Lesson Plan

Lesson Title: Exploring The Rabbits

Reference to Level 4 Drama
NZC: -Initiate and refine ideas with others to plan and develop drama
-Present and respond to drama, identifying ways in which elements, techniques,
conventions and technologies create meaning in their own and others’ work
-Use conventions to structure Drama
-Investigate the functions, purposes, and technologies of drama in cultural and
historical contexts.
Learning  Students are learning ways of interpreting text (The Rabbits by John
objective Marsden & Shaun Tan) to contribute towards an original devised drama.

Success  Students will have a further understanding of The Rabbits

Criteria  Students can work with others to create a short scene based on The
Rabbits
 Students can identify how the conventions slow-motion and freezeframe
add meaning to a short piece of drama.

Resources The Rabbits by John Marsden & Shaun Tan

Images from last class

Timing:  Roll Call + Question:

10 mins Q-What is your favourite season?
Re-cap of The Rabbits, using questions from yesterday

5 mins  Warm up: Diamond slow motion

15-20  Activity 1: I will place the scrunched up images from yesterday in the
mins middle of the room in a sculpture/art like format. In small groups of 2
or three, students will come up with a title for the artwork. Some
students will be allowed to then arrange the titles in order of most
preferred to least preferred, justifying their decisions. Discuss how it
relates to the book.

15-20  Activity 2:
mins Students into small groups (based on birthday months), and to create
three frozen images with slow motion transitions between each one
that shows a moment from the rabbits that spoke to them.
Discuss what makes an effective frozen image, and effective slow
motion

8 mins  Activity 3:
Present scenes to the class and discuss: What we liked, what meanings
were created in each scene etc.
 Lesson Plan

Reflection:
The girls were all really intrigued by the image I had created, and this instantly engaged
them with the lesson. The warm up activity of Diamond slow motion follow the leader was a
bit noisier than I hoped and I kept asking them to be quiet, but actually it didn’t matter that
they were noisy because they were engaging with the activity. Everyone got a turn at being
the leader in this game, which is really important for those girls in the class who struggle
with leadership roles. Student with autism really enjoyed this activity, in particular being the
leader.
I then got them to sit in a semi-circle and did a re-cap of the rabbits using the questions
from yesterday. They’re starting to understand the Rabbits further and came up with some
really insightful answers. The same voices however were coming up so need to find better
ways of checking for understanding!
I then got them into groups of 3 or 4 to come up with a title for the artwork I created with
their images. With Jayne’s group, I got her to be the chooser of titles that the girls
brainstormed. This gave her a leadership role and success in the task.
I then got a few girls to order the titles and explain their decisions to the class, this activity
dragged a bit BUT definitely helped create further understanding of the story.
The class discussion was rich and started getting more voices piping up about their
understandings. There were a few people who got a bit bored in this activity, but I do think
they were listening to each other. Needed to check for understanding however.
I then got them to be in small groups (same ones as before) to create two frozen images and
a slow mo transition between them. I made it a shorter activity than initially planned
because we had gone over time with the discussion.
We briefly discussed why slow-mo is useful in drama. This helped the girls establish what
effective slow motion looks like. Everyone did really well.

Pedgaogical choices and content explained:

The recap of last lesson is helpful in ensuring prior knowledge is retained and built upon
each lesson (Aitken & Sinnema, 2008)

This warm up activity allows each student to have a leadership position. With collaborative
learning it is important that students take an active role in the group, so this warm up
activity encourages each person to contribute an idea and see it come to fruition (Aitken &
Sinnema, 2008; Thomson & Brown, 2000; Killen, 2012).

This first activity is adapted from a colleague at school A who experience great success in
her class. It allows students to have a personal connection, and also encourages them to
work in a small group to come up with an idea. It also allows students to learn how to justify
their decisions, an important part of group work and drama in general (Killen, 2012)

Small groups created at random to ensure mixed groups, and that the same people aren’t
working together each class. Encourages students to develop many personal connections
and friendships in the class. Encourages a sense of belonging as well (Killen, 2012, Aitken &
Sinnema, 2008).