A final goodbye....

Reflection

I came into drama class wanting more practical ways to engage with the art of theatre. I left feeling 100% more confident that I could teach drama in the classroom in effective and meaningful ways. This class was an enlightening and joyful experience that allowed me to grow as a person and a teacher.

Key take-aways :
1) allow and create a safe environment
2) always allow students to pass
3) always be encouraging and open minded
4) drama is in everything
5) implementing drama is easier than I thought
6) use other theorists and ideas such as Blooms taxonomy to ask critical thinking questions
7) the creative process takes time, and that needs to be respected
8) never underestimate your students
9) a good song can change the entire mood of the classroom/ experience
10) everyone is a storyteller

Below is some videos that we did in class

Back in Class!

I feel like I am just getting back into the swing of being a student and now it is done. This week is going to be where I compile my website resources in order to be able to look back on them when I am teaching.

https://www.childdrama.com/lessons.html

https://www.curriculum.org/arts/drama.shtml

https://dramaresource.com/teaching/

http://www.dramatoolkit.co.uk

https://www.dramanotebook.com/teach-drama-class/

http://www.kamplays.com/lesson-plans.html

www.unexpectedproductions.org/living_playbook.htm

http://improvencyclopedia.org/Download.html

www.theatrelinks.com/theatresports-and-drama-games/

http://www.bbbpress.com/teaching-drama-to-kids-lesson-plans/

https://www.theatrefolk.com/blog/lesson-plans-drama-teachers/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChFbmxYZ8VVThe_mcD1vo_A

Www.dramamenu.com/high-energy-theatre-games-drama-menu/

www.thedramateacher.com/middle-school-drama-curriculum-ideas/

www.thedramateacher.com/tips-for-new-drama-teachers/

www.thedramateacher.com/stimulus-images-for-drama-family/

www.thedramateacher.com/the-buddy-system/

https://dramaresource.com/101-sample.pdf

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Browse/PreK-12-Subject-Area/Drama/Type-of-Resource/Unit-Plans/Price-Range/Free

https://kinderart.com/category/art-lessons/drama/

https://wehavekids.com/education/Drama-Workshop-Lesson-Plan-for-Juniors

https://sharemylesson.com/subject/drama

Teaching Block Blues

Reflection:
I tried the method of using literature to spark drama in my teaching block! the kids loved it.

Above is a picture of the book I used, When Vegetables Go Bad! I loved this story, and my associate did as well so it made sense to use. The story starts with a little girl who hides way her vegetables in her pocket so she doesn't have to eat them. Overnight they go bad. 

I started the lesson with a "I wonder" piece. Students thought and pair-shared their ideas about what the book could be about based on the title page alone. So many of them had such excellent ideas. A lot of them made crazy predictions, but it was a very good activity to get their ideas flowing and get them thinking creatively. For this portion, I took observational notes based on the discussions they had in pairs or small groups. 

Next, when we got to the page of the vegetables going bad, students formed small groups and Tableau'ed their predictions based on what they read. They were given options of taking on the main girl character, the mom, the dog, the vegetables, or a made-up character. Each tableau had to be under 30 seconds, with a key point of stop and start for the students to "freeze" on. 

Next, each of the groups were put into vegetable groups based on where they were sitting. We had carrots, red peppers, cauliflower, green beans, green peppers, corn, celery, and asparagus. These groups were given a line of choral reading. I wrote out the lines on the board, and they were given a short time to practice as a group. So when I read out the line in the book, they echoed it back to me. This took three or four tries. It was not as easy as I thought it would be, and certain groups were much more enthusiastic than others! It ended up sounding really cool once the kids got the hang of it. This also worked to keep them really engaged throughout the book. 

This lesson, which I thought would take one language block, ended up taking two. The kids had put so much work into the first Tableau's that I figured we could take it one step further. The next task incorporated some dance (Thanks Kari-Lynn!!!!!). Students were put back into their vegetable groups from earlier, and asked to make up a small dance and chant according to how the book portrayed their vegetable. They were allowed to have 10 seconds of moves. To decrease the pressure, preforming in front of the class was optional but encouraged. Also, we ended up preforming it in a round robin style, where all groups performed their dance and chant at the same time, so we sounded like a very large mob of angry vegetables, like in the book! During this portion, we video taped on the school iPad to ensure that we could re-watch the students performances for assessment later. 

Then, we finished up reading the book. Our last activity was a RAFT writing activity where students had to choose a character and write based on that character. Below is the chart I had given them. Students did this by bouncing ideas off each other in their small groups, but then writing independently. These will be considered formative writing pieces, used in assessment as learning. 

