1) The document describes an experiment called TalkOut by the University Musical Society (UMS) in Ann Arbor, Michigan to capture student responses to live performances. 2) The goals are to actively get feedback from students on stage after shows and connect performances to Common Core standards around speaking and listening. 3) The process involves selecting a few students beforehand who are invited on stage after a performance to discuss their experience with a host and have their comments recorded and shared online and with educators.

1. TalkOut:
Hearing What Youth Say
About Live Performance
Presented by Jim Leija from MI 1997 –
U n i v e r s i t y M u s i c a l S o c i e t y, A n n A r b o r P u b l i c
Schools, & Washtenaw Intermediate School
District

2. Trim Tab Experiment:
a small change we could make as a team
that could have a potentially big impact

3. Goals for the experiment:
1. Actively capture student responses
to School Day Performances
2. Deliberately connect School Day Performances
to new Common Core ELA standards,
especially for “speaking and listening,”
and be a model for K-12 educators

4. The idea:
Immediately following the show,
a few students are invited to the stage to talk
about and reflect upon their experience

5. Common Core Connections:
•
ELA Standards for Speaking & Listening
•
Requires students to regularly practice with
complex text, including oral, visual,
and multi-modal text

6. How it works…the nitty-gritty logistics
•
Leading up to the performance:
• UMS reaches out to teachers who are bringing classes to the
performance; UMS asks specific teachers to choose a student who
will come on stage to answer questions; the students know they will
be called on.
• UMS sends a media permission release to the teacher to receive
parents’ permission for youth participation.
• UMS talks with the performing artist or ensemble (or manager) to
make them aware TalkOut is happening (no participation is required
on the part of the artist).
• UMS education, programming, production, and marketing prepare for
implementing and documenting the TalkOut. It’s important that
everyone in-house buys into the project.
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7. How it works…the nitty-gritty logistics
• Day of the show:
• The onstage host introduces the performance, and asks the youth
to hold a few questions in their minds while they watch: how does
the performance make them feel? What is surprising? What
questions will they ask their teacher.
• Once the ensemble has taken its bows, the onstage host returns
and invites the pre-selected youth to stage (usually this is two
children of different grade levels).
• The hosts prompts the youth with questions.
• UMS staff photographs, videos, and audio records the interaction.
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8. The kinds of questions we ask:
What did you see on stage?
And what did it make you think about?
How did it make you feel?
Choose some words that describe what you saw/heard today?
How will you describe this performance
to your friends who weren’t here?
What surprised you about the performance today? What were you
expecting when you came today?
Why do you think your teacher brought you here today?

9. How it works…the nitty-gritty logistics
• After the show:
• UMS creates a number of media items for sharing online through
umslobby.org and UMS social media outposts, including a simple
visual “postcard” with a quote to share online, audio “postcards”
with still images and audio, and edited bite-size video footage.
• Media is shared with UMS sponsors and stakeholders, and with
educators.
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10. http://www.umslobby.org/index.php/2014/01/student-experience-k-12-talkouts-14732

11. #1: http://www.umslobby.org/index.php/2013/05/ums-k-12-talkout-project-13185
#2: http://youtu.be/-Cx3EmXx0Pk
#3: http://youtu.be/RwcPXDTTO1E
#4: http://youtu.be/1Kd0ETFx8ZY
#5: http://youtu.be/728_JxdIRPY
#6: http://youtu.be/iUHE5BeV7-M

12. What we’re learning…
• Youth want to talk about what they’ve experienced.
• TalkOut is a model for conversations that could happen back in the
classroom.
• We are demonstrating the kind of learning that is possible in and
through the arts; stakeholders are taking notice.
• Some performances are easy to talk about, and others are more
difficult. The host must be prepared with a bank of questions and be
willing to draw the youth out in conversation.
• Hearing youth, in their own voices, is a powerful document of impact.
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13. Contact us:
Jim Leija
UMS Director of Education & Community
Engagement
jleija@umich.edu
(734) 764-6179
Omari Rush
UMS Education Manager
wrush@umich.edu
(734)615-0122