Tips and Tricks for a Great Kindergarten Showcase

Well the year is very quickly winding down. Last week we were very busy preparing for our first ever Kindergarten only showcase. We combined all 7 (yes we have seven K classes) to create this wonderful performance. Each class learned two songs and either a short dance or play performance. It turned out so well. In addition to the kindergarten show, we also hosted a school-wide art show. All 1,000+ students had an art piece displayed. We used a wonderful company called Artome that shipped us custom paper, students create their art then we ship the paper back. The night of the show, they show up with all the artwork framed, they set up the show, run the show then take it down. It is such an easy /awesome show.

Well after the kindergarten show/art show here are a few things I learned.

1. Practice the little things.

Kindergarteners know very little about performance routines. They need to practice walking on and off stage, sitting, standing, transitions to their speaking places and such. I know as directors we sometimes try to skip these simple things to focus on the bigger picture. Don't do it. Kindergarteners need this practice.

2. Use older siblings as ringers

As mentioned before, Kindergartners do not adapt well to change. When someone doesn't show up it, really makes it hard for them to perform. I enlisted a couple of my older theatre students to help fill in for kids who were no show. They followed the script and when someone wasn't there they said the line. This totally lead to the show's success! 

3. Your homeroom teachers are your biggest helpers

We only had a half an hour each day to rehearse the show. We had to rely on our homeroom teachers to help out. My teachers were awesome! They rehearsed in the classroom, helped during our rehearsal and communicated with parents about the show. We could not have done it without them!

4. Help teach the parents.

 Part of your job is to help teach the parents about your job and arts integration. Parents often don't realize the work and effort that goes into seemingly simple shows. I like to talk about how students work on memorization, blocking, and body control. I also like to point out any core integration that might be occurring. For example one of the plays focused on types of clouds and what they meant. This was a great integration piece to point out.

5. Sit back and enjoy.

The best part of a Kindergarten play is that they are Kindergarteners. No one expects the kids to be perfect. If they mess up crazy bad, it doesn't matter because they are so cute!  Simply enjoy the show, this is the one show with no pressure! Parents are always happy when they see their babies perform in their first school play. Enjoy it. They are soooo cute!

What successes have you had in getting Kindergartners to perform? What other tips would you add?

Creativity part two

Now it is time for part two of my creativity post. You can check out the first part HERE. Most of these tips are tips that can work either for a classroom teacher or ideally, for a specials teacher who sees the same children year after year. This is definitely a process for building creativity. 

Start early

If you are a core teacher, start fostering creativity early in the year. If you set a precedent that creativity is acceptable, then students will be much more willing to continue being creative throughout the year. Students are always more willing to try new things at the beginning. They like to please their teachers early on. If you wait until later they will be much more concerned with their friends and looking "cool". 

For specials teachers, begin fostering creativity in kindergarten. I am always amazed at what Kindergartners can come up with when given the opportunity. This also helps set a precedent in your classroom. Student know that they must be creative in your room. This year is the first year that my 5th grade students will have spent all 6 years with me (they started as kindergartners in my program). Their creative ability is beyond any I have experienced before this. The fact that they have been being creative since kindergarten has really given them the confidence to push their limits. Their improvisational skills rival some 9th graders. So PROUD of them!

Start easy

Just like you scaffold core subjects like math and reading, you need to scaffold creativity as well. When you begin teaching creativity start with very simple tasks. Check out my creativity brain breaks for some ideas. I love to start off with games because kids think of  it as "fun" and not "learning;" it makes them much more willing to try new things. Once they have had some success with creativity, start assigning small assignments for them to get creative with. Make sure you work with them and encourage students to go farther. After they are good at small assignments, try a huge project. I love the bunraku assignment we use. Check it out here. This is a great assignment for students to be creative both in their writing and art. 

Give lots of opportunities

the more opportunities and ways to be creative, the more likely students will try. When creativity becomes part of their daily routine, students are more likely to integrate creativity. Try to make sure every day/week has at least one or two creative assignments. This does not need to be intense projects. It could simply be a simple game or writing assignment. But practice makes perfect, even in creativity. The more often they are creative, the more creative they will become. 

Praise

Students need confidence. When you are creative, you are very vulnerable. Students want to make sure they what they are doing is acceptable. The more praise you can give, the more confident they will become, the more likely they will be to become more creative. Students love praise. When they are really creative give lots of praise. Let them present/perform for the class or school; they will get tons of praise from the people who matter most (their peers). Find creative ways to praise the students. Have them display artwork in the building. Praise them in front of other teachers. Let them go and perform for another class. Try to do anything you can to get them excited about creating.

Have fun

Creativity happens when you are having fun. Don't be so serious. Sit back and relax!

It amazes me how creative my students are. I love teaching creativity in my classroom. I firmly believe that the jobs of the future rely on workers ability to be creative. If we do not take time to be creative now, students will never learn how to stretch their minds and push their limits. Even though creativity is not a specific common core standard, it is still one of the most important things we can teach our students. 

How do you teach creativity? Link up to this post in the comments and we can create a database of the best creative projects for students! 

10 Ways to Foster Creativity in the Classroom part 1

Testing season is upon us which means more stress and less time to post. It also means kids are flopping under the weight of standardized tests. I always feel so bad for my students during this time of year, all the students have to sit still and quiet for hours on end bubbling in these bubble, worrying about if they are choosing the exactly right answer. It is enough to squash anyone's creativity. So to counteract all the b-o-r-i-n-g I have come up with 10 ways to help foster creativity in your classroom and get kids excited about learning during this very boring time.
I am breaking this post into two parts to last the two weeks of testing. Enjoy the first 5 ways to foster creativity and then tune in next week for part two!

Create a safe environment

The first thing you must do foster creativity is to create a safe environment. Students will not be willing to express themselves if they are worried about being made fun of laughed at. They need to feel very very safe in order to be creative. 

