Pandora's Box Lesson Plan

9/30/16 Drama Lesson Plan

Pandora’s Box

6^th Grade, Mrs. Geer’s class

Objective: Students will create possible solutions to the problem of hopelessness in real-world problems in the context of Greek civilization by listening and participating in dramatic activities depicting the myth of Pandora’s Box.

Warm up- Sculptor (8 min)

1.       Clear away desks

2.       Toe to toe

3.       Look across the room and go toe to toe with someone you haven’t worked with before for the dance or the drama group last week

4.       One of you kneel down, one stands up.

5.       Person standing, you are the clay. You are frozen in place because clay can’t move itself until the sculptor molds you. Person kneeling, you are the sculptor who is going to be molding your friend. Sculpture begins by standing in a neutral position; the sculptor slowly moves their 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.

6.       Give them no more than 30-60 seconds per pose.

7.       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.

8.       Depict Zeus, misery, hope

9.       Come sit on carpet.

Storytelling

1.       Notice how I use my body and voice- next week we’ll do some theater and I’ll want you to use your bodies and voices.

2.       Zeus was very very angry- why was he angry with Prometheus?

In your Zeus voice, tell me why you are so angry with Prometheus

He stole fire from Hephestos, the blacksmith and gave it back to the humans.

To get revenge, he forged a plan to doom the rest of humanity forever.

3.       Making of Pandora

Zeus made Pandora. Athena gave her life. Aphrodite made her beautiful. Hermes made her charming and deceitful.

An offer was made to Epimetheus for Pandora to be his wife. Prometheus discouraged him because this was Zeus’s way to make up for his loneliness away from Prometheus. (5 min)

4.       Wedding- Tableau with thought tracking

Have children make a frozen image of the wedding.

Assign roles: Zeus, Pandora, Epimetheus, Prometheus, Hymen?, Hephestos, Humanity, other gods

Use your bodies to show me what your character feels like here. 15 seconds- then frozen. (10 min)

Thought tracking- Go around with a microphone and ask the characters what they are feeling at the moment in the story.

5.       Gift

            Zeus gave a box to Pandora as a wedding gift, but gave the key to Epimetheus and told

            Pandora never to open it.

6.       Pandora’s curiosity made her attempt to open the box 3 times. Each time she decided against it

            at the last minute.

7.       Decision Alley- Should Pandora open the box or not?

a.       Review sides- What’s the decision?

b.       Persuasion- What does Pandora want? Does she even care about humanity? How could you come up with a reason for why it would be better for Pandora if she didn’t open the box?

c.       Review the elements of persuasion- the reasoning must be attractive from the point of view of the person deciding.

d.       Try decision alley again. (10 min)

8.       The box is opened and all evil escapes.

a.       The world is very sad and hopeless.

b.       Hope remains inside the box.

9.       Town meeting

Teams create ways to use hope in badness of world. What might it might mean to the Greeks and what would they discuss in a city/state town meeting? Teacher acts as a director of the assembly of Athens on the hill of Pnyx. “Welcome males 18 yrs old and older who are wealthy. Jobs to do: organize food, discuss our upcoming military protection. Sparta is totally outranking us. But first- we need to find a way to inspire our people. In committees, discuss possible solutions to the following problems:

                Disease/sickness

                Death

                Poverty

                Depression

                Hatred

                Jealousy”. (40 min)

Standards-

6.T.CO.3: Investigate universal or common social issues and express them through a drama/theatre work.

6.T.R.1 Demonstrate audience skills of observing attentively and responding appropriately in classroom presentations, rehearsals, and live performance settings.

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