Props and the 6 Big Questions Oct. 13-15

This past week we started as usual, with photo analysis. It is great to see the students thinking more deeply each time, with less encouragement. We challenged them this week by using stock photos, as opposed to stills from film, as this allows them to analyze the photos without bringing previous knowledge of the situation represented into their analysis.

For warm-ups we did Cat/Cow, Puppy Panting, and re-visited the motorboat/siren lip exercise. We then quickly reviewed our  reading vocabulary:
Dynamic
Energy
Pace
Volume
Punctuation
Emotions
Projection

I had a long note card with each term written on one. They did a great job remembering, and when they answered correctly I also showed the note card to the class to reinforce the word.

We then moved on to our 1st part of the lesson: The Hat Exercise

  By this time, the students were getting to be pro's at analyzing images, and we needed to move to the next step and analyze an object..

Prop  is our new vocabulary word.

We created 5 stations and at each station was a large piece of note paper, with the 6 big questions written on it. Also at each station we placed a hat:

Chef
Knight
Baseball Player
Pirate
Witch

The students had to work together to answer each of the 6 big questions. Each student had to write two of the answers down (to practice writing skills). They also had to incorporate correct punctuation.

The teacher and I modeled the exercise with a princess hat, encouraging the students to think beyond one word answers.

Once the students finished answering, they were given a few minutes to rehearse how they would present their description of their prop, remembering to read like a storyteller, not like a robot.

They did a great job. some students were, of course, more enthused than others - but for the most part  bringing an object to life, along with their own words was exciting and a bit nerve wracking.

One great teaching moment was when a student obviously felt silly acting out and using gesture - but when she completed her reading her fellow students said that they liked her gestures best. - I pointed out to her that sometimes it is the things we think are most silly, or that make us shy that can really make a performance great - that she should always trust her instincts - the movements she picked were great - and everyone really enjoyed them!!

Knights standing tall!

Chef's stirring the pot!

ARGHHH Matey's!!

Witches dancing!

We did not get to the second half of our lesson, which was the introduction to readers theater, and the passing out of scripts. We decided we would just pick up right from there next week!