Dance: Show Me The Shapes

The Show Me the Shapes activity that focuses on the elements of body, space, and relationships in dance. The students are encouraged to collaborate with classmates to create shapes with their bodies. This is a great team building exercise and one that connects really well with geometry expectations.

For our activity we did this in groups of three. We were asked to think of three different ways to create shapes using different body parts. The teacher should go around and ask students to identify what shapes they are creating, they could also ask follow up questions such as how many sides does it have. We were then given green tape to put on the floor to act as a line of symmetry and asked to make a shape with the line of symmetry in it. Students can then show off how many lines of symmetry can exits within their one shape.

This activity was a great way of getting students up and active. It was a really interesting way of getting student physically involved with geometry. It allowed students to build on fundamental knowledge for geometry while having a lot of creative fun.

Accommodations for this activity would include: verbal and non-verbal instructions, extra time, changing of group sizes to encourage various shapes, and pre-selecting groups.

Drama: The Wind Blows

The Wind Blows is similar to Zip Zap Bop in that they are both great icebreaker and introduction activities. The game is pretty easy to run, all you need are some chairs. Like Zip Zap Bop the element that this game involves is focus.

Have the students sit in a circle, once person starts in the middle of the circle and says the line "The wind blows for everyone who is..." then says a characteristic that is true for that person speaking. Everyone else who is sitting who finds that statement to also be true has to stand in find a new seat. If the person is not able to find a new seat they must be the new person in the middle and say a new statement. You can find an example of the game in a video below.

This is a great activity that can really involve kids of any grade or age. It also becomes really fun suggesting different types of movements for students when switching seats. This also helps with safety as students aren't trying to run as fast as they can. Overall this activity requires little preparation and really helps build a sense of community in the classroom.

Some accommodations I'd include: using verbal and written instructions, give all students a turn in the middle, expand or decrease the circle size based on movement of students, and provide some statement prompts to help students come up with a true statement.

Drama: Roleplay

Role playing is a common drama activity which of course falls under the element of role/character. Role plays can be both rehearsed and improvised. Improvised role play involves very little preparation where students are given only a few basic facts about the setting or the characters. A rehearsed role-play involves careful planning where they rehearse a scene in role but is created without a script. This is likely the most commonly used in schools.

Improvised role-play should be centered around a conflict and resolving that conflict. This gives the role-play a focus so the students don't get too off track. The characters in this scene should want something but can't achieve it without engaging in a conflict usually with another character. One of the golden rules of improvisation is to always go along with whatever new information the other actor is offer you and your character. Avoid saying no to a character or changing an already established fact. If you do say no never just say no instead try using "no, but."

During my time in our drama class I was able to present a lesson on role-playing as a cross curricular activity. You can find the slides to it below. One thing that I want to emphasize from the presentation is the difference between role-play games and simulation games. Both are often used in classes but simulation games are more commonly used outside of drama classes. For this reason many teachers would be more comfortable running simulation games as there are more resources across curriculum for it. In this though I argue that there are common traits in role-playing games and simulation games and that both types have things the other does not do. I therefore think that for cross curricular approaches combining aspects of both role-play and simulation works best.

Drama: Tableaux

Tableaux is a theatrical technique where the actors arrange themselves and freeze in place to create a still image. A tableaux and the participants can create a representation of a scene, an event, a theme, or an idea. Some important elements of a tableaux include: character, space, and relationships.

To do a tableaux students will be asked to get into a pose or create an image with their bodies in a group. The teacher can do this by providing prompts to describe a scene such as "you're investigators at a scene of a crime." Give the students some time to think and then give them a 3 count to get into their tableaux. The teacher and students can walk around the tableaux to see everything. This is the time where the teacher can take pictures or assess it as it is being held. You can find a video example of a tableaux in a classroom down below.

 I really like how flexible this activity can be for tackling any kind of subject or idea. For that reason using tableauxs is a great way of making cross-curricular connections with drama. This activity also helps to remove any anxiety students might have over speaking in front of the class as it is non-verbal. It is a great way of getting students of any grade up and moving and collaborating with each other.

Some accommodations to consider when doing a tableaux: provide written and oral instructions, change the time that students have to hold the tableaux, and use seated poses in tableaux.

Drama: Hot Seating

Hot Seating is a drama activity focusing on the element of role/character and improvisation. In this activity a student takes the role of a character and is questioned by other students about their background, experiences, behavior, and opinions. This activity can be used to help develop characters and students' ability to role-play and perform. The main focus of this is to find out what the characters knows or thinks and and to engage with that character's viewpoint.

