Storytelling
This project looks at how to tell a story in a variety of different ways. It also looks at storytelling in another drama tradition. At the end of the project, students perform an improvised drama to the rest of the class based on a story introduced in the project, using a narrator and sound effects.
The aims are to:
- be able to tell a story clearly using drama
- demonstrate that people look at drama and stories from different perspectives
- develop rehearsal skills
- develop the confidence required for performance.
By the end of this project, students are expected to:
- have gained knowledge of another culture
- be more confident and be able to show their drama to the class
- understand that drama can be presented in different ways
- understand the value of telling a good story
- work in a variety of groupings.
The techniques which are covered in lessons in this project include:
- improvisation
- narrator
- performance
- rehearsal
- sound collage
- still image
- thoughts aloud.
The key words which are used in this project include:
- assessment
- improvisation
- narrator
- performance
- rehearsal
- rhythm
- sound collage
- still image
- stimulus
- thoughts aloud.
The text which students encounter during this project includes the story of the three little pigs, a story from the Ramayana and materials for creating a shadow puppet theatre.
This series of lessons has cross-curricular links with English and RE.
Students should be assessed in this project on the extent to which they:
- use appropriate movement and gestures
- develop an understanding of techniques
- create a character from written stimuli
- portray the character and perform their role successfully
- evaluate their work and that of others.
Web sites which could be used for further information on this topic include:
Web sites about the Ramayana:
This project meets the following recommendations from Drama in Schools (Second Edition) (Arts Council England, 2003). For a complete mapping, see Managing: Drama in Schools.
Level 3: Responding
- Discuss their work and the work of others, showing understanding of different forms and making use of some specialist terms, eg pantomime, melodrama and shadow puppets
Level 4: Performing
- Experiment with their voices and movement, to create or present different characters in performance
A printable version of the project is provided here:
A summary of the project is provided here:
Aims
narrator, 
Storytelling