Lesson Plans: A One-Day Snapshot

On August 18^th, I conducted a lesson with my beginning acting class that I’d prepared and planned out with more care and attention to detail than I’d ever done before. I was excited, but also nervous; when my by-the-seat-of-my-pants lessons failed, I always had the excuse of, “well, I just sorta threw it together,” or “yeah, but it wasn’t a real lesson plan.” This time was different—I was implementing something I’d carefully constructed. I was terrified.

The Lesson.

Here is a condensed overview of the lesson I implemented with my class, using Act 5, Scene 1 from Hamlet (click HERE for the text).

Actioned Reading

Students will take out homework from Day Four (Completed “French Scene”); in triads, students will compare their beat changes and titles for each section of text. Triad will democratically select most effective/memorable titles for each section of text and write section headings on the board. As a class, vote on favorite titles to create one master “outline” of events.

Students will embody and enact the story of the text using only the heading titles to guide them; students will NOT use scripts but will use section headings and beat changes to shift tone and drive plot appropriately. Groups will share in an open rehearsal.

In discussion: What did you observe in your classmates’ scenes? Was this an effective technique for understanding the story or “reading” the text? Why or Why not? Was this an effective technique for rehearsal? Why or why not?

What I’ve Learned.

My students responded to this in an overwhelmingly positive way. A few days prior, very few of them were enthusiastic about Shakespeare, and now I feel like the majority of them have an increased level of confidence. At the very least, they know Shakespeare can be funny!

My students are very capable. They don’t need me to lecture, or lead, or hover over them while they do work. They need me to empower them, give them skills, and give them space and time to be creative and autonomous.

Assessment is a constant tool in my classroom, and if it’s constant, it’s not scary. By asking students to produce answers, to come up with ideas, with original content, they aren’t as afraid of evaluation—because they can see and understand where that evaluation, where that grade, comes into play. And I think it’s really important that we liberate students from grade-based fear, and that we encourage them to know how to self-evaluate, so that they can set goals and accomplish them.

What I’d Change.

Overall, I’m very happy with this lesson—though I benefitted from having a class with very few struggling learners. My EL students are very fluent, my IEP students need extra time for testing but did fine with this assignment.

I suppose throwing Shakespeare at beginning acting students is pretty daring, but they really did rise to it. Next time, though, I think I would use a less loaded text—maybe Our Town by Thornton Wilder, or some other piece from modern American theatre.

And I suppose I could then ask the students to continue their engagement with the text by actually staging it and memorizing a scene, whereas I didn’t dare do that with Shakespeare.

What I Enjoyed.

I loved many things about this lesson. Some of the tiny things I enjoyed:

• The quirky and funny titles that students came up with for the scene. “Giddy Gravedigger” and “Glum Gravedigger” are examples of some of the witty expressions that students invented. These memorable titles show that the students are not only grasping the text, they’re also having fun!
• The amount of laughter generated—both by the titles, but also by the attempts of students to act out the scene, making up their own words (since they had little hope of recalling Shakespeare!)
• All the tiny “aha!” moments popping up all over the classroom
• How little lecturing I had to do—the discussion was mostly student-led 

Overall, I’ve realized how much careful and thoughtful planning gives to me and to my students. Specifically, the regular and recursive act of pre-assessment and post-assessment/closure helps me ascertain how my students are doing, and allows me to really pinpoint the struggles of certain kids. But in a general sense, executing a thoughtful lesson plan—even if it didn’t work perfectly!—allows me a physical and material reflection of what I do as a teacher. And now I can dip back into that lesson plan, edit it, reinforce it, make it stronger and richer.

I feel less stressed, more engaged, and more confident.

I’m excited about all the lesson plans I get to make. I wonder if by the time I retire, I’ll have enough to release a theatre arts textbook.