Incite / Insight Lesson Plan Exploration Summer / Early Fall 2018 7
Once finished , students looked at our tree , which had several words / phrases about the causes and consequences of privilege . They were asked to find a link between ONE cause and ONE consequence , trying not to use their own words . Once they ’ ve made the connection , they drew a line on the tree connecting the two words .
Exercising one connection they made between a cause and a consequence of privilege , students wrote short ( fictional or non ) about the connections they concluded . One student wrote , “ A person was never told ‘ no ’ as a child for any material possession he / she wanted ( cause ). As an adult , he / she has no concept of money and blew through his / her trust fund by the age of 25 ( consequence ).”
From there , students were asked to take a minute to generate a frozen image using their entire body that represents your “ cause ” and a frozen image that represents the “ consequence ,” keeping in mind that these are two separate images . Using movement , students were to then find a way to fluidly transition from their cause to their consequence . In the movement , they were allowed to make a sound , but no words . As they explored this exercise , I provided feedback to each student , such as , “ How can you find different levels as you transition from your cause to your consequence ? Which has more power , the causes or the consequence ? Play with power as you transition . Don ’ t forget to use the entire space .” After gaging the student ’ s productivity , each student performed their cause / consequence story for the class and the class responded to each performer with their interpretation of each narrative .
In the end , the students sat in a circle and reflected on their experience with the lesson . When asked what discoveries they made using frozen images to tell stories and explore our theme of privilege , the student I mentioned at the top of this article chimed in and said that she had an epiphany in today ’ s lesson . She meticulously described how her breakthrough came as she was experimenting with the movement that would transition her cause to her consequence . She said , “ I feel the ultimate privilege is right here in the room with our access to the arts . It is a privilege that we get to take courses like this that help us better relate to humanity . At the end of the day , that ’ s all that we could ask for in our education .”
My quest in helping my students understand that theater has universal value ultimately revealed that one of the most important things we can do is provide relevance for students . Relevance helps students see that the content IS worth knowing by showing how it fits into their current and future frame of reference . Through a series of lessons like this , I saw my students transform into engaged , motivated and self-regulated learners . Relevance can help students realize how useful ALL knowledge can be . Fulfilling students ’ need for relatedness , showing them how seemingly unrelated content fits together and then into their own scheme of things , and giving students real reasons why today ’ s content will be useful to them later on , proved advantageous to my teaching practice and ultimately to the theater program at my school .
Jay Gerlach teaches Upper School Acting , Directing , and Public Speaking and is the Chair of the Theatre and Dance Department at Rye Country Day School in Rye , NY . He received his Bachelor ’ s Degree from Illinois State University and his Masters Degree from the University of Northern Colorado . He is proud member of AATE .
See Jay ’ s lesson plan on the members-only blog !