Teacher Notes
Drama Champions
This year young people across the nation are becoming Champions of Change for BBC Children in Need.
Champions of Change is a unique initiative that encourages young people to play a more active role in BBC Children in Need than ever before. By working together to plan, promote and run fundraising activities across the school, they’ll develop valuable skills, have loads of fun and come away inspired and empowered.
Drama, with its emphasis on creativity and performance, offers fantastic opportunities for students to rise to the challenge and fundraise to change children’s lives for the better.
What can we do as a department?
Why not encourage your students to put their drama skills to good use by giving them opportunities to take part in performance-related fundraising?
Do you have a Drama Club or Open Mic Club that could take the lead? If you have students working towards Arts Awards, could they take on the fundraising challenge? Or could you simply put together a fundraising group made up of your most enthusiastic performers?
The ‘Be a Drama Champion’ cards have been designed for you to pass straight on to your student fundraisers.
The activities suggested are flexible. We’ve flagged possible curriculum links and learning outcomes in case you are a key stage 3 teacher and want to incorporate them into lessons. Why not use a resource for a one-off lesson and then challenge the students to develop it further after school or at lunchtimes? Or you may decide that the fundraising activities are more suited to lunchtime clubs, form time or homework.
Whatever you choose to do, remember that every penny raised is precious. Just one lunchtime activity will make a difference!
Idea for a starter activity
Whether students are focusing on fundraising in lesson time, lunchtime or form time, it’s a good idea to begin by reminding them why they’re raising money.
A video introduction
Show the ‘Video 2: Introduction to BBC Children in Need’ and ‘Video 3: Where will your fundraising go?’
Introduction to BBC Children in Need: https://youtu.be/rifa0GrANuI
Where will your fundraising go: https://youtu.be/3dvw9ZZ8Fzo
Warn students that they may find some of the children’s stories in the film upsetting and that you are available for them to talk to should they wish.
Had they remembered that BBC Children in Need supports projects across the UK?
Lead a class discussion using the following question prompts.
· Why do we fundraise?
· Is fundraising just about money?
· Have you ever taken part in fundraising activities?
· Should the government do anything to boost fundraising?
· Do you think we all have a responsibility to fundraise?
· How could you support someone else’s fundraising?
Fundraising activity one:
Open mic poetry
Make poetry inspired by BBC Children in Need the focus for an open mic session. Ask students to research poems related to childhood, champions or heroes and choose their two favourites. Which do they think will work best in performance? Get them experimenting with volume, pace, rhythm, pauses and different voices. How can they use non-verbal gestures, body language, eye contact and facial expressions to enhance their performance? Could they set their poetry to an instrumental track and do a spoken word performance?
To strengthen links with English, focus on elements like iambic pentameter, simile and metaphor with the students.
Hold an open mic session at lunchtime and/or after school during BBC Children in Need week and invite family, friends and staff to buy tickets to watch the students take to the stage.
See the ‘Be a Drama Champion – Open mic poetry’ student card near the end of this document for more information to inspire you and your students.
Going to deliver this in lesson time?
Learning outcomes
/Possible curriculum links
Students will:· Research and choose poems appropriate for performance
· Experiment with different aspects of spoken word performance, including volume, pace, rhythm, pauses, non-verbal gestures and body language
· Take part in a fundraising open mic session / Students will:
· Read a wide range of fiction and non-fiction literature, including poems
· Read critically, understanding how language, including figurative language, vocabulary choice, grammar, text structure and organisational features, presents meaning
· Recognise a range of poetic conventions and understand how these have been used
· Know and understand the differences between spoken and written language, including differences associated with formal and informal registers
· Speak confidently and effectively
· Improvise, rehearse and perform poetry in order to generate language and discuss language use and meaning, using role, intonation, tone, volume, mood, silence, stillness and action to add impact
Fundraising activity two:
Stage a fundraising show
Organise a fundraising variety show inspired by and in support of BBC Children in Need. Help the students to pull together a programme of appropriate material and encourage them to identify a clear theme to give the show coherence. They could choose songs, sketches, poems and dances inspired by childhood, or focus on the theme of heroes and champions. Challenge them to think about how they are going to link the different items. Could they create their own sketches?
To get as many students involved as possible, why not give each class the opportunity to contribute an item to the show? Your Drama Club could take responsibility for pulling together the final performance.
Stage the show during BBC Children in Need week and sell tickets to raise money.
See the ‘Be a Drama Champion – A heroic performance!’ student card near the end of this document for more information to inspire you and your students.
Going to deliver this in lesson time?
Learning outcomes
/Possible curriculum links
Students will:· Identify appropriate songs, sketches and poems for a fundraising show
· Rehearse their performance and consider how to make it as effective as possible, including costumes and staging
· Perform in the show / Students will:
· Speak confidently and effectively
· Improvise, rehearse and perform play scripts and poetry in order to generate language and discuss language use and meaning, using role, intonation, tone, volume, mood, silence, stillness and action to add impact
Fundraising activity three:
Champion Charades
During BBC Children in Need week, ask the students to bring in donations to take part in a special Champion Charades game at lunchtime. Divide the students into teams and give each team a set of names of champions and heroes – everyone from Florence Nightingale and Winston Churchill to Ironman! Each team takes it in turns to act out one of the names, making sure that everyone gets a turn. Award points for both acting and guessing. You could provide props for the students to use in their mini-performances, but emphasise they’ll be penalised if they use sound effects.
