Drama

Instructor: Erin Ryland

Stage 1: Desired Results

General
Goal II: To develop competency in communication skills through the participation in and exploration
Learning of various dramatic disciplines
Outcome(s)
Specific
Orientation
Learning 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 20
Outcome(s)
1. Students will demonstrate the ability to collaborate with one another and use creative problem
Learning solving
Objective(s) 2. Students will appreciate the value of working together as a team and creating a safe classroom
environment

Stage 2: Assessment Evidence

Summative Formative • Formative Checklist: Observing students’ willingness
• N/A
Assessment Assessment to participate in activities

Stage 3: Learning Experience

Tech • Write Quote on board and Resources
• 2 balls
to Do the day’s schedule to Bring
Time: 47 min Content/Description Notes
Introduction:
Start class with
• Introduce myself and talk about my experience in drama (Went to school
everybody sitting in
5 min at Monsignor and then Bishop Grandin, Theatre Studies degree from U of
circle, quote on the
L, focused in Directing, Stage Management and TYA, and now a Student
board.
Teacher)
Attendance/ Check-in
7 minutes • Have students introduce themselves and answer a question related to the
quote. “What’s your favorite thing you’ve done in drama class so far?”
Introduce Unit
5 minutes • Go over my plan for the unit i.e. What we will be working on for the next
few weeks and the end goal.

Go over drama classroom rules (Repeat after me with actions)

Have students
5 minutes • One voice, Listen with your Ears and Eyes, Don’t be a Bossy Boos, No
stand in circle
Pokey/Pokey, Have fun!
The Game of Many Things (Warm-up/Helps me get to know names)
• Start with people saying names in order of the circle
• Add throwing one ball around the circle, creating a separate pattern from
the names, balls continue moving in that pattern and then add in names.
Game is played
7 minutes • Once students get used to doing both, stop those activities and create a
standing in circle
new pattern with a second ball. Add in the names and then the first ball
pattern.
• If students are able to handle all three, introduce changing places into the
game as well. Repeat the same pattern.

Amelia Wills
 Drama
Instructor: Erin Ryland

• Reflect on why we would play this game (Team building by working

together to complete patterns, keeps you alert to everything happening
within “the scene” and helps me get to know names!!)
Trust Falls
• Partner students up while they are standing in their circle. Have them
label themselves A & B
3 minutes
• Have students walk side by side with their partner in a circle
• When I call out a letter that person must start to collapse, and the
partner should be there to catch them.
Zucchini
• Get students to find a different partner
• For each zucchini guide two students at the front of the classroom into
the stretch
• 1st zucchini- have students standing across from each other and hold
hands, toes touching and lean back. Come up with a word to represent Students will find
that pose their own space in
5 minutes
• 2nd zucchini- Find a different partner and stand side by side, grab each the classroom with
other’s forearms and lean back. Come up with a name for pose their partner
• 3rd zucchini- Have students find a new partner and stand backs together
leaning on one another, go to sitting position and back up again. Come up
with name for their pose.
• Have students go through the cycle of 3 zucchinis all together saying their
words
Human Knot
• Start with first breaking up students into groups of 5 and creating knots
5 minutes • Once students do it once or twice create two groups of ten
• Encourage students to try and seem rhythmic/ like a dance

Conclusion
• Why did we do these activities today? (to build trust in each other, to
collaborate, team work, respect… creating a safe environment to take Get students back
5 minutes risks) into sitting in a
• Why is team work important in drama and creating a scene? (It’s circle
important to listen to each other, drama is all about collaborating and
creative problem solving)

Sponge Activity: Practice the different Stage Areas… go over importance of using the whole
stage.

Reflection:
• Need to be clearer with directions
• Give directions before pairing them off
• Don’t speak over them, find a way of getting their attention
• Maybe make their partners for them?
• I didn’t need to participate in activities, should have stayed out so I could spend more
time supervising the rest of the class
• Create accommodations for student in crutches

Amelia Wills
 Drama
Instructor: Erin Ryland

Lesson 2: Characterization
Stage 1: Desired Results
General
Goal I: To acquire knowledge of self and others through participation in and reflection on dramatic
Learning experience
Outcome(s)
Specific
Improv/Acting
Learning 1, 2, 3, 4, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 24
Outcome(s)
Learning 3. Students will create characters stemming from the exploration of exaggerated movement
Objective(s) 4. Students will use sound as a stimulus for character development

Stage 2: Assessment Evidence

Summative Formative • Formative Checklist: Observing students’
• N/A
Assessment Assessment commitment to creating a believable character

