This unit was created for Improvisation class students; grades 9-12. No previous experience necessary. All lessons are 55 minutes long. This is the first unit of the improvisation class, taking place after the first day of class has passed.
Educational Objective:
Students will share their ability to tell a convincing and entertaining beginning-level story by playing the improvisation game “Liar” in front of the classroom.
2014 National Core Arts Theatre Standards:
TH:Cr3.1.HSI: a. Practice and revise a devised or scripted drama/theatre work using theatrical staging conventions.
TH:Pr6.1.HSI: a. Perform a scripted drama/theatre work for a specific audience.
TH:Re8.1.HSI: a. Analyze and compare artistic choices developed from personal experiences in multiple drama/theatre works.
TH:Cn10.1.HSI: a. Investigate how cultural perspectives, community ideas and personal beliefs impact a drama/theatre work.
1994 National Standards Met:
Content Standard #2: Acting by developing, communicating, and sustaining characters in improvisations and informal or formal productions
Content Standard #4: Directing by interpreting dramatic texts and organizing and conducting rehearsals for informal or formal productions
Content Standard #7: Analyzing, critiquing, and constructing meanings from informal and formal theatre, film, television, and electronic media productions
Content Standard #8: Understanding context by analyzing the role of theatre, film, television, and electronic media in the past and the present
Big Ideas:
Stories are told each day in various ways and are therefore essential to our ability to communicate with others
The art of storytelling through various means is crucial in human development (both in an overarching way as well as an intimate way)
Essential Questions:
Why do we tell stories?
What makes a story “good”?
Key Knowledge/skills:
The ability to think quickly on one’s feet
The “Yes, and…” principle and its uses both in the outside world as well as the theatre world.
Authentic Performance Tasks:
Play/perform at least one minute of “Liar”
Thinking quickly on one’s feet
Taking what others give and running with it (the “Yes, and…” principle)
Educational Objective: Students will be able to identify the basics of storytelling after class discussion and shall demonstrate them through the improv game “Liar.”
Educational Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to tell basic stories by applying basic storytelling principles through “show and tell” stories.
Educational Objective: Students will be able to tell a consistent and well-formed improvised team story by utilizing the basic elements of storytelling in the improv game “Storyline.”
Educational Objective: Students will be able to feel confident in their ability to get up in front of an audience and being silly by discussing various professionals using the techniques the students have been learning in their professional storytelling abilities. The ultimate objective is to rid the students of the feeling of “looking stupid.”
Educational Objective: Students will be able to better tell stories by using their bodies to better solidify the elements of storytelling they have already learned by playing Sound Effects as well as Location, Career, Death with no dialogue.
Educational Objective: Students will be able to identify the various aspects of the CROW principle and apply them to their performances by playing “Freeze”.
Educational Objective: Students will better comprehend the elements of storytelling and how to apply what they have learned about them to their work through multiple activities. The culminating one will be a practice round of “Liar” with a partner, in which partners will evaluate one another.
Educational Objective: Students will share their ability to tell a convincing and entertaining beginning-level story by playing the improvisation game “Liar” in front of the classroom.
