Freeze frames

This lesson provides an introduction to drama. It begins with games which help students to learn about each other, become more relaxed physically and vocally, and learn about group work. The students are introduced to freeze frames and they consider eye focus, facial expression, body language, use of space and heights and levels.

Objectives

• To understand the expectations of behaviour in drama lessons.
• To learn more about each other.
• To develop an understanding of basic drama techniques.
• To develop an understanding of group work.

Starter

Introduce the lesson and establish the rules and expectations of your students in the drama studio. You may wish to use the following handout:

Bullying: Drama rules

How should we behave in the drama studio?

Then work through the following starter activities:

Name games

Ask the students to stand in a circle. Walk into the middle of the circle, saying your name and adding a personal gesture. Then step out of the circle. Ask a student to follow your example, and then to pass it on to another student. Each time they should follow the teacher’s signals for volume control and speed of entering the circle. Continue until everyone has been introduced.

Group work

Create groupings based on hair colour, shoe size, height order, pets, etc. Ensure that the groupings you choose do not offend anyone. This exercise is designed to get students to respond and form groups quickly so that lesson time is not wasted. It also promotes interaction between all the students in the class.

Letters and numbers

Ask students to form pairs. They should create shapes which you give them. These shapes can be capital letters, lower-case letters or numbers. The pairs have to create these shapes within a time limit. If the students work well, you could also suggest they create shapes such as squares or triangles. The activity can then be developed into a large group and whole group exercise.

Do you know most of the names of the people in your group? How can you remember them? What makes good group work? How did it feel doing this work?

Response

Organise the class into groups of four or five. Ask one group to act as volunteers. The groups should imagine they are all football-players. They should form a freeze frame depicting a football match. Explain that a freeze frame is a frozen picture (sometimes called a still image) and discuss the different elements of it, such as the heights and shapes, facial and body expression, eye focus and the space used. You may wish to write the vocabulary on the board to refer to later on. This is a teacher-led workshop, and the students should be involved through directed questions, such as:

What does this picture tell us? How do we know that? How could it be improved to make the events and characters in the scene clearer?

Development

Students then create a series of freeze frames based on titles you provide. Examples of titles might include a holiday, the first day of school, the first day of the holidays, the surprise or a fright at night. These are listed in the following presentation:

Bullying: Freeze frames

Is everyone involved? How could this work be improved?

If there is time, you could also ask students what their character is thinking by using thought-tracking.

Plenary

Discuss students’ understanding of the objectives of the lesson. You may wish to use the following presentation:

Bullying: Lesson objectives

Check students’ understanding of freeze frames. Use teacher-directed questions to ensure that all students can participate. Questions might include:

What have you learnt today? What were the best parts and why? What is a freeze frame? What makes a good freeze frame?

Homework

Ask students to review the lesson by completing the following handout:

Bullying: Diary