Stage 3: Learning Experience

Tech • Write Quote on board and
the day’s schedule
Resources • Jr High Drama TRM
to Do
Time: 47 min Content/Description Notes
2 min Introduce what we will be doing today
Attendance/ Check-In
5 mins • Check-in question: Do you have a favorite play or musical you’ve seen
or read? If not, which one would you like to see?
Hey / Take It / Never (Warm-Up Game)
• Start with passing a 'HEY' around the circle. 'TAKE IT' is to people
across the circle. 'NEVER' is to refuse a 'HEY' or a 'TAKE IT'.
• You can only say 'NEVER' if four turns have passed in the game.
• Only I the leader gets to decide who is out of the game, for being too
quiet, pausing, getting things mixed up, etc.
5 mins
• When someone is out, they celebrate, and everyone claps. That
person sits down in the circle
• Discuss why we would play this game in drama (encourages using big
voices and precise body movements, you have to be alert to what the
people around you are doing, you are “reacting” which is the basic
definition of acting, encourages taking risks and failing)
Character Walk
• Have students find their own space and stand in neutral. Close your
eyes. What does your body look like when it is standing in neutral?
How does it feel?
15 mins
• Open your eyes and begin to talk around the space. Walk like you are
on a grid, walk in loops, curves, etc.
• Next, I want you experiment with speed. Experiment with walking
fast, walking slow motion, normal speed.

Amelia Wills
 Drama
Instructor: Erin Ryland

• What would it look like if you lead with your nose? What kind of
character would walk like this? What about walking leading with your
belly? Leading with your chest? Experiment with different body parts
leading
• Find a character you like and try experimenting with at what speed do
they walk? Do they walk In a grid, loopy?
• Start adding sound to your character
• How would your character react if he had just stubbed his toe?
• Try greeting the characters around you. How does your character
interact with one another?
Pair Sounds
• Pair students off and have students decide on which one is A and
which is B
7 mins • Student A makes a repetitive sound and student B listens to it,
imagines an appropriate character and moves like that character
around A until I call freeze.
• A and B switch roles
Exploring Status
• Have students again find their own space in the room
• Keeping with the same letter from the previous activity, make A “high
status” and B “low status.”
• How does your posture look when you are high status? A queen does
not stand all slouched down.
• How does your posture look if you are low status? What kind of
5 mins
character would you be?
• Walk around the room as that status. A’s I want you to try and hold
eye contact with the people around you. B’s try looking away when
someone tries looking. Now try interacting with the other people in
the room. What kind of conversations would a high status and low
status character be having?
• Switch roles and repeat activity.
Conclusion
• How can you use these activities to help create characterization in
your scenes?
5 mins • Characters are more than just the lines on a piece of paper, you have
to figure out how that character moves, reacts and talks!
• What we will be doing next class. Next week is tableaus
• Describe some of the scenes that I have chosen

Martha
• The game begins with the students all facing the acting area, and they are told that they are
going to form a human painting.
• One person goes into the playing space, announces what he is in the painting and freezes in that
position.
Sponge
• Immediately after, another person goes into the space and forms something else that could be
Activity found in the same painting.
• The remaining students, one by one, add to the painting until everyone is involved in the
“picture”.
• The creation is then applauded by the audience and the scene is wiped clean and started over
again.

Amelia Wills
 Drama
Instructor: Erin Ryland

• Reflect on why we did this activity (supports character work by allowing students to examine
what kind of character/object etc. may be needed to support a scene)

Reflection:
• Things were a little chaotic and some of my games/activities didn’t work the way I
wanted them to. I need to create lessons that reflect the maturity of the students in my
class. I think right now I’m treating them like high schoolers, and they are not
• I was able to identify that things weren’t going well and made the decision to not spend
too much time on them. They ended up really liking my sponge activity “Martha” so we
played that one a few times to make up for the fact the other games weren’t going over
so well.

Amelia Wills
 Drama
Instructor: Erin Ryland

Lesson 3: Character Analysis

Stage 1: Desired Results
General
Learning Goal III: To develop an appreciation for drama and theatre as a process and an art form
Outcome(s)
Specific
Learning 1, 4, 19, 23, 30
Outcome(s)
Learning
TSW analyze scripts for character motivations and emotional builds
Objective(s)

