OVERDRIVE (2018)- commissioned by The Public Good at Teachers College, Columbia University
“Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.” – Albert Einstein
How many jobs demand that employees come up with the right answer on the spot, from memory, while the clock is ticking? How often are we forbidden to ask coworkers for help? How common is it for working professionals to be given a secret pencil-and-paper exam? The student researchers/writers/performers of Epic NEXT interviewed a diverse group of education stakeholders about the role of Standardized Assessments in Public Schools. Their findings will surprise you. OVERDRIVE is a twenty-five minute touring play that powerfully poses the question: Do we truly measure what we value and value what we measure?
ASSIGNMENT: Watch the clip from OVERDRIVE and complete the following tasks:
1. Short answer: Read the Albert Einstein quote that’s near the top of the page. What does this quote mean to you? How do you think this quote connects with standardized tests like the Regents Exam?
2. Short answer: In the clip from OVERDRIVE, the student-artists use an extended metaphor to talk about testing: Students are patients, teachers are nurses, and tests are the wrong medicine. What is a metaphor that describes the way you feel when taking a standardized test like the Regents Exam?
3. Creative assignment: Generate an eight line response that builds on your answer to question #2. Your response could be any one of the following:
- an 8 line monologue
- an 8 line scene between two characters
- an 8 line poem
- 8 lines of music lyrics