Middle School Drama Activities
Drama activities allow students to improve their communication, teamwork and problem-solving skills in an entertaining, hands-on way. By middle school, students can develop more advanced drama skills while still enjoying and learning from the basics. Use a mix of more challenging drama activities with fundamental drama games as part of your lessons.
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Get-To-Know-You Game
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When beginning drama in your classroom, include games that allow students to mingle, interact and explore. Human Scavenger Hunt is such an activity. On a sheet of paper, list several characteristics related to drama, such as: "Find someone who has acted in a play" or "Find someone who can do a good Irish accent." Students need to get the signatures of the other students who have the characteristics listed. A student can only sign one person's sheet twice. The first student to fill up his sheet with signatures is the winner.
Warm-Up
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It is important to have warm-ups before every drama lesson, rehearsal or performance. A good warm-up will have components to prepare a student's voice, body and concentration for acting. "Zip, Zap, Zop" is a good example; this game is actually played by professional actors before rehearsals and performances. Have the students stand in a circle. Start by clapping, jumping, pointing to another person and saying, "Zip." The person pointed to claps, jumps, points to another person and says, "Zap." That person claps, jumps, points and says "Zop." And then the process continues always in that order: Zip, Zap, Zop; Zip, Zap, Zop. If a person does not jump, clap loud enough, point clearly or respond quickly when someone points to him, then he is eliminated for a turn. The eliminated person can rejoin the circle once someone else is eliminated. Elimination also occurs for a turn if a student pauses too long or if a student jumps or claps when she was not picked by another student.
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Improvisation
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By middle school, students are ready to understand and execute popular improvisation games such as "Freeze." It is played with two students acting out a scene from 30 seconds to a minute until the teacher says, "Freeze," at which point the two actors must hold their positions. The other students may raise their hands if they have an idea to change the scene. The teacher chooses one of them and the new actor taps one of the original actors on the shoulder. The tapped actor leaves the scene and the new actor takes her place and copies the pose. The new actor must change the scenario in some way. For example, if the two previous actors were frozen in a position where they were bent over because they were looking at a lady bug, the new actor can change the scene to pretend that they are throwing up because they ate all of their Halloween candy. The scene continues until the teacher again announces "Freeze," when another student will be allowed to enter and change the scene.
Scene Writing
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Plan a lesson unit on dramatic structure, using examples from well-known plays. Discuss how a playwright develops characters, conflict, setting and plot effectively. Have each student write a scene. Allow them to choose their "casts" from their fellow students and give them time to rehearse. The student actors needn't memorize the dialogue; they can read from the "script," if necessary. Students then perform their scenes for the class. They can edit their scenes based on classmates' feedback.
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