Day 1 – Intro to Movement

National Standard:
TH:Cr3.1.I.b. Explore physical, vocal, and physiological choices to develop a performance that is believable, authentic, and relevant to a drama/theatre work.
TH:Cr2-8.b. Share leadership and responsibilities to develop collaborative goals when preparing or devising drama/theatre work.

TH:Cr2-II.b. Cooperate as a creative team to make interpretive choices for a drama/theatre work.

Other National Standard Met But Not Assessed:

TH:Pr5.1.I.a. Practice various acting techniques to expand skills in a rehearsal or drama/theatre performance.
TH:Re7.1.I.a. Respond to what is seen, felt, and heard in a drama/theatre work to develop criteria for artistic choices.

State Standards:

Standard L1.T.P.4: Use body to communicate meaning through space, shape, energy, and gesture.
Standard L1.T.CR.5: Explore physical, vocal, and emotional choices to develop a performance that is believable, authentic, and relevant to a drama/theatre work.

Other State Standards Met But Not Assessed:

Standard L1.T.CR.1: Develop imagination to create artistic ideas and work.
Standard L1.T.R.7: Identify and explain why artistic choices are made in a drama/theatre work.

Enduring Understandings:

1. Students will understand that their bodies communicate.
2. Students will understand that collaboration is an important skill.
3. Students will understand that they are capable.
4. Students will understand that I want them to succeed.

Essential Questions:

1. What do our bodies communicate?
2. How do we tell stories?
3. How do we collaborate?

Objective:

Students will explore how their bodies communicate meaning through making a tableaux and a machine to tell fairytale stories.

Materials:

1. Fairytale Papers – Print and cut out
2. Large empty space
3. Drama 1 Daily Question
4. Projector, Projector Screen, Laptop, HDMI Cable, and HDMI to USB-C adaptor

Instructions:
Hook 1 – Daily Question (10 minutes)

1. Put the Drama 1 Daily Question up on the board and have the students scan the code and add their answer.
2. Read off answers and have the student attached to each answer raise their hand and give us a brief reason why they said that.

a. Suggested Question: What’s your favorite fairytale? Hook 2 – Pass On A Message (10 minutes)

1. “Today we’re going to play a game called ‘Pass On A Message’. It’s kind of like telephone but slightly different. So first of all, when we start we’ll have you form 3 lines all facing forward. Then I will come to the person at the back of the line and tap them on the shoulder. Then, using no words – only my body and gestures, no mouthing words or anything (also no sign language) – I will communicate a short sentence to them. Then, they will turn around, tap the person in front of them and try to communicate the same sentence, again using no words. This will continue until the person at the front of the line gets the sentence, and we’ll see what sentence each line ended up with compared to the starting sentence”.
2. Check For Understanding: See if the game makes sense with a quick thumbs up or thumbs down from the class. If there is major confusion, see what questions they have and clarify instructions.

3. After checking for understanding, have students form three lines facing forward. Then, go to each line one at a time and act out one of the following sentences (or something similar): – NOTE: Act out the same sentence for all three lines

   1. It’s too cold outside.
   2. I bought a giraffe.
   3. I like to drive fast.
   4. I stayed up too late reading.
   5. I don’t like riding a bike.

4. Once
of each line say what they think the sentence is. Compare those sentences to the starting sentence.

the sentence has gotten to the front of each of the three lines, have the front person

5. If there is time, maybe discuss briefly how we could do it better next time and do another round or two.

Brief Discussion (10 minutes)

1. After playing the game, have the students “puddle” for a brief discussion.
2. Potential discussion questions include:

a. What was easy to communicate? What was difficult?

2. What movements did we use to communicate?
3. What skills do we need to be good at this game?
4. How could we have done better at the game?

3. Then, after the discussion, thank the students for participating.

Instruction (~5 minutes)

1. “Today, we’re starting a unit on movement and physicality. Physicality basically means what your body communicates. So it’s all about what our bodies communicate.”
2. “We’re going to be focusing on and learning about a lot of different things, but y’all already have insight into how to use your body because you’re humans. We naturally use our bodies to communicate. Take that last game for instance – while it wasn’t perfect, we were still able to communicate at least some meaning just naturally. We have gestures, we have body language, etc.”
3. “So today, we’re going to practice using our bodies to communicate!”

