Course
Profile Dramatic Arts,
Grade 9 open, Public
Unit 2
Course
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Acknowledgments
Public
District School Board Writing Team - English Literacy Development
Lead
Board
Toronto District School Board
Course
Profile Writing Team
Jane Campbell
Hazel Excell
Denise Gordon
Jane Hill
Elaine Iannuzziello
Paula Markus (Team Leader)
Eleanor Minuk
Jane Sims
Ero Siouga
Betty Ann Taylor
Unit
#2: Me… Introspection
Activity 1 | Activity 2 | Activity 3 | Activity 4 | Activity
5 | Activity 6
Time: 25 -75 minute
classes
Description
In
this unit, students will explore and increase their knowledge of themselves and
demonstrate understanding of their own identity in the classroom and beyond.
Through individual and collaborative exercises, students will share life
experiences, interests, hobbies, etc. with the class and listen actively to
other students. Through role playing, improvisation and/or formal rehearsed
presentations, students will identify and practise the most effective ways,
both physically and vocally, to present various facets of themselves. At the
completion of the unit, students will be able to reflect on their experiences
in oral and written form. Their reflections will demonstrate empathy and
tolerance and enable them to identify biased language and recognize
stereotyping. Activities will foster respect for self and others.
Strand(s): Theory,
Creation, Analysis
Overall Expectations: DTV.01X, DTV.03X,
DCV.02X, DCV.03X, DAV.02X
Specific Expectations: DT1.02X, DT1.03X, DC1.01X, DC1.02X, DC1.05X, DC1.06X, DC1.07X,
DC2.01X,
DC2.03X, DA1.01X, DA1.04X, DA1.09X, DA2.02X,
DA2.03X,
DA2.05X
Activity Titles (Time & Sequence)
|
Activity
# |
Activity
Title |
Time
in 75 minute periods |
|
#1 |
My
Story… Remembering Me |
3 |
|
#2 |
Trust
Me… Creating the Now |
3 |
|
#3 |
Who
Am I…? Determining My Values |
2 |
|
#4 |
Finding
My Place… Developing Self Confidence |
4 |
|
#5 |
My
Choices… Making Decisions |
7 |
|
#6 |
Presenting
Me… Creating an Image |
6 |
Prior Knowledge Required
Unit
#1 “Me and You… Collaboration”
provides the fundamentals for this unit, i.e., effective listening and speaking
skills, collaborative skills, reflection and conflict resolution.
Unit Planning Notes
Teacher
should prepare to model presenting a story. Listen to the “Vinyl Café” on CBC
Radio for example or read and prepare to tell a story from one of Chinen,
Herriot, Keiller or Yashinsky’s books. (See Bibliography)
Assessment/Evaluation (Summary)
|
|
Theory/ Knowledge/ Understanding |
Thinking/ Inquiry |
Communication |
Creation/ Application |
|
Purpose |
assessment |
reflection |
feedback |
transfer
of personal experience |
|
Method |
self-assessment |
self-assessment |
teacher,
peer, self-assessment |
student
written monologue |
|
Strategies |
determining
criteria |
writing |
discussion/ comparison |
group
presentation |
|
Tools |
T-chart |
journal (see
App. # 2 ) |
checklist (see
App. # 10) |
rubric (see
App. # 4) |
Teaching and Learning Strategies
(Summary)
Continue
to use the warm-up, main activity, reflection and extension model. Refer to
Appendix #8
Resources
Bibliography
and Appendices #1 to #11. See activities for specifics.
Activity # 1: My Story… Remembering Me
Time: 3 - 75 minute
classes
Description
Through
individual role playing, collaborative improvisation, journal writing and
recollecting, students will reconstruct past experiences. To provide an
understanding of how drama can influence others emotionally, students will
structure personal experiences and will experiment with the elements of theatre
- specifically characterization (2-D, 3-D characters) and narrative
(sequencing, tone, audience).
The
acting skill that students will focus on is concentration; the audience skill
is listening.