-teach good audience behavior

 If you are doing any in class performances you must teach audience behavior. Everyone knows how scary it is to get up in front of people. If those people are your friends, and they are not being respectful, learning shuts down completely. I plan on writing a whole post about teaching audience behavior but for now I will just say this. Students should be seated, still, quiet, and always applaud afterwards. No talking and No teasing are musts!

-do not allow rude behavior

If students are rude to each other they will not be creative. If students are worried about being made fun of they will not be willing to try new things. Shut down rude behavior quickly and effectively at the beginning of the year. In my class rudeness (including boo-ing is automatic time out). Typically it only takes one or two examples for a class to get the picture that rudeness will not be tolerated.

-no sarcasm

This is directed primarily at teachers! I know that I can be guilty of it sometimes. When we interact with our friends we use sarcasm. Sometimes that sarcasm can leak out into our classroom. Unfortunately students do not understand sarcasm.  Try not to use sarcasm with your students. They take it as you being mean and it can make them afraid to try new things.

No wrong ideas

-try to make all reasonable suggestions work

At the beginning students will give probably weak answers. Accept and encourage students. They are trying out to see if answering is safe. If you automatically shut down an answer because it isn't that creative or its a little silly, kids wont try again.  Accept and encourage all responses.

-encourage students to go farther

We play a ton of creativity games in my class. During these games students are encouraged to push the boundaries of creativity. Once kids get used to being creative encourage them to go farther. Don't just accept the first answer, have them try again. You can check out a few great creativity games here. I love the silly statues!

Don't give an example/answer

- set the ground rules then step back

One of the hardest things that I struggle with as a teacher is letting go of control. However, if we want our students to become more creative they have to have control of their learning. When you are ready for your students to get really creative, give them an assignment, tell them the rules and then step back and let them work it out for themselves. Don't explain every detail of the project. It is ok if doesn't turn out exactly like you plan. This happens a lot to me when we do improvisation. Students know the basic rules but they are free to create within the rules. I can promise you that the way I think an improv will turn out is almost never what actually happens and that's ok!

- don't give the exact same supplies and materials to everyone. 0ffer some choice

This suggestion will lead to some amazing projects. I do this when we create our puppets and make up designs in class. Every student gets the same basic supplies but the specifics are up to the individual. When creating our puppets students first must create an original character, after they have a character they have a huge variety of supplies to choose from. Then end results turn out spectacular. 

As you can see from the picture, the puppets are all the same but each child got a ton of choice in the actual creation. Check out how to create these puppets here!

Offer problems that have multiple solutions

When creating projects, allows for students to have multiple solutions. Try not to have only one right answer. One of my favorite projects is go divide students into groups and allow them each to block the same scene.  When then get together and talk about how everyone had different interpretations of how to present a scene and why each idea was valid. Helping the students get comfortable not "Copying" off of each other is a huge struggle. Encourage and praise students who find new and different solutions to the project. If you want to start encouraging students to find multiple solutions, give them an adaptation of the  circle test from the torrents gifted test. In this test students are given a page of circles and told them to turn it into something. Having students find as many different solutions as possible will really help stretch their creativity. The game "What could it be" Is great for this!

Let the groups struggle

Group work allows students to be more creative then you ever thought possible. When you set up group assignments make sure that you give very specific guidelines and rules. You want to eliminate arguments about procedural items.  Once the groups get started try not to settle arguments regarding the creation or implementation of the project (obviously settle any disagreements regarding rule breaking or meanness). Encourage students to compromise (I hate the complaint- "They are doing my idea" ). Having students find a way to incorporate all ideas will help foster creativity. 

Well I hope you enjoyed part one of my 10 ways to foster creativity. Make sure you stop by next week for my last five ideas! What are some ways you use to foster creativity? Leave me a comment and maybe you will see your idea on the next post!

A funny Thing Happened on the Way to Rehearsal

As a director you need to be able to have a sense of humor. Today is not a day to give advice or great insights today is a day to celebrate the silly. Last week we wrapped our final performances of the year. It was a whirlwind week of rehearsals and performances for everyone. (this is also why there was no blog post last week.) Performing every night in a week is just too hard. As my final show of the year wrapped I looked back and remembered all of the fun my students and I had. Some of the things were crazy, some were huge mistakes, but all were well worth the effort. I love the rehearsal process and I am always amazed at what my students come up with.

Jasmine and the microphone

For our major musical we produced Aladdin Jr. My students did an amazing job, but it was a huge adjustment learning how to be on a big stage. One of the funniest things that happened was watching the kids learn how to use la-viler mics. My kids love to help, and often if someone didn't know a line they would try to whisper the lines to each other. This does not work with a microphone on. We always heard. Jasmine was great, she knew all of her lines and everyone else's. I was always "reminding" her not to whisper lines with a mic on. Well one night she was trying to whisper lines to Aladdin so she proceeded to try and be slick and cover up her microphone. I then told her that i could hear her through Aladdin's mic. So the smart girl she was grabbed the mics and took them both off and then whispered the line. I couldn't hear her whisper then! Success! except for the fact that we then had to break and spend five minutes repositioning the microphones and explaining why that might not be the best solution for not knowing lines.

Pecos bill and the lion

My fourth graders recently finished producing a show on Tall Tales. In the play about Pecos Bill, Bill is attacked by a lion and decides to try and ride him like a horse. Now I often let students help me block their shows. They are allowed to try what they like and then we modify as needed. As we were working on this show Pecos Bill and the Lion were working through the scene. At the end Bill jumped on the Lion's back and rode him off stage. It was the most random yet perfect blocking to end the scene. We ended up keeping it in the show and the audience loved it. This definitely reconfirmed my desire to let students help block. I would never have thought of it any other way. 

5th graders meet Shakespeare 

My 5th grade students performed Macbeth for their showcase. We had a wonderful adaptation that kept a lot of Shakespeare's traditional language in the play. The first day I had students try and guess what different words meant. They had such fun with the thees and thou's. Their favorite part though was reenacting the witches scenes. They loved to "double double boil and trouble" It was great watching them learn how to speak the language. But We did have several mispronounced words and misunderstandings, "What Ho" means something very different today then it did back then!