Tableaux (15-20 minutes)

1. “To start, we’re going to do more ‘tableaux’ if you remember them from a while ago. Basically, we’re making frozen pictures.”
2. “Last time, we had a situation like dropping ice cream and y’all had to create the image of that situation – it happening, the reactions, etc.”
3. “Today, I have slips of paper with different fairytales on them. Y’all will get into groups of 4-5 and each group will pick a fairytale paper. Then you’ll create a frozen image that tells us what fairytale it is.”
4. “Think about important moments – the climaxes of the story – or unique moments – rather than picking the happy ending wedding that happens in a lot of fairytales, find something unique in this story.”
5. “And just think about how you can use your bodies to communicate the story. Not every person has to be a character, maybe someone is a tree or maybe people make a house. You don’t have to be literal, people can represent things.”
6. “But use your body in a smart way. If you’re a character, show us what that character really looks like. If you’re a house, make it clear that you’re a house!”
7. Check For Understanding: See what questions students still have. Clarify as necessary.
8. Now have students make their groups and get a slip of paper!

a. Papers: Fairytale Papers

9. “If you don’t know your fairytale, you can look up a brief summary or come chat with me

   :)”

10. Now give students some time to work on their tableaux.

a. I will walk around and assess/help/check in as necessary.

11. After about 5 minutes, check how much time students still need to create their tableaux.

    Adjust as necessary.

12. Then after group work time is up, each group will show their tableaux to the class.

13. “We’ll start by just looking at it. Then we’ll note observations – like this person seems like a tree, or that person looks like they’re dancing, or this person seems like an old character. Don’t guess the story quite yet.”
14. Now lead students in observation.
15. Then finally see if we can guess what fairytale they’re showing.
16. Then move onto the next group and repeat!

17. Once every group is done, if there’s still time, it may be helpful to have a brief discussion

    about the activity – how did you create your picture? What made a story super clear? Etc.

Machines (20-25 minutes)

1. After the activity/discussion, move on to this new activity.

2. “Now we’re going to practice being machines. These are similar to tableaux but they do

   repeated movements and can have a sound effect or word! No phrases or sentences

   though.”

3. “There’s a process I like to use to create machines. One person will start with their

   repeated action and sound. Then when someone else feels inspired, they’ll join in with their own repeated action and sound that may be inspired by the other person. And this will continue until everyone is part of the machine.”

4. Check if students want to have a theme to work around or if they just want to make a basic machine.
5. Then spend a few minutes making this machine!

a. I will also encourage students to step in if they’re not.

6. Once every student has joined, let the machine go for a second, then have it “wind down” and stop.
7. Have students shake out their bodies.

8. Check For Understanding: Now check for questions about making a machine. Clarify

   as necessary.

9. “Now we’re going to make machines for fairytales! So let’s see how we can use our

   bodies in motion to tell a story!”

10. “So first of all, you’ll make groups of 4-5 again, but it shouldn’t be the same group that

    you already worked in.”

11. “Now again you’re going to pick another fairytale paper, but there should be enough that

    we won’t be repeating any fairytales from the tableaux activity. And if we do end up

    repeating one, it will probably still look different anyway”

12. “Again, it will just be one repeated moment. And people don’t have to be characters, they

    can be objects, the wind, etc. Just look at how can you use your bodies in motion to tell

    the story? You can make a sound effect or say a single word, but no phrases or sentences.

13. Now give students time to form groups and get their papers.

14. After about 5 minutes, check in to see how much more time groups need. Adjust as

    needed.

15. Once everyone is ready, have each group present their machine one at a time. Again, we’re going to start by just observing, then noting our observations, then finally guessing the story – just like with our tableaux.
16. I’ll help lead this for each of the groups.

17. Once everyone is done, if there’s still time, it may be helpful to have a brief discussion –

    how did adding movement change things? What made something clear? Etc.

Wrap Up (5 minutes)

1. When there’s just a few minutes left in class, wrap up the discussion/activity.
2. Thank the students for their work today!