The music and smell cups activities were very organized and engaging and led to good

discussion about using emotion memory to develop characters. Managing the changing cups was also effective here. Some

students didn’t share memories. Next time I’ll make

sure to support them specifically (3.3, 4.1, 4.2, 4.5)

My supervisor said the circular class reading in this

section was challenging, structured and well-

resourced, and stopping the reading to explain key points

kept the students engaged with learning new literacy

terms of theatre. I’ll use this approach again (2.2, 2.5, 3.2,

3.3, 3.4, 3.5)

This exercise was really effective. The dimmed lights and meditational

introduction helped frame the exercise and support students in relaxing and

focusing their senses. (2.1, 2.2)

Supervisor said group discussion and mind mapping

helped keep students engaged. He also noted that

modelling the 4th wall physically was helpful in

supporting student learning (3.3, 3.4, 3.5).

Supervisor said the students really

understood the importance of this exercise, particularly the difference in difficulty between active and passive imagination. It would have been great to unpack this a

little more in class discussion. I’ll try to be more aware of timing.

These were good leading questions that I ended up

using in a future lesson. These could almost be used at the end of each lesson in the realism block of lessons

I’ll need to remind students in the future that the purpose

here is not to identify the smell, but to focus on the

memories or images the smell evokes (5.1, 5.2)

There were a lot of props and teaching tools required in this lesson. It couldn’t be done without lots of prep the night

before. I could even split it into two lessons, and that way I’d have time to use all the 5 senses instead of just 2.

Overall, I think this was an organized, productive and engaging lesson (see

supervisor’s comments below). It served as a good introduction to Stanislavski’s theatrical

Realism, and a good contrast to the melodrama Year 11 have been studying previously. Students

found the activities engaging and had some substantive discussion about Stanislavski’s

context and how his techniques could facilitate truthful acting onstage. (2.2, 2.3,)

I think I can improve this lesson in terms of time allocated to each task and incorporating logbook writing time.

Because this lesson is so content heavy, it is potentially too ambitious considering the time restraints. This would

certainly be the case with a less well-behaved class! In this instance, it could be split into two lessons

The practical, immersive teaching strategies that I planned in this lesson gave my supervisor and I lots talk

about and reflect on! His feedback and comments affirmed pedagogical choices I made, and contributed to

my ongoing professional development

REALISM: The quest for truth 1: Context and using senses to unlock imagination 20/05/2016Syllabus Outcomes:P1.4 understands, manages and manipulates theatrical elements and elements of production, using them perceptively and creatively P2.6 appreciates the variety of styles, structures and techniques that can be used in making and shaping a performanceP3.2 understands the variety of influences that have impacted upon drama and theatre performance styles, structures and techniques P3.3 analyses and synthesises research and experiences of dramatic and theatrical styles, traditions and movements

Lesson Outcomes - By the end of the lesson students will:Begin to Develop understanding of Stanislavski’s context and the goals of theatrical Realism as a movementBegin to understand the role of senses, active imagination, and memory in the creation of truthful drama Reflect on the value of truthful acting and how various Stanislavskian techniques can help them achieve thisTeaching ActivitiesMethod:

Context: (10 min)a) Explain some background historical contextb) Introduce Stanislavski – the quest for TRUTHc) Get students to Mind-map brainstorm what Stanislavski and Nemitovich Danchenko might have talked about for 18 hours! If you were concerned with truthful acting -making things authentic, what would you want to see in acting? How would this be different from the Melodrama style that has come before?

Emotion Memory-5 senses: (20 min) (From Merlin, p. 302-304)Sounda) Students sit in a circle, blindfolded. Get them to sit in silence for a minute. Finding their focus, relax and listen to their breath.b) Play a musical extract for a minute or so, asking students to note their sensations –what thoughts, images or memories come flooding into your head. Let the students know beforehand that you will ask some of them to share their responsesc) Ask several students to respond to the sound. (You may want to give a demo) they can share a memory, an image or a thought)

Smell – give each student a smell cup. Repeat the activity above, then get students to pass their cups to their left, and repeat again, with different smells.Note how rich a memory or an image can be when we really engage our senses. The experience is real because we are using our senses and imagination to ground ourselves in the moment. This is exactly how Stanislavski wanted actors to experience their characters on stage, he referred to it as “the Theatre of Living Experience”.

