Unit Assessment Plan

Subject Drama Topic: Movement

:

Grade: 10, 20, 30 Length: 10 Classes

Stage 1 – Desired Results

Established Goals (GLEs):
Students will be able to…
· Extend physical capabilities
· Develop techniques that enhance physical communication
· Develop the ability to select appropriate physical expression for feelings, ideas,
and images
· Be capable of creating and expressing a believable character from scripted and
non-scripted material.
· Explore various conventions and traditions of theatre

Constructs: Essential Questions:

· …There are various ways to
communicate through vocal and
physical expression.
· … Feelings, ideas, images, and
characters can be expressed through
creative dramatic interpretation.
· In what ways can our physical
movement convey a message?
· How does knowing your character
inform decisions that you make in
scripted or non-scripted
scenes?[GK1]
· How can emotion be expressed
through body movements?
 Unit Assessment Plan
Subject Drama Topic: Movement
:

Grade: 10, 20, 30 Length: 10 Classes

Specific Learning Goals (SLEs):

Students will be able to…
· Demonstrate focus, concentration and energy in all movement and gesture

· Translate words, images and emotions into movement.

· Sustain a single character in a variety of situations

· Demonstrate knowledge of elements of space
· Appreciate that physical expression can enhance language
· Demonstrate non-verbally the who, what, where, why and when of a story
· Develop an awareness of the body as tools of communication
· Develop an awareness and appreciation of the variety of dramatic forms of
expression

Prior understandings… Where does this lead? (Future outcomes

· in the same course, following
grade-level classes, etc.)
·

Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence

Pre-Assessment
Mind map/Discussion- ask questions to determine previous knowledge of movement
and mime in first lesson

Formative Assessments
Journal Entries
Participation/Observation

Summative Assessment(s)
Research Project
Performance
 Movement Unit Plan
Detailed Overview

Class #1 March 9th, 2023 Introduction to Movement/ History of Mime

- INTRO GAME: Word association game. OR Jello moon walk. Purpose is to
help them think on their feet. A skill used in Mime.
- DISCUSSION: Ask what they already know about mime.
- Introduce the new unit.
- Talk about the history of Mime (quick walk through time)
- Watch clip- Charlie Chaplin
- Talk about ways mime can benefit us now. Here are some examples if
needed:
- It's a new way of communicating through body
- It teaches us how to speak with our bodies
- It helps us learn how our bodies communicate different emotions,
ideas, and stories.
- Activity
- GAMES: Play “Late to Work.” Have students sit in a semicircle. Ask for a
volunteer to go out into the hall (after the game is explained). Ask for another
volunteer to be the “boss.” The first volunteer will leave the room and the
class will decide three reasons they are late for work. The first should be
relatively normal, the second should be a little odd, and the third should be a
totally outrageous excuse. When the first volunteer comes back in, they will
be confronted with their boss who asks them why they are late for work.
Three volunteers will stand behind the boss and act out the first excuse. The
“employee” will try to give their boss the reason they were late for work by
guessing what the actors behind him/her are doing. Repeat this with three
different volunteers for the second excuse and three others for the third
excuse.
- Discussion: How does this skill help us as performers? What are some
examples you have seen of this skill in a performance?
- Journal Time
- Step 3 (15 minutes):
Class #2 March 10th, 2023 Developing character and emotion with movement
- WARM- UP: (2 be decided)
- DISCUSSION: A brief discussion about how purposeful movement, or
non-movement, choices can help us convey emotion.
- ACTIVITY: Connect bodies to the space around us. After the instruction to
move around the space, give students these prompts to think about: How are
you walking? Are you swinging your arms? How long is each stride? Do you
walk heel to toe?
- Give students these instructions as they move around the room (Play
music in the background to make it less awkward):
- Change the size of their movement (Ex: shorten/widen their
steps, swing their arms more/less, etc.).
- Change the time of their movement (Ex: fast, slow).
- Change the weight of their movement (Ex: light on their feet,
shuffling their feet, heavy footsteps, etc. if they’re walking
heavy have them think about where their weight is most heavy
is their chest and shoulders hunched over, etc.)
- Change the direction of their movement (ex: Do they move
directly to their next destination, or veer off and take their time
getting there).
- Change the focus of their movement and the emotion behind
it. (ex: are they happy and as a result skipping, or sad and
shuffling their feet staring at the floor, or determined, lazy, etc.)
WALK LIKE GAME