How old is 60 year old

So I made the "mistake" of allowing my third grade students complete character analysis on their characters. They learned a ton about their character and their play through this experience. The problem, i learned a lot about how they view "old" people. One of the characters in the play was 60 years old. As soon as the little girl found this out she immediately started playing her like she was a 90 year old women. The girl developed a limp and hunchback over night. When I asked her why she was so old the girl responded Well my character is 60 so I have to make her seem really old... Gee thanks kid

I love the rehearsal process. I love the chaos and experimentation that comes with working with young students and trying to create theatre. Directors of adults would not believe the number of times I simply practice lining up on stage and walking to microphones. Rehearsing for live theatre is always a fun creative event that keeps me loving my job. I hope that a few of these stories put a smile on your face. What crazy events have you ever had rehearsing? Do you think mistakes add to the process or hinder it?

How to Gain Administrative Supprt for your Fine Arts Program

Fine Arts Teachers are in a precarious position.  Every year as contracts come out, FA teachers worry about if their contract will be renewed. It is a sad state of affairs when budget cuts at the school often mean cutting the Fine Arts Department. Sometimes these cuts come in form of a non-renewal but more often these cuts come from the FA budget being decimated. As a Fine Arts teacher, you must advocate for your program and ensure that your students have the program and supplies they need to succeed. This is often a difficult task. To help make this task easier you must gain the support of your administration. A supportive administration will do wonders to help your children succeed. I have a wonderful working relationship with my administrators that I have worked very hard to create. Now this doesn't mean that we always agree or that I get an unlimited budget (oh man do I not get an unlimited budget) but it does mean that I have a working dialog with my administrators that helps make my job easier. Read on to see what I did to gain support.

Fundraising

It is the sad truth that money makes the world go round. Schools that are strapped for cash will often cut the fine arts programs first. This is especially true if your program is constantly needing money and never contributing to the general fund. Your department needs to become financially independent. If you are constantly going to your administration for money they are going to start thinking that you aren't adding value to the school. Your first goal is to simply raise enough money to run your own program. You should be able to cover your supplies, travel expenses and rights to performances. Check out my five creative fundraiser ideas if you need ideas on raising money. After you are able to raise enough money to maintain your own expenses you then need to start making a. "Profit" for the school. We contribute to our school through out major musical. This year we produced Aladdin jr. We made several thousand dollars for the school! If you are making money for the school, the principal will not want to cut your program!

Community performance

With the new leadership evaluation system that most principals are on, community outreach plays a large in the principals overall score. Going and doing community outreach is great for you and your principals' evaluation scores but it is also great for the students. Kids learn so much when they go and perform in their community. They learn how to adjust to different performance venues. They learn the importance of preparation and also being able to adjust on the fly. Most importantly, student learn about giving back to the community. I will never forget when out students went and sang for a nursing home. They came back talking about how happy the people were that we came and visited. They wanted to go back and see them again!

Be flexible but firm

As we all know in schools, things happen. You can't always avoid the last minute things that pop up throughout the school year. Being flexible with your administration can come in very handy. Principal asks you to put together a performance for a principals meeting "sure I would love to" is a great response. I once knew a theatre teacher who refused to be flexible ever. Her administration had accidentally scheduled the Winter Showcase over one of her early blocking rehearsals (meaning she had several months to make this rehearsal up). She refused to cancel/reschedule her rehearsal and threatened to not excuse students who wanted to perform in the showcase. This caused a lot of animosity between her and administration. Administration still made her cancel her rehearsal and both her and the principal were upset over the exchange. All of this could have been avoided with a little flexibility. If it all possible be flexible when your principal asks for something. If it is reasonable and you can reasonably accommodate them, always say yes.

Not only will flexibility help you create good will with your administration, it will also help you have good standing with your Principal when you need to say NO. My principal and I have a very good working relationship and she trusts me. She knows I will not say No to her unless I have a very good reason. Once we had a disagreement about how many students to put in a dance class. She wanted to let every student who had a desire to take dance on a grade level, take dance. I disagreed. I wanted to cap the class so that the teacher would not be overwhelmed (45 first graders in one classroom is just too many). She and I had a discussion, but I was firm. She could not put that many students in the class. It would hurt the program and that teacher's performances. She finally agreed and we were able to move on. I firmly believe that you need to be firm in your beliefs on what is best for the children. Say yes when you can, but when you feel like you must say no, do so firmly and have very good reasons ("I don't want to" is often not a great reason).

Get parent support

Parents can be your most valuable asset when it comes to gaining support from your administration. Keep your parents happy, and you will keep your administration happy.  Parents love to see their students perform and succeed. They love the opportunities you provide their child. Lets be honest, very core teachers have students performing and competing as much as Fine Arts Teachers do. Use this to your advantage. Give students the opportunity to perform. It always amazes me that no matter how many performance opportunities we give our students to perform (4+ a year), parents still want more. Parents will love you and it will create good good will with your administration.

Parents can also be your biggest support if your position is ever cut. I know of so many stories of Fine Arts teachers being re-instated at schools because parents went to the school board and complained. Parents hate it when the Arts get cut from a school. They really hate it when a fabulous arts teacher gets cut from a school. Sometimes going to the school board often enough will actually help save your job. Keeping parents happy is well worth the effort.

Put on awesome performances

The most important way to gain support is to put on quality performances. Do not throw a performance together at the last minute. Do not put on a performance that you are not proud of. Yes there is always more you can do to  improve your shows, but you need to first put in the effort. Choose quality material that is appropriately challenging. Encourage the students to go beyond their limits and then throw in a small amount of flash. Students love to perform. This is why you became a Fine Arts teacher in the first place. To teach students to love the arts and performance. Enjoy the process and do what you do best. For more tips on how to direct an awesome performance visit my Director's Corner. 

How do you gain support for your administration? Did I leave off any ideas? Do you think it is important to have support of your administration? What do you do if you don't have the support you need? 