Strand(s) & Expectations:
Strands: Theory,
Creation, Analysis
Overall Expectations: At the end of grade 9,
students will: DTV.01X, DCV.02X, DCV.03X
DCV.04X,
DAV.02X
Specific Expectations: Students will: DC1.05X, DA1.04X, DA2.02X,
DA2.03X, DA2.05X
Planning Notes
Ensure
that students have learned how to work in small groups. Teachers will model
appropriate material by telling a story that connects to every day life. For
example, the teacher prepares to tell, “The Devil’s Noodles” from Yashinsky’s
book. Students, as audience, will be encouraged to demonstrate empathy by
listening and asking appropriate questions (e.g., Why do you like this story?
How does it connect to your life?). Teachers must create an atmosphere which
allows students to feel comfortable and secure while telling stories. (e.g.,
physical arrangement of room, use of a talking stick or special object for the
speaker, a reminder that listening is the beginning of empathy). Teacher
emphasizes that meaningful stories connect to our lives. In this unit the
journal will be the vehicle for collecting stories with which students have
connected and capture important memories.
Prior Knowledge
These
skills have been introduced in Grade 8 and in Unit #1:
Collaborative skills Practice in reflective writing,
listening and presenting
Effective speaking techniques Questioning techniques
Teaching/Learning Strategies
Day 1
Warm-up
Teacher
models storytelling through delivery of a mini monologue, based on an anecdote.
Teacher becomes storyteller, and students become audience. Students will record
details of their story, in point form, in their journal. Students will then choose
a partner and share their story (5 minutes each).
Main
Activity
Form
working groups of four; share details of their first day at school, and develop
three tableaux to show on the way to school, lunch, and return home. From the
tableaux, ask students to create brief improvisations. Students will comment on
the structure of each group’s performance.
Extension/Reflection
Students
will write in their journals about a treasured object from their childhoods to
be shared with the class during the following period. Reflection will focus on
vivid description and sensory appeal.
Day 2
Warm-up
With
a partner, students will re-enact a discovery, in an old trunk, of their
treasured object .
Main
Activity
In
circle, have each student recall one of the following: the funniest thing, the
scariest thing, the bravest thing or the nicest thing, that happened to them
before the age of twelve. (If any students are unable or uncomfortable
reporting a recollection institute the “Pass” rule. They can simple say,
“Pass”, no questions asked, if they feel unable or uncomfortable reporting to
the class.)
Then,
experimenting with sequencing, have them retell, after private rehearsal time,
the five main events of their recollection. Following a selection of
presentations to the full class, students will collaboratively create a “T-
chart” for self assessment of an effective monologue. (In this case a
“T- chart” is two columns with headings such as: “An effective monologue is…”
and “A monologue is not…”.
Extension/Reflection
Students
will write a response in their journals to one of the following prompts: I remember when…; I’ve always wondered why…; I knew I was special when… This activity
will provide the details from which students will generate a mini-monologue for
presentation to the class. Students
will structure their recollections into mini-monologues for a presentation
without notes. Assessment will focus on action words, ordering of events,
believable characters and point of view.
Day 3
Warm-up
Vocal Warmup: Simultaneously, students will tell their recollections as though they were whispering, yawning uncontrollably, eating with their mouths full and shouting over traffic.
Main
Activity
Students
will present mini-monologues to the class. Teacher reviews criteria for
assessment with the class.
Students
will rehearse with a partner. Students will present the mini-monologues to the
class.
Extension/Reflection
Students
will peer assess their partners using the T-chart, and self assess in their
journals.
Assessment/Evaluation Techniques
Formative
assessment of personal reflection for completion and application to assigned
task.
Formative
assessment of collaborative skills (See Appendix #1 “Collaborative Problem Solving”).
Students
use “T- chart” to assess peers. Teacher uses “T- chart” to assess students.
Accommodations (Special Needs)
Pre-recorded
stories are available on tape for students who cannot remember or read a story.
A
peer tutor could relate another student’s mini-monologue.
