Beginning, Middle, and End

The Tableaux Show

Erin K Hulse, Drama Resource Teacher, APS ARTS Center 880-8249 x 160

Snowflake Bentley

by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

Appropriate Grade Levels: 3-5+

Objectives: Students will

Demonstrate the sequence of a scene from a story—beginning, middle, end
Construct a set of tableaux (still images) using their bodies
Collaborate with peers to plan and present tableaux

NM Common Core Standards Addressed/Reading/ELA/Informational Text

Key Ideas and Details

1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

Craft and Structure

4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, andfigurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

NM Fine Arts/Drama/Theatre Standards Addressed

Standard 1: Learn and develop the essential skills and meet technical demands unique to dance, music,

theatre/drama and visual arts.

K-5 Benchmark 1A: Use body and voice to portray character.

Standard 2: Use dance, music, theatre/drama and visual arts to express ideas.

K-5 Benchmark 2A: Develop classroom dramatizations that express various moods or emotions (e.g., happy/sad, funny, scary, mysterious, etc.).

Standard 4: Demonstrate an understanding of the dynamics of the creative process.

K-5 Benchmark 4A: Collaborate to design, plan, rehearse and perform dramatizations.

Materials:

Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
Students divided into 5 groups
Images of Wilson Bentley’s snowflake photos:

Space for students to work
Tableau checklists (see attached)
This Scene Needs A…drama game (optional—see attached)
Dramatic Structure model (optional—see attached)
Method to record information (Promethean board, chart paper)

Procedure:

Read Snowflake Bentley. Discuss events in the story. What traits did Wilson Bentley display? What was the prize for “Snowflake Bentley”—what was his goal?
Identify the five major scenes in the book. Discuss the beginning, middle, and end fo each scene. Record general statements for each scene.
Discuss what a tableau (tableaux = plural)—students will create a still image of a scene in the book. NOTE: Create the image as the game This Scene Needs A…
Assign each group a scene. Discuss that they will create three tableaux for their scene—one to show the beginning, one for the middle, and one for the end of their scene.
Allow time for groups to create and rehearse their tableaux (3-5 minutes).
In sequence, groups share their tableaux with the other groups.
Sidecoach each group—

“Begin in neutral position” (standing shoulder to shoulder) “1,2,3—beginning tableau; 1,2,3—middle tableau; 1,2,3—ending tableau.”—do this for all scenes.

Debrief—Which scenes really showed the events? Which scenes are there questions about? What information was very clear in the tableaux? What information may have been left out? How could that be included?

Modification/Extension:

Students, as a class, create tableaux for the beginning, middle, and end of the entire book.
As each tableau is created, walk through and touch the shoulder of each student—they give an utterance, a phrase, or a line of dialogue from their character/object in the scene.

Assessment: Tableau Checklist, teacher observation, debriefing

This Scene Needs A

Erin K. Hulse, Drama Resource Teacher, APS ARTS Center

Appropriate Grade Levels: 3-5+

Objectives:

Students will express ideas through still body images.
Students will maintain focus.
Students will use non-verbal communication (eye contact, gestures)
Students will collaborate with others.

Common Core Standards/Language Arts:

Key Ideas and Details

2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

Craft and Structure

5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g.,a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole.

6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

Comprehension and Collaboration

1. Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

2. Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

3. Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas

5. Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.

6. Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

Materials:

Open space large enough for the whole group to work.

Procedure:

Students sit on the edge of a performance space, in the audience space. NOTE:Performance space should be large enough to accommodate all students in a tableau of the scene being created.

Explain to the students that with their bodies, they will create a still image of a person or object in a scene. Once all students have become part of this tableau, you will take time to “read” it and tell them what you see.
Call out a scene. “We are at a park (or the beach, or in the mountains, or at a birthday party)”
Ask students to enter the scene randomly, one at a time with the phrase

“This scene needs a “ and they move into the performance space and create a

still image of that object or person. Encourage levels and a variety of body shapes.

Example:

T: “We are at a park—go”

S1: “This scene needs a tree”—student enters the performance space and holds

arms up and becomes a “tree”.

S2: “This scene needs a water fountain”—student enters and creates a fountain with

his/her body.

S3: “This scene needs a person walking her dog”—student enters and becomes a

dog walker.

S4: “This scene needs a dog”—student enters and becomes the dog S3 is walking.

And so on until all students are part of the scene. You may be surprised by some of the

things they will come up with. NOTE: You know your students and you may feel you need to remind them of what is appropriate for this exercise—that’s okay!

Once all students are part of the tableau, you “read” what you see—“I see someone walking their dog. I see a beautiful water fountain”, etc.

Vocabulary: Still image, tableau, cooperation, ensemble, levels, variety.

Extensions/Modifications:

Create settings from text you may be reading. Use “This setting needs a“ as a way to check understanding of setting.
Use historical events—the scene is Rosa Parks on the bus.
Students can enter with a partner.
Recreate artistic masterpieces (this is actually done in Laguna Beach, CA!)
Play “This equation needs a“ for reinforcement of mathematical operations.

Evaluation: Debriefing, teacher observation.

Dramatic Structure

Status quo—What normally happens to the protagonist in his/her daily life.
Igniting incident—Something happens to cause a problem the protagonist must solve. This incident begins the rising action.
Obstacles along the way—The protagonist encounters obstacles along his/her way to resolving the problem.
Climax—The protagonist reaches the final solution to the obstacle and either solves the problem for good or is defeated.
Resolution—What happens to the characters after the climax.
New, altered status quo—Characters continue on with their lives, but have been altered by the events in the story.