Improv for Independence!

Hi improv friends :)

Team Social Studies utilized an improv lesson today in 7th grade! In order to present research on an African nation's struggle for independence, each student had to create a flag and newspaper front page from the date of independence.  Sara and I decided to try to assess students and give them a fun and creative way to share their learning with each other using improvisation.

Each student posted up their news article and flag somewhere around the room (some made such big flags they had to hold them... so naturally we had a Wavin' Flag dance party :) ). Then we counted off odds and evens. The odds began the class as 'reporters' and the evens began as their choice of 'freedom fighter' or 'government official'.  The reporters visited each freedom fighter/official and interviewed them about their nation's journey from colony to independent, often-struggling independent country.  The representatives were required to take on a persona and act out that character through a series of different 'interviews' with about 10 reporters. The reporters were challenged to improvise questions based on the nations they visited, the visuals presented by the representatives, and knowledge from their own research.  Then, the roles switched and the evens were the reporters.  This gave each student about 20 different improvisational switches since they were presented with new interview questions and responses with each new 'visitor'.  It was especially fun since the kids had no idea until all their posters were up what they would be doing with their research!

My favorite part of this lesson was seeing how the students reacted to each other.  I was amazed and excited to see students who easily fulfilled the 'reporter' role and used visual cues to develop insightful, interesting questions for their classmates.  Even better, those students elicited the best responses since their level of improvisation inspired and assisted their classmates in finding their 'character' as well.  And since each improv interaction was on a 1-on-1 basis, I saw students who are typically reserved and insecure taking risks and really enjoying their 'roles'!!  This was such a great way for us to assess our students as well, since we were able to travel around and see each reporter and representative in action, grading their synthesis of research and materials at the same time (nothing better than a time saver for busy teachers :) )!!!

We thought this was an effective and fun application of the 'Scenes from an Italian Restaurant' idea. It could be used for any individual research assignment.

Love reading all of these other amazing ideas! We are really enjoying thinking of ways to incorporate more improv and help students develop metacognition about their experiences.

Danielle and Sara