Day 7 – Practice Day (Shorter Day)

National Standards:
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:Pr5.1.I.a. Practice various acting techniques to expand skills in a rehearsal or drama/theatre performance.

TH:Cr3.1.I.a. Practice and revise a devised or scripted drama/theatre work using theatrical staging conventions.

Other National Standard Met But Not Assessed:

TH:Pr4.1.I.a. Examine how character relationships assist in telling the story of a drama/theatre work.

State Standards:

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.
Standard L1.T.P.4: Use body to communicate meaning through space, shape, energy, and gesture.

Standard L1.T.P.3: Observe, listen, and respond in character to other actors throughout a scripted or improvised scene.

Other State Standards Met But Not Assessed:

Standard L1.T.P.9: Present a drama/theatre work using creative processes that shape the production for a specific audience.
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 practice is important to revise skills.
2. Students will understand that movement communicates.
3. Students will understand that they are capable.
4. Students will understand that I want them to succeed.

Essential Questions:

1. How do we create a clear pantomime scene?
2. How do we collaborate in improv?
3. What is the value of a rubric?

Objective:

Students will practice communicating using movement techniques through a practice game of “Freeze!” in pantomime.

Materials:
1. Movement Rubric
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 is something you love to do? Hook 2 – What Are You Doing? (10 minutes)

1. “Today, we’re going to start with a game called ‘What Are You Doing?’. It’s really simple. To start, we need to form two lines.”
2. Now give students time to form lines

3. “So basically, the first person will be up and doing an action. Maybe you’re swimming or

   dancing or whatever.”

4. “Then the next person (from the opposite line) will come up and ask ‘What Are You

   Doing?’ and the first person says an action that is very much NOT what they are doing. The second person then starts doing that action while the first person goes to the back of their line”

5. “And then we just repeat that a bunch of times.”
6. Check For Understanding

7. Then play the game!
   a. Encourage students to play at the speed of fun – just go quick! Let’s see how

   many times we can go through the entire line!

8. Once it’s been long enough or the students are losing interest, wrap up the game and have

   them “puddle” for instruction.

Instruction/Rubric Review (10 minutes)

1. “Next class, (Friday?), is going to be the assessment for the unit. But just like before, I’ll walk you through what I’m looking for and what I’m giving points for. And we’ll practice doing the exact same activity today.”
2. “For your assessment, we’re going to play a game of ‘Freeze!’ but in pantomime. We’ve played ‘Freeze!’ before. It’s the one where you make two lines and say ‘Freeze!’ to stop the scene, then you tap out an actor and start a new scene.”
3. “So we’re going to do that game, but in pantomime so no talking and using imaginary objects. Again, we’ll practice that today, but I figure it’s important for y’all to know that as we go over the rubric.”
4. “Now, let’s look at the rubric!”
5. Pull up the Movement Rubric and go through each criteria

1. Specificity and Communication – on our pantomime day we talked about this, be specific with your movements and use them to communicate
2. Motivation – this connects with specificity, but have a reason for moving, if that’s communicating or something else
3. Upstaging – make sure I can see you and your partner, hopefully this one is the easiest
4. Facial Expressions – are you using your face to tell the story and are you reacting to what’s happening?
5. Effort – how much you’re trying

6. Check For Understanding: See what questions students still have. Clarify as necessary.

Freeze in Pantomime Practice (20-30 minutes)

1. “Now, let’s practice actually doing it! So form two lines”
2. Give students time to do this

3. “Now, the first person from each line will come to the middle. For the first scene, we’ll

   help y’all come up with a location and relationship. But remember, it’s all in pantomime”

4. “My number 1 tip, when you start a scene, make a very clear action – scoop some ice cream, shoot a basket, etc. Do a very clear action so your scene partner knows what to do

   to respond to you.”

5. “Then, I think before, we said yell ‘Freeze!’ after 30 seconds, but for this assessment, I want to see y’all for a little longer, so yell ‘Freeze!’ after about a minute” – Subject to change
6. Now get a location and relationship for the first scene, then start the game!

7. After either every 30 seconds or every minute, if a student has not stepped in with

   ‘Freeze!’ remind them it’s time to step in and have them make a new scene.

8. As the game goes I will sidecoach to help students know what to do and succeed!

If Time, Discussion (10 minutes?)

1. If everyone has gone through ‘Freeze!’ and there’s still time left, it may be beneficial to have a discussion.

2. Potential Discussion Questions Include:

   1. How do you make a scene clear using just movements?
   2. What surprised you?
   3. How can we improve our skills?

Wrap Up (5 minutes)

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