Learning Activity

Contagious Character Traits in a Car/ Hitchhiker

Subject Area

Arts Education

Grade(s)

6

Overview

The students will play a game called Hitchhiker. The game brings to life different character traits. The students will experiment with various vocal and physical choices by taking on different character traits through this improvisation exercise. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 6 - Theatre

AE17.TH.6.7

Identify effective physical and vocal traits of characters in an improvised or scripted drama/theatre work.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.TH.6.7

Vocabulary

Vocal
Movement
Characterization

Skills Assessed
  • Sixth graders work collaboratively to plan a dramatization, take part in its production, and discuss the results. They project movement and improvise dialogue in dramas. No prop, sets, or costumes used at this point.
  • The focus for this age group is to expand body awareness and sensory perceptions. Students incorporate their life experiences into dramatic play by creating environments, analyzing characters, and inventing actions to depict chosen life experiences.

Essential Questions

EU: Theatre artists refine their work and practice their craft through rehearsal.
EQ: How do theatre artists transform and edit their initial ideas?

Skills Examples

Ways to Explore Imagination: Ways to Create Body Movement with Storytelling:
  • Students can incorporate group storytelling with using the concept of a living pop-up book. Students work in groups of three to five to write an original story and are prepared to act it out with the use of the concept of the Pop Up Book. See the link below:
  • http://www.bbbpress.com/2015/01/drama-game-pop-up-book/
Way to Explore Artistic Choices:
  • For the idea to create their own understanding and opinion of artistic choices, students view live and recorded presentations, identifying dramatic elements such as plot, dialogue, movement, set, costume, and props. Students demonstrate, describe, and illustrate, with examples from the performance(s), a variety of ways a specific character communicates with the audience. Students should be able to articulate these opinions in oral and written form. Below is a great link to comparing acting choices in theatre vs. film. This is a great starting point:
  • https://www.theatrefolk.com/blog/stage-vs-screen-a-comparison-of-acting-techniques/

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 3: Refine and complete artistic work.
Arts Education (2017) Grade(s): 6 - Theatre

AE17.TH.6.10

Experiment with various physical choices to communicate character in a drama/theatre work.

Unpacked Content

UP:AE17.TH.6.10

Vocabulary

Vocal
Movement
Characterization
Directing
Design
Theatrical production

Skills Assessed
  • The student improvises, writes, and rewrites monologues, scenes, and vignettes to convey predetermined intent and meaning. Student directors are accountable for small group presentations of a scene or vignette. The director is responsible for incorporating all aspects of a production into a unified whole.
  • This explores the concepts of production and design by taking the basics and forming a full production.

Essential Questions

EU: Theatre artists make strong choices to effectively convey meaning.
EQ: Why are strong choices essential to interpreting a drama or theatre piece?

Skills Examples

Personal Processes and Interpreting a Piece
  • Given a prompt, a small group of students improvise a scene to be staged within a designated time period. After the improvisation, students discuss ways to better communicate the group's interpretation.
  • Students then transform the improvisation into a written script that includes stage movements, sound and visual effects, and other details.
  • Students select a director, actors, and technicians; rehearse; and present the scene. After viewing a recording of their scene, students re-evaluate their effectiveness in achieving their intent, make revisions, and present their scene before the class, which then participates in the evaluative response.
  • This activity allows students to explore all aspects of the performance and has them evaluate themselves on camera to make changes and artistic choices.
Resources for Age Appropriate Plays for Improv Starters Reflections and Shared Experiences
  • By utilizing multiple groups, students will be allowed to be both performer and audience member. The students should keep an Actor's Notebook and have several prompts from the teacher being critical of the interactions between an audience and performer.
Resources for Journaling and Self Reflection

Anchor Standards

Anchor Standard 4: Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation.

Phase

During/Explore/Explain
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

The students will experiment with various vocal and physical choices by taking on different character traits through this improvisation exercise.

The students will decipher which physical and vocal choices best illustrate each trait that is acted out through improvisation.

Activity Details

Four chairs will be set up to represent a car.

The teacher will choose a driver of the car.

The driver will pantomime a steering wheel and other items in a car: the window, the gas, and breaks, the radio, sunroof, etc.

The teacher will have the student establish where they are going; to work, to get fast food, to the beach, etc. 

The teacher will choose students to enter the car one at a time. Each selected student will personify a character trait. Therein, they will be experimenting with physical and vocal choices through improvisation.

Each student will get into the car by hitchhiking. The driver must pretend to pick up each student as they enter the performance space. The driver pretends to stop the car. The student with the character trait enters the car. The character trait is contagious and affects the driver. 

The teacher sends in a new student and character trait. That character trait is also contagious. The trait goes to everyone in the car, the driver and the first passenger. 

Lastly, the teacher sends in one more character trait. This character trait is contagious to all and all are experimenting physically and vocally with the character trait.

The teacher can wrap up the session after all of the participants have caught the final trait.

Assessment Strategies

Assessment Strategies

After each carload of students has performed, the teacher will stop the improvisation. The teacher then will go through each student that entered the car and ask, "What character trait did (name of student) have?"

The audience's reaction is the informal assessment. How well was the trait acted out physically and vocally? Was the audience able to accurately guess each student's trait that they carried into the car?

The teacher can ask the audience of students, "What physical and vocal choices did the student make that helped you decipher his/her character trait?"

 

Variation Tips

When teaching a novel or story, the teacher can use traits from the characters in the story to illustrate fully the traits and bring them to life.

Background and Preparation

Background / Preparation

The teacher needs to have a list of character traits. The students can draw them out of a cup or hat or the teacher can assign the traits as the students are chosen.

Digital Tools / Resources

Improv 4 Kids Comedy Kids - Hitchhiking Emotions
http://viewpure.com/ck_bzb-t-r4?start=0&end=0

Approved Date

Owner (Author)

jsalvant
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