After introducing myself to the students, I put my crown on and spoke in a silly accent so they could clearly hear the difference between Miss Greenwood and Queen Mary (I had a student choose my name). Although I felt kind of silly and some of the students looked at me like I was crazy, I could tell that they were actually enjoying it and were curious as to what other things we were going to do.
I was thrilled to see that most of the students found something that they were really interested in doing among the four jobs! There were a couple of students that wanted to do two jobs so much so that they had a difficult time choosing one to commit to! There was one student that was so passionate about creating a potion that his imagination was set on fire! I loved to see him be a leader to his group as those around him asked him questions or made suggestions as he drew potions almost faster than he was able to on his paper. Another student pulled out previous assignment materials from other subjects to get ideas for ingredients. The physicians were fast at work and created multiple intricate and creative potions, drawing ingredients such as "sunshine juice," "frog eyes," and a variety of colors, textures, and patterns.
The knights roared with laughter as they made a list--almost two whole columns down one sheet of paper--of inventive and powerful weapons to fight against the dragon with! The magicians thought of multiple imaginative spells to teach the class! The commoners had an extremely well thought-out plan of how to escape the dragon and thought WAY ahead in that they said that they heard that the dragon's weakness is water, so they made a plan to pull a string and release a huge bucket of water on the dragon to weaken it!
I'm glad that the students were so excited about what they were doing, but unfortunately it was rather noisy when each group was presenting their plan to the class. I suppose we will have to work on audience skills in a future lesson.
When the groups separated into teams to face the dragon, it was definitely less organized than I had imagined, but I could tell that the students were still using their imaginations to create the world around them and were leading each other based on their role, which was the point after all. Because of time, step 5 pretty much became everyone doing the commoner's escape plan together, and then gathering together and pulling hard on the string that the commoners had imagined to release the water on the dragon. With that, the dragon died and the princess (Mrs. Bruce, who had been crying "Help! Help!" throughout the lesson) was released. After that I asked the students to share what their favorite things were that we had experienced that day, and was pleased to hear a variety of answers.
I hope the students had as much fun playing as I had watching them! I was so relieved to hear some of the students saying "Don't go!" and "I can't wait 'til you come again!" One student even gave me a blue sticky note on which she had drawn the dragon.
This is going to be a great semester! I love 4th grade!!
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LESSON
1: INTRO TO DRAMA
Casey Greenwood
BYU Arts Bridge
4th Grade
STANDARDS:
●
Standard 4.T.CR.1:
Develop imagination to create artistic ideas and
work.
● Standard 4.T.CR.4:
Define roles, identify
responsibilities, and participate in group decision making.
OBJECTIVE:
Students will develop imagination and will participate in group decision making
by imagining that they are in a kingdom and by developing a plan to defeat the
dragon.
Step 1: Hook.
Invite the students to sit on the floor in
front of you. Tell them that in drama, we use our imagination and invite them
to close their eyes and imagine that we are in a faraway kingdom from a long
time ago. Tell them that you have brought a special guest with you and put on a
crown while their eyes are closed. When they open their eyes, you are no longer
the teacher but the queen of the faraway kingdom! Explain to the students that
the “kingdom” has come under attack by a “dragon” and I will need their help to
get rid of it! (To include the classroom teacher you can say that the
prince/princess has been eaten by the dragon and needs to be saved!) Explain
that you will need everyone to choose how they will contribute to the cause by becoming
one of the following:
●
Magician: Will
make a list of spells to protect the kingdom! (No
“killing” spells.)
●
Knight: Will
make a list of weapons to attack the dragon with! (No
guns, tanks, bombs, etc. They should use their imagination when creating a list
of weapons.)
●
Physician:
Will make a recipe for a potion that will heal us immediately if we are hurt by
the dragon!
●
Commoner:
Will draw a map/write out a plan to escape the dragon!
Call the students up one by one to get to know
their names and “dub” them as one of the four categories of their choosing. Once they have been “dubbed,” have them sit at a table in a
group according to their title.
Step 2: Group work.
Have the students make a plan together
according to their title and draw or write it on a sheet of paper.
●
Magician: They
will make up a list of spells and write how to cast them. They may draw
pictures of what the spells would look like!
●
Knight: They
will make a list of weapons to use to attack the dragon. It can be as creative
as they want--for example, throwing flying squirrels, etc.
●
Physician:
They will make a recipe for a potion using any ingredients they want and steps
to make the potion. They may draw pictures of what the potion would look like.
●
Commoner:
They will draw a map or write steps of how we can escape the kingdom if it is
overcome by the dragon! Some ideas: secret tunnels, play music that makes the
dragon sleep, have everyone dress up like a dragon so the dragon is confused,
etc.
Have one member of each group present his/her
group’s plan to the class.
Step 3: Imagine!
Invite the students to stand up. Separate them
into teams so that there is at least one of each of the four jobs in the team.
Tell the students that you “hear” the dragon coming and ask them what they
“hear.” What does the dragon sound like? Answers may include growling, heavy
breathing, footsteps, roaring, etc. Next, tell them you “see” the dragon and
ask them what they “see.” What does the dragon look like? Invite them to show
with their bodies what the dragon looks like or sounds like.
Step 4: Assessment
The dragon is here! Instruct the students to
help each other by putting the plans into action! Have the magicians lead the group
for the first step, the knights for the second, etc.
- Have the magicians teach their group the spell and have them
“cast” it together in their team.
- Have the knights lead the way for the plan of “attack” and
pantomime attacking the dragon!
Oh no!! The spell of protection failed!!
Everyone got hurt by the dragon!!
- Have the physicians give everyone in their team a “potion” and
have everyone “drink” it and be healed!
- Have the commoners lead their team in the escape plan!
Once everyone has “escaped the dragon,” invite
them to sit back on the carpet in front of you.
Step 5: Reevaluate
Invite the students to reflect on what just
happened. Invite them to share what they felt and experienced. Share that maybe
we should have taken more time to evaluate the situation and look for an
opportunity before making a plan to get rid of the dragon. Tell the students
that the dragon has a weakness and in their teams, have them decide what the
weakness is and how to rid the kingdom of the dragon. Have one member from each
group share what their group thinks the dragon’s weakness is and how their
group would get rid of the dragon.
Step 6: Conclusion
Point out some great things that you saw the students doing throughout
the lesson. Tell the students that what we just did together is called drama or
theatre, and that you will be coming back every week to play more drama games
with the students. Thank them for their participation!
