High Impact Instructional Strategies: Drama and Theatre Arts

District Samples Curriculum Project (DSCP): Phase IV High Impact Instructional Strategies

Colorado Academic Standards Drama and Theatre Arts Graphic (small)

Drama and Theatre Arts Instructional Resources

Hello,

I am very proud to present standards-based instructional resources for Drama and Theatre Arts. The model lesson is a set of full lesson materials developed to train content area teachers at the 2016 "All Students, All Standards: Instructional Strategies Institute." The additional sample lesson resources represent the work of a team of Colorado educators to share how they develop their own unique standards based lessons that employ high impact instructional strategies. As examples, they are intended to provide support (or conversation/creation starting points) for teachers, schools, and districts as they make their own local decisions around the best instructional plans and practices for all students.

Phase IV of the District Sample Curriculum Project is intended to share just a sampling of lesson planning processes and ideas as a response to requests from local schools and districts asking for more explicit instructional sample ideas. Thank you to the educators that worked diligently to submit their work for this purpose!

Judi Hofmeister
Drama and Theatre Arts Content Specialist

Phase IV General Training Resources

Model Lesson

The following is the lesson that was modeled during the ASAS Institute by the Content Specialist. The improvisation exercise in this lesson was modified to integrate Dance and creative movement students.

High School Drama and Theatre Arts (Fundamental Pathway): Friday Afternoon Live: Improvisation and Sketch Comedy District Sample Curriculum Project (Learning Experience #3). (Judi Hofmeister Dance/Drama and Theatre Arts Consultant, CDE)

Lesson Description: In this lesson, students will investigate, discover and reflect on an improvisational exercise that inspires the structure and development of original sketch comedy. The lesson will culminate in a performance of an improvised scene, then a reflective discussion of the process for writing a sketched scene that is developed from the improvisation. The focus of the unit will be exploration and play, along with the integration of creative movement for human expression and emotion.

Sample Lesson Plan: ASAS Dance/Drama Model Lesson Plan (PDF) | ASAS Dance/Drama Model Lesson Plan Powerpoint (PDF)

Phase IV Lesson Submissions by Middle School Drama Teachers

8th Grade Drama and Theatre Arts: Using Improvisation to Devise a Scripted Scene District Sample Curriculum Project (Learning Experience #4). (Shelley Gardner Smith, Academy 20; Jay Seller PhD, Adams 12; Pamela Widmann, Cherry Creek; Jodi Papproth, Cheyenne Mountain)

Lesson Description: In this lesson students will explore cultural events, social circumstances and life experiences through improvisational techniques and exercises to collaboratively develop a scripted work. (Joye Cook-Levy, Theatreworks; Amy Long, Frontier Academy; Ian Schimmel, District 11 CO Springs)

Educators that attended the ASAS Institute submitted lesson plans including the following four essential elements:

Element 1 | Lesson Planning Process Guide for 8th Grade Drama: Using Improvisation to Devise a Scripted Scene
Element 2 | Lesson Powerpoint for 8th Grade Drama: Using Improvisation to Devise a Scripted Scene
Element 3 | Classroom Context Materials: Improv Explorer Sheet and Script Skeleton
Element 4 |

To learn more about the four essential elements, click here.

*More Lesson Plans and Ideas from the ASAS Institute can be found at the Think 360 Arts for Learning Peer Exchange.