Unit title
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Drama –The Dancersby Horton Foote
Teacher(s) / Poppi Smith & Kim Carey
Subject and grade level / Language A (English) – Grade 6
Time frame and duration / 4 weeks
Stage 1: Integrate significant concept, area of interaction and unitquestion
Area of interaction focus
Which area of interaction will be our focus?
Why have we chosen this? / /
Significant concept(s)
What are the big ideas? What do we want our students to retain for years into the future?
Approaches to Learning:
Connect The AOIs: Connect ideas & experiences with the AOIsthrough relating visual and symbolic cues in performance to actions and behaviour in social or professional situations.
Health and Social Education: developing a respect for social decisions and the impact it has on others. / Drama is intended to be performed rather than read, however, props and staging in plays are imbued with meaning and purpose that, as much as the dialogue, carry a message.
MYP unit question
How does non-verbal language (symbols and gestures) speak to us?
Assessment
What task(s) will allow students the opportunity to respond to the unit question?
What will constitute acceptable evidence of understanding? How will students show what they have understood?
  • Script a dramatic scene: recalling a challenging problem (optional preliminary assessment)
  • Research and lead short presentations on setting related topics (e.g. ballroom dancing, fashion in the 1950’s, role of women in society, social classes, cars, etc.)
  • Reset a scene from “The Dancers” in a contemporary context using contemporary references.

Which specific MYP objectives will be addressed during this unit?
  • demonstrate a critical awareness of a range of written and visual texts
  • express an informed personal response to literary and non-literary texts and demonstrate the ability to approach works independently
  • understand connotations within a language in order to interpret the author’s or speaker’s intentions
  • use and understand an appropriate and varied range of vocabulary and idiom
  • use correct grammar with appropriate and varied sentence structure
  • show awareness of the need for an effective choice of register suited to the audience in both oral and written communication.

Which MYP assessment criteria will be used?
Language A (English): Criterion A – Content
Language A (English): Criterion B – Organization
Language A (English): Criterion C – Style & Language Usage
Stage 2: Backward planning: from the assessment to the learning activities through inquiry
ContentWhat knowledge and/or skills (from the course overview) are going to be used to enable the student to respond to the unit question?
What AERO standards/skills are to be addressed? How can they be unpacked to develop the significant concept(s) for stage 1?
AERO STANDARDS:
Reading: 1a, 2a, 2b, 2c, 2e, 2h, 2i,
Writing: 4d, 4f, 4g, 5f
Speaking & Listening: 6a, 6b, 7b, 7f, 7h, 9a, 9c, 9d, 9f, 9h
A.I.S.M. Sex Ed. Objectives:
Key Concept 3: Love and Relationships:
  • Family members take care of each other
  • Family members show their love for one another
  • Friends respect and appreciate each other
  • Friends sometimes hurt each other’s feelings
  • Friendships help people fee good about themselves
  • Dating is when two people who are romantically attracted to each other spend their free time together
Key Concept 4: Personal Skills:
  • Most parents want their children to develop values that are similar to their own
  • People speak, write, sign, or show how they feel with facial expressions and body language
  • Communication is necessary in human relationships
  • People often communicate their feelings with nonverbal messages

