Grade 10 - Drama Skills (Elements and Structures)

PRESCRIBED LEARNING OUTCOMES

It is expected that students will:

• use observation, focus, and listening skills to create and sustain intriguing characters with integrity
• analyse the motivations, objectives, obstacles, and actions of a character
• apply the principle of the three unities
• demonstrate an appreciation for the necessity of structure in dramatic work
• manipulate the storyıs structure to enhance the drama
• demonstrate how a central image contributes to a unified work
• organize and control drama and theatre elements to enhance the drama

To view the prescribed learning outcomes for Drama Skills (Elements and Structures) in other grades click on an icon below.

SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

• Observe and experiment with varying characters from both fiction and real-life experiences. Explore deeper characterization by having the characters react to everyday objects or listen to a radio or television program.
• Demonstrate a series of movement activities, motivating each activity from either psychological or practical objectives. Present a scene to a younger class and discuss the charactersı motivations that create conflict.
• Create a scene which observes the principle of the three unities.
• Plan a scene around a theme (e.g., running away, bigotry), using variations of the following suggestions:
  • create a strong, symbolic ending
  • use subtextual dialogue
  • alter the unities of time, place, and action by working in reverse order from the end to the beginning; reflect on the characterıs emotional changes
• Compare and contrast video productions with the script versions of the same play, including a discussion of how structure affects the central image.
• In a group, decide on a central image (e.g., a cross, a photograph, a particular sound), and create a dramatic work around it.

SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

• After students have explored, prepared, or viewed a dramatic work, focus their reflections on its structure by posing questions such as:
  • What did the beginning accomplish for the audience? (What did they learn? What did they feel? What did they wonder about?)
  • What about the middle­the development? (What questions were answered?)
  • What about the ending? (What questions were answered? What did the audience feel? What did they wonder about?)
• As students develop character, note the ways in which they:
  • observe, focus, and listen to gather information about people
  • create and sustain characters from real life; understand reasons for a characterıs actions
• As students work with structures, note the ways in which they:
  • manipulate the structure to improve it
  • demonstrate an understanding of time, place, and action
  • describe the central image
• Have students work in groups to analyse the elements and structure of a performance or production. Ask each member of the group to analyse a different character and to consider how the character was revealed and developed, the characterıs motivations, the objective and actions in each scene, and the relationship between the character and other elements (e.g., setting). Work with the students to make the task requirements and the assessment criteria clear. Criteria might focus on:
  • details of the interpretation
  • recognition of character elements
  • use of appropriate vocabulary to describe drama elements
  • effective use of evidence to support their analysis

RECOMMENDED LEARNING RESOURCES

• Acting Games
• Acting Natural
• Christmas On Stage
• Comedy Improvisation
• The Complete Book of Speech Communication
• Contours: Plays From Across Canada
• Creating with Shakespeare
• Creative Drama in Groupwork
• Drama 14 - 16: A Book of Projects and Resources
• Drama Guidelines
• The Dramatic Body
• Elegantly Frugal Costumes
• Mime Time
• Now Playing
• NTCıs Dictionary of Theatre and Drama Terms
• Readers Theatre Anthology
• Someday: A Play
• The Stage and the School (5/e)
• Storymaking and Drama: An Approach to Teaching Language and Literature
• The Theatre and You: A Beginning
• Wings to Fly

• Movement For The Actor
• Perspectives on Illusion
• Pierre Lefevre: On Acting

Table of Contents

Province of British Columbia
Ministry of Education
Standards Department İ 1996 Copyright

Maintained by: Fine Arts Coordinator - Drama

Revised: March 13, 1996

Ministry of Education Home Page