Note: These are meant to give you examples
that
might help you design your own exercises. Do not copy any part of
these works. They are simply a record of what past students have
done.
Examples from Fall 2011 (includes Content Standards):
Examples from Earlier Classes
Name: Angel Davis
Area of Exercise: Area C- Theatre
for Social Change
Title of Exercise: What Would You Do?
Objectives: 1) Improve critical
thinking skills by having the students discuss and deter-
mine an effective solution to create
ending for story 2) Build students’ cooperation skills by working
together to accomplish the task of getting help for the friend in the
story 3) Build students’ listening memory skills by having them to
prepare a script, rehearse and present story to the class 4)
Allows students to be creative and improve communication skills through
movement and dialogue as they find a way to help resolve the
problem 5) Enforce belief in the students that they can make a
positive impact in the lives of others
Materials Needed: 1) Students
need paper and pencil to write down possible solutions
and a short script.
Description of Exercise: Students
will be divided into four groups and given a prompt:
You have a friend that constantly
misses school and when he/she comes to class, he/she seems to make up
stories as to why he/she has been absent. One day, your friend
pulls you aside to tell you a secret: they are being physically abused
by their parents and even show you a bruise that is on their arm.
Your friend asks you not tell anyone because if word gets back to their
parents, the abuse may get worse. However, you feel if you stand
by and allow this to happen any longer, a tragedy may occur. What
would you do to help your friend get out of the situation?
Once the students have become
familiar with the situation in the story, within their groups, they
will be asked to discuss and determine what they believe to be an
effective solution to the problem. After they have all come to an
agreement as to the solution they wish to portray, the students will be
asked to create 5-10 minute storyline, free of violence, using the
prompt as the beginning of their scene and creating their own ending
with the solution they have chosen. Students will be given thirty
minutes over a one week period during class to develop their ending,
write a script, and practice their scene. After a week of
practice, each group will be given the opportunity to present their
scene to the class.
Follow Up Questions: 1) What did you
enjoy about the activity? 2) Did you find it diffi-
cult to create an ending to the
story? 3) Do you believe the solutions provided were
effective in helping the friend get out of the situation? If so,
in what way were the solutions effective? 4) If the situation was
to happen to a friend or loved one, would you be able to use one of the
solutions to help and do you believe it would stop the abuse?
Evaluation Questions: 1) Did student
fully discuss the prompt to determine whether the
solution they chose would truly be
effective? 2) Did the students work together within the scene to
find a way to get help for the friend? 3) Were students able to
create a strong storyline and remember when it was their turn to
speak? 4) Were students able to speak clearly and move freely
while performing scene?
5) Through their performance, did
students believe they could use the solution they chose in their group
as a way to help a friend or family member in a similar situation?
Area of exercise: Area - Drama Across the Curriculum
Title of exercise: The Grammar Square Dance
Description of exercise: For this activity the teacher breaks the class into two even lines facing each other. The teacher then tells the students about the game which is played in three parts (the first two parts focus on parts of speech, and the third focuses on contractions). The first part of the game is the verb/adverb line dance. In this part of the game, the first child in each of the two lines come together to form a pair. One line is designated as the verb line, and the other as the adverb line. The first student in the verb line shouts out their verb, then the first student in the adverb line shouts out their adverb, then those two students link arms, and do their action, (ie: jump quickly) down the center of the two lines, and they end up at the end of the line. This proceeds until all the children have had a turn. The second part of the game is basically the same except the lines change to noun and adjective lines. Then the children act out their noun/adjective as they dance down the center of the two lines. (ie: bumpy road) The third part of the game is done in the same format. Except this time the object is to form contractions. The first student in the first row starts off by shouting out a word which could begin a contraction such as the word ìcanî. Then the first student in the second row would say the second word which could be used to form a contraction. (ie: ìnotî) They would then come together and link arms to form the word canít. They would repeat this word over and over as they dos e doe around each other down the middle of the rows.
Objectives of exercise: 1) To make learning
grammar
more fun. 2) To familiarize the students with some of
different
parts of speech 3) To teach students how to form
contractions.
4) To help students to work together with a partner to help each other
form parts of speech, and contractions. 5) To help the
children
understand how they use the different parts of speech when they are
speaking
with each other. 5) To help students understand grammar
more
easily through combining it with an activity which is familiar to most
children. (ie: square dancing.)
Materials: The materials needed for this exercise are ghetto
blaster to play country music, and a poster board with the definitions
of the important terms.
Follow-up questions: 1) Did this game help to familiarize you with some of the different parts of speech? 2) Will it be easier for you to identify the parts of speech when you are forming sentences? 3) Did this game help you to understand how contractions are formed? 4) Did the square dancing help to make the game more fun? Why is it important for teachers to make learning fun? 5) If you could pick the one thing that you learned the most about through this activity what would it be?
