Wild Thing
Well here I am at the end of the semester and finally getting back to my Arts Bridge Drama Blog. I seriously underestimated how much other things would catch up with me. It's a good thing I took notes.
The last 2 weeks of September we delved into some creative and process drama. Guess what we did.... That's right you wild thing.
Now of course half the students had already read the book so there were choruses of "I have that book", "I read that book yesterday" and "That books funny". But I told them that in order for me to read it, they had to help me. When we got to the wild rumpus they got to roar their roars, gnash their teeth, show their claws, and stomp their feet..... but only when my hand was raised. So, together we made an orchestra of noises and movement with the rumpus.
After we had read the book we had a character walk where the students started as themselves and slowly morphed into wild things. Their task was to show me what kind of wild thing they were. What did their face look like, what did their body look like, how did they move. Then as they were still their wild thing they would create a tableau of their creature showing a certain emotion that I would say. Their wild thing would show me mad, happy, hungry, sleepy and other emotions. After all those emotions we shook off our characters and called it a day.
The second day I reminded them of the story by doing a few rounds of the rumpus. Then, we started right off with a process drama. I instructed the students to put on their wolf costume and become Max. After exploring their house and creating the details in their mind they caused a little mischief. I became the mother and sent them to their room. I then led them through a narration of the story as they acted it out in their own spaces. Then once we got to the island, I let them get out of their space and romp a little bit. As I narrated I gave them options for what they could do. I started to lose some of them and then I had an idea. I asked the students if some of them would like to become wild things. Half of them did. So as the wild things almost pounced on the Max's they instinctively yelled what Max yelled. "Be Still!" It was magic. The wild things were still. I hadn't done anything it was all them. We continued through the story until we were all safe back in Max's room. The question I asked them and had some share their answers was how did they feel about Mother. Were they excited to see her? Nervous because they had made a mess? I let the rest think about it as we concluded.
The focus of these two lessons was story. Getting them to use words like beginning, middle, end, plot, characters, event. So, I sprinkled those words throughout the lessons and the students picked up very quickly.
Management was a bit more difficult in these lessons. A number of students started to wander or shout out when we were on the carpet or other times. Perhaps I've lost the initial wonder of a new thing or maybe it was a bit more freedom in movement. Anyways, my plan for the next lesson was to practice the carpet is calling until they got it right and to use good old coercion. I can't do this activity with you unless you can listen to instructions. To leave off, here's some pictures of the students being wild things.
The last 2 weeks of September we delved into some creative and process drama. Guess what we did.... That's right you wild thing.
Now of course half the students had already read the book so there were choruses of "I have that book", "I read that book yesterday" and "That books funny". But I told them that in order for me to read it, they had to help me. When we got to the wild rumpus they got to roar their roars, gnash their teeth, show their claws, and stomp their feet..... but only when my hand was raised. So, together we made an orchestra of noises and movement with the rumpus.
After we had read the book we had a character walk where the students started as themselves and slowly morphed into wild things. Their task was to show me what kind of wild thing they were. What did their face look like, what did their body look like, how did they move. Then as they were still their wild thing they would create a tableau of their creature showing a certain emotion that I would say. Their wild thing would show me mad, happy, hungry, sleepy and other emotions. After all those emotions we shook off our characters and called it a day.
The second day I reminded them of the story by doing a few rounds of the rumpus. Then, we started right off with a process drama. I instructed the students to put on their wolf costume and become Max. After exploring their house and creating the details in their mind they caused a little mischief. I became the mother and sent them to their room. I then led them through a narration of the story as they acted it out in their own spaces. Then once we got to the island, I let them get out of their space and romp a little bit. As I narrated I gave them options for what they could do. I started to lose some of them and then I had an idea. I asked the students if some of them would like to become wild things. Half of them did. So as the wild things almost pounced on the Max's they instinctively yelled what Max yelled. "Be Still!" It was magic. The wild things were still. I hadn't done anything it was all them. We continued through the story until we were all safe back in Max's room. The question I asked them and had some share their answers was how did they feel about Mother. Were they excited to see her? Nervous because they had made a mess? I let the rest think about it as we concluded.
The focus of these two lessons was story. Getting them to use words like beginning, middle, end, plot, characters, event. So, I sprinkled those words throughout the lessons and the students picked up very quickly.
Management was a bit more difficult in these lessons. A number of students started to wander or shout out when we were on the carpet or other times. Perhaps I've lost the initial wonder of a new thing or maybe it was a bit more freedom in movement. Anyways, my plan for the next lesson was to practice the carpet is calling until they got it right and to use good old coercion. I can't do this activity with you unless you can listen to instructions. To leave off, here's some pictures of the students being wild things.
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