Lesson Overview:
Children can learn to express themselves through the performing arts in constructive ways. Theatre specifically employs the use of all dimensions of learning. In this lesson, students will engage in basic theatre techniques for creating a character through movement and voice. They will be introduced to guidelines for being both an audience and a performer and will become familiar with terminology and conventions used in the art of acting. Students will also be introduced to the process of scripting a story by adapting a common fairy tale to perform as a drama, linking literature and theatre.
Length of Lesson:
Five 45-minute periods
Notes:
This lesson is particularly suitable for grades 5-6.
Instructional Objectives:
Students will:
- be able to demonstrate proper audience protocol.
- be able to demonstrate understanding of stage direction terminology and will be able to define a character through voice and movement.
- create a drama from a story, converting prose to action and dialogue.
- perform short scenes in groups for the class.
- reflect on their experience and be able to assess if basic ideals were addressed in terms of audience and performer.
Supplies:
- Copies of folk tales from various cultures
- Lined paper
- Pencils
- Props, costumes, and materials for acting out the fairy tale students which create
Instructional Plan:
Part One
(Activity Sequence: 50 minutes)
Introduction
Distribute the Vocabulary Handout. Teacher will lead a discussion about drama as an art form, centering on the creation of character through voice and movement. Students will attend a local production as a class. Afterwards, they will discuss what they observed in terms of voice and movement. The teacher will list their responses on the board. The teacher will discuss what other things might help create character and mood, such as lighting, costumes, and staging.
Movement Activity
The signals for “start” and “stop” should be established. The teacher can clap, whistle, or use some other method to indicate those commands and use them when necessary. Students will understand that they must adhere strictly to the stop and start commands. Now that ground rules have been established, the activity can begin. Since students have seen examples of movements used in a live theatre performance to create character and mood, they will engage in these. In a silent activity, with no one talking except the teacher (an important rule!) the students will be asked to move about the room, according to teacher's directions careful to not bump into or touch anyone else.
The teacher will direct them by stating: “Everyone show me a sad young person. Now how about a sad old person. Now try a happy, but tired person.” The teacher can make up his/her own combinations. The duration of each should only be ten to fifteen seconds. Students should incorporate the movements that are listed on the board into their pantomime. The teacher will then divide the students into two groups. One group will be the audience and the other will perform. The teacher will remind students of proper audience behavior.
The teacher will then engage the performing group in the activity as above, but giving directives as he/she sees fit. For example, noting that “a worried person might wring their hands while frowning” would give students movements to enhance mood and character. The teacher should interact as much as possible, giving directives that are specific while fine-tuning the student responses.
The groups then switch and the performing group is the audience. Always remind students of good audience behavior. Once both groups have performed the teacher will introduce the terminology of stage directions. These are upstage, downstage, center stage, stage left, and stage right. A short demonstration of each and a simple “map” on the board will assist students in understanding the concept.
Part Two
(Activity Sequence: 50 minutes)
Introduction
Now that movement is established, the class will begin to work with dialogue and vocal aspects of creating mood and character. Rules must be established to explain that no yelling will be tolerated at this time. The teacher will remind the students of what they have written on the board from the last activity. They will repeat the exercise as before, this time adding dialogue and vocal quality to their movements as the teacher directs them.
Voice Activity
Students will be asked to find a partner as quickly as possible and start a dialogue with that person as a character other than himself or herself. The teacher will remind students that dialogue is both listening and responding. In short intervals (15 or 20 seconds) the teacher will keep the pace going by having students switch partners and characters several times, relying on their own ideas or those on the list.
Scenes
The students will be put into groups of 4 or 5 to develop their own short scene to perform for class. Brainstorm with the class some common fairy tales, like "The Three Little Pigs" or "The Ugly Duckling." Give each group five minutes to come up with a short scene that has a beginning, middle, and end based on one of the fairy tales. They will be expected to use the techniques they had been developing in the previous exercises.
The teacher will remind the students to incorporate various movement, voice, staging and character interaction techniques in their scene. The teacher will announce when time is up and students will perform for each other.
Discussion on Audience Manners
Before students perform their scenes, remind the class that as audience members, they are expected to pay attention to—and show appreciation for—not only the performance and the participants, but for other audience members as well. Tell students that laughing at one another will not be tolerated, unless there are comedic elements in the scenes.
