10 by LeoL30.
Writing a 10-minute play is a good exercise in play writing. I don’t mean that it is easy to write, but it is easy to manage. You can find some suggestions in 10 minute plays.
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To Be A Child by camera_rwanda.
Drama is always concerned with human condition. Ongoing wars all around the world are not only a threat for the people who are living inside the war, but also a threat for those who seem to be outside the war. I think this photo can be used as a stimulus in discussing our relation to war and to be a child in the war.
Improvisation by Dave ‘Coconuts’ Kleinschmidt.
I think understanding what improvisation is not an easy task. I find the subject of improvisation very valuable in drama class and I think we need a theoretical understanding of the subject. You can find the conversation between the composer and improviser Karlheinz Essl and ex-filmmaker Jack Hauser on the concept of improvisation here. An excerpt from the dialogue:
Karlheinz Essl: The significant difference between composition and improvisation is their different dealing with time. In composition you are in a way outside time, abstracting therefrom; one tries to imagine the whole process and can zero in on time microscopically - stop it, so to speak. In composition you simulate a time structure that - converted into reality - lets the actual piece come into being. But improvisation is completely different: you are inside time in the moment, form time and its passing in “real time”; and now, within this mercilessly passing time frame you have to follow a certain way which maybe you’ve thought about before or which turns out to be negotiable during the improvisation, and at the same time be continuously conscious of references: what’s happened before, how can I go on working with this.
The first day of your class is a great opportunity to posit yourself and your subject. As a teacher, you would not want your students to see you as a classical teacher, who enters the classroom and introduce himself/herself and talks about the content of the lecture. No way! This would be ruining all your intentions of turning your drama classroom into a wonder. That’s why you should make your entrance into the classroom (their lives) in a surprising way. Strickland emphasized the way entrance plays on our impressions:
YOU ENTER. These are the pleasantest words in the actor’s dictionary. But what do you do when you enter? The actor should carefully analyze the problem and decide the exact impression which he wishes to make, both on the characters who are already upon the scene and on the audience, for the adage about first impressions being lasting is as true in the theater as it is in life. (Strickland, 1956:32)
So think about that first impression!
? by io2.
Good questioning skills are very important in drama lectures. Every sentence that has a question mark at the end does not count as a good question. The way we ask questions in the class directly effects the learning process. In From Now On The Educational Technology Journal you will find a questioning toolkit.
Yes! You have some more time. The deadline for the proposals is now 15th December 2006. You can download Conference Presentation Proposal Form. And you can visit IDEA 2007 Hong Kong website here.
cover-full by dav.
The children’s book covers are always amazing. They are colorful and naive. Here you will find a lesson idea that you can further develop:
- Form groups of five.
- Ask your students to design a children’s book cover.
- Ask them to include the title of the book.
- Lie the covers on ground and ask them to guess what the story would tell and what characters would be in the story.
- Now each group should choose a story and characters based on the suggestions of the other groups.
- Ask them to write an outline of their story.
- Develop further.
blue window by poorfish.
Here is a drama lesson draft that you can develop further:
- What is a window?
- Why do we have windows?
- What kind of windows are there? (Car window, shop window etc.)
- Are windows openings or closings? Continue reading ‘A drama theme: windows’
Broken Heart by CarbonNYC.
Here is a catastrophy senario: You think you prepared a great lesson plan. You thought about every little detail. You have created colorful materials and you are very excited about it. The day comes, and after only 20 minutes you realize that it DOES NOT work. It just does not! What would you do?
- You say: That’s all folks! and run out of the class crying :)
- You keep going no matter what, probably they did not understand you and your PERFECT lesson.
- You always have a B plan.
- You tell them honestly that it did not work, and ask help to make it more interesting.
Any suggestions?
La Guitarra
Empieza el llanto
de la guitarra.
Se rompen las copas
de la madrugada.
Empieza el llanto
de la guitarra.
Es inútil
callarla.
Es imposible
callarla.
Llora monótona
como llora el agua,
como llora el viento
sobre la nevada.
Es imposible
callarla.
Llora por cosas
lejanas.
Arena del Sur caliente
que pide camelias blancas.
Llora flecha sin blanco,
la tarde sin mañana,
y el primer pájaro muerto
sobre la rama.
¡Oh guitarra!
Corazón malherido
por cinco espadas.
by Federico Garcia Lorca
1898-1936
via Oldpoetry
In this short lesson students start from structure and develop a poem. Form groups of five, give your students this poem (I suppose they do not speak Spanish) and ask them to write a similar guitar poem. Since all they have is the structure of the poem, they will be analysing rhythm, formal structure and vocal elements of the poem. English translation of the poem is in Oldpoetry web site. You can develop the lecture by finding ways to further analyse this Lorca poem.