Approaches to learning
How will this unit contribute to the overall development of subject-specific and general approaches to learning skills?
Organization: engage with learning
Collaborative skills: performing sections and skits together,
Communication: oral discussions, sharing critical perspectives on a piece of writing.
Reflection: keeping reading journals, writing unit reflections and self-assessments.
Using information: understanding the research process, using search criteria and evaluating the credibility of sources.
Learning experiencesHow will students know what is expected of them? Will they see examples, rubrics, templates?
How will students acquire the knowledge and practise the skills required? How will they practise applying these?
Do the students have enough prior knowledge? How will we know? / Teaching strategiesHow will we use formative assessment to give students feedback during the unit?
What different teaching methodologies will we employ?
How are we differentiating teaching and learning for all? How have we made provision for those learning in a language other than their mother tongue? How have we considered those with special educational needs?
  • Draw and design a detailed set of the stage.
  • Short in-class writing tasks such as writing a letter from Horace to his parents will give the students experience with p.o.v.; letter writing; understanding of character.
  • research time will be given for students to search on-line and in the libraries in preparation for their presentations.
  • sort re-enactments of scenes.
  • active reading skills via interrupted questioning of drama-related skills (i.e. voicing, phrasing, realistic dialogue, facial expressions).
  • Practice adding voicing and staging directions to a dialogue.
  • improv. exercises to reinforce visualization of narrative.
  • comprehension strategies
  • write a short script between Elizabeth and a family councillor seeking advice on what to do about Emily’s behaviour.
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  • self-evaluation and exit slips will be used to track students’ progress.
  • group evaluation sheets will be used to monitor group dynamics and work.
  • character webs
  • scripting dialogues
  • rewriting realistic dialogue
  • marking brackets and parentheses in scripts
  • how to use dashes and ellipsis
  • presentation skills
  • for low proficiency students – explain staging directions clearly (make sure they are following scene changes and envisioning the action.
  • for high proficiency students – have them write detailed staging and performance notes on their scripts as if they were directors.
  • for ESL students – use photos of the 1950’s (be prepared to explain things like the ‘drugstore’ in the play was not just a pharmacy but a place to socialize; there are some difficult words – genteel, mortified, defiance, console, divinity, dressing gown, ‘sweet little net’, mixer, raft). Be prepared to define/explain them and the homographic differences of some of them.

Resources
What resources are available to us?
How will our classroom environment, local environment and/or the community be used to facilitate students’ experiences during the unit?
  • Script of The Dancers by Horton Foote
  • Photos of the 1950’s (can be found at

Ongoing reflections and evaluation
In keeping an ongoing record, consider the following questions. There are further stimulus questions at the end of the “Planning for teaching and learning” section of MYP: From principles into practice.
Students and teachersWhat did we find compelling? Were our disciplinary knowledge/skills challenged in any way?
What inquiries arose during the learning? What, if any, extension activities arose?
How did we reflect—both on the unit and on our own learning?
Which attributes of the learner profile were encouraged through this unit? What opportunities were there for student-initiated action?
Possible connections How successful was the collaboration with other teachers within my subject group and from other subject groups?
What interdisciplinary understandings were or could be forged through collaboration with other subjects?
Assessment
Were students able to demonstrate their learning?
How did the assessment tasks allow students to demonstrate the learning objectives identified for this unit? How did I make sure students were invited to achieve at all levels of the criteria descriptors?
Are we prepared for the next stage?
Data collection
How did we decide on the data to collect? Was it useful?
2009-12-08
This year the students really struggled with understanding the difference between narrative and script form. A lot of them could not seem to wrap their minds around the visual idea of a staged production and wrote the first draft of their scripts with little direction or with long narrative passages set off from the dialogue. I am not certain whether this is due to the students’ age and maturity, or if it has to do with the influence of, and more frequent exposure to, movies and television upon their visually impressionable minds. Once this was re-taught, the students developed some creative ways around writing stage directions by adding a narrator as a role. After this second run, I think there may be reason to change this unit to focus on a screen play or television script rather than a stage play, although for the purposes of interdisciplinary collaboration with drama at A.I.S.M., where stage productions are spectacular, as well as other classes where scripts are used as an assessment option, the formatting and use of stage direction reinforced by this unit has its place.
The Learner Profile attribute that seems to have the clearest relevance to this unit is communication – in so far as the students should appreciate the importance of effective communication between characters in a play, and with their audience. However, I think that being principled is also addressed through how the students decision-making when choosing a plot for their scripted scenes. The overwhelming influence of action movies is extremely seductive, and there are more temptations to plagiarize during this unit because of the association of drama with ‘action’.

Figure 12

MYP unit planner

Grade 6: 1950’’’’s Research Presentations

Research and give a presentation on a topic of your choice related to the play “The Dancers,” by Horton Foote, and 1950’s America. You could research a dance style and demonstrate it in your presentation, you could research the fashion styles of the 1950’s, the cars, or the author. Your presentation should be 5 minutes in length and should help enhance our appreciation of the play.

My topic is: ______Presentation Date: ______

LEVELOF ACHIEVEMENT / Criterion A: Content
9-10 /
  • The topic is presented with lots of accurate details. It is fully developed and supported. There are many informative illustrations/pictures/demonstrations that are fully described.
  • The presentation topic is clearly related to the play content and the student explains these connections very clearly. The content really enhances our appreciation of the play.
  • Presentation content shows excellent imagination & sensitivity.

