Lesson 1: Get to know you & Superhero introduction!
Time: 45 minutes
Student Objectives: Students will be able to create background information about their characters and understand why it is important by participating in a guided drama activity.
Theatre Standards:
TH:Cr2-5. Devise original ideas for a drama/theatre work that reflect collective inquiry about characters and their given circumstances.
Materials:
Personalized Powerpoint–Introduce teacher; include fun pictures
Instruction:
Warm up (led by a student)
Introductions/Get to know you
Present the powerpoint introducing ourselves with fun pictures. Ask the students to stay seated and you can answer 2 questions after you have told them about yourself.
Still seated on their dots, pass an imaginary ball from student to student. Ask them to state their name and one thing they love doing as they catch it before tossing it back to you.
Intro to Superhero Unit
Discussion: what is a superhero?
Hopefully, someone says they are “human” or “people”. If not, ask them if they have considered that? Every person comes from somewhere.
Transition: “Now we are going to embody our superheroes, take off their costumes to reveal their normal people clothes, and learn more about them as people”.
Pass out a piece of paper and pencil and clipboard to each student and lay them in front of them.
“After we do this mind exercise, you can write down what you learned about your superhero”.
Ask them to close their eyes. Allow a sufficient amount of time between instruction/questions so they can fully imagine their superhero’s past. As you speak the questions written in italic, write them on the board so students can reference them when writing/answering them later.
“You are now your superhero. Remember your powers. Remember your name. What is your special object? What does your suit look like? What does it feel like? Now, set your special object aside. Take your suit off – what normal people clothes do you have underneath?Think back to your childhood: where did you grow up?What did you want to be when you grew up?Did you have siblings? Parents? What did the house look like where you grew up?” Now open your eyes.
Ask the students to write in the middle of their paper about their life before they became a superhero. Again, write the instructions in italic on the board so the students can reference the instructions.
“Please answer at least 3 of the questions on the board. Remember to write the day today at the top, and sign it with your superhero’s name at the bottom. And so we can hand it back to you next time, write your own name BIG on the back. Hand it in to us when you are done”
Assessment:
Journal entries
10 points possible
Date at top (1)
Answered three questions (6, each answer worth two 2 points)