To extend the activity and raise even more money, why not ask students to get sponsorship to spend a day as one of the characters on Appeal day? For example, they could dress up as Queen Elizabeth I and use her accent, body language, tone and pace of speech for the whole day.
See the ‘Be a Drama Champion – Champion Charades’ student card near the end of this document for more information to inspire you and your students.
Going to deliver this in lesson time?
Learning outcomes
/Possible curriculum links
Students will:· Think creatively to act out selected Champions
· Use silence and actions to portray a character/person / Students will:
· Improvise, rehearse and perform play scripts and poetry in order to generate language and discuss language use and meaning, using role, intonation, tone, volume, mood, silence, stillness and action to add impact
Ideas for a plenary
Choose from the following plenary activities to round off your drama fundraisers.
Evaluating your fundraising
Congratulate your students on the total they have raised and give them an opportunity to evaluate their fundraising activities.
· What happened?
· What went well?
· What could have gone better?
· What would you change if you were to run the event again?
· How could you have raised more money?
How will the money we raised make a difference?
Share some facts and figures about how BBC Children in Need might use the money the students have raised through their drama-related fundraising. For example:
· £1 helps an 11-year-old who has been bullied to make friends and grow in self-esteem at a local youth club
· £10 pays for a music therapy session at a hospice where a six-year-old girl with a brain tumour can have some joy in the last weeks of her life
· £15 helps support a five-year-old girl to feel safe, calm and unafraid as she testifies against her abuser
· £20 pays for a therapy session for a young boy with alcoholic parents, helping him understand their illness and manage his anxieties
· £40 helps support a 17-year-old girl who was dependent on drugs to turn her life around and find a job
How much would they like to raise next year?
For more ideas and inspiration, visit www.bbcchildreninneed.co.uk/championsofchange
Be a Drama Champion – Open mic poetry!
Performing poetry is a fantastic way to express emotions and ideas and to tell stories. Choose your favourite poem inspired by BBC Children in Need, practise your performance and take to the mic!
Picking poems
What sort of poems do you like? Funny? Dramatic? Rhyming? Mysterious?
Taking BBC Children in Need as inspiration, find two poems that you like and think you will enjoy performing. Why not look for poems about:
· BBC Children in Need – have any been written?
· Childhood in general
· Heroes or champions
· Helping others
Pointers for performance
Practise performing your poems. Here are some things to be thinking about…
Take to the mic
Perform your poems to friends or the rest of your class and use any feedback you get to polish your performance. There will be a chance to take part in an open mic session with performance poets from across the school – even if it’s not your usual thing, why not give it a go? After all, what are a few nerves when you’re raising money to change children’s lives?
You’re in charge…
Help to organise the open mic sessions, promote the event (you’ll find event posters at https://www.bbcchildreninneed.co.uk/championsofchange) and collect in the money raised! You could arrange for the best performance poets to star in your school’s Celebration of Champions.
Raise more money than ever before!
Organise open mic sessions at lunchtime and/or after school and ask friends, family and teachers to make a donation or buy tickets to attend. You could sell refreshments to raise extra money for BBC Children in Need.
For more fundraising tools and details of how to pay in your money please visit our website: www.bbcchildreninneed.co.uk/championsofchange
Be a Drama Champion – Heroic performance!
Fancy yourself as a dramatic hero? Well now’s your chance! Take to the stage to create a fundraising show for BBC Children in Need.
Choose a theme
What’s going to be the focus for your performance? As it’s a fundraiser for BBC Children in Need, how about organising a show made up of songs, sketches and poems inspired by childhood? Or you could pick up on the theme of heroes and champions, with a series of heroic performances.
Once you’ve got an overall idea, think of a catchy title for your show.
Songs, sketches, poems and more!
Carry out research to identify items you could include in the show.
A show with flow!
Once you’ve got a list of possible items, decide on a running order and think about how you’re going to make the show flow. Will you have a compere to introduce each performance? If so, you’ll need to write a script. Try to inject some humour into the links, to keep the audience’s attention and get them laughing!
Practice makes perfect
Learn your lines, practise your song, choreograph your dance and rehearse, rehearse, rehearse! Make sure you’ve organised props and costumes. Have you got a backstage team who can help out with lighting and sound?
Posters and programmes
Get your best artists to create eye-catching posters to promote the event and a programme to sell at the show.
You’re in charge…
Work with your drama teachers to make arrangements. Decide on a date, book the hall, choose material for the show, organise a running order, promote the event with posters and on the school website, sell tickets, organise rehearsals, design a programme… It’s going to be a busy few weeks!
Raise more money than ever before!
Sell as many tickets as you can! Why not have two performances – one at lunchtime for everyone in school, and one in the evening for family and friends? How about raising extra money at the event by selling programmes, having a raffle and offering refreshments?
For more fundraising tools and details of how to pay in your money please visit our website: www.bbcchildreninneed.co.uk/championsofchange