The Tech/Drama class lesson plans are available here for your convenience: Tech/Drama Lesson Plans
This quarter, the 7th and 8th grade Drama/Tech students will be learning about shooting video and acting for the camera. We are beginning this week, writing short scenes based on personal interviews that the students are doing with each other. Here is a link to the basic interview form that they are using to begin this project. Interview Worksheet
The 7/8th graders have been exploring their impulsive sides and getting a few laughs in as well. We have spend the time since our Puppet Plays working on comedy improv, which can be challenging but also rewarding. They will be moving on to a movie making unit for the fourth quarter, which is exciting because we will be combining forces with Computer Tech to create a variety of videos. I can’t wait to see what they come up with and hope to post them here when they are done.
Here is a link to the weekly and daily lesson plans for Drama- enjoy!
First of all, let me say how proud I am of all of the 7th and 8th grade students for their hard work and efforts put into the “International Puppet Palooza.” I also want to thank all of their families for supporting them in this endeavor. I considered it to be a truly successful event, in that there were so many students that experienced performance for the first time and gained confidence that will help drive them through their ever-changing lives.
Secondly, I am excited to announce that we will be spending the next 6 weeks exploring the world of improvisation. This will be a fun and engaging way for the students to stretch their imaginations, follow their intuitions and learn the rules that govern the give and take of performance, on and off the stage. They will all begin by learning the first rule of ‘improv,’ which is “never say no, and always say yes.” What this means is that an improviser should always be open to suggestions and be willing to go with them. This really challenges our student’s ‘flexible thinking’ skills, and I have been amazed at the progress all of my older students have made in this area, due to improvisation work.
The “International Puppet Paloosa” is on Jan. 24th at 6:00. All students should arrive by 5:30, and have their assigned clothing on or at hand to change into. Students were asked (in a letter sent home) to wear all black, brown or neutral colors. If you are unsure about what your student is supposed to wear please contact Ms. Prill so she can inform you and send home a new letter.
The A1 Drama class is just beginning to rehearse 3 short short plays that revolve around Anansi, the trickster spider of Africa. The classes have their parts, have been brainstorming about what their costumes, puppets and sets may look like and will begin blocking the play next week. They will continue to work on this play until the end of the semester when we present it to our families and community.
The 7th and 8th grade Drama students have been learning the elements of drama this week, which are: plot, character, theme, language, spectacle, and sound. They identified these elements in a short video and are working on identifying them in the one-act plays that each class has been assigned. The A1 class is doing a play called “Anansi, the African Spiderman,” and the A2 class will be performing an Indonesian play called “Little Mouse Deer.” The students had their first read-throughs this week and seem excited to get to the rehearsal stage. I can’t wait to see how these turn out!
The 7/8 Drama classes have been steadily bonding while learning a wide variety of theater activities and games. Beginning next week, they will start learning the parts of a stage and blocking. “Blocking” is a theatrical term that simply means planning the movements on the stage. Here is a link to a guide on staging and blocking. Here is an image of the basic parts of a stage:
The 7/8 drama classes have been very busy learning new theater games and activities and will continue to do so for the remainder of September. Some of the skills we are working on are: concentration, focus, observation, creative collaboration, trust, and creating a strong ensemble out of a class. We have also been having a good time just getting to know each other!