What is required to do a hot seat is just some chairs. Designate one of those chairs as the hot seat that sits in front of the students asking questions also seated. Set up before hand what roles the people in the hot seat will be taking and what scenario they are in. You can also provide questions or directions for the students not in the hot seat for how to interact with the person in role. Some interesting story book roles we have done in class include: The Wolf from the Three Little Pigs, an evil step sister from Cinderella, and the baker from The Gingerbread Man. 

I have also used hot seating in my own lesson about combining history and drama. In my group's use of hot seating the person in the hot seat was actually a teacher taking the role of a person from province before Canadian Confederation. People were encouraged to ask questions about what we as ordinary people thought of Confederation.

 

I think this activity is most successful when the teacher takes an active role in it or facilitates it closely, as students can often get off topic or run out of ideas. Ultimately students are in control of how much or how little detail they want to use. This activity can be done improvisational or planned. I feel planned would be better for most classes.

Some accommodations to keep in mind if running this activity include: providing information wirtten and orally, model expectations, provide examples, and adjust groups based on readiness or ability.

Drama: Zip Zap Bop

The first activity we will be talking about is Zip Zap Bop. The activity is all about the elements of focus and energy as students pass on their energy to each other in a circle. The main objective is focusing on what the student says and gives you, whether it is a Zip, Zap, or Bop and passing something else on to another student. You can begin the game by getting your students in a circle and having them imagine that you have a bolt of energy in your hands and that you are going to pass that energy to someone else using a strong movement, being sure to make eye contact so they know they are passing it to you. Start by using Zip which can only pass the energy to someone beside you. After your students are used to using Zip you can introduce Zap. Zap can pass the energy to someone across from you, then give them a chance to use Zip and Zap to pass the energy around as fast as they can. If you think your students are up for it you can introduce Bop. Bop negates or blocks any Zip or Zap so they have to pass it to someone else. A good rule we used for Bop is that a student can only be Bopped twice and then the energy has to be passed. You can view a video example of us playing Zip Zap Bop below.

I think that this game is a great introduction to drama, an amazing warm up game, and a good way to get students to start thinking about energy and focus. The activity becomes more complicated as you add Zap and Bop to it, so the difficulty of the focus required is changeable. To make it easier you could just focus on Zip, or to make it harder you have to use all three, or you cant use the last one that was just used. It would be a great activity for a new class to let unfamiliar students get to know each other and have fun with each other.

When it comes to accommodations for this activity I have already mentioned one which would be to remove some of the elements of the game to make it easier to follow. That being said there are other ones such as making clear verbal and non-verbal signals during the game, providing instructions in oral and written forms, and just allow the game to keep flowing despite errors.

Drama and Dance Portfolio Introduction and Theories

Hello everyone and welcome to my drama and dance multi-media portfolio. Within this section of my blog I will be posting various activities from my experiences with drama and dance (five for each). Before I get too into sharing and commenting on all these wonderful activities though I wanted to take some time to discuss the guiding theories behind a lot of these activities.

One of the theories I want to mention is Leban's Movement Analysis Theory. This theory states that movement is a two way process of sending and receiving messages with their body movements. Leban's movement theory focuses on the independence of the body and how it can relate to and interact with the world around it. For educational purposes Leban's Movement Analysis Theory emphasizes observation of movement, describing movement, and analyzing movement. Some activities that really benefit from using Leban's theory include tableauxs, flocking, and mirroring.

Focusing on the theories within the Ontario Arts Curriculum we can see the importance of the Creative Process. This process is designed to help students create and interact with art. This is meant to be applied across all strands of art including drama and dance. The stages of the creative process include: challenging and inspiring, imagining and generating, planning and focusing, exploring and experimenting, producing preliminary work, revising and refining, presenting, performing, and sharing, reflecting and evaluating. All of the steps in the creative process have a curriculum expectation that corresponds to it to make it something easier to plan for in a lesson plan format.

Finally from the Ontario Arts Curriculum again we have the Fundamental Concepts of drama and dance. All of these fundamental concepts are listed under the overall expectations for that grade. As students progress their knowledge of these concepts will deepen and through the expectations will be challenged to develop them more. The Elements of Drama include: role, relationship, time and place, tension, focus and emphasis. The Elements of Dance include: body, space, time, energy, and relationship. As we look at drama and dance activities I will be relating which Fundamental Concepts best apply from drama and dance to the activity.

I hope that you will enjoy reading through my explanations, reflections, analysis, and extensions to the upcoming drama and dance activities.