Using Reader's Theatre to Increase Students' Creativity and Inference Skills

I love Reader's Theater. When I am looking for a short play for my class to perform. I often will choose a royalty free reader's theatre piece. For those who don't know Reader's Theater is a great addition to any classroom. It is a great way to engage the students and have them increase their reading fluency and creativity at the same time. Reader’s Theatre can be as simple or as complex as you want. Students can read from their chairs or create a full production. 

Reasons I love Reader's Theater

1. Easily engages all students- most students will pay more attention if they know they must speak at a certain time.
2. Easily differentiates for  different learning styles/levels- the same script can have advanced parts and easier parts so that all students feel successful.
3.  Easy group work- My favorite scripts are ones that have 4-6 characters. You can easily divide up your groups into different plays and have heterogeneous mixture of ability levels and all engaged.
4. Easy whole group instruction- Most plays can either be adapted to fit a whole group or just naturally come with enough parts for everyone in class. This way you can easily assess all student's level of engagement and understanding of a topic. 
5. Increased reading fluency-To be able to perform a play students must practice and rehearse. RT forces students to read their material multiple times. The more often they read a script the more often they see words, the better they will become at reading. 
6. Increases inference ability- Scripts very rarely state things explicitly, instead students must learn to infer emotions, costumes, feeling, props and all other aspects of the story based on simply dialog. Students who become proficient at RT become great investigators who are able to easily infer meaning from texts. 

Hopefully I have convinced you to give Reader's Theatre a try. If you are always using Reader's Theater in your classroom, read on to see how you can use RT to increase student's inference skills.

Character Analysis

Have students create a character analysis of their character. This is a great time to talk about internal vs external traits. I often like to have the students draw a picture of what they think the character's external traits are, then answer some questions on their internal traits. Be very careful not to let any students "off the hook" about character analysis. There are character choices you can make about even the smallest of characters.  You will often things like "my character only has one line I dont know anything about him" Have the student analyze what the character said, where the character lives, how old the character is etc. If they cannot find explicitly in the play an answer, have them make an educated guess then back up their reasoning "I think this character is 27 because they have one small kid". I would also warn you to be aware of the narrator trap. Most RT scripts contain a narrator. You can still do character analysis on a narrator. Look at if the narrator is biased, how intelligent the narrator is, if the narrator enjoys telling the story etc. 

Technical Analysis

Technical elements of theatre include the props, costumes, sound, lighting, and sets used in a production. Often times a playwright does not explicitly say what these elements look like. While they might give suggestions, "this play is set in a one room school house" they often leave the logistics up to the director (how many chairs you want, if you need a blackboard, etc). Allowing students to begin designing the technical elements for a reader's theatre production forces students to use their inference and reasoning skills. For example we recently completed a RT about Tall Tales from the Wild West. In the play John Henry, Pecos Bill, Sally Ann Thunder, Annie Oakley and Paul Bunion all get together to swap stories. Students had to infer the setting (a campfire) the time of day (night) and the costumes. Students did research of the costumes their characters might wear by looking up information on their character. They had to design a nighttime campfire scene to set the play in. We discussed how to make the room look dark without completely turning off all lights because the audience had to see them. They choose to use blue and purple lights to give the effect. Having students create a technical analysis of a play is a great way to build inference and creativity. Keep in mind students can simply propose ideas if you do not have the time/money to actually create props and costumes.

Program Design

Program design is a great way to engage and asses your more visual learners. If you have students who love to draw and create this part of the project is perfect for them. Students create a four page program (front cover) cast list, play synopsis, and back advertisement.  The cover must include the Title, Playwright, and Performance time/place. It also must include a picture that captures the essence of the play and makes people want to see it. Students then write up the cast list and a play summary. The summary is obviously a great way to check for understanding of the key plot points. On the back cover of the program I let students design an add for an upcoming performance. If you aren't holding any more performances let them create an add for a play they would love to perform. Once again this can either be a simple classroom assignment that all students complete, or you can have students design your actual programs for the performance.

Ticket Design/ Poster Design

Another great way to engage students in RT is to allow them to create the posters and tickets for the performance. If you want this to be a classroom assignment you can but I would encourage you to perform the play for someone (even if it is just another class that wants to come watch). Students can create posters and actually hang them up around school to advertise their show. They can also take posters home to parents to display on the fridge. Tickets are another great design piece. If you decide to do this production for parents, letting the students take handmade tickets home to give to parents, then collecting those tickets at the door, really adds a since of flair to the productions. Students get a huge kick out of putting on "a real performance" with tickets. As with the program design students must use their inference skills to find an important scene to display. They need to find a scene that is engaging and important but doesn't give to much away. They need to be able to infer what will make the audience come and see the production.

Reader's Theatre Unit

I love Reader's Theatre. If you are interested in using RT in your classroom, make sure you check out my Reader's Theatre Unit on teacherspayteachers. It has worksheets for all the items discussed in this post. It is a great packet to use with any RT production you might choose. If you need any help coming up with ideas of how to run RT in your class or simply need ideas of plays that might work for you feel free to contact me or leave me a comment. I am always willing to help fellow teachers who are trying out a play!

Have you ever use reader's theatre in your class? What were the difficulties? Did you find that RT engaged your students?

Using Greek Togas to Prepare for the Theatre SLO

This year I have had to start giving the dreaded SLO's (nicknamed slows in our school). For those who haven't experienced an SLO yet let me give you a rundown. A SLO stands for Student Learning Objective. They are basically tests for the classes that aren't typically given state tests. Students are given a pre-test at the beginning of the year and then are expected to grow X % amount by the end. In my county these tests are all multiple choice. That means that students have to show growth not by their acting but by text analysis and their ability to answer questions on acting. I have mixed feelings on the SLOs which I will get into at a later date but for now I want to focus on how you engage and excite your students while covering the seemingly boring topics. I have a very very limited amount of time to get my students to show 35% growth (only 40 minutes a week = 27 hours total a year) that is a lot of growth per hour. So I try to pack a ton of punch into each lesson. For the next few weeks I am focusing on the following topics: theatre history, rehearsal process, script analysis, and character analysis. My plan is to start off with Greek theatre and then hit the highlights of other major history eras. Each week students will get a crash course in a new part of theatre history. They will learn a little about the time period then perform a scene or adaptation from the time. Hopefully threw performing in several types of plays, the students will learn a lot about the rehearsal process, script analysis and character analysis, and a little about theatre history. It is not a perfect plan but I have to work with what time I've got.