Resources
See
Bibliography: Herriot, Keiller, Maguire and Yashinsky
#1
- “Collaborative Problem Solving”
#8
- “Drama Strategies and Techniques”
Activity # 2: Trust Me… Creating the Now
Time: 3 - 75 minute classes
Description
Through
brainstorming, games, tableaux, role playing, monologues and rehearsed
improvisation, students will determine how memories may be structured for a
dramatic impact. In an environment of trust students will uncover universal feelings.
In small groups, students will interview classmates. This process is designed
to encourage open discussion about significant thoughts and emotions. Using the
interview material as a source students will translate it into presentation
form. The acting skill that students will focus on is empathy; the audience
skill is active listening.
Strands: Theory,
Creation, Analysis
Overall Expectations: At the end of Grade 9, the student will:
DTV.01X, DTV.02X, DCV.01X,
DCV.02X,
DCV.03X, DCV.04X, DAV.02X
Specific Expectations: Students will: DT1.01X, DT2.02X, DC1.01X,
DC1.03X, DC1.05X,
DC1.07X,
DC1.08X, DA1.01X
Planning Notes
Ensure
that students have learned how to work in small groups.
Teachers
will find a story on a topic of teen human-interest from a local newspaper or
magazine.
Teachers
must continue to foster an atmosphere which allows students to feel comfortable
and secure while deepening their exploration of memories (e.g. trust games,
brainstorming).
Prior Knowledge
Active
listening skills
Collaborative
skills
Practice
in reflective writing, listening and presenting
Questioning
and interviewing techniques
Understanding of tableaux
Teaching/Learning Strategies
Day 1
Warm-up
Teacher
leads trust exercises (See Bibliography, Booth and Fluegelman). Teacher
introduces teen human interest news story to the class. Students, in small
groups, record the emotions of people involved in the story and also the
emotions they felt as the story unfolded. Through discussion, students will
determine the cause of their emotions. As a full group, students will list the
emotions discussed in their groups. Students will record all notes in their
journals.
Main
Activity
Students
will individually experiment with creating tableaux which depict the emotions
generated. In groups of six, students will choose a dominant emotion and, using
various levels of space and depth, form a unified frozen picture that can be
placed in a Museum of Emotions. The Museum should be viewed by class members.
In the same groups of six, students will create their own human interest news
story and present the events and their accompanying emotions in a series of six
tableaux. Each student will come ‘alive’ and step out of the frozen picture to
explain his/her role in the incident.
Extension/Reflection
Students
will orally provide three positive comments on: staging, emotional realism and
relevance of the commentary.
In
preparation for the following main activity, students will reflect on and
decide upon a single item that is important to them. Students will record this
information in their journals. Students will bring this item, or a facsimile
(prop), to class the following day.
Day 2
Warm-up
Teacher
directed trust exercise. See Bibliography for possibilities.
Main
Activity
Students
bring important items to class and place them on the display table. The class
observes all of the items on the table. In their journals, students privately
note the three items they find most interesting and record the emotions,
memories, and/or connections they associate with each one. One at a time,
students will explain the importance of their item to the class. The class will
be expected to demonstrate active listening skills and positive audience
behaviour.
Extension/Reflection
In
their journals, students will use the following questions to frame a response:
What did I feel when I heard you talk about…? How does it make me feel now?
They should focus on feelings.
Day 3
Warm-up
Teacher
directed trust exercise.
Main
Activity
Students
work with a partner and complete the “Stuff and Things About You” chart (See
Appendix #3). When they are completed they should cut the charts into four
parts and place the parts in like piles. Each student should randomly select
one completed form from each pile. These will form the basis for writing a
realistic character sketch.
Extension/Reflection
By
examining the information on the chart and by choosing one dominant emotion and
one secondary emotion from the list in their journals, students will describe a
real life character. This character will be placed in an improvised high school
setting.
Day 4
Warm-up
Vocal
warm up: Students will explore the vocal/sound qualities of words that express
emotion
(e.g.,
frightening, envious, frustrated, exhilarating, happiness, stress). Students
will use these sounds as transitions within the following improvisation.
