Hats

Hats (ages 12-13)

This scheme of work teaches students how to develop characters from text and character cards, building a history for them. Techniques such as Forum Theatre and Stanislavski are used to develop the characters further, before an whole class improvisation for assessment. It is also great fun!

Please note: you will need to provide your own hats!

The module contains 6 drama lesson plans.

Lesson 1: Introduction To Character Building. Students develop characters with frozen pictures and dialogue, inspired by different hats.
Lesson 2: Building A Character’s History. Use of hot seating to add depth to a character, along with the warm up exercise ‘Musical Hats’. A pacey piece of jazz Music is included.
Lesson 3: Developing The Character Further. Representing professions using frozen pictures.
Lesson 4: Building A Character from Text. Understanding text and deciding how create a dramatic representation.
Lesson 5: Improvised Characters. Introducing Stanislavski techniques and improvisation in the exercise ‘Murder on The Orient Express’.
Lesson 6: Assessment. Improvisation of the events at a particularly eventful party.

Supporting materials include

Poem: The Breakfast
Orient express cards
1 piece of music

Additional resources are included in the appendices

Basic Drama Skills
End Of Unit Self-Assessment Form

The document is supplied as a ZIP file, containing 1 PDF file, readable on most computers, and 1 MP3 file.

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