- Small discussion here about why this game was important. This will lead into
final game
- GAME: Pantomime game- students create peace chara. Students are given a
character or emotion and they have to walk around doing that. Others have to
guess what they are.
- JOURNAL TIME
Class #3 March 14th, 2023 Specific Elements of Movement- Posture
Posture Day 1
WARM-UP Hands of power exercise
- DISCUSSION: Why is posture important? What does it say about
character development? What does it say about emotion?
- There are some characteristics that we need to embody who have bad
posture. However, “Bad posture should be assumed, not a natural thing
with the actor. Perfect posture is basic to all stage movement”
- Posture affects character: Wide stance often signifies ignorance or a
sporty mentality, whereas a smaller base is associated with propper or
primness.
- ACTIVITY: Stand against a wall (heals and head) or imagine there is a
string attached to the top of your head and it’s pulling you upward, slowly
straightening all the muscles in your spine and one on vertebrae at a time.
This allows for better breath support in our diaphragm, but also prevents
us from getting tired fast.
- GAME: Mirror game: put them in partners or small groups or have them
stand in front of a Mirror. Give them prompts like, “How does an old man
stand?” or What does it look like when you’re sad?” Give them
opportunities to explore and steal others ideas too!
- Review posture stuff from last class
- Posture is the same whether you’re walking, running, sitting or standing.
It’s something we need to be aware of at all times, because it is noticeable
to the audience and affects our ability to project and embody our
character.
- Do these things with the class:
- STANDING:
- WALKING:
- TURNING:
 - SITTING:
- RISING:
- ENTERING:
- EXITS:
- TURNING:
- OPENING AND CLOSING DOORS:
- JOURNAL REFLECTION
- GAME: Have pictures handed out. Have students come up with three
tableaux ish scenes to represent the various characters postures in the
picture. Go over what happiness, hatred, or other emotions would look like
in the body parts above, using posture.
- Or…
- Life as Art - At your local library, find a collection of artwork in a book
(search for Louvre, Metropolitan Museum of Art, etc.) and select paintings
with several people in them or even a large group. Have your actors take
on one of the characters in the painting and see if they can recreate the
scene. Once they have hit their mark they must freeze. For added fun,
snap a picture of the group and then compare to the real art.

Class #4 March 15th, 2023 Specific Elements of Movement- Gestures

- INTRO GAME: Exaggeration circle, or Big, bigger, biggest
● This is a whole class circle drama game and can be played with small or
large groups.

How to play this drama game:

● Students stand in a circle and the teacher explains that the aim of this
game is to create exaggerated gestures.
● The teacher starts the game by doing a simple gesture. The next student
in the circle must make the gesture a little more exaggerated.
 ● Students continue around the circle, making the gesture more and more
exaggerated until it is completely over the top.
● Students should focus on exaggerating the gesture, not changing it
completely!

- DISCUSSION: What are gestures? Why are they important when

communicating in drama?
- When we are developing our characters we want to get to the point where
we can “let ourselves go.” Meaning, we do gestures naturally.
- Like our posture, our gestures which include our face, eyes, arms and
hands can portray emotions and attitudes.
- Face: projects emotions and attitudes
- Eyes: what you are thinking about will determine where you look
- Arms: gestures begin with shoulders and end with fingers. Use an
upstage arm when gesturing. Avoid constant use of arm or hand
movement.

- GAME: Have pictures handed out. Have students come up with three tableaux
ish gestures to represent the picture, one with their face, next with eyes and then
finally their arms that represent the emotions in this picture. This could also be
done so that each character has to display different gestures, however ones that
represent the same emotions. Go over what happiness, hatred, or other emotions
would look like in the body parts above.

OR… Students get into partners.

“Ask students to experiment with doing the following by gesture alone: calling
someone over, rejecting somebody’s closeness, giving directions, avoiding
somebody’s eyes, expressing disapproval.”
 OR…
What in The World? - Have actors sit in a circle and have either a real or imaginary
box (a shoe box is perfect). Have the first actor open the box and mime what’s
inside, using only the face and upper body to reveal what they are finding in the
box. Then have them close the lid and pass it to the next actor who also opens
the lid, but finds something else inside and reacts to it. For an extra challenge,
give all actors a golf pencil and notecard and have them guess what each actor is
finding. Reveal answers at the end to see whose guess is closest to correct.

DISCUSSION: small chat about the game, relating it back to purposeful gestures

JOURNAL TIME

Class #5 March 16th, 2023 Body energy and engagement

- WARM- UP GAME- Family Dinner (character motivation) or Bong, Bong,

Bong
- DISCUSSION: We’ve explored tons of different movements, now we’re
going to hone in body engagement and purposeful movement. Aka: (All in,
or nothing. The amount of energy you put into your character will affect
the believability of your character and your connection with the audience.
The way we move our bodies helps us recognize and develop character.
Stage Movement:
- Every movement has to be motivated or justified. No fidgeting, shuffling
your feet, or moving at random. Now, there are some exceptions to this
rule. For example, a character is anxious because they’re hiding a lie. In
 this example, your character would then have to make sure that their
fidgety body movements don’t take away from the important action in the
scene. If your character is the joker and they’re getting all the audience
laughs that’s great, but they may have missed another character hiding the
dagger, because their focus was on the character clown.
- Movement must be open to the audience, but in a natural way. So, the
easiest way to do that would be to play to the house which basically
means we make sure the audience can see frontish or side of our bodies
at all times. (ex: picking up a phone with your upstage hand, so your body
isn’t obstructed from the audience.)
- GAME: Motivation walk:
https://www.dramanotebook.com/drama-curriculum/teach-drama-to-kids
/motivation-walks/
- SMALL DISCUSSION
- JOURNAL TIME
- Side A you are a teenager sneaking in after curfews, side B you are a parent
waiting in the dark for them to return. Scene ends when they pass each other.
Then we rotate.

Class #6 March 17th, 2023 Wrap up Lesson

- DISCUSSION: Review what this unit talked about

- WARM UP: Night Watchman
- GAME: Party Host
- JOURNAL

Class #7 March 20th, 2023 Introduce project

- Write rubric
- Work period

Class #8 March 21st, 2023 Work Period

Class #9 March 22nd, 2023 Work Period

Class March 23rd, 2023 Work Period/performance (if applicable)

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