Main
Activity
In
groups of four, students will use their character sketches to develop an
interactive improvisation entitled “This is Grade Nine!!”. Focus will be on
setting (e.g., the Caf, the Locker Bay, the Bus, 8 p.m. on the Phone) and the
portrayal of the emotions both physically and vocally.
Extension/Reflection
As
a class, chart the positive things students did to create character, the use of
emotions, the inventiveness within the setting, and the use of vocalization.
Follow the activity with a journal entry.
Assessment/Evaluation Techniques
Formative
assessment of personal reflection and collaborative skills
Students
will orally provide positive comments
Teacher
provides oral feedback to students
Accommodation (Special Needs)
Post
summary of positive ways to create a character.
Resources
See
Bibliography:
Spolin,
Viola. Improvisation for the Theatre.
Brandes,
& Phillips. Gamester’s Handbook.
Appendices
#3
- “Stuff and Things About You”
Activity #3: Who Am I…? Determining my Values
Time: 2 - 75 minute
classes
Description
Through
games, improvisation, role play, simulation and choral speaking students will
extend their understanding of universal experience. Students will take part in
exercises designed to help them understand differences, acknowledge conflicts
and establish connections among people. Students will dramatize the perspective
of others and thereby gain an expanded awareness of self. The acting skill that
students will focus on is character development; the audience skill is
attentive listening.
Strands:
Theory, Creation, Analysis
Overall Expectations: At the end of Grade 9,
students will: DTV.02X, DCV.01X, DCV.02X,
DCV.05X,
DAV.02X
Specific Expectations: Students will:
DT2.01X, DT3.02X, DC1.01X, DC1.03X, DC1.05X,
DC1.07X,
DC1.08X, DC1.09X, DC2.01X, DC2.02X, DA1.03X,
DA2.02X,
DA2.04X
Planning Notes
Teachers
will continue to ensure that the classroom environment provides trust.
Prior Knowledge
Improvisation
and role playing; character development; spontaneity in improvisation.
Teaching/Learning Strategies
Day 1
Warm-up
In
groups of four students will play, “Translating Gibberish” - two students
converse in gibberish while their partners provide a simultaneous translation.
Each speaker has a translator on the side who converts the gibberish to
English. Possible topics: a found object, asking for directions, selling an
invention.
Main
Activity
The
teacher will lead students in a discussion to define, “norm”. Class will
brainstorm to define the norms of the school. In pairs, students will generate their
own list of norms (e.g. my family, the community). Unite two pairs, and in
groups of four students invent a new situation in which the norms run contrary
to expectations. One member of the group will then enter this world, opposing
the new system of norms represented by the other three.(e.g., eye contact is
the norm and the new member to the group refuses to look anyone in the eye).
Extension/Reflection
Students
will reflect on the following questions and then respond in their journals: 1)
How did you feel when what you assumed would happen did not? 2) Relate a time
when you felt like, “a fish out of water”.
Day 2
Warm-up
Vocal
work with a focus on choral speaking techniques (e.g. single voice, unison,
responsive, repetition, dynamics, volume and rate)
Main
Activity
Using
techniques explored in the warm up circle, students will build a twenty line
chant that reflects the character of the class. The sample prompts are: “We are
a group of people who value…”, “Our hopes for the future are…”, “Together we
enjoy…”.
Extension/Reflection
Record
the chant and reflect on its effectiveness.
Assessment/Evaluation Techniques
Formative
assessment of reflective writing in journal.
Observational
checklist assessment (on-task behavior, active participation, thoughtful
responses)
Teacher
conference with groups as they work on the chant.
Accommodation (Special Needs)
Provide
percussive accompaniment.
Resources
Poetry
or sections of a script that lend themselves to choral speaking
Student
created chants.
Activity #4: Finding My Place… Developing Self-confidence
Time: 4 - 75 minute
classes
Description
Students
will be provided with opportunities through interpretative movement, prepared
scenes, improvisation and reflection to take risks in order to determine
strategies for positive conflict resolution. The acting skills that will be
stressed are experimentation with new forms and character conflict; the group
skill is collaborative problem solving (See Appendix #1).
