="">Part of a healthy department culture, IMNSHO.<br class=""><br class="">____________________________________________________________<br class="">For list information see <<a href="http://stagecraft.theprices.net/" class="">http://stagecraft.theprices.net/</a>><br class="">Stagecraft mailing list<br class=""><a href="mailto:Stagecraft@theatrical.net" class="">Stagecraft@theatrical.net</a><br class="">http://theatrical.net/mailman/listinfo/stagecraft_theatrical.net<br class=""></div></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></body></html>