Drama Lessons for Home-Bound Students or During the Corona Virus Quarantine
In light of the Corona virus illness, and many people quarantined at home, I thought I’d offer you some suggestions of drama lessons a teacher could assign or a student could take home with them. I am part of several Facebook groups for teachers and typical of teachers, they are all ready preparing for the extended home stays which could happen.
Or……they have a student who will be absent for several days or even weeks. It does occur.
You’d think it would be impossible for a teacher to assign drama lessons for students to study at home, because we are a performance oriented subject.
Not always, however.
I’d never thought of this learning obstacle until recently. One of my students who teaches in South Korea has all ready been home for two weeks. Unfortunately, I fear we are only days from staying home for several weeks here in the states.
A friend told me about a man who bought up all the Purel at a Walmart in Oklahoma. What an opportunist!
He set up a booth across the street from the same Walmart and charged $100 for a bottle of it! What?!
Crazy times we live in, huh?
Here are a list of drama lessons and units which your student(s) could complete at home (home bound lessons) either because they are quarantined by the coronavirus or plan to be absent for a week or two.
This gets a teacher started. There are more lessons which will work and keep the learning going. I promise.
Creative Dramatics (grades 2 to 5)
I simplified my middle grade lesson and enlarged the design templates. I hope this encourages students to try their hand at costume design. It’s such fun!
There are different ways to look at designing costumes for this story. What if Red Riding Hood lives in the city in 2020?
- Set Design: The Rendering (grades 5 to 8)
This is my most popular lesson to date! Students get the chance to design the set for a play!
A student could read the script with a parent or even the family. There are post discussion questions which might be of use to you as well. There is a bundle with many funny reader’s theater scripts so look for that in my store.
Middle School Drama Lessons and Units (grades 6 to 8)
This choice board includes nine different theater companies, Marcel Marceau and what is means to be a Foley engineer.
Just put this up today (March 30). It’s a great show and fun production to learn about.
This is one which I bet your students would enjoy. It’s all about costume design and the history of super heroes.
This is a two-day lesson about playwriting. It would be a lot of fun for them.
This would be a super unit if you could purchase a class set of the play ahead of the quarantine. Or maybe get a few copies for your classroom if you have a student who will be absent for an extended period of time. )
You can purchase them at: https://www.dramaticpublishing.com/tom-sawyer- tr5000
This is a ten day unit, however a student could complete the entire unit at home by himself if need be.
This is a short lesson giving students an opportunity to draw a set for a fairy tale.
Student can observe someone in their home and after doing a short quiz, write a description of the person.
This is a short newspaper formatted lesson about him. It could be completed at home with no problem. The extension activity could be done independently. This is a very popular lesson with students.
This is a short biography lesson which students could do easily complete from home with internet access. She’s an up-and-coming actress which they may be not be familiar with.
These boards are marvelous help in distance learning or when everyone needs a break. They include theaters from around the world and short lessons on designers–costume, set, sound, etc. Need some differentiation? These will help.
High School Drama Lessons and Units (grades 9 to 12)
This lesson is intended for gifted seventh graders through tenth grade. Using a break dancer as the focus, students learn to write dialogue step by step.
This is a lesson for middle grade students, however you could change the assignment and make it more lengthy.
This lesson is perfect for drama students. Students research a theater artist, answer questions about artist’s growth mindset, consider their own mindset and finish with a creative project. This unit was created for high school students, however it could be adapted for middle grade students.
I never thought of this for a situation like this, but you know it is perfect! Students select a play, answer a group of very comprehensive questions. Then they create a power point about the play thinking of it from a director and designer’s point of view. Lastly, they create a three-dimensional object which represents the play.
This is a bundle of lessons (discounted) which pertain to technical aspects of a production. Students could select one of the four units or maybe a teacher gives them one assignment (such as sound design) and everyone turns in the same assignment.
As I mentioned earlier, I have plenty of other lessons which could work.
If you need some help deciding which would be best, do contact me. Or check out my store at: Dramamommaspeaks
Have you ever had a student who was home-bound? I did and boy, was it tricky at the time. I wish I’d had home bound lessons at the time. I’d love to hear from you. Contact me at dhcbaldwin@gmail.com or DeborahBaldwin.net
Here is a FREE lesson if you are in a pinch: Speech Review Worksheet (middle school and up)
Here are some other suggestions of products which may help you, all FREE: Free Teaching Resources Blog Hop
Deborah, thank you so much for the complimentary materials! I appreciate the guidance during our “new normal” of online/remote teaching! I look forward to trying them with my students.
You are very welcome. Have you checked my store site? There are others which are free and all others are reasonably priced.
You are very welcome, Darcy. I just saw this comment. My blog isn’t notifying me. Thanks for the kind words.