Curated OER
Lon Chaney: Three Faces of Lon Chaney
Students watch the Lon Chaney episode of American Masters, read chapters from three original books on which Chaney's films were based, and use a reading strategy called Reader's Theater to adapt each chapter into a script. After...
Curated OER
JANE AND THE DRAGON
Third graders act out a play called Jane and the Dragon. Students develop vocabulary through dialogue. They delve into the feelings of others through learning about the characters. They also identify the characteristics of various types...
Curated OER
Shadow Puppetry in South India
Students read a variety of literature from India, including folktales and fables. They then select a scene or story to script, work together to design and craft shadow puppets of characters and scenery, narrate a story, manipulate the...
Curated OER
Sequencing Stories
Students explore dramatization. In this literacy fluency and drama lesson, students listen to the story Mop Top by Don Freeman and add related sounds at the appropriate times. Students role play, pantomime, and add sounds to create a...
Curated OER
Current Events Activity
Students investigate world news and create a performance from their research. In this current events instructional activity, students identify major political or news stories in the media and create a performance based on a character...
Curated OER
Chinese Opera
Students study Chinese opera by sketching pictures of Chinese opera characters and musical instruments. They watch the film A Night at the Peking Opera, noting the elaborate costuming, the sparse staging, and the highly developed use of...
Curated OER
Walden
Young scholars participate in a panel discussion on materialism, assuming the identities of Henry David Thoreau and other experts on materialism. In this Walden lesson plan, students create a panel discussion of prominent people,...
Curated OER
Prop Stories
Pupils observe and demonstrate pantomime and improvisation. They define and discuss improvisation and pantomime, then in small groups discuss and brainstorm ideas using a bag of props. Students then create and present a scene using the...
Curated OER
Cryptid Zoo
Students explore cryptids. In this story writing and technology lesson, students define "cryptid," write a short script, and draw an illustration for an imaginary animal character. Students read their script aloud into a microphone and...
Curated OER
Interpretation of Shakespeare's "As You Like It"
Students are introduced to the background behind Shakespeare's "As You Like It". In groups, they compare and contrast the family issues in the play with those in their own family. They also write the traits of each character and answer...
Curated OER
Explore Puss In Boots
Students listen to a fairy tale "Puss in Boots". Using the text, they answer comprehension questions and discuss them as a class. They discover the story structure and identify the main characters. They also have a chance to share their...
Curated OER
Sound Effects
Students listen carefully so they can say their "part" during a reading of a Cinderella story. In this listening and speaking lesson plan, students saying their "part" on cue during a reading of a familiar story. They actively listen to...
Curated OER
Reading Plays
Pupils examine the role of tone in a comedy play. They also discover how to paraphrase a passage and explain a character's point of view.
Curated OER
Characters in Live Performance
Your intermediate or advanced thespians choose dramatic scenes to perform in duos, small groups, or solo to demonstrate vocal and physical characterization. Use class time to prepare and rehearse. Detailed rubrics work for peer assessment.
Curated OER
Creating and Using a Checklist of Performance Techniques to Critique and Find the "Message" in Mass Media Performances
Students analyze and critique theater events by evaluating and constructing meanings from improvised and scripted scenes and from theater, film, television, and electronic media productions.
Curated OER
Bear Hunt
Students are introduced to the technique of pantomime. In groups, they take a story and create a pantomime for it to perform in front of the class. They also practice ways to change their body posture and facial expressions to...
Curated OER
Movie Genres
In this grammar instructional activity, students match twelve movie genres with their appropriate definitions and examples from two answer banks and then translate the titles into Chinese. Students answer six questions regarding personal...
Louisiana Department of Education
Unit: Hamlet
Encourage readers to determine if Hamlet's madness is actually divinest sense. Class members analyze the words of the play before studying related texts, including T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," scenes from...
Curated OER
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone
Students read a chapter in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and define new words for their dictionaries. In this vocabulary lesson students choose two or three assignment from a list of projects and complete it using the text in the...
Education Oasis
Creative Writing Unit: Analyzing, Interpreting, Discussing and Writing Various Genres of African-American Literature
A six-week unit takes high schoolers through various works of African-American literature, including poems, plays, and short stories. The lesson plan format includes a week-by-week description of activities, goals, materials, and...
John F. Kennedy Center
Folktale Theatre
Introduce your middle schoolers to a performance and movement activity that uses their favorite stories from fairytales and folklore. They practice basic acting skills, create dialogues with a partner, and then as guided practice,...
Roald Dahl
Matilda - Miss Trunchbull
How would you react to the Trunchbull if she was your teacher? This is the focus of an activity that has readers imagining and then acting out their reactions to various Trunchball scenarios in the story.
Curated OER
Narrative pantomime
Assign parts to read aloud Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag and have your young mimes act out their roles. This story focus on how beauty within is more important than outward appearance. Conclude by having your class provide an illustrated...
Carnegie Library
Creative Writing: Middle School Lesson Plan
Enhance a unit on historical fiction with an engaging writing lesson. Learners bring the Industrial Era to life as they compose their own historical fiction pieces based on primary source images of Pittsburgh steel workers.