Grade 5 Drama and Math

The following lesson is a cross-curricular lesson blending Drama and Math designed for Grade 5s. This lesson focuses on transformational geometry by using their body to create shapes, translate, rotate and reflect them.

Warm-up Activity:

For the warm up we did an activity called "Atom". Students walked around the classroom but they had to follow the path of floor tiles, when they ran into another person they had to switch directions. Then the teacher calls out a number and the students have to form groups with that number of individuals. To integrate this with a minds on activity in math, the teacher calls out a number representing the number of vertices of a shape. The students then have to form that shape in their groups using their bodies (arms, legs, fingers, etc.). Here is an example of my classmates forming a shape using their arms. This activity was extended to transformations of shapes by translating, rotating, and reflecting the shapes.

Curriculum Element: This week we focused on the elements of Tableau, a chart of the elements is shown below. Tableau can be used in many scenarios in the classroom to represent a scene or a picture in time. This can be integrated into all subjects such as a picture in history or representing the organisms in a cell. Tableau utilizes many elements of drama including, space, energy, and levels. This allows for a lot of flexibility in its use as a teaching strategy.

Roles	Who/What	When/Where	Why/How
Levels	High	Med	Low
Expression	Open	Neutral	Closed
Energy	Relaxed	Neutral	Tense
Space	Expanded	Neutral	Confined

Curriculum Connections: This strategy can be incorporated into many aspects of the curriculum. I see it being used mainly as a form of diagnostic assessment but it could also be used as a way to review for tests and quizzes with students. Before a unit starts I would use this to gauge what students already know about the topic you will be teaching. This can literally be used for ANY subject! Another way is to create quiz questions or review questions for students before a test. This shows the teacher if the students are ready for the test and it helps students review.

Theory: The theory of focus this week was Dewey's Progressive Theory, this theory is basis of differentiation and inclusion. Progressive educators insisted there was importance in emotional and creative aspects of human development. They believe that it was important to respect diversity and develop socially engaged intelligence which supports collaboration in the classroom. The goal is understanding of our students needs and ultimately leads to meaningful learning experiences.

Application and Reflection: Another activities we completed that followed the theme of geometry was creating a Living Venn Diagram. Two rings were placed on the ground to represent a Venn diagram. They were labelled congruent sides on the left, congruent angles on the right, and both in the centre. The teacher then gave out cards with shapes on them and asked us to go stand on the diagram where we belong. If we weren't sure we discussed it with our peers until we came to a consensus. I really enjoyed this activity because it gets the whole class thinking about the attributes of shapes, and if they weren't sure, there was an opportunity to look at it more closely or from the perspective of their peers. There are a number of theories that connect to a strategy such as this but one that I think best fits with the Living Venn Diagram is Learner's Theory by Dwyer (1996). This strategy forces students to literally position themselves and take a stance towards an answer. Asking students why they have chosen a certain answer helps further their learning by having them vocalize their thinking and be critical. Depending on the questions asked students can really be asked to further their critical thinking skills with an exercise like this.