Lesson 1: Movement

“So often you find that the students you’re trying to inspire are the ones that end up inspiring you.” –Sean Junkins

I didn’t know what to expect the first time I saw my 4th graders. But somehow I felt a deep dedication to them and desire to see them grow from the first time I saw their curious, smiling faces. Whatever it was that these children needed, I would help to give it to them. Inspiring is my goal—theatre is my tool.

Our first lesson was on movement. Having just come in from recess, I knew that the children would prefer to keep moving. What better way to help them get out their extra wiggles and eventually come to a slow stop than a game of “follow the leader”? I wanted the kids to experiment with their bodies—really get to know their wingspan and all the wonderful ways that they can move. I wanted them to be creative! We went from strictly “do what the leader is doing” to generating our own ideas based of a general guideline and moving our bodies based off of a category of movement such as “slow” or “big.” Eventually we started morphing concepts into “fast and big” or “small and slow,” etc.

Students explored physical levels and tempos in a "follow the leader" game.

After the opening activity, we had a great discussion about when a person might try to be big or small with his or her body, and the students had great insights about why a person would do such—especially when being pursued by a predator, metaphorically or otherwise. This turned into a rather tender discussion about bullying and how it makes a person feel. In addition, we discussed not only when a person might feel small, but when a person might feel big as well.

This discussion really opened my eyes to not only how unique and insightful my students are, but also showed me the things that they are struggling with and worrying about. I am now more aware of insecurities that my students may have and how to help them to blossom through theatre.

Throughout the remainder of the lesson, I was amazed at not only how creative my students were, but how willing most of my students were to do crazy things and not care if others were watching. I can tell that my students are only going to get better and wiser from here!

Students tried to guess each other's emotion during the "emotion charades" game.

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LESSON PLAN:

Casey Greenwood

BYU Arts Bridge

4^th Grade

Characterization Unit

Lesson 1: Movement

Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to use their bodies to portray situations effectively by participating in a game of charades.

Materials needed: Charades cards (1 per student)

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Hook: Students enter the classroom to a game of “follow the leader.” The leader will guide the students to explore different levels and styles of movement as well as movement tempos with their bodies.

STEP 1

Discussion: Ask the students questions such as: What were some of the actions that you did or noticed others doing? Which actions were easiest for you to do? What made them easy? Answers may include: didn’t take up a lot of space, was a comfortable tempo, etc. Which were hardest? What made those actions hard? Answers may include: not able to go fast enough, slow enough, or low or high enough, not enough space to spread out enough, etc.

STEP 2

Transition: Do you think people would ever do these actions in real life? When/why do you think they would use them?

STEP 3

Model: Invite a student to move your arms and/or legs to put you in a weird position. Ask the students to give a reason as to why you might be in that position in a scene. What were/are you doing? Have the students ask “What are you doing?” and give a response that is different than what the students suggested to show them that there are many different possibilities- there isn’t one right answer. They are free to use their imaginations.

STEP 4

Group Practice: Have the students get in groups of three. One student will put another student in an odd position. The third student will ask the second student, “What are you doing?” and the second student will answer the question, justifying his or her position. Take turns until each student has had a turn in each role.

STEP 5

Transition: Would you move differently if you were really excited? What might that look like? What if you were really tired?

STEP 6

Individual Practice: Give a charades card to each student. Instruct them not to let anyone see their card. The students are to practice using their whole body to portray what is written on their card.

STEP 7

Assessment: Stand in a circle and have each student perform what was written on his or her card, inviting the class to guess what the emotion was.

STEP 8

Conclusion: Invite the students to watch those around them and see how each person moves a little differently. Tell them to pay special attention to how their movement changes based on what happens around and to them. Tell them to try to notice how others may be feeling based off of what their bodies are doing.

Supplements:

Ideas for “follow the leader” game:

Jump up and down

Clap your hands

Take big steps

Walk quickly

Take tiny steps

Walk like a chicken

Dance

Shake your head

Walk sideways

Hop on one foot

Crawl

Skip

Walk backwards

Spread out

Walk on tip-toes

On index cards, write the following for charades cards:

Cold

Sad

Scared

Happy

Angry

Disgusted

Overjoyed

Hot

Amazed