John F. Kennedy Center
Folktale Theatre
Introduce your middle schoolers to a performance and movement activity that uses their favorite stories from fairytales and folklore. They practice basic acting skills, create dialogues with a partner, and then as guided practice,...
Curated OER
Theater: Create a Script
Figurative language is the focus in the book Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia. After reading Peggy Parish's book, class members dramatize idioms from the text, using dramatic strategies such as characterization, exaggeration, and improvisation....
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Characters from a Box
Character analysis is a skill we use when we read literary works or want to write a good story. Learners will use drama to practice character analysis while focusing on the details that make characters act the way they do. They'll each...
Curated OER
Alexander And The Wind-Up Mouse
Use drama techniques to recreate the story, Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse by Leo Lionni. They engage in problem-solving as they identify the roles they will fufill in their groups for the performance. This is a motivating way to...
Orlando Shakes
Two Gentlemen of Verona
What teenager can't relate to the drama of a love triangle? Scholars put their literary skills to use in a gripping role-play drama. William Shakespeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona unfolds as the classroom becomes a stage of young actors.
Roald Dahl
Matilda - The Platinum-Blond Man
Before reading Chapter Six, "The Platinum-Blond Man" in Matilda, readers preview the illustration of Mrs. Wormwood dropping her plate of food, and think about what may have happened to cause the scene. After reading the chapter, class...
Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Day 12
Class members compare the final 30 minutes of Lucas's Star Wars: A New Hope with Act V of Doescher's play, William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope and consider how the choice of media influences viewers' impression of the...
Curated OER
Celebrating Women: Toni Morrison
How authors address issues of their societies is addressed in this very detailed lesson. After researching Toni Morrison and her work, groups create a dramatization based on a scene from one of Morrison’s novels and act it out. Class...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Creating Narrative
Plot, setting, characters, and conflict are common to both drama and narrative stories. Kids create narrated tableaus that show their understanding of the plot, setting, and conflict of a story they've recently read. The lesson...
Curated OER
Restaging Julius Ceasar
Students engage in a lesson looking at a major scene of a Shakespeare play. They assume the role play of being the director and apply problem solving skills in order to conduct the scene. Others must switch roles and take on the roles of...
Curated OER
Shakespeare Lesson Plan
Students discuss Shakespeare's background and their initial opinions and perceptions of him. In groups, they are assigned a topic to research and to relate one of Shakespeare's plays to the topic. They present a summary of the scenes...
Curated OER
Macbeth - Analyzing Characterization in Drama
The writing activity in this lesson could be used to assess student understanding of previously taught concepts of how language reveals character.
Curated OER
In Search of Caesar's Ghost
Students collaborate in small groups to choose a scene that they write in place of a scene in Shakespeare's play "Julius Caesar". In this dramatic expression lesson, their scripts include roles, lines and stage directions. Students...
EngageNY
Text to Film Comparison: Bottom’s Transformation
Scholars meet in a drama circle to discuss what they remember from reading A Midsummer Night's Dream Act III, Scene 1 in the last activity. They then take turns reading the scene aloud, stopping to answer questions as they read. Learners...
EngageNY
Text to Film Comparison: Bottom the Fool
Pretty ugly, jumbo shrimp. Oxymorons are awfully good! Scholars reread Act I, scene 2 from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream while participating in a drama circle. Next, they begin working on anchor charts to dissect Shakespeare's...
EngageNY
Author’s Craft: The Poetry of the Play
Feel the rhythm! Pupils begin reading Act 2, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream as they continue participating in a drama circle. With discussion, they examine Shakespeare's use of rhyme, rhythm, and meter, analyzing how...
Curated OER
"The Party"
Learners are introduced to the world of drama and explore and discuss the prospect of being an "outsider." They are encouraged to look into another person's experiences with drama. Each group of students act out short scenes to be...
Curated OER
I'm a Creature, You're a Creature, Wouldn't You Like to Be a Creature, Too?
Third graders demonstrate an understanding of the lifestyles and habits of the underwater life presented in the previous unit. They classify the various sea creatures according to the ecosystem and then use drama skills to present...
Curated OER
The American Revolution: A Play
No instructional activity accompanies this drama about the American Revolution. With 13 speaking roles, the short script could be used for a class production, a instructional activity on the parts of a play, or to supplement your social...
Curated OER
A Midsummer Night's Dream
You might not be able to put a girdle around the earth in forty minutes but you can generate interest in A Midsummer’s Night Dream in that length of time. As an introduction to Shakespeare’s comedy, pairs of students assume the roles of...
Curated OER
Cyrano De Bergerac: Understanding Drama Through Characterization and Dialogue
Students explore three major dramatic concepts using Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. In this dramatic concepts lesson, students research the concepts of universal theme, characterization, and dialogue using the given text. Students...
Curated OER
Macbeth: Shakespeare for Elementary Students (Elementary, Literature)
Students act out a fully realized Shakespearean play designed to be utilized by mid level elementary students.
Curated OER
Ready, Set, Action!
Fifth graders explore sequential dramatization through children's literature. In this drama lesson plan, 5th graders act out and record scenes using digital and video cameras. Students create a digital poster using pictures from their...
Curated OER
Romeo and Juliet-Balcony Scence
Students create and carry out a "modern day" version of the famous scene from Romeo and Juliet to help them build understanding of the plot and the two characters.