Strands: Theory,
Creation, Analysis
Overall Expectations: At the end of Grade 9,
students will: DTV.01X, DTV.03X, DCV.02X,
DCV.03X,
DAV.02X
Specific Expectations: Students will:
DC1.01X, DC1.05X, DA1.01X, DA1.04X, DA2.03X,
DA2.03X,
DA2.05X
Planning Notes
Teachers
will provide:
Pictures
or words that are cut up into jigsaw pieces numbered on the back and placed in
a large box. (One puzzle piece will be missing for each puzzle. Every student
must have one piece.); several pieces of music which suggest different moods; a
source that focuses on the theme of belonging (e.g., “Everyone has a place in
the Circle”, First Nations poem, “The Circle of Life” from The Lion King).
Teachers should consult school-based resources on conflict resolution (e.g., Peer mediation programs).
Prior Knowledge
Conflict
resolution; character development and role playing
Teaching/Learning Strategies
Day 1
Warm-up
Begin
with a puzzle piece activity. All students must choose one puzzle piece. They
must determine where their piece fits. Students have five minutes to complete
the activity.
Teacher
Note: Teacher will observe how the
students interact and must not interfere (knowing that one piece is missing)
and make note of the conflicts and any attempts to resolve them. Students are
encouraged to consider their feelings and how they coped with the frustration.
Teacher elicits possible strategies for resolving conflict from students.
Students record the strategies in their journals.
In
pairs make notes in your journal on each of the following scenarios:
How
do you feel when … you are excluded from an activity that your
friends
are involved in?
… your best friend
changes groups?
… you are really
good at something that others
consider uncool?
… you know that something is ‘wrong’ but your
friends
expect you to do it anyway ?
… you know something that one of your friends did
that
should be reported to an adult but would land
your
friend in trouble?
Main
Activity
Using
the technique “Inside/Outside Voices” (where two actors represent one character’s
spoken words and inner thoughts) have pairs structure a situation of their
choice for presentation to
the class.
Extension/Reflection
In
groups of four, students brainstorm and record the importance of inner conflict
in establishing characters. Each group will present and defend their findings
(This could be done in-role as the character or out-of-role as a student.)
Day 2
Warm-up
Teacher
will direct exploratory improvisations to allow students to deal with conflict
resolution from a variety of perspectives. Situations are focused on real-life
incidents familiar to the students. Conflicts will be between a teenager and an
adult, a teenager and a friend and a teenager and a teacher. In the
improvisation students will have the opportunity to assume both roles. Use
newspaper articles as a source for ideas.
Main
Activity
In
groups of three, students will generate a list of possible conflicts and
explore resolutions. Possibilities might be: gang bullying, vandalism,
shoplifting or unfounded rumours. As a group, they will structure one of the
conflicts into a dramatic form for presentation. The presentation will involve
two interpretations of the same scene. The first will have a negative
resolution, the second will end positively. A suggested structure: characters
are introduced in their own environments and are on stage simultaneously in
multiple settings. Through monologue, phone conversations or answering voices
off, (off stage character) they establish the problem. The scene shifts to a
downstage common setting when each character enters the new scene and they
determine the actions that should be taken because of the problem.
Extension/Reflection
Read
the assigned news story about a local issue.
Day 3
Warm-up
Using
a tableau, re-create the central event of the assigned news story. Ask students
to create a tableau that shows the event and the tension within the moment.
(Perhaps a fight at a basketball game.)
Main
Activity
Explore
and discuss questions that have not been answered by the newspaper article.
Focus on the central dilemma facing a main person in the story. (Perhaps
someone witnessed something the police need to know.)
From
the article or other sources, find examples of the various perspectives people
have concerning the issue. (The school has concerns, the parents have concerns,
the witness needs to decide, the community has a perspective.)
Conclude
the role play with a large group meeting in which the class and the teacher
play the various roles (See Appendix #8) suggested by the newspaper article.
(This could be a Town Hall meeting.) The teacher will facilitate to ensure all
voices are heard. A resolution must be reached through consensus.
