Course
Profile Dramatic Arts,
Grade 9 open, Public
Unit 2
Course
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Acknowledgments
Public
District School Board Writing Team - English Literacy Development
Lead
Board
Toronto District School Board
Course
Profile Writing Team
Jane Campbell
Hazel Excell
Denise Gordon
Jane Hill
Elaine Iannuzziello
Paula Markus (Team Leader)
Eleanor Minuk
Jane Sims
Ero Siouga
Betty Ann Taylor
Unit
#2: Me… Introspection
Activity 1 | Activity 2 | Activity 3 | Activity 4 | Activity
5 | Activity 6
Time: 25 -75 minute
classes
Description
In
this unit, students will explore and increase their knowledge of themselves and
demonstrate understanding of their own identity in the classroom and beyond.
Through individual and collaborative exercises, students will share life
experiences, interests, hobbies, etc. with the class and listen actively to
other students. Through role playing, improvisation and/or formal rehearsed
presentations, students will identify and practise the most effective ways,
both physically and vocally, to present various facets of themselves. At the
completion of the unit, students will be able to reflect on their experiences
in oral and written form. Their reflections will demonstrate empathy and
tolerance and enable them to identify biased language and recognize
stereotyping. Activities will foster respect for self and others.
Strand(s): Theory,
Creation, Analysis
Overall Expectations: DTV.01X, DTV.03X,
DCV.02X, DCV.03X, DAV.02X
Specific Expectations: DT1.02X, DT1.03X, DC1.01X, DC1.02X, DC1.05X, DC1.06X, DC1.07X,
DC2.01X,
DC2.03X, DA1.01X, DA1.04X, DA1.09X, DA2.02X,
DA2.03X,
DA2.05X
Activity Titles (Time & Sequence)
|
Activity
# |
Activity
Title |
Time
in 75 minute periods |
|
#1 |
My
Story… Remembering Me |
3 |
|
#2 |
Trust
Me… Creating the Now |
3 |
|
#3 |
Who
Am I…? Determining My Values |
2 |
|
#4 |
Finding
My Place… Developing Self Confidence |
4 |
|
#5 |
My
Choices… Making Decisions |
7 |
|
#6 |
Presenting
Me… Creating an Image |
6 |
Prior Knowledge Required
Unit
#1 “Me and You… Collaboration”
provides the fundamentals for this unit, i.e., effective listening and speaking
skills, collaborative skills, reflection and conflict resolution.
Unit Planning Notes
Teacher
should prepare to model presenting a story. Listen to the “Vinyl Café” on CBC
Radio for example or read and prepare to tell a story from one of Chinen,
Herriot, Keiller or Yashinsky’s books. (See Bibliography)
Assessment/Evaluation (Summary)
|
|
Theory/ Knowledge/ Understanding |
Thinking/ Inquiry |
Communication |
Creation/ Application |
|
Purpose |
assessment |
reflection |
feedback |
transfer
of personal experience |
|
Method |
self-assessment |
self-assessment |
teacher,
peer, self-assessment |
student
written monologue |
|
Strategies |
determining
criteria |
writing |
discussion/ comparison |
group
presentation |
|
Tools |
T-chart |
journal (see
App. # 2 ) |
checklist (see
App. # 10) |
rubric (see
App. # 4) |
Teaching and Learning Strategies
(Summary)
Continue
to use the warm-up, main activity, reflection and extension model. Refer to
Appendix #8
Resources
Bibliography
and Appendices #1 to #11. See activities for specifics.
Activity # 1: My Story… Remembering Me
Time: 3 - 75 minute
classes
Description
Through
individual role playing, collaborative improvisation, journal writing and
recollecting, students will reconstruct past experiences. To provide an
understanding of how drama can influence others emotionally, students will
structure personal experiences and will experiment with the elements of theatre
- specifically characterization (2-D, 3-D characters) and narrative
(sequencing, tone, audience).
The
acting skill that students will focus on is concentration; the audience skill
is listening.
Strand(s) & Expectations:
Strands: Theory,
Creation, Analysis
Overall Expectations: At the end of grade 9,
students will: DTV.01X, DCV.02X, DCV.03X
DCV.04X,
DAV.02X
Specific Expectations: Students will: DC1.05X, DA1.04X, DA2.02X,
DA2.03X, DA2.05X
Planning Notes
Ensure
that students have learned how to work in small groups. Teachers will model
appropriate material by telling a story that connects to every day life. For
example, the teacher prepares to tell, “The Devil’s Noodles” from Yashinsky’s
book. Students, as audience, will be encouraged to demonstrate empathy by
listening and asking appropriate questions (e.g., Why do you like this story?
How does it connect to your life?). Teachers must create an atmosphere which
allows students to feel comfortable and secure while telling stories. (e.g.,
physical arrangement of room, use of a talking stick or special object for the
speaker, a reminder that listening is the beginning of empathy). Teacher
emphasizes that meaningful stories connect to our lives. In this unit the
journal will be the vehicle for collecting stories with which students have
connected and capture important memories.
Prior Knowledge
These
skills have been introduced in Grade 8 and in Unit #1:
Collaborative skills Practice in reflective writing,
listening and presenting
Effective speaking techniques Questioning techniques
Teaching/Learning Strategies
Day 1
Warm-up
Teacher
models storytelling through delivery of a mini monologue, based on an anecdote.
