Students will use drama to explore the story elements of the text, “The Tortoise and the Hare”. This will be achieved through tableau, pantomime and story-telling during a read-aloud of the text. This role-playing exercise will aid in students’ articulation of the story’s problem and solution.
"I Can" Statements
“I Can…”
- I can identify the beginning, middle, and end of “The Tortoise and the Hare”.
- I can identify and use theatre techniques such as tableau and pantomime to demonstrate the emotions of the Tortoise throughout the story.
- I can use tableau to retell the story.
Essential Questions
- How can theatre techniques help us understand the elements of a story and gain insight into the experiences of the characters in the story?
Curriculum Standards
Kindergarten:
ELAGSEKRL3 With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.
Grade 1:
ELAGSE1RL2 Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson. ELAGSE1RL3 Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
Arts Standards
Kindergarten:
TAK.CR.1 Organize, design, and refine theatrical work.
TAK.CR.2 Develop scripts through theatrical techniques.
TAK.PR.1 Act by communicating and sustaining roles in formal and informal environments.
Grade 1:
TA1.CR.1 Organize, design, and refine theatrical work.
TA1.CR.2 Develop scripts through theatrical techniques.
TA1.PR.1 Act by communicating and sustaining roles in formal and informal environments.
Curriculum Standards
Kindergarten:
ELA.K.AOR.1.1 Identify and describe the main character(s), setting, and events that move the plot forward.
ELA.K.AOR.6.1 Retell a text orally to enhance comprehension: a. include main character(s), setting, and important events for a story.
Grade 1:
ELA.1.AOR.1.1 Identify and describe the main story elements, such as character(s), setting, and events that move the plot forward.
ELA.1.AOR.2.1 Retell a story using main story elements and identify a lesson in a literary text.
ELA.1.AOR.6.1 Retell a text orally and in writing to enhance comprehension: a. include main story elements at the beginning, middle, and end for a literary text.
Arts Standards
Anchor Standard 1: I can create scenes and write scripts using story elements and structure.
Anchor Standard 3: I can act in improvised scenes and written scripts.
Anchor Standard 8: I can relate theatre to other content areas, arts disciplines, and careers.
Content Vocabulary
- Narration - The act of telling a story
- Character - A person, an animal or other figure assuming human qualities, in a story
- Setting - The time and place in which a story takes place
- Plot - The events that happen in a story
- Cause - The reason something happened
- Effect - What happens because of the cause
Arts Vocabulary
- Theater - Dramatic literature or its performance; drama
- Storytelling - Conveying events in words and images, often by improvisation or embellishment
- Character - A personality or role an actor/actress recreates
- Pantomime - Acting without words through facial expression, gesture, and movement
- Tableau - A “living picture” in which actors pose and freeze in the manner of a picture or photograph
- “Rainbow of Desire” Tableau - A technique developed by Augusto Boal as part of his Theatre of the Oppressed methodology. It is used to explore the internal desires and conflicts of a protagonist through a series of theatrical exercises and visual representations. A "Rainbow of Desire" tableau is a visual and physical representation of these internal states, where participants create a series of frozen images (tableaux) to illustrate the various emotions, desires, and conflicts within a character.
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- “The Tortoise and the Hare” by Aesop
- Markers/crayons
- Pencils
- Story Map with characters, setting, and the parts of a plot
- Smart board/white board
- Optional extension - iPad with Sock Puppets app
Opening/Activating Strategy
Classroom Tips: Use cueing methods when directing tableau in your classroom: “3-2-1- Freeze”.
- Start with a general physical warm-up to get the students' bodies ready. Use exercises such as:
- Stretching: Stretch all major muscle groups.
- Shaking Out Limbs: Shake out arms, legs, and the whole body to release tension.
- Energy Passes: Stand in a circle and pass a clap or a simple motion around to build group focus and energy.