Extension/Reflection
In
their role from the large group meeting, write a letter to the editor of the
local paper regarding the resolution of the issue.
Day 4
Warm-up
Individual
journal response to: “Sometimes the hardest thing to do is give - in.” In a
circle, students will discuss what it felt like when the expectation was to
reach consensus. In a circle, with hands joined, students will create
sculptures that show various emotions (e.g. joy, struggle, tranquility).
Main
Activity
In
groups of eight to ten, students will use expressive movement and effective
staging designs to interpret the source (the newspaper article) chosen to
reflect the theme of, “belonging”
Extension/Reflection
Each
group explains their performance choices to the class.
Assessment/Evaluation Techniques
Formative
assessment of personal reflection for completion and application to assigned
task. (Use Appendix #2 “Reflection”)
Formative
assessment of collaborative skills (Use Appendix #1)
Teacher
writes anecdotal responses to each student regarding personal growth.
Accommodations (Special Needs)
Read
the article out loud.
Prepare
a radio editorial rather than a written one.
Resources
See
Bibliography:
Neelands,
Jonathan. Edited by Tony Goode. Structuring
Drama Work.
Appendices
#1
“Collaborative Problem Solving”
#2
“Reflection”
#3
“Drama Strategies and Techniques”
Activity #5: My Choices… Making Decisions
Time: 7 - 75 minute
classes
Description
Through
discussion, movement, role play, reflection, and character work, students will
distinguish and integrate various aspects of personal identity into their drama
work. Students will complete a personal inventory program (e.g., “True
Colours”) and make decisions based on a decision making model (e.g., de Bono’s
“Six Hat Theory”). Using this knowledge, students will take part in role play
that allows them to explore career choices, family choices and lifestyle
choices. This personal exploration will serve as preparation for a dramatic
self portrait, to be developed more extensively in the culminating activity #6,
“Presenting Me”.
Strands: Theory,
Creation, Analysis
Overall Expectations: At the end of grade 9,
students will: DTV.01X, DCV.01X, DCV.02X,
DCV.03X,
DCV.04X, 02X
Specific Expectations: Students will:
DT1.01X, DT2.02X, DC1.01X, DC1.03X, DC1.05X,
DC1.07X,
DC1.08X
Planning Notes
The
teacher will contact Student Services to arrange for a personal inventory
program, for
example, True Colors. The teacher will become familiar
with the theory of Edward de Bono in
Six Thinking Hats.
Teachers
will need to book a performance space and have chart paper and markers for the
final
day’s activity.
Prior Knowledge
Role
playing
Skills
in critiquing presentation
Reflecting
and responding
Teaching/Learning Strategies
Days 1-4
Allow
1 to 4 days depending on the personal inventory resource that is available
(e.g. True Colors, Six Thinking Hats).
Day 5
Warm-up
Using
the “hat theory”, students will respond through improvisation to teacher
prompts based on conflicts drawn from teenagers’ experiences: family versus
friends, old friends versus new friends, school versus “other stuff”, my ma’s
choice versus my choice. The focus should be on altering the emotional response
to a situation faced by a single realistic character.
Main
Activity
The
teacher will introduce the concept of “offer” in improvisation; an offer is an
opening line spoken by one character to another which immediately establishes
the WHO, WHAT and WHERE. (e.g. “This tooth is killing me”, “Clean your room!”,
“Wanna buy this car?”) Each student will create an offer line. In pairs,
students will deliver their offer lines to their partners, and develop a brief
improvised response limited to thirty seconds. Students should have the
opportunity to experiment with these offers with several partners. (A simple
method for arranging this might be an inner circle; each circle moves in an
opposite direction.)
Extension/Reflection
Students
will choose a partner, and develop a vignette (short scene) that naturally
results from the offer lines. Pairs share with pairs.
Day 6
Warm-up
Simultaneously,
students respond to teacher directed prompts. These prompts should elicit
conflict, and provide a springboard for developing a character’s intent, focus
and physical attitude. Suggested prompts include: “You’re babysitting this
Friday!”, “I’m going to have to call your parents!”; “You’re going out with
who?”; “You haven’t tried that yet?”; “You’re going out in that?”