Stage 2: Assessment Evidence

Summative Formative
• N/A • Formative Checklist
Assessment Assessment

Stage 3: Learning Experience

Tech Resources
• Write Quote • Scripts and Character Analysis Questions
to Do to Bring
Time Content/Description Notes
Introduction:
2 mins
• Introduce what we are working on today
Check-Ins
5 mins • Read quote “May today be the Fridayest Friday that ever Fridayed”
• What are you doing with your weekend??
Hey/ Take it / Never
• Start with passing a 'HEY' around the circle. 'TAKE IT' is to people across
the circle. 'NEVER' is to refuse a 'HEY' or a 'TAKE IT'.
• You can only say 'NEVER' if four turns have passed in the game.
• Only I the leader gets to decide who is out of the game, for being too
quiet, pausing, getting things mixed up, etc.
5 mins
• When someone is out, they celebrate, and everyone claps. That person
sits down in the circle
• Discuss why we would play this game in drama (encourages using big
voices and precise body movements, you have to be alert to what the
people around you are doing, you are “reacting” which is the basic
definition of acting, encourages taking risks and failing)
Group Character Analysis
• What is a character analysis
10 mins • Read through a scene together as a group
• Go through the different questions and answer them together so they
understand how to do
• I will be
Scene Group Character Analysis
collecting it
15 mins • Break students off into their groups and handout question sheet for
at the end of
them to fillout
the class
Amelia Wills
 Drama
Instructor: Erin Ryland

• Give students time to pick what parts they want to play, read over their
scene and answer the questions
Begin Brainstorming
5-10 minutes • If students finish their character analysis sheet and have handed it in to
me, they may start working on their scenes.
Conclusion
• Character Analysis is the important first step of working on a play.
Getting an understanding of your character will help you get a better
5 minutes
understanding of the play and what your character wants
• Next week we will be working on some tableaus to first get a story
through pictures of what is happening in your scene.

• The character analysis questions took longer than I thought they were going
to take, so I will have to plan some extra time during the next class to finish
REFLECTION: them up.
• I thought over all this lesson went quite well.

Amelia Wills
 Drama
Instructor: Erin Ryland

Lesson 4: Tableau Introduction

Stage 1: Desired Results
General
GLO I: To acquire of self and others through participation in and reflection on dramatic
Learning experience
Outcome(s)
Specific
Learning 1, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 15
Outcome(s)
Learning
5. TSW explore storytelling using still images to represent text
Objective(s)

Stage 2: Assessment Evidence

Summative Formative
• • Character Analysis Sheets
Assessment Assessment

Stage 3: Learning Experience

Tech Resources • Scripts and character analysis
•
to Do to Bring questions
Time Content/Description Notes
Introduction/ Check-in
• The days schedule
5 mins
• Quote
• Question of the day
Jump, Turn, Twizzle
• Have students walk in circle and call out commands
5 mins • Freeze- freeze in place
• Jump- Jump in place
• Turn- 180 degrees jump
• Twizzle- 360 degrees jump
Sculptures
• Have students pair up
• Decide on who is A and who is B
5 mins
• A molds B into a frozen sculpture
• A’s walk around and view B’s sculptures
• A and B switch roles and repeat
Practice Still Images
• Have students go in to groups of four
• Call out different scenarios and have students freeze in an image
telling that scenario
7 mins
• While they are doing this do side coaching… you don’t want to
block one another
• Slowly add the number of pictures they should be adding
• Side coaching: create a diversity of images
5 mins Explain Tableau Assignment

Amelia Wills
 Drama
Instructor: Erin Ryland

• Create a four-image tableau to tell the image of your scene

• Handout rubric
Work Time
• The rest of the class will be dedicated to finishing their character
20 mins
analysis sheet and working on their tableaus
• We will present the tableaus on Monday of the next week

Reflection:
• This was another one of those times where class time really seemed to get away from
me. I think I need to purchase a watch because the clock was broken in the classroom
and it’s annoying to have to pull out a phone when you are teaching the class in front of
you. It felt very unprofessional. Sadly, we did not have any time to actually work on our
tableaus today and we are missing our next class because of an assembly. Will have to try
and squish it all in next class.
• The students took very well to all the games and I am excited to see what they come up
with for their tableaus
• I thought I did a good job going around and checking in with all the groups and helping
them with their character analysis sheets.

Amelia Wills
 Drama
Instructor: Erin Ryland

Lesson 5: Perform Tableaus

Stage 1: Desired Results
General
GLO I: To acquire of self and others through participation in and reflection on dramatic
Learning experience
Outcome(s)
Specific
Learning 1, 3, 4, 9, 10, 15, 33
Outcome(s)
Learning 6. TSW explore using still images to represent text
Objective(s) 7. TSW Perform a Four Image Tableau

Stage 2: Assessment Evidence

Summative • 4 Image Tableau Formative
• Using Rehearsal Time Productively
Assessment Performance Assessment

Stage 3: Learning Experience

Tech Resources
• •
to Do to Bring
Time Content/Description Notes
2 mins Go over instructions and plan for the day
Work time on Tableaus
• Students will use time to work on creating tableaus
30 mins
• I will go around and work with the students during this half an
hour
Perform Tableaus
• Students will perform tableaus
15 mins • Audience will then discuss
• Based on the images created, what do we think their scene is
about? What kind of mood does it give?

