Real-Life Math
You are a drama teacher and this is the time of year you dread --
time to get your students' final grades in.
One of your students,
Orel Dubois, just didn't have a clue what was going on. While he tried
to "do drama," as some of the students say, he was a dead loss. You haven't
looked at his final mark sheet yet, but you're sure he's going to
end up with an F.
"I believe math is important in the comprehensive
teaching of theater in that students should be aware of the entire process,"
says drama teacher Bill Scurato. "Obviously, technology has provided much
help in pursuing our math-related tasks, [but] the logic of mathematics is
still a valuable tool. This is coming from someone who struggled with math
throughout his life."
Here is young Mr. Dubois' mark
sheet, with all marks expressed as a percentage of 100:
| Group Assignment 1 | = 55 |
| Group Assignment 2 | = 51 |
| Group Assignment 3 | = 55 |
| Acting Scene 1 | = 40 |
| Acting Scene 2 | = 42 |
| Term Paper 1: The Making of a Musical | = 35 |
| Term Paper 2: The Use of Dance in Drama | = 40 |
| Role in Play: The Wizard of Oz | = 65 |
Normally, you would add up the marks and divide
them by the total number of marks recorded to arrive at a final grade. Not
so here. You must weigh the marks in a fitting way.
Group assignments
are worth 15 percent; acting scene workshops are worth 25 percent; papers
are worth 20 percent each for a total of 40 percent; and the play role is
worth 20 percent.
You must find the average for each mark category,
then determine what that means in terms of a final grade, then add them together
to see if Orel Dubois passed. Oh, and a pass is -- you guessed it! -- 50 out
of 100.