This class is a preparation class for the Challenges class during Trimester 2 where all 6th grade students will perform in a musical for a paying audience. Students will be actively singing, moving, playing theater games, exploring teamwork activities and using their imaginations. We will explore characters & body language, setting & props, dialogue and we will be creating our own newspaper poems and plays. Activities in class include: singing songs and gaining a sense of how to sing, playing theatre games, creating skits, working on your voice, creating a Newspaper Poem and a Newspaper Play, and possibly performing for the other 6th graders.
What is Theatre?
What skills do you need to do well in theatre?
How does music and dancing add to the story?
How do we use our voice well?
What makes a quality performance quality?
How do you know you have communicated effectively?
Essential Questions:
What do I need to know about myself to participate well in a theater tech group and performance?
How do these skills help me throughout life?
What is theatre?
What skills do you need to do well in theatre?
Major Concepts:
Theatre involves working as a team to get the story out. The skills involved to be great in theatre are what we are exploring when we play our games. These skills include: using your voice, moving your body, singing, dancing, using your imagination, memorizing, working as a team, following directions.
Major Content:
Setting guidelines as a way for people to feel comfortable taking risks in the class
Playing games
Performing and acting out pantomimes and creating stories with a beginning, middle and end
Singing songs and warming up voices to get a sense of singing for an audition
Learning that full front on stage is the most powerful position and full back the least and always making the right choice for your scene
Unit Assessment:
Classroom discussion, participation, effort to enhance the classroom.
How a student is working as a community member is important.
Major Texts:
You tube videos
Essential Questions:
How do we use our voice well?
What makes a quality performance quality?
How do you know you have communicated effectively?
Major Concepts:
Most people don't like their voices; it is a very personal part of us. You can improve your voice by working on the different elements of voice.
Volume means projecting your voice over a crowd without shouting.
Clarity means speaking clearly so you aren't mumbling and it happens by moving your mouth "at the tip of the tongue, the lips and the teeth."
Tempo is the speed at which you speak and most people speak too fast especially when they are nervous.
Inflection involves raising the tone of your voice higher and lower to help make your speech more interesting.
Eye contact is very important when performing. You need to look at your audience at least 50 % of the time (or more)!
Major Content:
Learning the vocabulary of volume, clarity, tempo, and eye contact.
Playing games that use the voice in different ways, working with tongue twisters and creating skits that use the voice well.
Students will work in groups and record a poem they have created from a news article.
Unit Assessments:
Students will work with a partner and create a poem from a news article. They will then perform the poem keeping in mind the elements we have practiced in class.
Essential Questions:
What makes a quality performance quality?
How do you know you have communicated effectively?
Major Concepts:
There are stories all around us and we can be creative and use stories in the news, and from our backgrounds for material for acting. Once you decide what your story is, you will problem-solve how to show your audience what you are doing. Sometimes we have to compromise. Set, props, costumes, and sound effects can all help to enhance the story. Remember to make sure you are facing your audience if you have an important part for the audience to see and hear.
Major Content:
Students will choose one of the news articles used for the poems and explore how to make this into a small scene or newsreel. Each group must decide how they will tell the story. They can decide their set, any props they need, costumes, or sound effects. These will be recorded and then we will have a "film festival" with both classes to celebrate.
Unit Assessments:
Student is assessed in participation in the created play and how well they worked with the group they were in.