Take 2: Some Personal Experimentation

So, this week felt a lot different than last week's lesson. I wrote the entire lesson plan myself, rather than adapting an existing one. I focused a lot on some of the process drama activities we have been discussing lately in my Elementary School Drama course.

We started off with a review of some of the storytelling elements that we discussed the previous week.

• The audience's job is to listen with open ears, open minds, and open hearts
• Stories teach, warn, and entertain

Then, we added the focus for this week: Heroes overcome obstacles. To help the students engage with this idea, we discussed some of the different heroes the students like. Some of my favorite answers were: Iron man, my mom, and Martin Luther King, Jr. We also talked about some of the obstacles they might have to overcome. After our discussion, we did a "soundtracking" activity. This meant that while I played the Superman theme song, the students walked around as their heroes. I encouraged them to embody their hero in their walk, their facial expressions, and their hand movements. They had a blast with the activity and so did I.

I think the biggest difference between the two lessons was my clarity of purpose. When teaching the first time, I had some objectives pre-written in the plan I adapted. However, as I taught, I found myself swaying between two different objectives in my mind. I wasn't sure what the most important things I wanted the students to be able to do at the end of the lesson. When I had a clear view that I was committed to, the whole lesson was easier to teach and enjoy.

_________________________________________________________________________

Storytelling Lesson #2

Materials needed:

• Paper strips with the three recap things at the end of the lesson.
• My computer to play music
• (I can bring both of these things)

Classroom:

• Desks pushed to the side. We will be doing a lot of movement

Core Theater Standard:

• Use body to communicate meaning through the use of space, shape, energy, and gesture.

Learning Objective:

• Students will be able to demonstrate critical thinking and characterization by giving advice on how to overcome obstacles and using their body and movement to show characterization.

Intro:

• Last week, we talked about… This week, we are going to talk about heros.

Activity 1:

• Heroes overcome obstacles
• Play some dramatic music (background music from Avengers)
• Invite students to move with the music as if they were a hero
• This is a non-verbal activity. We will talk about your heros afterwards, so just focus on moving like your hero.
• Side coaching (further instructions or invitations that could keep the students thinking and creating)
• What kind of hero are you?
• Are you a happy hero, maybe with a skip in your step?
• Are you a strong hero, maybe walking slowly or flexing?
• Are you a serious hero?
• What are you trying to do?

Discussion:

• What were your heroes like?
• (Pick a few students.)
• Those are some awesome heros!
• Heros are heros because they do good things and overcome obstacles. Who can think of some obstacles your heroes might encounter?
• Pick a few students to share ideas

Activity 2:

• Ask for a volunteer who is confident with their hero.
• I need someone who hasn’t been called on yet.
• Once you have chosen them, ask the volunteer to tell the class in detail about their hero.
• Once we have a good idea of what the hero is like, ask what would be an appropriate obstacle for this hero.
• When the obstacle is decided upon, have everyone think about what they might feel like if this was them.
• Divide the class into two lines facing each other.
• Explain how this activity will work:
• _____(our volunteer) is going to walk slowly between these two lines you have all made
• As _____ passes, I want you to whisper an idea of how he could possibly react to this obstacle that is in his way.
• Ok? Let’s practice. Everyone take a second to think. Once you’ve gotten an idea, whisper it to your thumb.
• Got it? Aswesome!
• Invite ______ to walk between the lines, listening to the advice.
• If time permits, maybe have another student walk down “Decision Alley”
• Wrap-up
• Invite them to sit on the floor.
• Wow, you guys had some wonderful advice!
• What are some things you learned?
• Recap:
• So far, we have learned that
• The Audience’s job is to listen with open ears, open minds and open hearts.
• Stories warn, entertain and teach
• Heros Overcome Obstacles
• Thanks for having fun with me today! See you next week!