Reflection: I really struggled with assessing the performances as they were performing them. The
scenes were so short, it felt like it all happened so fast. Next time, I need to take a couple
minutes before I call the next group up to get some of my thoughts onto paper before I forget
what I saw or get it jumbled with another group. I am able to do that while I am directing, so I
need to make sure that is being carried over to this as well. Also, continuously remind students
not to lose the rubrics I hand them! It’s frustrating that so much I hand to them seems to just go
missing. I also appreciated the advice from my TA that now seems so obvious… ask the students
what they need. I wasn’t sure if they felt ready to perform at the end of class and I was really
humming and hawing it. She said simply ask the students and the they were able to tell me they
were ready to go. It taught me a lesson, one that really, I should know by now, ALWAYS BE
CHECKING IN WITH THEM. Don’t assume.

Amelia Wills
 Drama
Instructor: Erin Ryland

Lesson 6: Perform Tableaus/ Begin Acting Scenes

Stage 1: Desired Results
General Students will be able to:
Learning • Acquire knowledge of self and others through participation in and reflection on dramatic
Outcome(s) experience
Specific
Learning 1, 4, 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 32
Outcome(s)
Learning
8. TSW begin to create and interpret their scenes on their feet
Objective(s)

Stage 2: Assessment Evidence

Summative • Tableau Formative
•
Assessment Performances Assessment

Stage 3: Learning Experience

Tech Write Quote and Resources
• Scripts and rubrics
to Do Schedule on board to Bring
Time Content/Description Notes
Intro/ Check-In
• Quote: “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” – Oscar Wilde
5 mins
• Question: But if you could live in somebody else’s shoes for a day,
who would you choose?
Splat
• Get students standing in a circle, teacher will be the splat master
and stand in the middle
• When splat master points at you and says splat that person has to
5 mins duck and the people on either side of that person have to try and
"splat" the other person first. Loser sits down.
• This goes on until there are two people left. The two people stand
back to back and turn around and splat each other when they hear
a certain word fork splat master
Perform Remaining Tableaus
7 mins • Get last two groups to perform tableaus
• Talk about their tableaus

Introduce Rubric for Scene

5 mins
• Handout rubric for their acting scenes and go through it with them

Student Worktime
• Give students remainder of the class to work on their Tableaus
25 mins
• Circle around and see help students with their scenes when they
need it.

Amelia Wills
 Drama
Instructor: Erin Ryland

Lesson 7: Day 1 of Practicing Scenes

Stage 1: Desired Results

General
GLO I: To acquire of self and others through participation in and reflection on dramatic
Learning experience
Outcome(s)
Specific
Learning 1, 4, 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 32
Outcome(s)
Learning
TSW begin to create and interpret their scenes on their feet
Objective(s)

Stage 2: Assessment Evidence

Summative Formative • Checklist for using rehearsal time/ working with
• Tableau
Assessment Assessment group members

Stage 3: Learning Experience

Tech Resources
• Write quote on board • N/A
to Do to Bring
Time Content/Description Notes
Intro/Check-In
• Go over schedule
• Quote: “If we’re not meant to have midnight snacks, why is there a
5 mins
light in the fridge?”
• Question: If you had to eat one food for the rest of your life what
would it be?
Martha
• The game begins with the students all facing the acting area,
and they are told that they are going to form a human painting.
• One person goes into the playing space, announces what he is in
the painting and freezes in that position.
• Immediately after, another person goes into the space and
forms something else that could be found in the same painting.
5 mins
• The remaining students, one by one, add to the painting until
everyone is involved in the “picture”.
• The creation is then applauded by the audience and the scene is
wiped clean and started over again.
• Reflect on why we did this activity (supports character work by
allowing students to examine what kind of character/object etc.
may be needed to support a scene)

Give group time to remember tableaus

5 mins
• Rest of class can be working on their scenes

Amelia Wills
 Drama
Instructor: Erin Ryland

Perform Tableau
2 mins
• Other groups pause and watch.

Practice Scenes
28 mins • Students should be up on their feet this class. Best way to explore
ideas is to just do it.
Wrap-Up
• Remind students when they will be performing scenes
2 mins
• Let students know I will be working with groups individually starting
next class.

• Simi was not hear again so we weren’t able to show her tableau. Will see it
next class
Reflection
• I talked to multiple groups about getting on feet and rehearsing scenes and
they did not cooperate. Need to find a way to get all students working.

Amelia Wills