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The Actor’s Nightmare! Poem

The Actor’s Nightmare! Poem

We’ve all woken up from this kind of dream... you’re on stage, you’re in costume, the lights go up, and everything goes wrong! This exciting and mildly terrifying poem details a school play gone wrong. Humorous and filled with vivid characters, this poem provides a great opportunity for students in grades 4-6 to practice collaboration, imitation, and characterization skills. We have also included some recommended step-by-step delivery ideas to help you turn this poem into a full lesson.

The Actor’s Nightmare! Journal: Grades 4-6

To maximize student achievement, download this drama journal for students to use as reflection or formative assessment. A drama journal allows participants to reflect on their learning and artistic growth (metacognition). It also allows you, the teacher, to see how students are using the drama vocabulary, thinking about big ideas, and perceiving their own strengths and weaknesses.

The Caveman Lesson

The Caveman Lesson

Objective: students practice concentration while working with other actors using positive non-distracting behaviors.
Building on the previous Mirror lesson, students continue working with partners and practicing audience behaviors (part of the kindergarten objectives).  Students gain experience in practicing a drama as the traditional Mirror exercise morphs into a story called The Caveman for partners to act out.  Download the story to complete the materials for this lesson.  Other stories with partner work that could be substituted (or repeated): “There’s a Nightmare in my Closet,” “The Stubborn Clay,” and “The Ghost Who Couldn’t Scare.”  This lesson is part of our recommended sequence in the Kindergarten Curriculum.

The Story of Rabbit, Elephant, and Whale

The Story of Rabbit, Elephant, and Whale 

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In this story, the rabbit outsmarts the elephant and the whale, both of which use their physical size against the rabbit.  Students like to act out the different parts in this story as they learn that sometimes being wise can counter physical size.  This story is also designed into a full lesson for the 4th grade to teach students how actors use the drama tools (body, mind, voice) to create a character.

Sydney and Jojo

Sydney and Jojo story

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This story was written for third graders in an inner city Chicago Public school.  In the inner city, it is important for brothers and sisters to look after one another because the parents are sometimes absent from their lives--the story works with that narrative.  This drama story targets the concepts and skills of Believability, Cultural/ Multicultural, Imagination, Imitation, Movement, Repetition, Story Elements: Character, and Recall.

The Ghost Who Couldn’t Scare

The Ghost Who Couldn’t Scare story

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This story was inspired by an old railroad car and tracks I saw for years sitting on the prairie as I drove to visit my parents in Western Illinois.  Weeds grew up around that railroad car and I'm sure people had forgotten all about it.  This is the story I created during many journeys home past that boxcar. An ideal story for working in partners.  It works with the skills for Collaboration, Imagination, Imitation, Listening, Problem Solving, Repetition, and Story Elements: Theme.