Main
Activity
In
pairs, students develop one of the improvisation prompts into a scene, focusing
on intent, focus and physical attitude. Pairs share with pairs, and provide
feedback about the other pair’s ability to portray these qualities.
Extension/Reflection
Students
will reconstruct the dialogue from the main activity in their journals.
Day 7
Warm-up
Review
through teacher directed improvisation the concepts of levels of space and
balance in staging.
Main
Activity
In
groups of four, students will develop offer
lines that reveal a dominant emotional
trait tied to a specific personality
colour. Character interaction should connect to the personal inventory
previously used, in this case de Bono. They will place these characters in a
given setting – a subway car has
broken down, an elevator has stalled, a pop machine has broken down. Students
will develop scenes with beginnings, middles and ends that arise from their
offer lines. Students will present these scenes to the class; oral feedback
will focus on staging and the believability of the characters and the
conflicts.
Extension/Reflection
To
evaluate the students’ understanding of de Bono, the colour theory, and the
development of a three-dimensional character, students will write a detailed
character description such as one might find at the beginning of a play. What
is the character’s brightest colour? What is the character’s secondary colour?
What activities would this character be in involved in? In stressful
situations, where decisions have to be made, what hat would this character wear?
This piece must be submitted for teacher assessment.
Assessment/Evaluation Techniques
Knowledge
checklist for personal inventory
Teacher’s
anecdotal feedback to individual characterizations
Teacher’s
anecdotal feedback to character description in journal
Accommodation (Special Needs)
Peer
helper supports activities and transcribes journal entry
Resources
(See Bibliography)
de
Bono, Keys to Successful Councilling,
Spolin
31 & 32
True Colours
Appendices
#8
- “Drama Strategies and Techniques”
Activity #6: Presenting Me
Time: 6 - 75 minute
classes
Description
This
is an independent, self-directed project.
Creating a self-portrait and collaboratively structuring it into a dramatic
form is the culminating activity for this unit. The form and content that the
students use in the presentations will be drawn from their journals, class
presentations and their experiences in this unit.
Strands: Theory,
Creation, Analysis
Overall Expectations: At the end of Grade 9,
students will: DTV.01X, DTV.03X, DCV.02X,
DCV.03X,
DAV.02X
Specific Expectations: Students will:
DT1.02X, DT1.03X, DT3.02X, DC1.01X, DC1.02X,
DC1.05X,
DC1.07X, DC1.09X, DC1.10X, DC2.01X, DE2.03X,
DC2.04X,
DC2.05X, DA1.01X,
DA1.07X, DA2.01X
Planning Notes
The teacher will use the rubric titled, “Culminating Event Rubric” to assess and evaluate student work in this activity. The teacher might need to book the stage space for the activity planned on Day 1. The teacher will need to review lists of the terms and concepts studied in this unit. The teacher will prepare a series of “Jeopardy” answers about various stage terms to be covered in the unit.
Prior Knowledge
Anthology structure as used in connecting tableau to a topic or connecting a series of improvisations to a theme
Skills in critiquing presentation
Reflecting and responding
Teaching/Learning Strategies
Day 1
Warm-up
Students
hand in their character sketches from Activity #5 and the teacher redistributes
them anonymously. The students use these character sketches as a basis for
assuming character.
Hot
Seat Activity – The teacher as an interviewer questions students who play the
role of the character they received. This is a technique called the “hot seat”.
(e.g., How old are you? What do you like? Tell me about a time you…) The
student answers in character. The students continue quizzing other characters.
Main
Activity
The
teacher hands out the “Master Self-assessment Checklist,” (Appendix #11), to
test knowledge out of context. The teacher prepares a series of “Jeopardy
answers” to basic questions about the performance space and staging, e.g., It is a moveable portion that attaches to
the stage front. (What is an apron?) Entering from the side of the stage to the
audience’s left. (What is ESR?) Walking from one side of the stage to another.
