Drama Sample 1: Grades K to 1

Topic:

Prescribed Learning Outcomes:

Exploration and Imagination

• demonstrate a willingness to express their feelings and ideas
• demonstrate respect for the contributions of others

Drama Skills

• use vocal elements (high-low, loud-soft), when developing roles
• demonstrate an awareness of a variety of movements used to express an idea, mood, or role

Context

• demonstrate a willingness to participate in drama activities that explore the roles of community members

Overview

Planning for Assessment and Evaluation

• To begin the unit, the teacher created a "bus route" in the gym, with six bus stops marked by orange traffic cones.
• Students sat in a circle to find out about the activity. The teacher would be the driver of a bus that picked people up in the morning. Students made suggestions about who might be on the bus (e.g., elementary-school children, moms, dads, firefighters, police officers, teenagers, mechanics, teachers).
• The class discussed what the people might do to get ready for the bus trip (make a lunch, get dressed, have breakfast). The teacher invited them to mime the actions.
• The teacher asked each student to choose a role and then placed students in groups near the bus stops. For example, one group was a family (a police officer, her husband­ a mechanic, and a teenage son). Another group included all of the firefighters.
• Students in role began to get ready. The teacher then started the bus and picked up the people at each stop. As they boarded, the teacher, in role as the driver, made comments such as: "Good morning! Too bad it is so wet out. Where are you going today?" "Make sure you fill all of the seats two-by-two." "I'm sorry, sir! You can't bring your pet goat aboard the city bus."
• Students quickly became engaged in their roles and interacted with the driver and other passengers as they drove around the gym. The driver took the bus up hills, stopped at stop signs, and slid down an icy slope. After they had been travelling for a while, the driver announced: "We are nearing the school. All schoolchildren should get ready to leave the bus. Oh, dear! The school is on fire!"
• The firefighters immediately jumped off the bus to fight the fire. The police officers investigated who had started the fire and kept the children back. Some of the mothers went off with the teachers to find a baby-sitter for the children (they decided to go on horseback), and everyone else left the bus to help solve the problem.
• When the firefighters announced that the fire was out, and the police officers had arrested the culprit, the bus driver picked everyone up and dropped them off at their original bus stops. During this trip, students sat in pairs and, in role, discussed what had happened and how they had helped.
• The class returned to the circle and retold the story together. Many parts were new to some of the students. (e.g., The firefighters had been busy with the fire and didn't know what the others had done.) The teacher posed a series of questions about the activity including:
  • What did you do when we discovered that the school was on fire?
  • How did you feel?
  • Did you enjoy the bus trip? What parts did you like best?
  • Who did you talk to or work with on our bus trip adventure?
• Students drew illustrations of some of the events they remembered. They recounted the events to the teacher, who recorded their ideas as captions for the pictures. Students compiled their illustrations to create a class book about their adventure.
• The class took frequent bus trips throughout the year, encountering a variety of problems (e.g., running out of gas on a country road, finding the school closed, one of the children breaking her arm).

Defining the Criteria

• demonstrates commitment to a chosen role
• sustains a role while interacting with others
• takes risks to offer unusual suggestions or behave in unusual ways in role
• offers ideas to solve problems and move the action forward
• includes details that show knowledge of community roles
• uses appropriate movement
• builds on the ideas of others
• behaves safely

Assessing and Evaluating Student Performance

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