Tell students that audience behavior can affect both the performance and the audience members’ enjoyment of the performance. Ask students to brainstorm incidents they have either witnessed or participated in during a performance that reveal how audience behavior seriously affected the performance and/or members of the audience. Have a student write down the responses from the class on the board. When finished, ask students to describe what defines appropriate audience manners. They can correspond to the items on the list or they can introduce new ideas. Write their responses on the board.
As the moderator of the discussion, you might want to ask students thought-provoking questions such as:
- If you are watching a singing performance and you know the words of the songs, is it okay to sing along?
- Is it okay to talk to the person you are sitting next to if you are discussing the performance and saying positive things?
- If you are really hungry and have some candy in your pocket or purse, is it okay to unwrap it and eat it? Is it okay to share the candy with friends?
To reinforce student learning about appropriate audience manners, see the Extension section of this lesson.
Part Three
(Activity Sequence: 65-75 minutes)
Introduction
Students will now script a story from a book. As in the previous sequence, students should be in groups of 4 to 5. They can combine into larger groups—up to 10 if necessary—for a desired story. The teacher will introduce several folk tales and each group will pick one of the stories to script. Once a story is adapted, the group can rehearse and perform the piece.
Scripting Activity
This activity should take approximately 25 minutes. The students begin by reading the stories in their groups out loud. Everyone in the group should have a turn to read. This will help them get a chance to hear the story, rather than just see it on paper. Once the story is read, they need to identify the elements of the story that would be in a dramatization, such as characters, place, and time. The teacher will move among the groups, assisting in whatever way necessary.
The students will assign parts and begin to build a drama based on the story. They will identify key elements in the story, such as dialogue or action, and script them.
Students need to record their story for a script. If it is apparent that a person’s lines are too numerous to remember, then encourage them to solve that problem in whatever way is necessary. Splitting one character into two can sometimes take the pressure off one person, or students may want to create a role for a narrator or storyteller. This sort of character can be both ‘in’ and ‘out’ of the story.
The students need not worry about performing the lines verbatim from the story; they just need to get the point across. Characterization is the most important part of the scripting exercise. What the character says and does in the story are the clues to assist in acting like that person. Many folktales use animal characters, and movement is the key to physically defining this sort of character, especially if the character does not speak.
Closure
(Activity Sequence: 65-75 minutes)
Rehearsing & Performing
Once students have ‘cast’ their adaptation and have a ‘working script,’ they can begin to practice the drama. Give them ample time, but keep track; 35 minutes should be enough, but allow a little extra if they really need it. They will work more efficiently if given a deadline for when they will perform. Once the groups have been able to rehearse the play a couple of times, they will perform for the other groups. When performing remind them of good audience behavior. Performances should last about five or so minutes each, totaling 25–30 minutes.
Assessment:
In the final sequence, students will assess their work by engaging in a group discussion immediately following the scenes. They will talk about what they learned about acting, performing in general, and working in groups in this sort of collaboration. They will discuss areas where they could improve their scene work, in general, and character development, specifically.
Students will be asked to write a paragraph or two on the experience. This will include who they worked with, what their scene was about, and what character they played. The teacher will encourage them to write about their observations of the activity, what they learned, and what they liked or disliked about the activity. Students will turn in their observations. This part of the activity will be graded, so details and neatness are important.
Extensions:
To extend the “Discussion on Audience Manners” in Part Two of this lesson, students could create a “Guide to Audience Manners,” which they could share with other classes. Students could complete this guide in the following ways:
- writing text that describes appropriate manners and stapling the text to an attractive cover.
- writing text describing appropriate manners and creating drawings to illustrate the text.
- writing a script that dramatizes why audience manners are important. (To share this with other classes, students could perform the play live or show a videotape of the recorded play.)
- using the computer to create text and/or accompanying illustrations, which can be presented as a PowerPoint or printed out and stapled together.
Sources:
Print:
- Cook, Wayne. Center Stage: A Curriculum for the Performing Arts. Dale Seymour Publications. 1992.
Web:
Authors:
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Dawn McConnell, Teacher
CSU Chico
Chico, CA