When Vegetables Go Bad

Role	Audience	Format	Topic
Ivy	The world	Writing a blog	Her love for other foods
Ivy’s Dog	Ivy + family	Inner thoughts	How Ivy and her vegetables seem from dog's perspective
Ivy’s Mom	Other Moms	Talking on the phone	Ivy and her refusal to eat vegetables
Vegetable (choose a carrot, turnip, lettuce etc)	US (our class)	Writing us a letter	Why we should all eat our vegetables

The students really loved this lesson. I really loved teaching this lesson. I cannot wait to do it again. 

Acting + Character

Week 3: Last week before block!

This week has been sooooo hectic. However, drama was as engaging as ever. This week we worked on The Flower, the book. It has been my most favourite lesson before. Using literature to inspire drama games and lessons is something so exciting. I cannot wait to try and teach this on my own!

Short Game: Boom Chicka Boom

How Do I Play It?

It is call and response so the teacher calls out each line and then the students repeat back.

• "I said a Boom"
• "I said a Boom Chicka Boom"
• "I said a Boom Chicka Rocka Chicka Rocka Chicka Boom"
• "Uh huh"
• "Oh yeah"
• "One more time"

Have a few different styles up your sleeve. e.g. accents, emotions etc. 

Variations

You can nominate a particular style, play with the dynamics and even get students to lead.

Participants

Small Groups, Whole Group

Expertise

All

Duration

Medium (5 - 10 mins)

Skills

Character, Spontaneity, Voice

Long Game:

What's Up, Tiger Lily?

Works best with upper elementary or older.

Woody Allen once made a movie by taking an old Japanese spy movie and dubbing it into English--but with an entirely different plot.  This film is the inspiration for this activity.  It can work with a familiar book or with one the students have never seen, although there are necessary differences in approach if the book is familiar.  The idea is to create an original story that works with the illustrations of a picture book.  This project takes several lessons.

Begin by showing the class the book, but not reading the words.  (If the book is familiar, it is probably better to go ahead and read the words, so that the whole class is on the same page, but if it is unfamiliar to everyone, don't read the words.)  Then go through it again, and brainstorm what might be happening on each page.  It is not necessary to settle on one interpretation of each page--what is important is to stimulate a lot of ideas.

When you have gone through the whole book this way, it is usually time to end class for the day.  If not, go on to another activity so that the ideas have a chance to ferment.  Return to the book project next class.

Divide the class into small groups--four to six in a group seems to work best.  If you have multiple copies of the book, give one to each group.  If you own the books, obscure the words in some way, with tape or something.  If not, though, there's no real harm in letting them see the words at this point.  Each group must come up with a story and dramatize it, using whatever props and costume pieces you have available, or finding their own.  I often do this activity with no props or costumes at all, beyond the desks, etc. in my classroom.  This might take all of one class period or more, but with younger children it will probably take less.

When the groups have had a chance to rehearse their scenes (with the teacher, of course, side-coaching as needed), they share their stories with the class.  Once the project is over, you can read the original story and discuss how it is similar and different.

Movement

Week 2!

This week was a really great drama class. We worked on soundscapes and used bugs to learn how to make sounds and express ourselves. I really feel like I learned a lot this week.
We did the fruit bowl exercise to start the class! This was really awesome to do with the sounds of the garden. It was a great connection to the rest of the lesson.
This week we worked on the curriculum expectation:
"B1.1 engage actively in drama exploration and role play, with a focus on identifying and examining a range of issues, themes, and ideas from a variety of fiction and non-fiction sources and diverse communities, times, and places (e.g., adapt roles and develop improvised scenes based on human rights issues and/or environmental issues such as species extinction; dramatize opinions about cultural appropriation; role-play historical characters; prepare a presentation about peace for Remembrance Day; use choral speaking and role playing to interpret poetry)"

Short Game:

How Do I Play It?

Start in a drama circle asking participants to form pairs.

Explain that they need to create shapes which you call out to them, such as capital letters, lower-case letters, numbers or shapes.

The pairs will have to create these shapes whilst you count down from 10.

Ban verbal communication to see how it changes the way they work.

Variations

The caller could change to individuals around the circle.

---

The teacher can begin to call out more advanced objects.

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The pairs can turn into larger groups/whole class.

Participants

Pairs, Small Groups, Whole Group

Expertise

Novice

Duration

Short (5 mins or less)

Skills

Improvisation, Spontaneity, Teamwork

Source 


Longer Game/ Lesson

This unit plan was revised from the Ontario Ministry of Education Course Profiles written in 1999.

