Students will demonstrate their ability to tell stories by devising the middle section of their piece.
Lesson Directions
Play the game Quickest game of freeze tag ever. Just like the game of normal freeze tag except everyone is “it” and you can’t unfreeze anybody. Play this a few times.
STEP 1: Group Practice- Conduct the activity Big bigger biggest. This will help them get their voices and bodies moving. Everyone stands in a circle. Someone starts with a simple motion and noise. The person starting wants to do the action as small as possible because as it goes around the room to each person they need to make the noise and action bigger and bigger until it reaches the person who started who makes it the biggest yet. The next person starts with a different action and noise. Continue until everyone has gone or you have had a chance to warm up. Tell them more you let loose and the bigger you get the more you will get out of this activity
STEP 2: Group Practice- Gather everyone into a circle and let the creating begin! We need to nail down more of our piece today. Really get down our general idea. Next we will be tackling the middle section or the animal section. Give the narrator a general starting point and see what happens. You really want creation to be in their hands. Begin with “once upon a time in the land of Africa”.
STEP 3: Discussion- After they have done this through once ask them what worked and didn’t work? What things did they like about it? What can we clarify? Is there anything we want to change or add? Tell the students that anything is possible to add into the story. We want to create an atmosphere where the elementary school students are learning something after the play is over. Make sure you bring them back to the theme of bullying and ask them if they are portraying this in the most effective way possible.
STEP 4: Group Practice- Have them go through the middle section again seeing what things change or what they want to add.
Assessment
Students can be assessed by their participation in the creation of the animal section of their piece.
Author’s Notes
Here is an example of a basic devised theatre script: (it changes as ideas get more solidified) 1. Adam talks to the audience to set the scene 2. Families enter in one by one into grandpa’s house a. Solidify entrances and names 3. They aren’t getting along, grandpa rounds them up to tell them a story 4. Hands out the stuffed animals 5. Begins to tell a story about the jungle 6. Children go off one by one as their animal is called. 7. Tell the story of how the animals need to learn to live together in the watering hole and include everyone in the group. Make sure people feel like they are included 8. Children settle down and understand what they need to do next. 9. Wow that was a great story grandpa! Wow great idea, we should act it out! Yes that’s great, I’ve got the best costumes upstairs, grandpa has a huge box upstairs.
