Title: What Are You Doing?

Focus Questions:
How do we use our bodies to show an audience what we are doing?

Goals: Students will be able to Assessment: Teacher will
1) recall how their voice, facial expressions,
and movement can create a character.
- By writing down students ideas and
suggestions for how we used our bodies to
create characters last class, teacher will
informally assess students knowledge of how
actors develop characters using many aspects
of their bodies. Successful students will be
able to recall the activities we did, but more
importantly, how the variations of each
exercise created new characters.
2) explain how they can use their bodies to
clearly show an audience what their character
is doing.
- By writing down students ideas and
suggestions for the class can be more
successful at acting out their actions in What
are you doing?, teacher will informally assess
students knowledge of the right and wrong
ways to mime an action. Successful students
will be able to explain why certain ways
students acted out an action did not work and
why other ways were successful.
- examine students sentences on the back of
their scenes which explain what the student
believes their character should be doing and
how the student will act it out. Successful
students ideas will match the content of their
scene.
3) mime different actions. - informally assess students during Yes
Lets! and What are you doing?, looking to
see what choices students make in acting out
the activity. Successful students will make
clear decisions that correctly portray the given
action.


NYCDOE Learning Strands:
NYCDOE Theatre Strand 1: Theatre Making: Acting, Playwriting/Play Making, Designing and Technical Theatre, and Directing
NYCDOE Theatre Strand 2: Developing Theatre Literacy
NYCDOE Theatre Strand 3: Making Connections

NYS Learning Standards:
NYS Theatre Standard 1: Creating, Performing, and Participating in the Arts

Audience/Development Considerations:
This lesson is for the three 3rd grade theatre arts classes at PS 10 in Brooklyn. On average,
classes have about 25 students with an even mix between boys and girls. For two of the classes,
there is only one teacher for the 25 students. In the last class, which is inclusion, there is an
additional assistant teacher. The students have varying ability levels and have both physical and
emotional special needs. Each class period is 50 minutes.

Previous Knowledge:
Students have chosen scenes with partners and read through them a few times. In the previous
class, students worked on characterization and began to explore how their characters talk and
move.

Materials Needed:
Students Scenes; Pencils; Over-sized post-it paper; Markers

Spatial Organization:
Typically, the auditorium and stage are cleared off and can be adjusted to meet the needs of each
class. For this lesson, anything on the stage needs to be moved into the wings so that students
can spread out as much as possible.

Classroom Management Strategies/Signals:
1-2-3- eyes on me / 1-2- eyes on you
If you can hear my voice, clap once
Show me who is focused and ready
Rhythm clapping
Bananas of the World Unite!

Opening Activity: (10 minutes)
Once all students are in the auditorium, teacher will ask students to sit, focused and ready ( ).
Teacher will call on focused students in groups of three and ask students to take a seat on the
stage, forming a circle. Once all students are on stage, teacher will join students in the circle.
Teacher will already have placed the oversized post-it paper and marker on stage. Teacher will
ask for student volunteers to recap characterization work from last class. Teacher will ask
students to specifically discuss how we learned to use our bodies to become different characters
emotionally. Teacher will write their responses on the post-it paper.

Teacher will tell students that today they will be discussing how to use their bodies to show what
their character is doing and/or where their character is. Teacher will ask students to stand in their
place. Teacher will ask students to show, not tell, what they would do if they were playing
basketball. Teacher will tell students that they are going to play a game called Yes, Lets!. In
Yes, Lets! teacher will shout out an activity such as Lets play basketball! while the
students mill around the stage. Students will respond with yes, lets. At this point, everyone
stops milling and start miming the activity shouted. After a little while of acting the activity out,
teacher tells students to begin milling again and students go back to moving through the space.
The last activity will be lets get into a circle and at this time students will return to the circle
and sit down.

Main Activity: (25 minutes)
Once in the circle, teacher will explain next activity to the students, What Are You Doing? In
this activity, the first player (A) starts acting out an activity. The person to their right (B) asks
them What are you doing? A continues acting out original activity while answering quickly
with an activity that does not match the movement. B immediately acts out As answer. At this
point, the person to Bs right (C) asks B what are you doing? This pattern continues until it
goes around the entire circle. Before beginning, teacher will model an exchange of the dialogue
and movements with a student volunteer or co-teacher. Teacher should encourage students to
think quickly and remind students that it is not important that their actions perfectly match what
is said. The goal is to make strong movement choices with lots of energy.

After the movement is passed back to the teacher, teacher will ask students to sit where they are
and turn towards the post-it paper. Teacher will ask students how they think the class, and not an
individual, was successful at showing what we were doing. Teacher will ask students what they
think the class needs to do in order to make it clearer as to what action we are doing. Teacher
will write their responses on the post-it paper.

Teacher will ask students to stand where they are sitting and repeat the activity. In this round,
teacher will encourage students to pay close attention to how they are showing what they are
doing. At the end, teacher will ask students if they thought the class was more successful, and if
so, why.

Reflection/Debrief/Close of Class: (15 minutes)
While handing out students scenes, teacher will tell students that they should now be thinking
about what their character is doing in their scene and how they can physically show what the
character is doing. Teacher will ask students to write one sentence on the back of the scene for
what they think is happening and one sentence for how they can show what is happening.
Teacher will call students up by their scene partners to give them pencils and place them in
specific areas of the stage and auditorium so that they each have space to work. Teacher will ask
that students take three minutes to work silently. When the teacher gives them a signal, students
may begin discussing their ideas with their partner.

Teacher will walk around auditorium and ask students to return to the front auditorium seats in
groups. Students will walk quickly and quietly to the seats. Teacher will ask student volunteers
to share their ideas for their scenes.

Modifications/Plans for Re-teaching:
TBD :)