7-8 /
  • The topic is presented with accurate details. It is well developed and supported. There are several informative illustrations/pictures/demonstrations that are well described.
  • The presentation topic is clearly related to the play content and the student explains these connections clearly. The content enhances our appreciation of the play.
  • Presentation content shows good imagination & sensitivity.

5-6 /
  • The topic is presented with mostly accurate details. It is developed and supported. There are some informative and descriptive illustrations/pictures/demonstrations.
  • The presentation topic is related to the play content and the student mostly explains these connections in a clear way. The content enhances our appreciation of the play to some degree.
  • Presentation content shows some imagination & sensitivity.

3-4 /
  • The topic is presented with some accurate details. It is somewhat developed and supported. There are a couple illustrations/pictures/demonstrations though not all of them are explained or relevant.
  • The presentation topic is somewhat related to the play content & the student explains the connections but they may be unclear or not always relevant. This content somewhat enhances our appreciation of the play.
  • Presentation content shows a little imagination & sensitivity.

1-2 /
  • The topic is presented with few details; many are inaccurate. It is not well developed and supported. There are few to no illustrations/pictures/demonstrations and they are not all explained or relevant.
  • The presentation topic is not really related to the play content & the student tries to explain the connections but they are superficial or irrelevant. This content doesn’t really enhance our appreciation of the play.
  • Presentation content shows little to no imagination & sensitivity.

0 /
  • Does not reach a standard described by the descriptors above.

LEVELOF ACHIEVEMENT / Criterion B: Organization
9-10 /
  • The presentation is always well organized, very clear, and easy to understand. The student is well prepared/organized for the presentation.
  • The content (poster, PowerPoint, etc. - if applicable) is always very clear, organized, neat, and easy to understand.

7-8 /
  • The presentation is mostly well organized, clear, and easy to understand. The student is mostly well prepared/organized.
  • The content (poster, PowerPoint, etc. - if applicable) is mostly clear, organized, neat, and easy to understand.

5-6 /
  • The presentation is basically organized, clear, and easy to understand. The student is basically prepared/organized.
  • The content (poster, PowerPoint, etc. - if applicable) is basically clear, organized, neat, and easy to understand.

3-4 /
  • The presentation is somewhat organized; at times it may be hard to follow or occasionally unclear. The student is a little unprepared.
  • The content (poster, PowerPoint, etc. - if applicable) is occasionally unclear, disorganized, or untidy.

1-2 /
  • The presentation is generally disorganized and confusing. The student is unprepared.
  • The content (poster, PowerPoint, etc. - if applicable) is generally unclear, disorganized, or untidy.

0 /
  • Does not reach a standard described by the descriptors above.

LEVELOF ACHIEVEMENT / Criterion C: Style and Language
9-10 /
  • The student’s language/vocabulary and/or written material are always appropriate with very few errors (in speech, pronunciation, spelling, grammar, and punctuation). Voice is very clear, confident, and audible.
  • The presentation last from 5-6 minutes.

7-8 /
  • The student’s language/vocabulary and/or written material are appropriate with occasional errors (speech, pronunciation, spelling, grammar, punctuation). Voice is clear, confident, & audible.
  • The presentation last from 4-6 minutes. It may be much longer.

5-6 /
  • The student’s language/vocabulary and/or written material are usually appropriate with some errors (speech, pronunciation, spelling, grammar, punctuation). Voice is mostly clear & audible.
  • The presentation last from 3-4 minutes.

3-4 /
  • The student’s language/vocabulary and/or written material is sometimes inappropriate and/or with regular errors (speech, pronunciation, spelling, grammar, punctuation). Voice is sometimes unclear, inaudible, and/or lacks confidence.
  • The presentation last from 2-3 minutes.

1-2 /
  • The student’s language/vocabulary and/or written material is often inappropriate and/or with frequent errors (speech, pronunciation, spelling, grammar, punctuation). Voice is often unclear.
  • The presentation last from under three minutes.

0 /
  • Does not reach a standard described by the descriptors above.

