Creative Practices

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Creative Practices’s Docs ▸ Lesson plan for sixth grade acting class

TAMMI CUBILETTE

EDUC 0100A

May 17, 2011

 

Lesson Title:   Improvisation 101

Unit Title:         Acting-Lesson #2 in Unit 2

Grade Level:   6th grade

 

 

Central Question:         How can improvisation be used in performance?

 

PURPOSE OF LESSON:      What are the rules of improvisation?

 

LESSON OBJECTIVES:

Students will:

  • Learn and utilize the principle of “yes and”
  • Be able to add information to a scene and move it forward.

 

MATERIALS NEEDED:         NONE

 

Students Previous Knowledge:

 

  • Students know how to get into actor neutral without prompting.

Cultural Connections:

 

  • Students will connect to how they use improvisation in their everyday lives (should that be part of the reflection?)

 

Standards:                                    NYS Learning Standards–

  • TH 1

Benchmarks:

Strand 2/Theatre Making

  • Acting–Performance Skills Benchmarks: Students participate in a variety of group and solo activities in rehearsal and performance, demonstrating self-discipline and the ability to work collaboratively.

 

WARM-UP/Do-Now:                                   DING!

  • A volunteer goes out of the room. The trainers (everyone else) decides on a trick they want the volunteer to perform (touch their nose, hide under a chair, shake someone’s hand, etc).
  • The volunteer comes back in. Trainers can give no signal other than ‘ding!’
  • So if we want the volunteer to touch their nose, we will say ‘ding’ every time they move their hand in the direction of their face. If they do anything irrelevant… silence.
  • When the volunteer guesses, applaud.

Rationale: This is a fun game to get the students energy in the right place.  It also begins to lay the foundation for acceptance (saying yes).

Role of the Facilitator:                         Co-participant in the exercise. It also helps the facilitator to keep up the energy.

HOOK:                                                            “Yes and…”

 

  • Students get into pairs.  Based on a simple situation provided by the facilitator, e.g. “It is a beautiful sunny Saturday morning.  You and your partner are going to decide what to do today”
  • Person A is going to make an offer like “Let’s go to the beach!” and Person B will add to that offer by saying, “Yes and let’s pack a lunch!” or something to that effect.  It can be anything that person B comes up with on the spot.
  • NOTE:

First the students will do the exercise having one partner deny the other partner’s offer.  Then they will do it with the partner accepting the offer.  This is to demonstrate how far a scene can go when a partner says yes as opposed to denying an offer.

 

Rationale:                                            Students will practice learning to say yes in every scene.  It encourages give and take.

Role of Facilitator:                               Side coaching and participant.  Always say yes.  Take bigger risks when offering.  “I don’t know if you are aware of it but you’ve just performed your first improv! Congratulations!”

 

MAIN ACTIVITY:                                NOPE!

The basic version of this activity involves two players.  The teller and the decider.

  • First the decider must be taught how to say ‘nope‘.  The decider should adopt a pleasant ‘no hard feelings’ sort of ‘nope‘.
  • The teller will begin telling a story about the decider.  They will do this one sentence at a time.  They’ll start with something like ‘you open the front door’, or ‘you decide to take a shower‘.
  • The decider then…decides.  They only have two choices, they can say ‘nope‘ or they can say ‘what happens next?‘
  • If they say nope, the teller will then make a new suggestion, and will keep doing so until they get a “what happens next” At which point they suggest the next thing that will happen.
  • The decider should only agree to a suggestion that really excites them.
  • Different tellers can go up and continue the story already in progress or begin a new story.
  • The teller has to focus on telling the kind of story the decider wants to hear.
  • After a few rounds, switch out the decider.

Reminders: Decider, don’t be afraid to say ‘nope‘ 30 times in a row.  Don’t say, “What happens next?” just to be nice.

Teller: If you’re doing too well throw in a really weird offer, just to make sure the decider is actually listening.

Rationale:                                            This game gets the students thinking on their feet.                                                                            Good foundation for improvisation.

Role of Facilitator:                               Side coaching and participant.  “Decider, if you don’t like what’s being offered say Nope!  Teller, make your offers sillier if it’s getting too easy.”

 

REFLECTION:                                   Come back to the circle and share out

 

Rationale:                                            To find out if they had difficulty or challenges with giving and taking.

Role of Facilitator:                               Guiding the conversation but letting students lead it.

 

HOMEWORK:                                    Practice saying “yes and” and “NOPE!” throughout their day, in school, at home, with friends.  Play the “NOPE!” with the family.  Keep track of how many times you accept or deny an offer.

 

Modification:                                Students who are shy or do not want to participate can sit out and offer up suggestions.

 

Theatre Literacy:                      Curtain, always say yes, add information, move the scene forward

 

 

Assessment/Indicators:         I will assess their ability to continually say yes in every scene throughout the exercise. I will assess their creative choices during the hook activity.

 

 

How could you document the learning?         Video and journaling