Story Reading: Using Voice

2/10/17 Drama Lesson Plan

5th grade

Objective: Students will create a character with specific character traits, perspective, and tone as they read one page of a story fluently.

Drama Vocabulary words: voice, gesture

English Language Arts Words: infer, figurative language, adjective, verb, prosody, character traits, setting, tone, point of view

Expectations:

1. I am silent when the attention cue is given.
2. I am a courteous audience member.
3. I am brave.

Reflection: Quick Write- 3 min

Remember from last time and jot down in notebook: What is my strength? What is my weakness? How will I practice making my weakness a strength today? How can I prepare to be a frozen actor in March better?

Drama Game to practice coming alive: In the Manner of the Adverb- 10 min

Everybody stands in a circle. One person is picked to go outside the room while the rest of the group decides on an adverb, such as “quickly”, “cheerfully” or “sleepily.” The volunteer is called back to stand in the centre of the circle. Her task is to guess the adverb by asking any individual or a few members of the group to mime an activity. They should do this in the manner (style) of the word.

For example, the volunteer may ask someone to “play a piano” or “dig a hole” in the manner of the word. She watches to see how that person is doing the activity. If she can’t guess the adverb, she can ask other people to mime different activities (she is allowed up to three guesses). When she gets it right, or her three guesses are up, another volunteer goes outside while the group chooses a new adverb.

Content:

Model: 7 min

Mention how good their classroom teacher is at this!

1. Read the first few pages of The Sign of the Beaver, modeling great story reading techniques.

Have students identify characteristics of a good reading.

Identify Target: I can read with expression and develop character in my voice.

Independent Guided Practice 15 min

1. Have each student find their own place in the classroom and pick one page from their own books to practice. All students read the page aloud to themselves to remind themselves of what is going on on the page.
2. Choose a character. If the story is narrated by a certain character (such as the wolf), choose which character you are going to be. If it is written by a narrator, identify who you are as the narrator, and what you think about the story as a whole. Who are you?
3. Develop the character. After characters are chosen, give each student time to develop their character.

Character qualities/traits to determine:

Goal, motivation and conflict, for both the inner life and outer life

Strengths, inherent and learned

Important relationships

Appearance

Education

Home, living circumstances

Preferred travel method

Backstory as it relates to story problem

The things in their pockets, backpack, car, satchel, etc.

Habits, mannerisms, ticks

fears

For numbers 4-11, after each cue, allow students 1 minute to practice implementing that cue into their reading.

4. Encourage them to practice reading the same part over several different ways, then choose the best way.
5. Develop how the character comes across in their voice- including accent and voice placement, facial expressions, body gimmicks, posture, and hands/feet.
6. What is the setting where your character is? Does that affect how they feel and sound? What is the tone of the passage? How are they feeling about this particular situation, and how should that come across in their voice?
7. Give them time to identify their lines and decide how their character will deliver the lines. Will any sounds be added? Where and when would certain movements or motions be appropriate?
8. Help everyone identify words in their lines they can color. Find all the adjectives on the page. How will the adjectives sound? Can “nervous” sound nervous when you say it?
9. Identify all the verbs. Can “creeping” sound like creeping? Can “explode” sound like an explosion? “Grow and grow and grow”.
10. Are there any similes or metaphors? Other figurative language? What does the figurative language make you think of? What might it add to your voice?
11. Discuss meaningful pacing and pauses. Being a fluent reader does not mean reading fast- it means reading at a meaningful pace.
12. Practice reading your final product of the story-reading you have rehearsed on that page 3ish more times. You are about to perform!

Teacher Notes

• If performing with at least one other performers, remind students that as they are performing, how another peer performs may affect how their character responds. Really help them live the moment.
• Make sure each story is practiced at least three times. Any less than that, and it really is just reading for fluency, not necessarily comprehension. Challenge students to try out different characters and personalities for the role they are assigned each time.

Assessment: - 8 min

Find a partner/group of 3 others and read your page to them. Ask them to tell you one thing you did very well and one thing they wonder if you could do better.

Reflection: 1 min

Reflect on what you did well today/what you want to improve upon. What did you notice really improved with practice? What might the value of a rehearsal be?

Standards:

RL.5.6 Describe how a narrator’s or speaker’s point of view influences how events are described.

RF.5.4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

1. Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.
2. Read grade-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression.

5.T.CR.1 Develop imagination to create artistic ideas and work.

5.T.CR.5 Create character through physical movement, gesture, sound and/or speech and facial expression with age-appropriate outcomes.

5.T.CR.7 Recognize that participating in the rehearsal process is necessary to refine and revise.

5.T.P.5 Communicate meaning using the voice through volume, pitch, tone, rate, and clarity.

5.T.R.4 Give and accept constructive and supportive feedback; analyze and describe strengths and weaknesses of own work.

Frozen Bodies: Introduction to Tableau with the Road to the American Revolution

This lesson was the best lesson of the semester! The kids had never made a frozen image before, and by the end, they were performing on a high level of dramatic sophistication.

1/27/17 Drama Lesson Plan

5th grade

Objective: Students will use their frozen bodies to express the perspectives of at least 3 different characters from the Revolutionary War.