Greek History

For Greek history I had a few facts that I wanted students to know by the end of the lesson

- Greeks were the first people in western civilization to perform traditional plays

-Greeks invented the chorus. I also wanted them to be able to explain what a chorus was and how it was used by the Greeks.

-the first actor came from Greek plays- Thespis. They also made the connection of why our drama club is called the Young Thespians

-Greeks performed the plays for religious ceremonies. We also very very briefly touched on Greek Gods and Goddess, luckily they had already covered that in their ELA class.

King Midas and the Golden Touch

I lucked out something major this year with my 5th grade ELA teacher. She and I just happened to pick the same story to study in both of our classes. This doesn't happen very often but when it does it sure makes life easier. I am trying to be much more organized and actually plan out these happy coincidences but it is a slow process. She had previously taught King Midas and the Golden Touch, I just so happened to have a wonderful Readers Theatre adaptation of the same story, so my script analysis portion took very little time for this play.

Since the students had already read the story and new the basic plot we could move right into our rehearsal block. I cast the play being very mindful to cast people who weren't often my leads as main characters. This was a great way to force my tech students out of their shell. We rehearsed the play being very mindful of blocking and characterization for this play. After we had rehearsed the play twice (this play really only lasts about 4 minutes so it was great for my time frame), we took a break to discuss the characters. We also talked about the differences between the short story they read in class and our play. 

Then it was time to have fun, I had put on a Greek play a few years ago, so I had already purchased a ton of white bed sheets. If you don't have any, run to goodwill and get some. You will use them all the time. I gave each kid a sheet and taught them how to wrap a toga. The kids loved putting on costumes for the play. After they were dressed it was time for the Final Performance. Students were graded on their ability to follow the correct blocking, project their voice, act in character and follow the script. The students had a wonderful time and learned a ton. I am hoping that if I keep this same format up for several weeks they might just learn a thing or to?

SLO breakdown

For my SLO students must know the following information.

-Order of rehearsal process (audition, casting, read through, blocking, finishing rehearsal, final dress, performance). With this assignment the students were able to experience casting, read through, blocking, finishing and a final dress/performance).

- Character analysis: Use history to create character- This one is obvious, we talked about Greek performances and choruses then performed one.

-Character analysis: Internal/ External traits based on text- Each student had to describe their character and use the text to prove it. Being able to use textual support is a huge push on our new Common Core so my ELA teacher had already been covering this in class. The kids were great at reading the lines and proving their character choices "My character is a young girl because in the script she says "Daddy play with me" and that tells me she is still young enough to want to play with her parents"

-Acting/ Rehearsal: Blocking- I had students talk about stage pictures and how you avoid lines. We also talked about how since King Midas was the lead he would often be at the top of our "triangle"

-Theatre History: Students learned a ton about Greek history in this lesson. They were even able to give me the highlights in our exit slips!

-Technical Theatre: Costumes- Students learned how to create a toga, while creating a toga isn't necessarily on the SLO it is always great to remind students about "historically accurate"  costuming. I know these togas aren't actually historically accurate but we were working with the time and money we had. :)

How do you all teach theatre history? Have you found Readers Theatre to be a great way to engage your students in reading and text analysis?

3 Free Theatre Arts Integration Strategies that Work

My school is great! My principal has really embraced the idea of arts integration throughout our entire building. She really wants to make sure that all teachers have the tools they need to be able to integrate the fine arts into the core Curriculum. She has even brought in professional artists in each area to give professional development. It's great. What's not so great, the advice i always hear from the theatre pd. For some reason every professional development i attend that talks about integrating theatre into classroom falls back on one vocab word: tableaux.

I hate tableaux! There I said it. For those that don't know a tableaux is a frozen stage picture. Students can create a picture of anything, a scene from a play, the food chain, a land-form, a story, a moment in history. It's all very helpful, but I am one of the few theatre teachers who cannot stand tableaux. I realize that if you are a core teacher, making the kids freeze is a lot less scary then letting them move. But really isn't moving part of the fun?

Since I hate tableaux so much, it makes me so sad to see professional development that only encourages teachers to have the students freeze. I decided I had to do something about it. So I now present to you: 

3 Theatre Arts Integration Strategies that Work

Story Time Freeze

This is for the teacher that loves tableaux, who is scared to let the students move much. Every story has a beginning, middle, and end. Whether that story is a moment in History or the food chain. Have students create a frozen picture of the beginning middle and end of their story. This not only gets students thinking about the order of a story but also has them work on transitions and how characters and things change throughout en event.

Pantomime

If you don't like noise, but don't mind a little chaos, pantomime is for you! Pantomime or mime is when you act without words. Having students try to convey a topic without using their voice takes a lot of creativity. For example, how could you act out the signing of the deceleration of independence without words, how could you show the parts of a cell and their jobs without words? This activity is great. You can always have the students explain their performance afterward (or they could write about it). I love pantomime as a well to demonstrate knowledge.

Press Conference

This is a great differentiation strategy. Choose a few of your advanced students to be your character (parts of a plant, planets, members of parliament). These students will answers all the questions in character. All of your other students will be the reporters that interview your guests. You can either have the students submit their questions or let them ad-lib their questions. Your interviewers should ask their questions. You can then have them write a newspaper article about the interview. 

Download my free lesson plan guide with more information on these strategies. Don't forget to follow my blog and TeachersPayTeachers site for more awesome freebies.