(What is CROSS?)
The
students provide questions to match the Jeopardy answers. Then to place the new
knowledge in context, the class moves to the schools’ performance space where
the students identify and note the terms from the Jeopardy activity and fill in
the checklist.
Extension/Reflection
Review
all Jeopardy items on the checklist assuring that students have recorded all
the terms.
The
students practise the following “Crossing the Stage “ activity. Using their Hot
Seat characters, students will practise crossing the stage in character;
placing the characters in the contexts the teacher suggests. Possible
directions could include: cross the stage with the intent to escape from the
police, cross the stage with the intent to satisfy a great thirst, cross down
stage right with the intent to search for a lost child. The purpose is to
reinforce two concepts: focus and intent.
Day 2
Warm-up
In
pairs, students search through all their journal work to compile two lists. The
first is a list of concepts and ideas covered in the unit so far, (e.g.,
conflict resolution, dominant character traits, making choices that suit me,
inner self and outer self). The second list is of forms of dramatic
presentation that they have been exposed to during the unit, (e.g.,
mini-monologue, tableaux, improvisation, interpretative movement, movement to
music). Students check the completeness of their lists by comparing them to the
others in the class. Teacher records concepts to ensure that all of the
concepts and ideas and all of the drama forms covered in the unit are included.
Main
Activity
“At
The Art Gallery; Four self-portraits All About Us”
In
groups of four, students write to create the “All About Us” presentation. Each
student decides on a dramatic form different from the other group members. Each
student’s section of the work must feature that student with the other three in
supporting roles. Students develop their presentation collaboratively. The
presentation of these four individual self-portraits should not exceed fifteen
minutes in length. The four group members must divide this time equally. A
suggested structuring device to aid in transition between the four segments is
four empty picture frames and stop freeze action.
Teacher
introduces the rubric, which will be used to assess this activity and to
evaluate the final product.
(See
Appendix #7)
Extension/Reflection
The
groups show the class the initial freezes that will fit into each of their four
pictures. Students complete the following chart.
TICKET OUT THE DOOR
|
Name: Supporting Players: |
Drama
form chosen: Why? |
Day 3
Warm-up
In
circle, the teacher reviews the expectations of the “All About Us” assignment and
answers questions that come from the groups.
Building/Rehearsing
In
their groups, students frame their work around the expectations and begin to
develop two of the self-portraits for the anthology. The work is collaborative
and students begin to act as playwrights as they frame their script. The
teacher’s role becomes dramaturgy as they discuss scripts with students. As
they discuss their work the teacher hands out the sheet titled, “Getting Ready
for a Performance,” Appendix #5.
Extension/Reflection
Completion
of the “Getting Ready for a Performance” sheet for homework.
Day 4
Warm-up
A
repeat of Day 3 with students working on the other two segments of their
group’s portrait anthology
Day 5
Warm-up
The
classroom becomes a large gallery of frozen pictures. Students, on cue,
unfreeze and speak about what it is like to be a gallery display: only able to
observe but not take part in life.
Main
Activity
Rehearse
and perform in front of the whole class for positive suggestions for improvement.
Record
suggestions for improvement in journal.
Extension/Reflection
In
their journals, students will reflect on the following questions:
What
are you looking forward to tomorrow? What
do you know will be successful?
What
are you nervous about? What
would you do differently if you had more time?
Day 6
Warm-up
Refer
to improvements noted in journals.
Individual
rehearsal
Main
Activity
Presentation
of self-portrait anthologies
Extension/Reflection
Students
use the rubric from Day 2 (See Appendix #7) to assess their work (process and
product). Teacher will use the same.
Assessment/Evaluation Techniques
Formative
assessment of personal reflection for completion and application to assigned
task.
Formative
assessment of collaborative skills
Knowledge
checklist
Accommodation (Special Needs)
Use
a peer tutor to transcribe a script. Teacher as side coach.
Appendices
#5
- “Getting Ready for Performance”
#8
- “Drama Strategies and Techniques”
#7
- “Cumulative Event Rubric”
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