week 4

Presentation for the Week

This week the group focused on the book Henry's Box. The teacher is responsible for reading the book, and in between segments, the students are to do various activities, so they can remember the story and understand its meaning. This is part of a social studies unit, but can also relate to Black History Month.

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The first activity is something we have already seen before, and that it a tableau. The class is put into groups and are to create a tableau dealing with how Henry feel about freedom. The group is also asked to mime the scene for a couple of seconds, to give further context. Some examples include happiness if the master gives him freedom, or finally being able to celebrate a birthday.

 This is an example of a group who did a tableau

describing Henry having a birthday

Next we did another tableau, but this time we had the Tap in feature added instead of the mime. Each group was given a different scene from what they have read so far. So for example if a group did the birthday scene above, one of the students will get tapped, and they are to describe how they feel in that particular scene.

We then did a soundscape depicting what Henry would have heard during his journey in his box. This was a great way for students to empathize with Henry's situation. 

Lastly we were all asked to write a message to Henry answering questions like: What we wish for Henry, or what we learned from him. This was used has an exit card so the teacher can see if the students understand the meaning of the story.

 The Multimodal Approach

This theory simply states using different forms of communication. For example this blog takes a multimodal approach because it is not just a simple written essay. This takes a technology component, and there are pictures to allow for visual representation. Students will benefit from this because they will get a variety of different learning styles. Like most of us know, drama is learning by doing, and it is never a bad idea to incorporate this idea to all subjects.

 Today's Class Activities 

All these activities relate to the story Gift Days. It is a similar approach to the presentation, as the activities relate to the story.

Thumbs up/Thumbs down- Read Gift Days aloud. Discuss the rights of the child and have everyone either give a thumbs up or down if they agree or disagree with the statement. 

Roll on the wall- Students will write words or short phrases to fill in a silhouette of a character from the story’s head that is posted on the wall with information about his character.

 
Students will write down something they know about the character that id drawn on the Chart Paper
 

Alter ego- One person sits in a chair, while 2 others stand on either side of them. Pose a question: should the young girl in the story be allowed to go to school? The 2 people on either side take turns stating their side explaining why the person in the middle should choose them (1 will argue that the girl should be able to go to school and the other will argue that she should not be able to go to school). The main character will then make an informed choice regarding the debate.

 
This is an example of how alter ego is setup.

Caption Making- Students will create a tableau that represents a page from the story Gift Days. Caption making involves the use of paper in the shape of either a thought bubble or a speech bubble. Using these blank bubbles, write out your thoughts, dialogue or written explanations of what you are depicting in each tableau. These “speech bubbles” or “thought bubbles” will share something that their character is doing, feeling, thinking, or saying in their tableau.

News Reporting- This strategy involves creating a mock news report where students deliver information about a certain issue or topic. Students will take the place of the news reporter as well as the person/people being interviewed. Students will create a news report that focuses on the topic of children’s rights.