Learning Target: I can use my frozen body to show perspective.

Drama Vocabulary words: playing space, director, pantomime

            English Language Arts Words: setting, perspective

Expectations:

1.       I am silent when the attention cue is given.

2.       I am a courteous audience member.

3.       I am brave.

Intro Drama Game: 10 min

Sculptor: List a theme: (anger, sadness, traveling, super hero.) In pairs, one person (A) is the sculptor and the other (B) is the block of clay. ‘B’ begins by standing in a neutral position; the sculptor slowly moves ‘B’s body into a new position according to the theme that is being explored. Ideally this is done without talking so that all communication is through body-language. Facial expressions can be shown by the sculptor for the statue to copy. Give them no more than 30-60 seconds per pose. Many themes can be explored using this popular technique and some examples are listed below. Once the statues are made, an ‘exhibition’ can be held so that the sculptors walk around and look at each other’s creations. After this they can swop over. Sculpting can also be done by small groups, with one person being molded by the others until they reach consensus. Remember that it is difficult to hold a physical position for a long period, so give a time-limit. You may like to give the sculptors paper and pen so that they can write a title or caption for their masterpiece and put it in front of the statue.
Ideas to use today: Sadness, ecstatic (so so so so excited), Old person, superhero, traveling

Identify target: Using frozen bodies to communicate.

Content Introduction: 10 min

Use a wordless picture book as an example to teach students that frozen images allow us to see perspective without any words.

Frog Goes to Dinner- Silently flip through pages at the carpet without any commentary at all from you as the teacher. Do small sections at a time. Then have the kids turn and tell their neighbors together exactly what happened in the story.

Ask them how they knew what happened in the story. Actors use bodies, minds, and voices. But even just with your bodies, you can tell almost an entire story. Explain how frozen images can still tell us so much about the story.

Practice and Apply:

Introduce Tableau by modeling positive and negative examples with your own body that demonstrate these principles:

• A frozen body is powerful. Give examples of anger, pleasure, fear.
• How does not using your whole body affect the power of the performance?
• How does whispering to a neighbor affect the power of the performance?
• How does not being frozen affect the power of the performance?

Story from Wonders book: A New Nation

Introduce the idea of each scene, and then stop for students to create a tableau.

Boston Massacre 5 minutes

Setting: Downtown Boston, town square, 1770- quartering act of 1765, troops in the street

When I say go: silently look for cues in other people’s bodies to see who they are and where they are. No talking. You can glean hints from their eyes and bodies, just not their mouths. If you can’t do it without your mouths, we will have to try it again until you can master creating a frozen image in silence. 5 min

• Have students who did well model in a small performance
• Then sit and listen to next part of story

Boston Tea Party - 2-3 min each

Setting: Boston Harbor, night, 1773

Intolerable Acts (shutting down of Boston Harbor)

Setting: Boston Harbor, early morning, 1773

First Continental Congress- decided to send proposal to king

Setting: Philadelphia, 1774, inside

Shots Heard Round the World

Setting: Lexington and Concord, farm towns, barns, 1775

Second Continental Congress-, signing Declaration of Independence

Setting: 1775, Philadelphia

If lesson finishes early, replay all the scenes again, but simply go through the scenes, don’t tell the story. Let the tableau tell the story.

Assessment: informally observe students participation in the tableau.

Student Self-Reflection: What is my strength? What is my weakness? How will I practice next week making my weakness a strength? How can I prepare to be a frozen actor in March better?

Standards:

Drama:
5.T.CR.5: Create character through physical movement, gesture, sound and/or speech and facial expression with age-appropriate outcomes.

5.T.P.1: Analyze the character, setting, and essential elements (plot) in a story that make up the dramatic structure and use choices to enhance the story in a drama/theatre work.

5.T.P.4: Communicate meaning using the body through space, shape, energy, and gesture.

Reading Informational Text:
RI.6.6 Analyze multiple accounts of the same event or topic, noting important similarities and differences in the point of view they represent.
Social Studies:

6. Social Studies, Standard 2, Objective 1a

Explain the role of events that led to declaring independence (e.g., French and Indian War, Stamp Act, Boston Tea Party).

Arts Bridge Semester 2: 5th Grade!

This semester I am working with a 5th grade class in the Provo school district. I am very excited because 5th grade content curriculum includes US history, which is one of my favorite subjects. I also am blessed to be working with a teacher who is working on her master's in education, focusing on arts integration in the classroom. She is a master teacher who is excited to help me learn and to learn from me in return.

Our goals for the semester are to prepare students for a parent night at the end of March when they will be performing scenes from US history using a series of frozen tableau images (a scene of frozen students all acting) and narrating the events with Reader's Theater. After each frozen image is created and narrated, parents will go around touching the characters in history who will come alive and narrate a life story. This was all the brain child of my mentor teacher- so I can take no credit for the idea! It will be a perfect combination of practicing frozen images, story reading, and story telling for the students. The lessons will prepare them for these skills and will simultaneously help them work on practicing the literacy comprehension skills of compare/contrast, inference, prediction, character traits, setting, and perspective.