- Explain that students will explore different characters by changing their walk and physicality. Use simple prompts to get students thinking about different ways to walk and move. Call out various types of characters and ask students to walk around the space embodying those characters. Examples include:
- A bird searching for a worm to eat
- A tree blowing in the wind
- A hungry lion
- A happy dog
Work Session
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- Begin the lesson by reading the text “The Tortoise and the Hare” by Aesop as a whole class.
- Option: Use a sock to make a simple “sock puppet”. Tell students that the sock puppet will ask some questions throughout the story.
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- Stop the story right before the race. using your sock puppet, say, “The Hare was not very nice to the Tortoise. He kept teasing the Tortoise and calling him mean names like ‘slow poke’. How do you think this made the Tortoise feel?”. Allow time for students to share.
- Demonstrate how to role-play by stepping into character as the Tortoise. Express in the first person that he/you feels sad and discouraged because of the Hare’s teasing. Ask students to pantomime how the Tortoise feels.
- Ask students to give the Tortoise/you advice on whether or not he should still complete the race.
- Finish reading the story.
- Stop periodically as the Tortoise experiences new emotions. Ask students to pantomime how the Tortoise feels at each pause in the story.
- After the story, discuss how the Tortoise changed from the beginning to the end with a “Rainbow of Desire” tableau.
- Explain the concept of the "Rainbow of Desire" and its purpose in exploring internal conflicts and desires.
- Identify the Tortoise as the protagonist.
- As the Tortoise, the teacher should express his main desire or conflict. Ask students to help you determine what this is.
- Ask students to help you identify what emotions the Tortoise had throughout the story while trying to achieve his/your main desire. Record them on the board in sequential order.
- Divide students into small groups. Assign each group an emotion that the Tortoise experienced. Students should form a frozen image (tableau) that represents that emotion. Remind students to show the emotion through their bodies and faces using pantomime.
- Have students arrange themselves sequentially to represent the emotions that the Tortoise experiences throughout the story. Tell them that on the count of three, they should freeze in their tableaux: ”3-2-1-Freeze”.
- The teacher will move around the tableaux in-role as the Tortoise, observing and interacting with each representation to gain insight into their own internal state.
- After the tableau is created and explored, facilitate a discussion about what was revealed through the images.
- Have students return to their seats and create story maps for the story about the Tortoise.
- Students should include the main characters, the Tortoise and the Hare, the setting, and the parts of the plot. Depending on student levels, have students illustrate and describe in sentence-form the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
Closing Reflection
- Select a few students to share their story maps with the class.
- Select a few students from the class to stand and create tableaux for each major event as they are read aloud.
- Ask students if the Tortoise changed from the beginning of our story to the end. How?
- Ask students how tableau helped them understand the Tortoise’s feelings.
- Ask students whether drama helped them retell the story’s beginning, middle and end.
Formative
Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, discussion of “The Tortoise and the Hare”, participation in Rainbow of Desire tableaux, and conferencing with students during their creation of story maps.
Summative
CHECKLIST
- Students can identify the beginning, middle, and end of “The Tortoise and the Hare”.
- Students can identify and use theatre techniques such as tableau and pantomime to demonstrate the emotions of the Tortoise throughout the story.
- Students can use tableau to retell the story.
DIFFERENTIATION
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Acceleration:
- Have students create a scene between the Tortoise and the Hare that would occur right after the last scene in the story. Students can write out the scene using dialogue or act it out for the class.
- Technology extension: Using iPads, demonstrate to students how to use Sock Puppets, a digital storytelling app that children will use to create a presentation. Working in small groups, students practice retelling the story with puppets. Students can create a new story ending using digital puppets and compare/contrast their ending to the original story.
Remediation:
- Assign groups the beginning, middle, or end of the story. In their groups, students should create a scene acting out their part of the story. Then, put three groups together to act out the beginning, middle, and end of the story. After acting out the story, have students complete their story maps.
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*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.
Ideas contributed by: Jessica Rosa Espinoza. Updated by: Katy Betts.
Revised and copyright: July 2024 @ ArtsNOW
