Lesson 3

Standards: 

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

Learning Objectives:

Students will explore the different ways that your body can express emotions through games, promptings, and watching examples.

Students will practice various ways to move their bodies through improv games and becoming iconic stock characters.

Essential Questions: 

How does your posture send a message?

What can you change about the way you are moving to send a message to the audience?

How do your steps change the emotion you are portraying?

Essential Understandings:

Students will understand that the way they are standing sends a message to the audience.

Students will understand that details in their movements make a difference.

Materials: 

100 Ways to Walk

Rubric for performance

Movement performance info sheet

Instruction:

HOOK:

• Roll
• Sit in seats
• Welcome to class guys! 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEoUhlesN9E&t=251s (100 ways to walk video). Watch the video. 

VIDEO:

• Discussion of the video: 

  • What were some of your favorite walks? 
  • How could you tell his emotion?
  • What made each walk different?
  • What else did you learn?  
  • It is so interesting how we can say so much with just our bodies isn’t it? Let’s explore that a little bit.

PROJECT:

• So, for today each of you are going to practice and present your own version of the video we watched at the beginning of class. 

• Here are the requirements: 

  • 1. You must pick a character AND a location. 

    • Ex: Zombie at the grocery store. 
  • 2. You will take 5-7 steps as that character. Walk back and then walk as the next character. 
  • 3. You will each show us 5 of these walks. 

  • 4. You must use everything that you have learned so far about movement. 

    • What does that mean? 

      • It means: facial expressions, spacing, body language, etcetera. (Have the students offer these up, then fill in the gaps)

REHEARSE:

• Take the students into the auditorium so they have space for practice. 

  • Have them bring all their backpacks and things

• To make this time more productive: 

  • Create an area of the auditorium for each of the five walks, like you are creating stations. 
  • Then every few minutes have the students change stations and work on the next walk. 
  • This will help the students have focus as they rehearse. 

PRESENT:

• Students will present their walks and the class will guess what the walks were. 

  • Make sure that students are being good audience members.
  • Fill out rubrics as we go. 

FEEDBACK:

• Have students sit in the house and debrief on the performances 

  • What were some things that we learned that we put into practice here? 
  • Where do we have room for improvement? 
  • What did you enjoy? 
  • What still doesn’t make sense? 

INTRO FOR NEXT PROJECT:

• See movement performance info sheet
• Explain the premise for the next project.

CLEAN UP:

• You guys are so much fun to watch! 
• What did you learn? 
• Thank you for your participation today!
• Clean up