Lesson 1

Standards:

Standard 7-8.T.P. 4: Communicate meaning using the body through space, shape, energy, and gesture.

Essential Questions:

How does my body language affect how I am being understood?

How can I use my body to tell a clear story?

Enduring Understandings:

Students will understand that their movement can be read and understood and interpreted like any other language can.

Students will understand that they should think about and be intentional about how they move their bodies.

Objective:

Students will understand how levels, proximity, spacing, and focus affect the story that is being told on stage through various drama games, note taking, and viewing of images used to identify these items in a stage.

Materials:

PowerPoint: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-ms7IH7ZCDsfdQxaDe_eg2BuNofCoPK5jN3jlT0seEc/edit?usp=sharing

Notes sheet

Instruction:

INTRO: (5-10 minutes)

• Welcome! 
• Take roll
• Find your seats.
• 3-5 get to know you questions about Mrs. Johnson

NOTES: (5 minutes)

• Go through the slides until the staging basics slide

GAME 1: Levels (10-15 minutes)

• Play “Sit, Stand, Lay (or lean)”:  There are 3 actors on stage and one actor must always be sitting, one always standing, and one always laying down (or leaning on something if you choose to play it that way).  Now, if the actor who is sitting decides to stand then the person standing must sit, etc.  The actors are always adjusting based on what the other actors are doing.  HOWEVER, adjustments should make sense within the context of the scene.  The teacher gives them a prompt then the actors act it out.

  • There are buzzers in the back of the classroom, should the students get stuck in a particular position or if they are not switching around enough for your liking, let them know that the buzzer symbolizes that they must change positions. 

    • If they get stuck in any one position for too long, you can help them out by side coaching and suggesting that they change positions or switch things up. 

• Transition:

  • What is the purpose of this game? 
  • Why are levels important? 

NOTES: (5 minutes)

• Follow the slides through this topic and allow the students to take notes and identify the various uses and effects of levels.

GAME 2: Proximity (10-15 minutes)

• Have two actors on stage and give them the relationship written down on a piece of paper.  Have them adjust their proximity then have the class try and guess what the relationship is.

  • If the class can not guess, invite the students to add on body language and levels until the class can guess it. 

    • Side coaching could look like: 

      • How else can you demonstrate this? 
      • How else do you interact with this person? 

• Transition: 

  • What did we learn from this game? 
  • What were we exploring? 

NOTES: (5 minutes)

• Follow the slides through this topic and allow the students to take notes and identify the various uses and effects of proximity.

GAME 3: Spacing (10-15 minutes)

• Locations:  Have all students move to the back of the room, leaving one behind. One student gets to choose a location to just BE. It should be as realistic as possible. Every 10-15 seconds, 1-3 more students enter the space and observe. When they feel like they know the location, they realistically join the location and be in it. Encourage natural interaction. If they are wrong about the intended location, and realize they are wrong, they should just stick with their first choice. Once the entire class is in the room, discuss where the students were and how their movement supported the choice.

• Transition: 

  • What did we learn from this game? 
  • What were we exploring? 

NOTES: (5 minutes)

• Follow the slides through this topic and allow the students to take notes and identify the various uses and effects of spacing.

GAME 4: Focus (10-15 minutes)

• Pointers:  Send one student into the hallway then pick something in the class that the rest of the students can focus on.  Once they all know what it is, have them spread out around the room and focus on the object with their eyes.  Let the student in from the hallway and see if they can tell where the focus is being directed.  You can send different students into the hallway and pick different objects and change what the class is directing the focus with (Ex. eyes, fingers, elbows, feet, etc.).  Get creative with directing focus.

  • Side coaching might look like: 

    • How can you be more clear about what you are focusing on? 
    • How can you point with something other than you finger? 

• Transition: 

  • What did we learn from this game? 
  • What were we exploring? 

NOTES: (5 minutes)

• Follow the slides through this topic and allow the students to take notes and identify the various uses and effects of focus. 

CLEAN UP: (5 minutes)

• Recall what was learned: 

  • Can someone tell me what levels are? 
  • How would you define staging? 
  • Questions from the notes that they have been working on.
• Clean up the room, put the chairs back, put all of the pencils and clipboards away