LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Picture this!

In this lesson, students will use their imagination and creativity to create an original, five-minute scene from a given picture.

A lesson plan for grades 9–12 Theater Arts Education

By Cindy Lohr

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Learning outcomes

Students will act through improvisation role play to:

  • enhance collaborative skills
  • develop basic acting techniques
  • enhance quick thinking and improvisation skills.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

90 minutes

Materials/resources

Pictures from newspapers and/or magazines (preferably ones with plenty of action in them)

Pre-activities

Begin the class period with a warm-up game called “machines.” This activity gets the students started in working together in small groups.

  • Divide students into groups of four or five.
  • One person will start a motion.
  • The next student must join in a motion that works in conjunction with the previous one.
  • Each student adds on until all five are doing different motions that still relate to each other, like the gears of a machine. This activity should take approximately 15 minutes.

For an additional activity, students can create a product that their machine makes and improvise a commercial for that product.

Activities

  1. Give each group a picture from the newspaper or a magazine.
  2. The group will be given approximately 20 minutes to develop a five-minute skit based on the picture.
  3. Instruct students to use all characters seen in the picture and add characters as needed.
  4. Students will be expected to create a beginning, middle, and end/conclusion to the skit. They will be expected to use the correct acting techniques such as vocal projection and quality, blocking techniques (such as not putting your back to the audience, not standing in front of another person, and not standing behind furniture), character relationships, and listening and responding to what the other actors are saying. Characters are expected to be developed and recognizable.
  5. After the scenes are planned, each group shows the picture and then performs the scene for the class.

Assessment

After each group presents their skit to the class, discuss what did or did not work within the skit. For example, students will discuss whether or not the actors could be heard, seen, characters recognized, etc.

Students will also comment on what they liked about originality of the skits. All discussion should be guided and constructive and reasons should be given as to why classmates did or did not relate to the skit.

Supplemental information

Students will write in their journals about how their group worked as a whole. They will discuss what they liked about the activity and what they could improve for their next performance on stage.

Comments

This can work for grades K-12. For younger students, select simple pictures from children’s literature or magazines. More advanced students should have pictures that stimulate thinking and creativity for non-traditional scenes.

North Carolina curriculum alignment

Theatre Arts Education (2001)

Grade 9–12 — Thatre Arts I

  • Goal 2: The learner will act by interacting in improvisations and assuming roles.
    • Objective 2.01: Develop and manifest an awareness of the self as a thinking, creative, performing whole.
    • Objective 2.02: Understand and demonstrate the inherent individual's ability to intuit and create.
    • Objective 2.04: Employ creative action and thinking skills.
    • Objective 2.06: Show evidence of broadening one's self-perception and abilities through creating and performing.
    • Objective 2.11: Understand and participate in physical warm-ups to develop focus and creativity.
    • Objective 2.12: Recognize and relate the importance of nonverbal communication.

  • North Carolina Essential Standards

    • Theatre Arts Education (2010)

      • Advanced Theatre Arts

        • A.C.2 Use performance to communicate ideas and feelings. A.C.2.1 Use improvisation and acting skills to perform for a formal audience using prompts provided by the audience. A.C.2.2 Interpret scripts through formal and informal presentations.

      • Beginning Theatre Arts

        • B.C.1 Use movement, voice, and writing to communicate ideas and feelings. B.C.1.1 Use non-verbal expression to illustrate how human emotion affects the body and is conveyed through the body. B.C.1.2 Apply vocal elements of volume, pitch, rate, tone, articulation,...
        • B.C.2 Use performance to communicate ideas and feelings. B.C.2.1 Use improvisation and acting skills, such as observation, concentration, and characterization in a variety of theatre exercises. B.C.2.2 Interpret various selections of dramatic literature through...

      • Intermediate Theatre Arts

        • I.C.1 Use movement, voice, and writing to communicate ideas and feelings. I.C.1.1 Use non-verbal expression to illustrate how human motivations are prompted by physical and emotional needs. I.C.1.2 Apply vocal elements of volume, pitch, rate, tone, articulation,...
        • I.C.1 Use movement, voice, and writing to communicate ideas and feelings. I.C.1.1 Use non-verbal expression to illustrate how human motivations are prompted by physical and emotional needs. I.C.1.2 Apply vocal elements of volume, pitch, rate, tone, articulation,...

      • Proficient Theatre Arts

        • P.C.1 Use movement, voice, and writing to communicate ideas and feelings. P.C.1.1 Use non-verbal expression and physical self-awareness to communicate movement elements and characterization, including size, weight, and rate of movement. P.C.1.2 Apply vocal...
        • P.C.2 Use performance to communicate ideas and feelings. P.C.2.1 Use improvisation and acting skills, such as observation, concentration, and characterization, to create extended scenes. P.C.2.2 Interpret monologues through formal and informal presentations....