Students will explore the elements of a quality performance through acting, pantomime, singing, speaking, improvisation, critique, observation and drama games. Topics will include communication, self-awareness, community, voice, and elements of speaking and singing well, blocking and movement on stage, and the little things that make a good performance. Students will participate in a scene from a musical for an audience or recording.
What makes a great show?
How do I know I have communicated well?
What do I need to know about myself to participate well in a performance?
How do these skills help me through-out life?
Why do humans still use drama as a form of expression?
Essential Questions:
What do I need to know about myself to participate well in a performance?
How do these skills help me throughout life?
Major Concepts:
Everyone has something of value to contribute to the group. As a group we need to create an environment that makes everyone feel safe to take risks (performing) and to feel respected.
Acting is learning about yourself, what you are comfortable with, how you react in certain situations, the experiences and the memories you have.
Major Content:
Creating guidelines with whole-class participation
Exploring different games and how they relate to performance
Being aware of ourselves in performance situations and how we deal with stress
Playing fun and silly games to get students used to each other, to create a non-threatening atmosphere for creativity and for students to evaluate how they are coping with performance anxiety
Observing body language in the world around us and using it and imitating it
Unit Assessments:
Classroom discussion
Participation, effort to enhance the classroom
Assessment for the "silly games body language" unit is based on participation or honesty about why someone isn’t participating.
How a student is working as a community member is important.
Essential Questions:
How do I know I have communicated well?
What do I need to know about myself to participate well in a performance?
Major Concepts:
People communicate with their bodies all the time. An actor observes and studies the life around him/her and uses that for material. A good pantomime means that the audience understands all that you are doing. Characteristics of a good pantomime include: consistency, exaggerated expression, exaggerated movement, telling a story with a beginning, middle and end. Use your imagination and be creative with your pantomime.
Major Content:
Students perform games, create group pantomimes, create duet pantomimes, and discuss or peer-review what they understood or didn't understand. Students perform a large variety of pantomimes starting with large-group pantomimes and moving to smaller groups, duets and eventually solo. Students are given a worksheet to help them brainstorm lots of ideas for one pantomime. Activities could include: "walking across the street" pantomime, "join in" pantomime, etc.
Unit Assessments:
"In a Vehicle"pantomime
Duet pantomime
Rubrics, class participation and effort to enhance the atmosphere
Essential Questions:
How do I know I have communicated well?
What do I need to know about myself to participate well in a performance?
How do these skills help me throughout life?
Major Concepts:
The voice is an instrument and we can work on our voice to improve it, change it, and to use it to help us better communicate. We will have a class discussion about the quote “Successful people are people who speak well and who speak clearly”. Most people do not like their voice and that is normal. Using your voice alone is a very personal thing because it is coming from you. If you are aware of the different elements and characteristics of voice you can change your voice to better communicate. There are four elements of voice: diction, tempo, inflection, pause. The four characteristics of voice include: projection, expression, eye contact, poise.
Major Content:
We begin with a big discussion about the importance of voice, speaking well, and the messages we get from others about our voice (people telling you not to sing). We discuss how using your voice well is a skill that can be taught and learned with practice. Students will do many in-class activities (games) using the eight elements and characteristics of voice. Activities might include: vocal warm ups using tongue twisters and applying the different elements, games such as Echo, Moody Words, Human Orchestras, Oh!Oh!, Stereo sounds, Soundscapes, SFX, etc. We then proceed to making up skits with talking. I will also split the group up and spend time on 10 minute plays or small skits that are written and students have to follow stage directions and start developing character. We spend time looking at a script, dividing the actions & tasks so we are being very specific and clear about what we are doing, and we work on motivation.
Unit Assessments:
Students are graded individually on their participation and willingness to try new things, going out of their comfort zone and their efforts to enhance the atmosphere in class. Students are graded on their skits with rubrics. Final assessment is to choose a monologue, memorize and perform that monologue for a video camera. Students observe themselves, make adjustments and videorecord again or perform for the rest of the class. Assessment of the monologue is based on a rubric.
Essential Questions:
What makes a great show?
How do I know I have communicated well?
What do I need to know about myself to participate well in a performance?
How do these skills help me through-out life?
Why do humans still use drama as a form of expression?
Major Concepts:
Theater is a performing art and therefore your work must be performed to be appreciated. Performing in front of others has its own qualities to add to the mix. The more you perform the better you get at it. Focus is a big element. When you put on a play or tell a story all the elements we have been talking about and working on are all important.
Major Content:
Students research and read through many one-act plays that have the same number of characters as people in the class. Students choose what they would like to perform and they choose who will play each character. We then work on developing the characters, work on action/tasks, figure out blocking, set, costume and props. Students then perform for a live audience. Students each give written invitations to their friends who get permission from teachers to leave class and come to the performance. It is usually a small audience of friends and teachers.
Unit Assessments:
Students are assessed through tests on memorization, participation in rehearsals, and projects given for the one-act play. The biggest grade is participation in the final performance. A student will not pass the class without participation in the final performance.
Students write a written reflection something they learned through the class about themselves, the world around them or the theater world. They also need to explain how they will carry what they learned into the future, the "so what"!