Criteria for evaluating an exercise: 1) Did this game provide a way for the children to learn in an entertaining fashion? 2) Did the children seem more familiar with the parts of speech when the exercise was finished? 3) Did the students have trouble understanding how to form contractions? If so did this exercise help make it easier for them? 4) Did the partners work together well when forming the parts of speech, and contractions? 5) When the students were playing the game with each other did they seem to understand how they were using the parts of speech when talking to each other? 6) Did it help the students to better understand the grammar by combining it with a familiar activity?
Blanca E. Quezada - Spring 99
Exercise Area A: Creativity and Communication
Musical Jungle
Objectives include: Listening skills, cooperation skills, spelling,
imagination, movement, concentration, interpretation of animal
sounds,
opportunity for
interaction and spatial awareness. In addition, the music
provided is intended to enhance the mood and help focus the
attention
.
Materials Needed: Large letter squares, tape recorder with music.
Exercise Description: Letter squares are arranged in a large circle. Students walk around the circle outside the letters to the music provided. They stop beside the nearest letter when the music stops. The teacher then calls out the letters of his or her choice and those students standing in front of those letters are to pick up the letters and come into the middle of the circle. Together the students are to unscramble the letters and figure out what animal their letters spell. When they have figured out their animal they are to all interpret the sound that the animal makes. For example, if the teacher chooses the letters, O, L, N, I the students have to unscramble the letters and spell, LION, they then all have to roar like a lion. After these students figure out and interpret their animal they are to leave the circle and take the letters with them. This procedure repeats with different animals, until less students are left outside the circle.
Questions for follow-up:
1) Was this an exciting game?
2) Did you encounter any difficulty in unscrambling the letters
to find the animal, if so what were some of the difficulties?
3) Do you think this game is suitable for all ages?
4) Did you feel more confident/comfortable being in the middle
of the circle with more students rather than alone?
5) Were the students moving fast or slow around the circle or
did their speed progress with time?
6) When walking around the circle did you always find a letter
to stand in front of?
7) Were there any pitfalls to playing this game?
8) What other strategies would you incorporate into this game?
Questions for evaluation of exercise:
1) Did the music provided enhance the mood and help focus the
studentís attention?
2) Did the students interact and cooperate amongst each other?
3) Did the students move freely and have spatial awareness?
4) Were the students able to unscramble the letters and spell
the words correctly?
5) Were the students able to concentrate and come to a complete
stop when the music stopped?
6) Were the students able to interpret the sounds of the animals?
7) Did the studentís imagination play an important role
in the development of the game?
Erika Dominguez - Spring 99
Exercise Area 'B': Drama Across the Curriculum (Science)
Title of Exercise: "Water Cycle"
Objective: Builds Concentration, Cooperation, Social, Listening and Memory Skills; Encourages students to organize ideas quickly and clearly by creating a creative movement to explain their understanding of the moving stages of water. In addition they will gain a clear and visual understanding of the water cycle. They would also learn new science terms with interest.
Materials needed include: students' imaginations and participation.
Exercise Description:
a) Everyone will stands in a circle. The teacher divides
the student into five groups. Each group will be given a name and
stage.
EXAMPLE:
1. Precipitation-Clouds meet cool air, and rain or snow falls.
2. Evaporation-Energy from the sun changes water to water vapor.
3. Wind/Clouds-Wind blow the clouds over land.
4. Ocean-Most of the water returns to the ocean.
5. Condensation-Water vapor rises and condenses to form clouds.
b) Each group will work with their members to pantemize the stage. They are able to use sounds but no words. The teacher will randomly select a group to perform by calling them by their assigned name.
c) After all groups have performed teacher will write all the groups' names on the board. Each student will go back to their seats and write the order they think the water cycle goes. (Test their knowledge)
d) The teacher again will call the groups to perform, but this time the teacher will put them in order. All groups will be combine to develop the moving of water from the ocean to air and back to the ocean.
e) One student will explain what their group performed and
read
their task out loud.
Follow Up Activities and Questions:
ACTIVITIES:
a) Students will draw the water cycle and label it with
scientific
terms.
b) Teacher will discuss terms and test their knowlege. Example
of terms: precipitaion, sleet, frost, wind, clouds, cycle, etd...
QUESTIONS:
a) Do you remember the moving of water from all stages? Explain.
b) Does water always move around us?
c) What did you learn in this activity?
d) Did you get a better picture on how the water cycle works?
e) Was it difficult or easy to pantemize your stage?
f) How did you react when I asked every group to perform their
stage to develop a complete water cycle?
g) If you could do this exercise again, would you add or change
a part to this exercise and why?
Question for evaluation of exercise:
Interaction/Cooperation
a) Did every student contribute their skills?
b) Were the children able to offer and accept the ideas
of others easily and graciously?
Social Skills
c) Was their communication with all the members within
a group?
d) Was the communication easier through body movement and
sounds rather than verbal?
