Objective
Students will demonstrate their ability to observe and mimic movement by successfully mirroring another student’s movement and recognize how the already use movement to communicate.
Materials Needed:
Movement observation sheets for each student Lesson 1.Observation Worksheet, writing utensils
Hook (15-20 min)
• Give each student an observation worksheet. We are not going to go to the gym and watch how the other students are moving and how they move in response to different activities they are doing. You need to write down what you are observing. You can work with a partner if you would like but you need to make sure that you are not being distracting in anyway. This includes being too loud or creepy in you observations.
• Monitor the students and their observations and after 10 or so min. return to the classroom.
Activity 1 (10-15 min)
• What did you guys observe on our trip to the gym? What kind of things did you see? Were you able to understand what was happening even though you couldn’t hear what was being said necessarily? Show me some of the things you saw.
Activity 2 (15-20 min)
• Initiate a game of Simon Says by saying, “Simon says turn all of your observation worksheets into the basket.” Continue the game but change who is Simon periodically and have a student lead.
• Try and encourage all kinds of movement not just typical “touch you head, sit down, etc.”
• Was it easier or harder to mimic someone else’s movement? Why do you think that is? Did you prefer being Simon or a follower? Why?
Activity 3 (10-15 min)
• We are now going to do an activity called mirror.
• Put the students into pairs and tell them that they are going to mimic what the other person is doing. They need to choose someone to be the leader so it is clear who you are following. Show them with a volunteer what this should look like.
• Make sure that they are focusing on following and not leading.
• If there is time you can switch partners.
Conclusion (5-10 min)
• Tell me what you learned about in the mirror activity? Did it get easier to mimic each other? Why would we want to do this exercise? How can we learn from this in terms of acting?
• I want you to take time in the next couple of days and jot down a few things you observe about others movements in different settings other than the gym. You will need to turn this in so make sure you write it down.