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Stage directions battleship

So for the week before spring break, which always happens to be crazy, I decided to adapt a game I saw on Pinterest for theatre. The original game was a musical note battle ship Check it out here!. It looked like so much fun that I thought my students could benefit from it as well. The kids loved it and it was great to play a game right before the break!

Set up

For each board you need two Manila folders and eight tokens (2  of four colors). Once I had the boards made I reused them for each class but you could have them create their own to take home.

First staple the two folders together so that one side can stand while the other side is flat on the ground (see picture). Then you or the students need to label the parts of the stage. This is a great time to talk about the difference between stage directions and house directions.

Rules of the game.

Player one goes first. Player one places four tokens (one from each color) anywhere on the board. The only rule is you can only have one token per space. Player two must then use stage directions to guess  how the director arranged the stage. 

"Is the red token down stage right"

"Miss"

"Is the blue token center stage?" 

"Hit"

When player two correctly guesses where a token is placed, player two places the corresponding token on his board (blue center stage) 

Player two continues to guess until they figure out player one's stage picture. Once the stages match, they game flips and it becomes player two's turn to direct and design the stage picture.

Advanced play

No horizontal or vertical lines (talk about how directors try to avoid straight lines on stage so they can't have straight lines on the board)

Two per square (allow two people to share the same space)

Script based (stage picture must be based off a script)

Adaptation 

I feel like there is a way to play this same game and teach foot positions (profile, full front etc) I am working on it!

This spring break I am going to try and create a cute board and standing people to use with the game to make it more realistic. Check back later to see the final result!

Five Ways to Recover from a Bad Rehearsal

Well it is the month of the Middle School Production. I have discovered that blogging and tech week don't mix. I think for the month of the show I am only going to be able to write one post a week, so I will try to make it a good one.

We all have had it happen. You go to in to rehearse and everything goes wrong. The kids haven't memorized their lines, half the group has forgotten their choreography, the prop crew forgets a scene change, and the lights crew misses several cues. Everything seems to go wrong. How do you recover and refocus your cast? How do you ensure that this rehearsal doesn't affect your final performance?

1. Have a "Come to Theatre" meeting

I am from the South. In the South the little old church ladies will often have a "Come to Jesus" meeting. At this meeting, the ladies find a group and tell them all the things they are doing wrong and how they can solve all their problems by coming to Jesus. 

The come to theatre meeting is very similar. Call your cast together and talk about your goals for the show. This is not a time to yell cry or make a scene, but this is a time to be brutally honest. Let the students know exactly what they are doing wrong and what they can do to fix it. I would be careful about who you call out by name but if you think it would be effective you can. Make sure you talk about how you all want the show to be successful and how they should take pride in their performance. I also like to throw in a bit about ensemble and how we are only as good as our weakest player. I once had a director tell us to go home and think about their performance and if they would have a job if this was a professional theatre. I also like to give the students concrete things to work on. Go memorize lines with a friend, sing to the cd three times. Etc.

2. Team Huddle

After you are done with your meeting, it is often a good idea to huddle the team. The kids are going to feel a little downtrodden and unsure about their upcoming show. You want to leave on a positive note. You want them to know that you believe in them and know they can succeed. If you have a group or class cheer you might want to do that. Team huddle is all about being positive and re-energizing the cast.

3. Student Leaders

On every cast there are a few students who are your leaders. Hopefully you have a good relationship with a few of these leaders. Pull these leaders aside individually and talk to them about they can help the success of the show. Maybe they can mentor some of then lead roles to help prepare. Maybe they can help the students focus backstage. Maybe they can reteach some choreography or songs. Use your student leaders to your advantage. If you can get them refocused and re-enrgized the battle will be so much easier.

4. Set the Kids up for Success.

At the start of the next rehearsal you want to start off on a really good note. You want the kids to get their confidence back. Pick a scene song or dance that you know your kids can nail and have them start off with that. You want to up the students' confidence level before you start working on the hard stuff. When you are done with the scene. Praise the kids, let them know how great they did. You want their confidence up for the start of the rehearsal. 

5. Trust the Process

Bad rehearsals happen. Our school has a superstition that if you don't have a bad rehearsal at least once the week before the show, the show will fail. You and your students have worked so hard for the production. You all have done everything you can to prepare for the show. The kids want to do well. The audience wants to see the kids succeed. The show will be great. No one will know if students miss a few lines or misstep on a dance. Most kids are "show kids" they drive us crazy in the rehearsal process but pull it out for the show. If you have all done the work the show will be great. Be positive and try not to worry.

I hope these tips help you when you are faced with a bad rehearsal right before a show. What else have you done to recover from a bad rehearsal? How to do you refocus your kids? Do bad rehearsals happen to anyone else or is it just me :)

Brain Break: Silly Suspect

Premise

The premise of the game is simple. A police officer is interviewing a suspect about an unknown crime(let the kids make it up). The suspect is very silly though and can only say one word. This game results in hilarious conversations between the officer and suspect. 

Rules

Police officer can only ask classroom appropriate questions. The suspect can only answer using the silly word. Encourage your suspect to use nonverbal communication and vocal inflection to communicate the answers while only saying the one word.

Twist: have a competition between your two actors, the first one to giggle or break character looses.

Students should try to ask silly questions that make the answer seem even more outrageous.

Steps

Before the game write out several silly words on index cards (see silly words below). 

For each round choose two students to perform. Try to pick a quieter student for the suspect. This makes it easier since they already know what they are going to say. It also helps students build confidence in front of an audience and sets the student up for success. Pick a confident or gifted student as your police person. This will push those students to develop their creativity and improvisation skills.

Suggested words

You can really use any silly word you want for this game,but here are a few suggestions.