Active vs passive imagination: (10 min)Read out the two extracts (see below)

Logbook reflection: (5 min)1. Why is truthful acting important?2. What have you learned in this lesson that could help you be a more truthful actor?

Purpose:

Context Object: To give students contextual background to realism and Stanislavski while also engaging their imaginations from the outset:- Helps students consider the contextual background of Realism in contrast to Melodrama-Prompts them to make predictions about the strategies Stanislavski made

Emotion Memory Object: To demonstrate the importance of using senses, and imaginative memory in realistic acting: -Gives students an opportunity to relax, focus and practice using their imagination-Gives students an opportunity to engage their senses-Gives students an opportunity to recall memories

Active vs Passive Object: To give students practice writing extended responses in the structure of the Drama KLA-Helps students consolidate and reflect on what they have learnt about this style -Gives students practice writing under time pressure

Assessment: I will be informally assessing student in terms of participation. In particular, I want to see: Students contributing ideas towards what Stanislavski might have wanted Students sharing at least 1 response to the sense stimuli Students writing a paragraph in their logbooks

Resources:

1. Stanislavski context reading (copies) 2. Mind map Paper

3. Objects to smell, 2 music tracks 4. Beach reading (Active vs Passive)

The reflection in the lesson was limited to class

discussion because we ran out of time to write in our

logbooks. In the future I’d shorten the intro context to leave more time for written reflection at the end (5.1)

THE BEACH – active vs passive imagination – (From Stanislavski in Practice, 2011, p. 86-90)I am now going to guide you through using your imagination in two different ways. So relax and gently start to imagine You see yourself standing in a room; you see yourself bending to pick up a bag; you see yourself walking towards the door; you see yourself opening the door; you see yourself walking outside; you see yourself walking down the road; you see yourself looking out to sea; you see yourself walking on the sand; you see yourself putting down your bag; you see yourself taking out a towel; you see yourself lie down on the towel; you see yourself open your book; and you see yourself starting to read.

Now, keep an impression of what that experience felt like. Here’s the second scene: You are standing in your room. You bend down and slowly pick up your yellow beach bag; you slide the bag on to your shoulder as you turn towards the glass door. Opening the door, you’re hit by a wave of heat as you start to walk down the path. At the road, you turn left and you can feel the sun on your shoulders, you hear the hum of traffic and smell the salt in the air. After a while, you stop and wait for a gap in the traffic before crossing the road; you look out at the gorgeous blue expanse of sea; you see a tanker in the distance and hear birds circling above. When you get to the sand, you stop and flick off your thongs, feeling the warm sand in between your toes as you search for a spot to put your towel down. You hear a radio in the distance and the sound of children playing happily. You stop, put down your bag and take out your red beach towel. Lying down, you take out your book and start to read where you last left off.

Now take off your blindfolds and get out your logbooks. • Let’s compare the two experiences, was there any difference in the way you were using your imagination?• Did it feel different when you were ‘seeing yourself’ do something from when you were imagining what you could see, hear, touch, taste and smell?• Which was the easier for you to imagine, the first or second?• Stanislavski said, ‘We need an active not a passive imagination.’ Did the first experience or the second one make you use your imagination more actively?Active imagination is where we see things through our character’s eyes, using the senses, walking in their shoes, in the moment. Passive imagination is where we imagine what the audience thinks about what we are doing on stage. This is a more distanced, objective view, detached from the reality.

For example, Lady Macbeth, when looking at the blood on her hands in active imagination may think, ‘what have I done? What kind of monster have I become? OR, with passive imagination, ‘If I frown deeply then the audience will know I’m upset. –Which do you think Stanislavski would have wanted?

Active imagination: Seeing things through our character’s eyes, using the five senses.Passive imagination: Seeing ourselves from the audience’s point of view while on stage. This exercise was to help you recognize when you are using your imagination actively as a character and when you are not. So, if your character is in the middle of a battle, you need to imagine the battle raging around, rather than a picture of you in your head watching the battle. If there is one thing you can guarantee before you go on stage, it’s that you have every chance of slipping into using your imagination passively and worrying about what the audience will think of you. As actors, we need to be able gently to start to use our imaginations actively, so that we imagine our character within the circumstances of the play, with an objective and an action.