Grade 6 “The Dancers” Comprehension Questions

After reading the play, respond to the following questions in full sentences and paragraphs.

  1. Respond: How did you feel about the play's ending? Did everything work out well? Explain.
  2. (a) Recall: What does Inez say about Horace when he arrives at her house? (b) Infer: From Horace's conversation with his sister, what can you infer about Horace's personality?
  3. (a) Recall: What has Inez done about Horace's social life even before he arrives at her house? (b) Analyze: Why does Horace keep asking how Emily feels about him and their upcoming date?
  4. If you were directing the scene in which Horace and Mary Catherine first meet, how would you describe her costume? Why is it important for her to be dressed this way?
  5. What social skills are both Horace and Mary Catherine trying to acquire during the course of the play? How do these efforts affect the staging of the play?
  6. What does the dialogue between Inez and Horace reveal about the personalities of each character?
  7. On the night of the dance, Emily Crews and her mother Elizabeth get into an argument. Describe how you think the actors should play this scene. What do their faces look like? How would you describe their body language?
  8. Select a character from “The Dancers” and design a character attribute web with five (5) attributes. Support each of your attributes with quotes from the play.
  1. Imagine you are Horace just after Emily Crews rejected you when you tried to pick her up for the dance. You want to convince your mother to allow you to come home early. Write a letter to your mother explaining why you want to cut your visit short and persuading her to let you.
CRITERIA / 10-9 / 8-7 / 6-5 / 4-3
CONTENT / Central Problem / dialogue is based on a central problem or conflict that shows a deep understanding of human conflicts. / dialogue is based on a central problem or conflict that shows an understanding of human conflicts. / dialogue is based on a central problem or conflict that shows some understanding of human conflicts / dialogue is based on a central problem or conflict that shows limited understanding of human conflicts
Originality In Storyline / shows a high degree of originality in developing characterization, plot, and other elements / shows considerable originality in developing characterization, plot, and other elements / shows some originality in developing characterization, plot, and other elements / shows little originality in developing characterization, plot, and other elements
Prewriting tasks / it is evident that a lot of thought and planning went into revising and perfecting this dialogue. / Even though a lot of thought and planning went into revising and perfecting this dialogue there are some kinks remaining. / A minimum amount of thought and planning went into revising and perfecting this dialogue. / There is no evidence that any thought and planning went into the creation of this dialogue.
COMMAND OF DRAMATIC STRUCTURE / ORGANIZATION / Initial Interaction of Characters / initial interaction of characters effectively reveals the central conflict / initial interaction of characters is clearly related to the central conflict / initial interaction of characters introduces the central conflict / initial interaction of characters has little relationship to the central conflict
Motivation Of Characters / motivations of characters are clear and believable / motivations of characters are clear but not believable. / some evidence of characters’ motivations / little evidence of characters’ motivations
Buildup To Climax / the dialogue’s ‘plot’ builds effectively to a climax / the dialogue’s ‘plot’ shows considerable buildup to a climax / the dialogue’s ‘plot’ shows some sense of building to a climax / little sense of plot in the dialogue
Ending / ending provides a strong and satisfying resolution / ending provides a logical resolution / ending provides a resolution / ending provides a little resolution
STYLE AND LANGUAGE USAGE / Dialogue / dialogue effectively advances the plot
dialogue has strong variety and vitality / dialogue advances the plot
dialogue has considerable variety and vitality / dialogue advances the plot in some places
dialogue has some variety and vitality / dialogue has limited effect on the plot
dialogue has limited variety and vitality
Conventions OfScript-Writing
(based on student observations and analysis of script conventions) / shows strong command of the conventions of scriptwriting and uses them flawlessly / shows considerable command of the conventions of scriptwriting and uses them almost consistently / shows some command of the conventions of scriptwriting, but there are some inconsistencies. / shows limited command of the conventions of scriptwriting
Language Conventions / applies grammar, usage, spelling, and punctuation with a high degree of accuracy and effectiveness / applies grammar, usage, spelling, and punctuation with considerable accuracy and effectiveness / applies grammar, usage, spelling, and punctuation with some accuracy and effectiveness / applies grammar, usage, spelling, and punctuation with limited accuracy and effectiveness

Self-Peer Editing Operations (STAR)