September 14th "I Am A Pirate"

In Mrs. Selk's class I wanted to start off by talking about drama and what it means to be a character. One of the things that I wanted to talk about how we are able to show a character's traits by using our body and voice. I focused on explaining the difference between physical characteristics and personality traits. One of my favorites responses came from a student after I had asked what a personality trait is. She said that "it is what makes you who you are--like I am really silly." We talked about how personality traits come from what a character says, does, and feels. Then throughout the lesson we create Pirate characters based off of the book "How I Became a Pirate" 

I Am A Pirate!

Standards:

TH:Pr4.1.2

a Interpret story elements in a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).

b. Alter voice and body to expand and articulate nuances of a character in a guided drama experience (e.g., (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).

Objective: Students will show their understanding of character by creating their own pirate characters within a creative drama using voice and body in addition to drawing their pirate.

Materials:

How I became a Pirate by Melinda Long and David Shannon

Drum 

Handout 

Character Traits Poster

Introduction of vocab:

Ask students if they know the word character and what it means. A character is a person, animal, or thing that plays an important part in a story. A character thinks, feels, and acts. Today we are going to read about some characters, but in drama we also become characters. Ask students if they know what the word characteristics means. Characteristics is something about the character, you can also say traits. Characteristics could be physical like someone’s hair color, the shape of their nose, how they walk. But they are also characteristics about someone’s personality. Ask students if they know what personality means. Personality traits have to do with how someone thinks, acts or feels. Some personality traits could be that they like to sing, that they like to dance, or that they are kind. Those are all personality traits. Show students the front of the book. Ask them what are some physical characteristics of Blackbeard has in the picture? Explain to students that we are now going to infer make a prediction or a guess by looking at some clues. What are some inferences that we can make about Blackbeard’s personality? Look at his face—what does it look like he is feeling? We can infer that he is a happy person. He has a little kid on his shoulder. We can infer that he likes kids. There is also a bird, so we can infer that Blackbeard likes animals.

Read the Story:

Read the page and that’s how I became a pirate and stop.

Becoming Pirates: Explain to students that like Jeremy Jacob we are going to become pirates. Tell students that we are going to show what kind of pirate we are by making tablueas. Tablueas are a frozen picture. Model for students that if I am happy pirate how can I show that versus if I’m an angry pirate. We can also show if we are a really tall versus a really small pirate. Before we starting become pirates we need more room. Explain that when I say find a space in the room that means 1. That you are going to stand up staying at a level 0—no talking. 2. You are going to find a spot where you are no touching anyone. 3. When you get to your spot you are going to give Mrs. Robertson a thumbs up. Ask students to repeat back the directions. Tell students to find a space in the room. When students are ready have them close their eyes. Have them put their finger to their head—tell them that you want to think about what kind of pirate they are. When you count to 5 they are going to open their eyes become their pirate and show it with their bodies. Have students look around point out some choices made by students. Now explain to students that you are going to have them walk around to the beat of the drum. When the tempo is faster they move faster, when it is slower we move slower, and when it stops we freeze. Have them close your eyes and think about how they move—do they have a peg leg, do they like to take big steps, or really small steps. Do they like to dance? How does your pirate move? Tell students that you are going to start counting to 10 they will start moving and when I get to 10 they need to be sitting on their spot on the carpet.

When students get to the carpet. Ask some students why they made their choices.

Finish the Story:

Explain to students that know we know what kind of pirates we are. Now we are going to learn more about what pirates do. Finish the story. Now that we know more about what pirates do on a ship. I want you to show me how your pirate does it. This time we are going to make tableaus and add some voice. Like using your body you can use your voice to show characteristics. Maybe you have a really quiet voice, you sing everything, or you always say mateys. Have students find a space in the room. If they struggle to do it have them come back and repeat what it means when I saw find a space in the room. When students are in their own space explain to them that you are going to ask them to a tableau and then when I come around and tap you on the shoulder you are going to say a line. For example, everyone when I count 5 I want you to make a tableau of your pirate eating. Then when I tap you on the shoulder I want you to say something that your pirate would say while eating on the pirate ship. Let try that. Have students make tableaus and say lines. Do it a couple more times:

Activities Pirates Do:

Sailing a ship in the storm

Taking a nap.

Burying treasure

Fighting other pirates.

Singing and dancing

Counting treasure.

Playing pirate soccer.

Discussion:

Have students come back to the carpet and ask the following questions:

What was some of your pirate’s characteristics? Did you see your classmate’s have different characteristics than you? What were they? Why do we have different characteristics? Is it a good thing that we have different characteristics? If they get stuck you can contrast Jeremy being good at soccer versus sailing a ship.

Wrap up:

Explain to students that we got to create characters using our bodies and voices. Now we are going to draw those characters. Explain that they will draw their pirate character and then write two sentences about their pirate’s characteristics one sentence will be about a physical characteristic and then the second one will be about a personality characteristic.