Open Forum

Hello all

I'm looking for resources (and I can't believe I'm asking this). I have a class that is literally out of control. Every kid in that class has been suspended for fighting (except four) and they are not capable of emotionally regulating enough to perform or even be an audience.  I need suggestions for a "pencil/paper" theatre course for them to reset the room. I have no textbook or resources available.  They literally need worksheets or something along those lines.

I'm objectively looking for written theatre work that I can use to reset them. NOT suggestions for classroom management. I've been doing this a LONG time, had all the restorative training, have talked to parents numerous times, and I guarantee I've tried everything you can name. Most of them in this class  have been expelled from other schools. This was a combination of kids that was not supposed to be put together. Theatre games, improv, tech design and scene work have all been unsuccessful. They cannot emotionally regulate enough to listen to instruction, take feedback or be an audience.  I've done the Focus Five work. They refuse to participate and simply say "I don't care if I fail". The administration cannot offer support so I'm on my own. 

I need something ASAP to get through to January so I can reset. We have block periods so I have them for 85 minutes. They are decent readers but reading a play will probably not be sustainable since they can't be an audience. 

ANY ideas? 

Will anything on the EdTA Click to Teach resources work for you? They also have some options for Drama Choice Boards.

Do you have a subscription to Drama Teacher Academy? They have tons of resources, and I think their Emergency Sub plans would give you a lot of options.

If you're having trouble finding any of these resources, shoot me a message, and I'll see what I can rustle up for you. 

You may have done this already, but try looking up quarantine theater activities. There are more solo work options. I would also suggest playwriting. When I've lost theater space to other activities, I've done units in a classroom where they learn a monologue and then write a monologue, or pick a scenes (Shakespeare or otherwise) and then write an adaptation in a different time/place/etc. There is also watching a show/scene and completing a worksheet breaking it down by performance or tech elements. 

What grade level are we talking?

Do they have laptops? If so, Khan Academy has a unit on Storytelling. They are partnered with Pixar and it is movie based. They watch things and respond. I used it with Middle Schoolers during Covid.

Hello!

I completely understand this struggle as I had a type of similar class! What I did was made them mini Dramaturgs! I gave them very indepth research papers on plays, everyone had a different play as well to ensure they wouldn't copy off each other. Truthfully half the time they played on their chromebooks but when they knew check-in dates were coming, I was very vocal about this, they would lock in and do the work. By the end many of them (not all if I'm honest) had produced expectation level work. To my surprise several of them signed up for my class again the following year and are now actively participating.

Could you maybe try something like this? Do you think it would work? If so I can send you a couple of examples! :D

Writing monologues/scenes/one acts would be pen and paper work and may help them deal with some of their emotions, too. Especially if you emphasize that, since these are writing exercises, they won't be performed, so the only person who will see what they write is you, some of them may feel more able to deal with some of their emotions through characters on a page.

In college, a professor had us pick a Diane Arbus photo and write a monologue for the person in the photo we picked. You could also give your students themes, like "Write a scene about regret" or "Write a scene about misunderstanding". To learn about writing conflict, have them write a scene wherein one character wants to leave a room and the other character wants that person to stay in the room (and the student has to decide the setting, who that characters are, and why they want what they want.)

Sorry you're having such a tough time! It matters that you're still trying!