Apple

Wackadoodle

Lalalamoooo

Pizza

Mommy

Baby doll

Zipitiy 

Puppy dog

Blah blah blah

Guitar

Candy

Penguins

Hocus locus

Director's Corner: Top Ten Tips for a Great Musical Theatre Rehearsal

Every director wants their rehearsals to run as smoothly as possible. However whenever you bring 50+ students together after school, with one tired teacher and try to get them all to focus on creating a production chaos ensues. Trust me I have been there. I can still remember about half way through my first major production, just sitting  in a rehearsal and thinking "this will never work" kids were running everywhere, no one was focused and we were not accomplishing anything. Something had to change. Luckily I have learned a lot since those first disastrous rehearsals. Read on to see my ten tips for a great rehearsal.

Have a plan- then over plan

If you missed last weeks post on creating a rehearsal schedule, go back and read it. Having a completed rehearsal schedule will definitely help your rehearsals. Not only does it help you plan your daily rehearsal, it also lets the kids know what to expect. There is nothing worse than kids showing up without a script to a read through or worse kids showing up in binding clothes for a dance rehearsal. Having a plan already sets you up for success (I could quote the ever popular saying "if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail" but who needs that in their life). Once you have a plan, you can also know what needs to be done. For example if you learn one dance you will know exactly which dance you need to teach next without searching through the script. This is even more valuable with blocking and singing rehearsals. Having a plan and letting everyone know the plan will definitely set you up for success.

Create a sign-in procedure

This is a simple tip but has saved me so many headaches. From the first rehearsal on have a sign-in procedure for all actors and tech. There are two reasons for this. One, it allows you to very quickly see who is here and who isn't (especially great for runthroughs and performances). Two it keeps the kids accountable. All of my students must sign a rehearsal contract. (More on that next). Part of the rehearsal contract is that if you miss too many rehearsals you can't be in the play. Students are responsible for signing into rehearsal, if they forget it could count as a strike against them. This helps teach responsibility. 

Have all student actors and tech sign rehearsal contracts

As I mentioned above a rehearsal contract is a must. This contract outlines exactly what is expected for the students in the rehearsal. I include parts about attendance, tardiness, late pick ups, grades, backstage behavior, and costume requirements. This contract has saved me many times. It gave me a way to address parents who were picking their children up two hours late. It gave me a way to talk to students who would constantly talk backstage. It also gave me easy answers when students ask if they can skip rehearsal. If you want an easy contract download from my teacherspayteachers store.

Allow the group to self manage

It is very rare that I have to raise my voice in rehearsal (at least because of discipline). My students know that I will not continue rehearsal until they focus. This can be a huge problem for them. We typically have over 1,000 audience members every night of a show. That is a lot of pressure. My students know what they risk of they don't focus. They know that I am doing all in my power to to make them look good. If they are talking, I can't make them look good. That is a huge issue for them, when things start getting out of hand all I have to do is stop talking and look at my watch. This lets them know that they are wasting time. Usually after a minute of this kids start whispering shhhh and such and they refocus themselves. While this approach takes a little more time, I like it because it keeps me from yelling, and it helps create a since of ensemble. We are all working together to succeed.

Train you tech separately

I am a huge advocate for having a student tech crew. I think that tech is one area of theatre that is hugely underrepresented as a whole. Tech is fun and gives students who aren't "stars" a chance to shine and participate. This is also where you are going to build your leadership skills. Let students take control of their area, let them have some hand in the creation of props, costumes, lights, and sound. Give the some responsibility. That being said, you need to teach them what needs to be done on each tech job. The time to teach this is not when you have 60 actors who are also demanding your attention. Your first meeting with tech should be without the actors, and if possible your first tech through should be with only tech. You can also work with them on days when your music director or choreographer is working with the actors. You want your tech to know what to do enough so that once you start runthroughs they know what to do and you don't have to worry about them. A good tech crew will make or break your show, train them well! If you need some help, my rehearsal packet also includes a tech packet to help prepare them.

Allow collaboration

Theatre is a collaborative art form. You cannot create theatre without collaboration. This collaboration comes in many forms. First trust your other teachers. I can't dance. No one wants to see me dance. Really I am that bad. My choreographer for the show is an amazing dancer, and she is even better at choreography. She creates so many things that I could never think of. I just have to give her my very general idea and she makes magic. (I can tell her I want something's flow-y and cloud like and she creates beautiful ballets). If I didn't collaborate with her, my play would not be nearly as awesome as it was. I have to trust the other adults to do what they do. I could give you so many examples of this. If there is someone on your team who has a talent, let them be responsible for that part. It allows for magic to happen and you don't have to worry as much about it getting done. Teachers can also collaborate with students. I know this sounds crazy but our students are so creative and have so many great ideas. I was once blocking a scene where Pecos Bill tamed a mountain lion and made him into a horse. When the two students exited, bill jumped piggy-back on the lion's back. It was unscripted but wonderful. We ended up keeping it in the play and the audience loved it. Allow the kids to try some of their ideas. You can always adapt or say no to them if they don't work. Students have a great ability to think outside the box. Use their creativity to your advantage and collaborate with them.

Celebrate small wins

A big production can seem overwhelming. Break the play down and celebrate the small successes. The first time students learn a dance: celebrate. The first time students go off book:  celebrate. The first  time you make it all the way through the play: celebrate a lot! These celebrations don't have to be big. Sometimes just a big cheer or a mini dance break is all you need. Just something fun to let them know you are proud of them and they are doing a great job!

Use remind.com

I mentioned this service the other day. This is a FREE text service that allows you to text your parents while still keeping your phone number private. It is a great service for drama. You can text rehearsal changes, costume reminders, time of performances etc. Really I cannot recommend this service enough, you need to go and sign up. It really will change your life.

Create a safe space

This is very very important in any class but especially in a rehearsal setting. You are asking students to show raw emotion on stage. They will only give you their best performance, if they feel safe. Do not let kids mock each other. Nip any of that silliness in the bud. I realize that a lot of this happens behind your back where it is hard to hear, let the kids know that if they are caught being mean to one another, they will be kicked out of the show. Typically if you can catch a couple of main offenders and talk to their parents, this will usually nip it in the bud. You might also want to consider blocking sensitive scenes with as few students as possible. This is very very true for any love scenes or kissing scenes. You do not want kids trying to figure out how to kiss in front of the whole company. Make sure students feel safe and do whatever you can to encourage them to show those true emotions,

Have fun!

