Drama 6
Exploration and Imagination

It is expected that students will:

• express ideas and emotions using verbal and non-verbal communication
• demonstrate social and group skills in dramatic work
• apply constructive feedback to refine their dramatic work
• demonstrate the ability to collaborate when combining ideas in dramatic work

To view the prescribed learning outcomes for Exploration and Imagination in other grades click on an icon below.

• Divide the class into groups of four and assign a letter (W, X, Y, or Z) to each group member. Then have group members do the following: W moves into an open-freeze position (e.g., one arm held out). Student X moves into another position connected to Student W (but not touching). Student Y connects to Student W and Student X, and student Z connects to all three. Student W then moves out of the original position and finds a new way to fit into the human sculpture. Signal students to freeze and ask them to remember their positions in relation to one another. The rest of the class examines each sculpture in turn, analysing what it might represent.
• Have students observe and respond to the work of others (e.g., small-group work, storytelling, tableau, improvisation). Discuss positive features of the work and ask students to give suggestions for improvement based on criteria generated by the class.
• Ask students to form pairs (A and B) and role-play situations in which A looks for help from B (e.g., fixing a flat tire, asking for directions). Have each pair communicate using only a single nonsense syllable. Ask students to reflect on the co-operation that was needed to communicate successfully. Then have groups of students interact as visitors from other planets or imaginary countries, speaking their own gibberish "languages" to request or communicate information from randomly selected slips of paper.
• As students listen to a piece of music, invite them to work in groups of four to six to create fantastic creatures with sound and movement. Then have them merge two groups' creatures into one, creating new sounds and movements for the new creatures, and continue to merge until all groups have become one creature.

Suggested Assessment Strategies

• When students offer feedback, note and encourage their efforts to:
  • describe what they see, without making judgments
  • ask "wondering" questions (e.g., "When I saw Yukiko jump up, I wondered ---------.")
  • focus on their own feelings and ideas (e.g., "When Stuart shouted, it made me feel ---------.")
  • make suggestions tentatively (e.g., "If you ญญญญญญญญญญญ it might change ---------.")
• After students create fantastic creatures in response to music, provide prompts such as the following for their journal writing:
  • How did you feel when you first began to create movement and sound for your creature?
  • How did the original music affect the creature you created?
  • How did you feel as your creature began to merge with others?
  • What costume pieces contributed to your creature's personality? What effects did they create?
  • When did your creature lose its individual personality as it merged with others?
• To determine what students think and understand about their social and group skills in dramatic work, have them record their ideas in journals or learning logs or dramatize their behaviour in different situations. Prompts might include:
  • When I work with a group, I feel ---------.
  • In a group, I am usually one of the people who ---------.
  • In group dramatic work, I am sometimes surprised to find myself ---------.
  • Drama groups are different from other groups we work in because ---------.
  • If I could change one thing about working in drama groups, it would be ---------.
  • One of my favourite group activities this year was ---------, because ---------.

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