Day 3/11 - Improv Mostly

Drama in the Classroom, day three, in brief:

• Review/Preview
• Yoga
• Journal Sharing
• Drama Lesson (Improv)
• Break
• Article Discussion
• Drama Lesson (More Improv)

Once again we began the day with Yoga.

>>>>>>>>>> Yoga <<<<<<<<<<

I'm getting more comfortable with beginning class with Yoga. I'm able to do all of the exercises to the best of my ability, and I'm learning more about yoga each day. I still look like a fool next to some people in the class though.

<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>

Both of the drama lessons invoved Improv, and I learned several things which I can apply teaching improv. The first lesson was a 1st grade lesson. We learned about a few characters and then improvised in them. I think this is a good way to approach improvisation because a good scene depends heavily on characters. Having the characters given to you makes it easier to know your part, and to know everyone else's role as well. We also had the plot given to us. All we were really improvising were the lines. The lines weren't that complicated, so I focused instead on my characterization, playing my character with my body and voice. I felt like I did a good job with my character, and other people said I did too. The group I performed with helped a lot too, we were really comfortable with each other and that helped a lot.

The next exercise the main thing we did were short improvised scenes. These didn't go as well as the previous exercise. Most of the scenes descended into arguments, and lasted a lot longer than they should have. Being in the round didn't help, but I think if we had spend more time enforcing the idea of a beginning, middle, and end, then we woud have had better scenes. We didn't talk about Yes-anding, which was on the board. In my scene I was happy to have been given the low-status character. When I'm performing with less experienced actors I like to be in a lower status. If the other person doesn't take control, then I can take over while still keeping them in the spotlight. Our scene went a little long, I was trying to get her to arrest me without completely giving in, but eventually had to lead her off stage.

I'll probably be doing my drama lesson on improvisations, for 4th or 5th grade.