HS Theater Lesson: Tracey Dann

Improv Lesson Plan

Grade/Conten
High School Theater: Grades 9-12
t Area
Lesson Title Day 7: Improv Olympics
State Standards:
GLEs/GSEs
Or Common
Core State
Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.1.C

Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that

relate the current discussion to broader themes or larger ideas;
actively incorporate others into the discussion; and clarify, verify,
or challenge ideas and conclusions.
National Theater Standards.
Content Standard #1: Script writing through improvising,
writing, and refining scripts based on personal experience and
heritage, imagination, literature, and history
Achievement Standard, Proficient:
a) Students construct imaginative scripts and collaborate with
actors to refine scripts so that story and meaning are

Context of the
Lesson

conveyed to an audience
This class is small. It consists of 11 students 9th through 10th
grade. These students are painfully shy. Many of them were
placed in a theater elective by a guidance councilor as opposed to
personal choice.
Two of the students have IEPs. Working in concert with the
Special Educator and a Speech Therapist we have developed a
plan to assist both R and J. R and J are working toward the
ability to have a conversation with each other and others. Their
next project will be a monologue. In an effort to assist R and J,
their monologue has been modified to a practice dialogue
between the two of them. Yet, even with the modification, they
will mimic the Improv happening on stage. I am very proud of
their work.
Everyone in the class has practiced each of the Improv
excersizes on our wheel. They have seen the activity performed
by professionals.
Learner Accommodations: J and R
Presentation:
Learn content from text, movies, videos and digital media as
well as print versions.
Repeated instructions.

Tracey Dann

Page 1 of 8

HS Theater Lesson: Tracey Dann

Use visual presentations of concepts.

Multiple Video Viewings.
Extended time
Shortened assignments
Working with a peer.

Setting accommodations
Materials:
Improv introduction in class.
The Wheel of Improv.
Improv Number Chips.
Props
Improv Assessment Sheet.

Objectives

SWBAT:
Improvise a story with a beginning, middle and end.
Create an environment using language
Create an environment using pantomime.
Apply the rule of Yes, and to small in class improvisations.
Grow comfortable with one another and give one another
respect.

Affective Goal: Review of our Improv Exercises in preparation for

our monologues.

Opening:
Instructional
Procedures

Review the rules of engagement:

Be in the moment, not in your head.
Let yourself fail.
Listen.
Say yes.
Say and...
Play the game.

Engagement: Spinning the Wheel of Improv.

The students are divided into two teams. The teams will rotate
between A and B each turn spinning the wheel and getting graded on
the Improv activity on the wheel. This is their Improv test.

Tracey Dann

Page 2 of 8

HS Theater Lesson: Tracey Dann

Picture It.
o Group stands outside a designated performance space.
o They are given a picture to recreate.
o One person runs into the space, forms her body into a statue
and announces what she is, as in "I'm a tree."
o Instantly the next person runs on and forms something else in
the same picture. "I'm a bench under the tree."
o The next person further adds to the picture. "I'm a bum on
the bench."
o "I'm a dog peeing on the tree."
o "I'm the newspaper the bum is sleeping under."
o Etc., until the whole group is part of the picture.

Yes, and story.

The steps:
1. Moderator organizes students into seated circle of 5-15 people.
2. Moderator explains the rules.
3. Moderator begins the story with "Once upon a time there was a
(something imaginary)."
4) Each participant contributes a "Yes, and...(something)" sentence
to the story
5) Keep going around until the story finds a natural end.
6) Moderator ends the story by saying "The End." and encouraging
applause.

Yes, Lets:
Pick a group activity, like throwing a party or organizing a picnic.
One player starts, saying "Let`s ..." filling in what she wants to do.
Then she starts actually doing what she said she wanted to do. A
second player jumps in, saying "Let`s ..." do something else, to
advance the group

Numbers:

Each student chooses a number. This number represents the

maximum number of words their sentences can contain.
Sound effects can count as words.
They are given a situation to act out.
Their story must have a beginning, middle and end.

Prop Freeze:

Tracey Dann

Each team is given a scenario.

Two team members begin the situation using bold gestures.
Team members offstage shout Freeze, they tap out their
team member, assume their exact position, then completely

Page 3 of 8

HS Theater Lesson: Tracey Dann

change the situation through dialogue or gestures.