Professional education consultant and curriculum designer here. I heard you: PENCIL AND PAPER ACTIVITIES TO RESET THE CLASS.  Model this for them (they watch you sitting properly at a desk with good posture and good pencil grip) and / or show them your neatly copied page.  Try having them copy a poem, a section of a story or essay, and then part of a play script, word for word, neatly, onto blank paper. Heads down, eyes on your work, no talking. Be very careful to copy every word, every punctuation mark, every blank space, every indent for character's name, etc.   Choose selections that are appropriate for their comprehension level, regardless of reading level; they will come to understand the reading through practice.  Maybe use different scripts for different individual students of groups of students. Could be a blank scene ("Where is she?" "She's never been this late before.") or a Shakespeare scene, or any contemporary play, a one-act, a play for little kids, whatever works.  Then you take away the printed pages, and the students must rely on their handwritten copies (yes, they will find errors and need the printed copies back to make corrections).  Teach them that an actor emphasizes some words, pauses for a beat, adds inflection to change the meaning, etc. First they whisper their lines to themselves as they practice. One at a time, they practice reading aloud. The whole activity could take one day, or a week. Repeat with incremental advances until they can recite a few lines for the class (reading or memorized) and eventually play a two-person scene. 
  >>The quiet copying is not a punishment. It is what real actors do when they really need to understand a character and really need to memorize their lines. Will the student add gestures?  Will the student think of different physical objects or actions to add depth to the voice and assist with memorizing?   
   You can show videos where actors describe their process -- how they notate a script, and some actually do copy out their lines, marking the beats and highlighting the stressed words.
  But first, spend hours and days copying those scripts quietly, accurately, neatly, carefully, even if you need to show them the correct way to sit without neck strain, and the correct way to hold a pencil so fingers and wrist and shoulder and neck are not strained.  I will bet that some of them cannot hold their thumbs up and bend just the top joint, so they cannot hold a pencil effectively.    An actor needs control of fine motor skills, so learning to move each finger skillfully is also a valuable lesson. 
  Drama is an ancient art form where actors help an audience to manage emotions, and emotions take up a huge part of our lives. So the silent copying, reading, re-copying and re-reading is not a waste of time.  

Hey there-

Tough class. I have had to go paper/pencil route as well because of the student situation in the room.

For a quick fix, I have used ChatGPT- work smarter, not harder…  choose a topic and ask ChatGPT create an article however many pages long you want and then ask chat to create questions or guided notes on the created article of choice. You can even ask chat to create a certain number of questions and use Blooms Taxonomy questions. You can do this all paper and pencil OR have students answer the questions on your tech platform so students have to submit. Topics of choice- anything that works for you! 

Another idea, drawing from the above, record yourself reading the article while students wear earphones and follow along. Then students can stop your recording and answer questions along the way.

I needed something for my students to immediately do when they walked in the room to immediately establish a norm of quiet… I use bookwidget.com and create a jigsaw puzzle of an image of choice, usually an image that has something to do with my lesson of the day… I also create a word search or crossword puzzle on the same site to reinforce theatre vocabulary. My district used Schoology- super easy to post. My students love this as they settle into class and while I am taking attendance or whatever.

Another idea that I will be implementing this month is something I am calling a Script Scavenger Hunt. This will take more time for me to prepare, but I am excited about it. First, I am using the same script for my class because of prep time, but one could use multiple titles. I will be coming up with specific questions that pertain to the script on a worksheet and/or post it as an assignment on my platform, then again, students have to submit and I do not have to bring home papers to grade. Questions will be along the lines of 1) characters and who says what… 2)props needs for a certain scene 3) what page does a certain scene begin 4) how do certain relationship change from beginning to end ETC….  Whatever your goals are ….

Finally, come up with a list of theatre jobs and students choose which job s/he wants to do do research on. Students will create a PPT. I have had to be very specific and establish criteria for each slide: for example, slide 1: first and last name, Title, date, image. Slide 2: topic, definition, image. ETC… if you run out of ideas for what to cover on slides… ask ChatGPT to inspire you. My students loved the tech piece to this! 

Anyway, I hope this has given you more ideas that you may use or this acts as a springboard of more ideas you may create.

i am really enjoying reading everyone's responses to your questions. I will def be implementing some of them. This is such great collaboration among all of us. Thank YOU!

One more thing- I also use gimkit.com which is a game students can play by answering questions you create. I love this for vocab review and article reviews before a summative or what have you. I just use the free games and students are still happy.