Unit Description

Students are introduced to each other through energetic co-operative games and exercises that build confidence, encourage risk-taking, foster self-awareness and cultivate collaboration.  Class expectations, routines and conventions are established.  The convention and technique of Tableau is introduced, explored and utilized.  This unit could be used as an introduction for Grade 9 or a review for Grade 10. The unit could also be used to review tableau or introduce the notion of universals in drama especially through the “Cycle of Life” Tableaux Activity.

Learning Goals

Students will:

• Build positive class relationships
• Identify and use safe drama practices such as collaboration, respect for self, the work and others, personal space and personal safety
• Use collaboration to develop dramatic character and shape the action in group presentation
• Identify and use drama forms such as storytelling, tableau, transitions, movement
• Reflect on and evaluate their own and other’s work through discussion, journal writing
• Identify knowledge and skills in drama.

Notes/Modifications/Accommodations

Assessment as Learning

Understanding is checked through reflection, rubrics, summary , application (e.g. student journals and writing, discussion, exit cards etc.

Assessment for Learning

Is done throughout each unit through conferences, anecdotal comments, checklists, rubrics

Assessment of Learning

Rubrics and checklists are attached to be used at the end of the unit for formal assessment

Assessment Tools

• BLM#1 Self Assessment Checklist
• BLM#2 Journal Writing Rubric
• BLM#3 Tableau Assessment

Differentiated Instruction

It is helpful to use a variety of strategies to assist all learners e.g. linguistic and non linguistic at the same time e.g. give oral instructions AND write them on the board. Provide students with choice and incorporate a variety of groupings.

Accommodations

• Accommodations, and sensitivity to differences of all kinds is essential for an equitable drama classroom environment and are reflected in this unit:
• ELL and/or special needs students may be buddied with another student to scribe or given the option to draw their ideas, tape them, or write in their own language
• Physically challenged students can always be accommodated (e.g., the students can move to form a group by grouping around the student in a wheelchair, or participate in Tableaux using upper body movement.
• If contact is a concern, students may stand in a group or reach without touching in tableau, as a religious accommodation. Female students can also be grouped together in same gender groups, as a religious accommodation.

Materials

• Chart paper 
• markers, pens 
• lined paper
• masking tape
• music 
• blindfold
• keys
• student journals

Resources

Note:  Sources such as literature, the internet, newspapers, magazines, film, recordings (sound, music, video), primary sources (letters, interviews) are often the starting point for drama work.  These are readily available and should be connected to the students’ community.

Booth, David.  Games For Everyone.  Pembroke Publishers Limited, 1986.

Booth, David & Charles Lundy.  Improvisation, Learning Through Drama.  Harcourt Brace Jananovich , 1985.

Boal, Augusto.  Games For Actors and Non-Actors.  Routledge, 1992.

Neelands, Jonothan.  Beginning Drama 11-14.  David Fulton, 1997.

Swartz, Larry.  The New Dramathemes. Pembroke Publishers, 2002.

Source: CODE 

Intro!

First Week of Drama !

Okay, so our drama class started this week and it was so awesome. I have a special place in my heart for drama because I have always been involved in it in some way. When I finished my English degree, I was given the opportunity to work for a drama company, teaching children from ages 4-16 dance, music, and theatre all at once.
My favourite aspect was always the acting. I loved the warm up games that brought us all together and made us feel like a community.
My goal for creating a resource for drama is to come up with something practical for Occasional Teaching. For me, that is a realistic future of the next few years. This means that making a resource that has 50 minute lessons, or small activities that can be done in a classroom. I definitely want to compile some quick, easy-to-prep games so I can use them in the near future.

Games of the Week:
quick, easy to do game:

Fruit Bowl / Anyone Who?

A classic game than can be adapted and used in a variety of ways.

How Do I Play It?

Students begin in a circle (ideally on a chair but doesn’t have to be).

Label the children with a type of fruit approx 5 – banana, apple, cherry, strawberry, pineapple. Repeat the sequence until every child is labelled with a fruit.

To check they remember and as a practice call out each fruit and get the students to raise their hand when their fruit is called.

Now explain that you will call out a fruit and those who are that fruit must change places (not with people sat next to them). If you call out "fruit bowl" everyone moves.

If the excitement is growing or the focus is drifting instead of calling out mime or mouth the fruit.

Variations

You can change the theme from fruit to anything. You can also adapt the way they move and change places e.g. hop, like you’re on the moon, skip etc...

Participants

Whole Group

Expertise

Novice

Duration

Short (5 mins or less)

Skills

Spatial Awareness

Source 


longer game:

Source