This is an after school production. Students are here because they want to be. They love being in shows and they like learning about theater and the love performing. Have fun, try not to stress so much about the final product that you forget how much fun the process is, enjoy the experience. You and the students will miss it when the final curtain falls. Enjoy this production and have fun with your students as you create!

Purchase my Rehearsal Packet at my TPT store

These are some of my best tips for having a rehearsal. What tips did I leave off? What would you suggest directors do to have a successful rehearsal?

Brain Break: What Can It Be?

What can it be? Is one of my favorite creativity increasing brain breaks around. It works for any grade level and can be played for as long or as short as you like. This game is super easy to set up and will have the kids thinking creatively and critically in no time!

The premise of the game is simple, give the students an object and say "I know this is a ------, but what can it be?" Students then use their creative and critical thinking skills to come up with as many different ways you could use the object and demonstrating that use. I only have two rules for this game 1) must be class room appropriate 2) you can't repeat what someone else said. 

Here is how the game is played at my school. 

First everyone comes and sits in a circle (you could have them stay that their desks but I like to get them closer together for the game). 

Next bring out any random item you have. I like to start with very nondescript items (length of fabric, a stick) and move towards more specific items (toothbrush, pencil)

Then tell you students "I know this is a ------, but what can it be?" ( if this is your first time playing you night want to give a few creative examples to get the thinking flowing).

Finally have the students answer the question one at a time acting out their answer. (For example the stick could be a baseball bat- act out swinging a bat, a dog stick - play fetch, or a curling iron - act out curling hair). The round is over when either everyone in the circle has passed or you run out of time.

For me this game is all about creativity. There are no wrong answers. If they can act it out and it's class appropriate, it counts. After the first round, if students can't think of an idea I let them pass their turn, but in the first round all must compete. This also forces some kids to be very creative. If possible I try to set it up so my more creative/gifted kids get the item near the end of the round, while my quieter students get it first.  I like to have the class compete against itself to come up with the most creative answers. Our towel is the winner at 55 different uses!

This game is great because it is simple, yet very funny. It really makes the kids look at items in a different light and try new ideas. Below are several of the ways the kids came up for what a towel can be! (unfortunately I was not taking notes they day we played with a towel, so several of the answers have been forgotten).

A skirt

A dress

A head wrap

A blanket

A pillow

A shawl

A hula costume

A rope

A whip

A mask

A parachute

A backpack

Rapunzel hair

A table cloth

A picnic cloth

A ghost costume

A trap

A foot warmer

A belt

A jump rope 

A tug of war starter kit

A necklace

A bracelet

A sleeping bag

A dog toy

A way to hide from penguins (the white towel in snow)

A band-aid

An animal carrier

A sweat rag

A super hero cape

String to a really big guitar

A door mat

A dog drying device 

I hope your class likes this game! How many ways did you all come up with for using a towel?

Students as Puppeteers, How to Make 80 Rod Puppets in a Week

I teach a lot of students. I mean I have a crazy number of students (over 500). This means that when we want to do any sort of art project I have to be able to do it for an entire grade level. This means that 80 kids need to be able to create puppets in the same week. It's a little overwhelming to say the least. For my upper grades I really try to do a meaningful puppet with them, so we create rod puppets.

I love rod puppets. They are easy to make and look great. I also like to introduce Japanese Bunraku Puppetry with this unit, even though technically Bunraku puppets are much more complex then the rod puppets we make, the students get a kick out of learning about a new culture. I use this video to introduce Japanese theatre. The link on amazon is down but you can probably find it somewhere. After the students study Bunraku we are ready to make our puppets.

Materials per puppet (buying in bulk helps save money)

12 in dowel any diameter

Masking tape

Newsprint or any scrap paper

Tissue paper or construction paper (I like tissue but construction works and is cheaper)

Googly eyes

Popsicle sticks rubber bands

Craft accessories (yarn, scrap fabric, pipe cleaners, feathers, anything you want rid of)

1 square foot of fabric (ask your parents, fabric stores or friends, there is usually someone who will donate this, I haven't bought fabric for years, if you can't get anyone to donate go to good will and buy lots of sheets, you can get plenty of colors for so much cheaper than at a fabric store)

The cost for me to do an entire grade level is relatively cheap

80 dowels -$10

Sheets - $10

Scrap paper - free

Tape - free 

Popsicle sticks 1000 count - $4

Rubber bands - free

Eye 700 count - $6

Yarn assorted -$8

Other accessories - free (scavenge your room and others, people always have stuff they are throwing out.)

Total about $40 (that's about $0.50 a student so not to shabby)

Step one.

Give each student a rod, square of fabric, tape, scrap paper, and tissue paper. 

Crumple the scrap paper into a ball and tape onto top of rod. I like to make a ball with one piece of paper, then cover it with more onto the stick until it is the size I want. Tape paper to stick head. Make sure some paper is actually taped to the stick.

Step two.

Once you have a big head (haha) add tissue paper to give you puppet a face color, tape this down.

Step three.

Cut a small hole in the middle of the fabric. Pull the fabric up over the stick and tape in place underneath. Hold puppet up. You now have the basic puppet done!

Adding arms 

If I have time on the first day we add the arms, if not wait until the end of 2nd day. Add Popsicle stick to end of fabric secure with rubber band.

Final Product.

Allow kids to decorate their puppets. To save supplies I tell the kids they can choose only 4 items. Every one chooses different supplies and their puppets are always end up being as unique as they are.

I always like to have the students perform with their puppets after they make them. This year we learned about flashback and foreshadowing. Students had to write a mini scene that represented one of those vocabulary words and perform it with the puppet. This turned out great! The students always love this project and they learn a ton about theatre!

I hope you liked this project. Let me know if you try it in your class I would love to know how it turns out.