Listening/Memory
e) Did the children remember terms that were being used
and the correct order of all the stages?
f) Was every member able to concentrate on his own
performance
as well as their members?
Creativity
g) Was the performance clear, informative, and well
performed?
Why or why not?
Cynthia Smith - Spring 99
Exercise Area B: Drama Across the Curriculum
"Everyone is a Poet"
Objectives: A) Students will develop their imagination by creating a poem using different parts of speech. B) Students will develop their creativity by thinking of different words to express their poem. C) Students will reinforce their understanding of the differences between the different parts of speech. D) Students will develop self -confidence when experiencing and creating poetry. E) Students will enhance their organizational skills working in their poetry groups. F) Students will practice cooperation and teamwork when developing their group poem and pantomime. G) Students will develop an appreciation for the unique characteristics of poetry.
Materials: None
Description: This exercise is a great reinforcement of nouns, adjectives, and verbs. Students should be divided into small groups of either 3 or 4 students. When the students are in their group, they will agree on a noun such as rain, love, beach, or chocolate. This word will be the first line of the poem. The second line will consist of two adjectives. The third line will consist of 2-3 verbs, and the fourth line will consist of 2-3 feeling words. Each student will contribute to the development of the poem by contributing his/her ideas. Once the poem is formulated, each group will recite their poem for the rest of the class.
Follow-up Activities: Each student will create his/her own poem and put it in writing. Each student will also make an illustration of his/her poem. When all the poems and illustrations are finished, the instructor can bind the poems and illustrations together into a book for the class.
Questions for Evaluation:
Imagination Objective: Were the students able to create a poem using
the different parts of speech?
Creativity Objective: Did the students have difficulty thinking of
different words to express their poem?
Comprehension Objective: Did the students have a clear understanding
of the functions and characteristics of the different parts of speech?
Teamwork/Cooperation Objective: Did the groups work as a team in their
exercise by respecting each other and actively participating?
Organization Objective: Did the groups organize the parts of speech
in the poems effectively?
Appreciation/Self-Confidence Objective: How did the students react
about themselves before and after the exercise? How did they react
after
hearing all the different poems?
Jennifer Y. Kobayashi
Area of Exercise: “A”-- Creativity and Communication
Title of Exercise: The “Real” Story of Cinderella
Objectives:
1. To enhance students’ memory
through storytelling and verbal communication.
2. To give students the opportunity to develop creativity
through imagination.
3. To help provide social growth (cooperative learning
groups) to improve
students’ overall communication skills.
4. To help students identify various versions or
interpretations
of stories.
Materials Needed: students’ imagination. Optional: props, stage
Description of Exercise:
a. The teacher will need to have read several different
versions of the popular fairy
tale, Cinderella.
-- This can be a week long activity if desired.
-- Suggested Stories: Miserella, The Korean Cinderella
(Shirley Climo),
A Yeh-Shen: A Cinderella Story from
China (Ai-Ling Louie), Ankat:
The Cambodian Cinderella (Jewell
Reinhart
Cohurn), Cinder Edna
(Ellen Jackson).
b. Students will be placed in groups of 4-5 and asked to
act out their own version
of Cinderella.
--Changes such as setting, temperature, climax, and conclusion
can take
place.
Students may also add or remove characters.
c. Students will be required to work together and organize
the activity so that they
can perform their version to the entire class.
--Students are responsible for assigning characters and a
narrator
if needed.
They are also responsible for designing and
assembling their own props.
d. Each group will have the opportunity to perform their
version of Cinderella to
the entire class. After the last
group has performed, follow-up questions will be
administered.
Activities and Questions for Follow-Up:
1. How was your group’s version of Cinderella similar to
the other versions you
heard or saw in class?
2. How was it different?
3. What major changes did you make in your characters,
plot, setting, moral,etc.?
4. What part of the story stuck out the most and why?
5. What did you like best about this activity?
6. How well did you think your group worked together?
Did you have any
conflicts?
7. If you could do this activity again, what would you
change and why?
As a class, the teacher can now set the group out to make an
art
project such as
design a poster to publicize their “upcoming” play or make a
brochure which
includes a description of the play, main characters, time of
performance, where,
etc. Also, the teacher may take this project into math
graphing (similarities,
differences, etc.) or an English writing project such as
journaling.
Questions for Evaluation of Exercise:
1. Memory Objective:
Were the students able to properly put the story into the
correct
sequence? (Introduction, rise, climax, conclusion).
2. Creativity and Imagination Objective:
What changes did the students make to enhance their stories
plot/climax/
introduction/conclusion ?
3. Social Growth Objective:
Did each student actively participate in the activity or did
one student
dominate the entire group?
4. Fairy Tale Version Comprehension Objective:
Were the children able to identify how fairy tales are different
according
to different authors and various interpretations?