Learning Goals

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

  • B1.2 demonstrate an understanding of the element of role by selectively using a few other elements of drama (e.g., time and place; relationship; focus and emphasis) to build belief in a role and establish its dramatic context
  • B1.3 plan and shape the direction of the drama or role play by posing questions and working with others to find solutions, both in and out of role
  • B2.2 explain, using drama terminology, how elements and drama conventions are used to produce specific effects and/or audience responses in their own and others’ drama works
Materials
Terminology

Minds On

Whole Group > Frayer Model Definition

Post an empty template of the Frayer model with the word “Welcoming” in the centre. Explain that one way to understand a new concept is to see examples of this concept in a variety of situations so that you can see what is common across those situations. Another way to help make a concept more clear is to think about what it is not (e.g., non examples of the concept). The Frayer model is an organizer that will help us track our learning about this concept so that at the end, we can come up with our own definition of what it is based on what we learned. 

Teacher Prompt: Based on our conversations and work so far, what are some examples of actions that are welcoming/unwelcoming? Record their suggestions in the corresponding quadrants on the Frayer model template.

Teacher Prompt: What is something that someone might do that would make you feel welcomed/unwelcome? Record their suggestions on chart paper or on a shared digital text

Sample responses:

UNWELCOME: when people don’t let you sit next to them, when they talk behind your back, when they don’t include you in a conversation/game, when they don’t look at you or say hi when you walk by them, when you can’t afford to have a phone/buy expensive clothes/go to a concert or movie.

WELCOME: when people say hi, when people include you, when you don’t need money to participate, when people explain things to you if you have trouble with the language/with reading, when people let you hang out without them being suspicious of you.

Action

Whole Group > Intro to tableau

Explain that the drama convention we’ll be focusing on will be tableau. Define tableau as a frozen image that captures a key moment or emotion connected to the text or issue you are discussing. 

Use three volunteer students to model two examples of a tableau of a welcoming action.

  • Example one: Take the students aside and whisper to them to just stand in a group and smile at each other with their hands at their sides.
  • Example two: Take the students aside and tell two of them to come from one direction, arm in arm and have the third person come from another direction. Have the two students wave and smile at the solo student who smiles back.

Teacher Prompt: Which of these tableaux did the best job of communicating the message of a clear welcoming act? What did the actors do with their faces, bodies, levels, direction, distance from one another, eye contact to help make their idea clear?

Record the criteria that they share about what made the image strong on chart paper or a shared digital text.

Small Group > Capturing what it feels like to be welcomed/unwelcome through tableau

Tell students that they will be working in groups of 4 or 5 to create a tableau of either a welcoming or unwelcoming action that they came up with in the class brainstorm in the minds-on task. 

Create small groups and ask groups to rehearse in different parts of the room. Give them about 7-10 minutes to work.

As they work, post the tableau criteria that you came up with and circulate to help them refine their tableau.

Whole Group > Sharing and Feedback

Use a transition cueing signal (e.g., clapping, flashing lights) to call the students back to the performance configuration that you established. Have each group share one by one. After they share their tableau, have the audience provide two pieces of positive feedback and one area of improvement to consider related to the criteria of a good tableau that you devised.

Provide feedback to the students about the focus and the quality of their feedback to ensure that it is constructive and specific.

Extension: Once the sharing and feedback has finished, choose one group to revisit their tableau. Explain that you are going to approach one or two of the characters within the tableau and tap their shoulder. When they feel their shoulder is tapped, they are to imagine that they are that person in that situation and share what they are thinking and feeling in that moment by speaking the character’s thoughts aloud. It can be a single sentence or a series of sentences. This technique is called thought tracking. It is most effective when you tap people who may have different thoughts or feelings about the situation depending on their power/status within the story.

Consolidation

Whole Group > Debrief and Review

Bring back the Frayer model chart. 

Prompt: Does anyone have any new information that we might add to our chart after the work we just did? Where might we put that information? 

Bring back the Tableau success criteria and discuss it with students.

Prompt: Are there any other criteria that you think that we should add now that we have seen some more tableau?

Record any suggested changes.

Individual > Self Evaluation

Have students assess their own work using PDF #2 Self Assessment Exit Ticket

Assessment for Learning/Assessment as Learning (AfL/AaL)