Teacher becomes storyteller, and students become audience. Students will record
details of their story, in point form, in their journal. Students will then choose
a partner and share their story (5 minutes each).
Main
Activity
Form
working groups of four; share details of their first day at school, and develop
three tableaux to show on the way to school, lunch, and return home. From the
tableaux, ask students to create brief improvisations. Students will comment on
the structure of each group’s performance.
Extension/Reflection
Students
will write in their journals about a treasured object from their childhoods to
be shared with the class during the following period. Reflection will focus on
vivid description and sensory appeal.
Day 2
Warm-up
With
a partner, students will re-enact a discovery, in an old trunk, of their
treasured object .
Main
Activity
In
circle, have each student recall one of the following: the funniest thing, the
scariest thing, the bravest thing or the nicest thing, that happened to them
before the age of twelve. (If any students are unable or uncomfortable
reporting a recollection institute the “Pass” rule. They can simple say,
“Pass”, no questions asked, if they feel unable or uncomfortable reporting to
the class.)
Then,
experimenting with sequencing, have them retell, after private rehearsal time,
the five main events of their recollection. Following a selection of
presentations to the full class, students will collaboratively create a “T-
chart” for self assessment of an effective monologue. (In this case a
“T- chart” is two columns with headings such as: “An effective monologue is…”
and “A monologue is not…”.
Extension/Reflection
Students
will write a response in their journals to one of the following prompts: I remember when…; I’ve always wondered why…; I knew I was special when… This activity
will provide the details from which students will generate a mini-monologue for
presentation to the class. Students
will structure their recollections into mini-monologues for a presentation
without notes. Assessment will focus on action words, ordering of events,
believable characters and point of view.
Day 3
Warm-up
Vocal Warmup: Simultaneously, students will tell their recollections as though they were whispering, yawning uncontrollably, eating with their mouths full and shouting over traffic.
Main
Activity
Students
will present mini-monologues to the class. Teacher reviews criteria for
assessment with the class.
Students
will rehearse with a partner. Students will present the mini-monologues to the
class.
Extension/Reflection
Students
will peer assess their partners using the T-chart, and self assess in their
journals.
Assessment/Evaluation Techniques
Formative
assessment of personal reflection for completion and application to assigned
task.
Formative
assessment of collaborative skills (See Appendix #1 “Collaborative Problem Solving”).
Students
use “T- chart” to assess peers. Teacher uses “T- chart” to assess students.
Accommodations (Special Needs)
Pre-recorded
stories are available on tape for students who cannot remember or read a story.
A
peer tutor could relate another student’s mini-monologue.
Resources
See
Bibliography: Herriot, Keiller, Maguire and Yashinsky
#1
- “Collaborative Problem Solving”
#8
- “Drama Strategies and Techniques”
Activity # 2: Trust Me… Creating the Now
Time: 3 - 75 minute classes
Description
Through
brainstorming, games, tableaux, role playing, monologues and rehearsed
improvisation, students will determine how memories may be structured for a
dramatic impact. In an environment of trust students will uncover universal feelings.
In small groups, students will interview classmates. This process is designed
to encourage open discussion about significant thoughts and emotions. Using the
interview material as a source students will translate it into presentation
form. The acting skill that students will focus on is empathy; the audience
skill is active listening.
Strands: Theory,
Creation, Analysis
Overall Expectations: At the end of Grade 9, the student will:
DTV.01X, DTV.02X, DCV.01X,
DCV.02X,
DCV.03X, DCV.04X, DAV.02X
Specific Expectations: Students will: DT1.01X, DT2.02X, DC1.01X,
DC1.03X, DC1.05X,
DC1.07X,
DC1.08X, DA1.01X
Planning Notes
Ensure
that students have learned how to work in small groups.
Teachers
will find a story on a topic of teen human-interest from a local newspaper or
magazine.
Teachers
must continue to foster an atmosphere which allows students to feel comfortable
and secure while deepening their exploration of memories (e.g. trust games,
brainstorming).
Prior Knowledge
Active
listening skills
Collaborative
skills
Practice
in reflective writing, listening and presenting
Questioning
and interviewing techniques
Understanding of tableaux
Teaching/Learning Strategies
Day 1
Warm-up
Teacher
leads trust exercises (See Bibliography, Booth and Fluegelman). Teacher
introduces teen human interest news story to the class. Students, in small
groups, record the emotions of people involved in the story and also the
emotions they felt as the story unfolded. Through discussion, students will
determine the cause of their emotions. As a full group, students will list the
emotions discussed in their groups. Students will record all notes in their
journals.
Main
Activity
Students
will individually experiment with creating tableaux which depict the emotions
generated. In groups of six, students will choose a dominant emotion and, using
various levels of space and depth, form a unified frozen picture that can be
placed in a Museum of Emotions. The Museum should be viewed by class members.
In the same groups of six, students will create their own human interest news
story and present the events and their accompanying emotions in a series of six
tableaux. Each student will come ‘alive’ and step out of the frozen picture to
explain his/her role in the incident.
Extension/Reflection
Students
will orally provide three positive comments on: staging, emotional realism and
relevance of the commentary.
In
preparation for the following main activity, students will reflect on and
decide upon a single item that is important to them. Students will record this
information in their journals. Students will bring this item, or a facsimile
(prop), to class the following day.
Day 2
Warm-up
Teacher
directed trust exercise. See Bibliography for possibilities.