Living Scenery

Two team members act out a situation.

The remaining team members must act as the props for the
two human team members.

Late for Work

One team member is removed from the room.

The remaining team members become The boss or the
other employees. They are assigned a place of work and a
three part scenario for the missing employees lateness.
The missing employee returns.
The boss asks why the missing team member is late.
The employees must pantomime clues for the tardy
employee.
The round is over when the employee guesses the place of
business and the reason s/he is late.

Closing:
Assessment

Tracey Dann

Exit ticket on Improv. What could I have done better? What do I

want to work on for our monologue unit?
Each team will be assessed according to a brief checklist rubric
based on the Improv activity spun on the wheel. The Rubric is
attached. Only high and low assessments are provided as this was a
team activity.

Page 4 of 8

HS Theater Lesson: Tracey Dann

Tracey Dann

Page 5 of 8

HS Theater Lesson: Tracey Dann

Overall, I am very happy with the way our lesson turned out. The
students needed the rules of improve review in the opening. I split
students into two teams of 5/6 instead of three teams of 3/4. They
still had the opportunity to participate frequently as individuals, but
there were fewer awkward silences within the group. If competing
this way a second time, I would emphasize the fact that a group
cannot layout a scene before it starts, you have to make it up as you
go. I had assumed that was understood, however our first group
spent time trying to iron out every detail before they started, then
when the story began to veer, they stopped everything to correct and
reset. But once the assessment was underway, both groups were able
to operate effectively within the parameters of the improve. (RIPTS
4, 6.2, 6.3)

Tracey Dann

Page 6 of 8

HS Theater Lesson: Tracey Dann

Some aspects of the assessment needed to be altered on the fly.
For example, the game numbers did not initially have a place for
ranking on a scale of 1-5. However, once the assessment started I
could see that the students were completing part of the task, but their
gestures were not as big as they were in other assessments. As a
result, I rated them on a scale. There was also a differentiating in the
strength of the improve stories created during their Living Scenery
sketches. In order to fairly represent this differentiation, I graded the
story elements on a scale of 1-5. (RIPTS 3.2,3.3)
Picture it, an early improve we learned, was far more effective on
the stage than in the classroom. I adapted it on the fly to look more
like a wax museum improve. Group A, my more reticent actors,
really seemed to enjoy the change. Their participation is reflected in
their grade. (RIPTS 5.1, 5.3, 5.5)
Our Yes, And sessions finally began to flow quickly from one
student to another. They were listening to each other, and were able
to create a beginning, middle and end with little prompting. Their
exit tickets indicate that Yes, and was a very popular part of the
assessment today. I will likely use this exercise as one of several
Do Nows for the remainder of the unit. (RIPTS 8.4)
The Numbers improv is involves both language skills and the
creating of beginning, middle and end. I scaffolded the plot flow for
them by cueing We have a beginning, now give me a middle.... now
give me an end. With the extra nudge, all of the parts of the story
were there. However, their gesturing was less animated as everyone
was working hard to count the number of words in each sentence.
Yet, for a group of students so introverted, I was happy with the
ultimate result. (RIPTS 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.4, 6.2,9.2)
Only one group was able to get to their Late for work sketch.
Their situation was crazy. (It worked well to have the watching team
declare situations for the performing team.) The gestures could have
been bigger, but for the most part they were effective. The missing
employee was able to determine their workplace very quickly, and
then the three part reason followed. (RIPTS
In their exit tickets, students were able to identify their favorite
improv. But I was most pleased with the students ability to identify
accurately the area in which they need assistance to improve. The
most frequent response for areas of improvement were
demonstrating emotions and projection. We will work on both areas
beginning next week. (RIPTS 9.4)
For my own exit ticket, I am a little sad no one spun prop
freeze. We had many props, and the students used some of them
for their improv, but we did not get to do a proper prop freeze. I
may leave the bag of props handy and incorporate them into what we
do for the remainder of the unit. (RIPTS 2.3)

Tracey Dann

Page 7 of 8

HS Theater Lesson: Tracey Dann

Tracey Dann

Page 8 of 8