Unit Planning Guide 

 
Improvisation for Drama 7-9  
 
Westmount School -Junior High  
 
March 4th - March 25th* 2020 
 
Jessica Hammer  
 

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Table of Contents :
 
Table contents……………………………………………………… Pg. 1 
Rationale…………………………………………………………..……… Pg. 2 
Unit Objective and skills required……………………. Pg. 3 
Unit Overview………………………………………………………….. Pg. 4-5 
Lesson Plans…………………………………………………………….. Pg. 6-11 
Assessments and Rubric……………………………………… Pg. 12-14 
Materials………………………………………………………………….. Pg. 15 
Bibliography……………………………………………………………….. Pg. 15

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Unit Rationale

The philosophy of drama is to make discoveries in self and others by giving meaning and
form to experiences and play, through a positive and encouraging environment for all students.
Drama is a way to self-express, be creative and work as a team to achieve shared desires and
goals. Students can gain communication skills, instill confidence and empowerment in self, and
understand and make sense of the world around them through drama.

As mentioned in the Teacher Resource Manual, the goals of drama are for students to
gain awareness of themselves and their peers through a shared dramatic experience, further
gain communication, and speech skills through various dramatic art forms and to recognize
drama and theatre as an art form and creative process.

It’s important for your team to begin the season learning basic improv skills: The
Essentials. You want to start every rehearsal with skill-building warm-ups. Players will soon
become familiar with all the improv terms which you can find in the glossary at the end of
“Discovering the Moment”, but they don’t need to know them right away. While they may not
be able to avoid falling into improv traps initially (such as blocking), players can quickly learn to
identify these situations and start avoiding them as they develop skills through the lessons that
follow. Likewise, players can begin to identify opportunities to contribute positively to scenes.
Even the most veteran of teams work their skills at every practice. The basic skills are
everything!
Each of the Introductory lessons is divided into two main parts: Warm ups, (for focus &
physicality), & Skills (to introduce the building blocks of improvisation). To train your players,
you want to strengthen their focus as a group first, then warm them up physically, so they will
be ready to learn specific improv skills by the end of the lesson.

Drama develops real-life skills to form active, capable and strong citizens of our
community. To know and understand self needs, abilities and weaknesses are critical in our
world today to sustain positive growth in one’s self. Drama allows students to practice, explore
and understand their environment, themselves and others around them and learn to interact in
a positive, effective way.

There are 25 students in Drama 7-9. Class is from 1:5pm - 3:15pm

Total time being: ( 1hr and 24 minutes / 84 minutes)

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Unit Objective and Skills required:

The lessons in this improv. unit are designed for students to form trust and comfort with one
another, gain discoveries of self and others through collaboration, and demonstrate proper
techniques/skills in improv. By the end of the unit, students will be able to demonstrate and
display skills such as:

❏ Cooperation/Participation/ Experimentation
❏ Communication
❏ Collaboration/ Teamwork
❏ Control in accepting, offering and advancing (eliminate blocking)
❏ Fluidity and sustained action in all scenes

The peak of this unit/ final performance task is to create a sustained 5 minute improvised scene
that has form and fluidity in groups of 4-5. Students will be given the scenario and
theme/setting to improvise off of, and the teacher will be looking for students to provide offers
and accept them with minimal blocking occuring during the time.

Making discoveries about oneself and others can be a sensitive and vulnerable thing to do,
along with clearly communicating and working towards expressing a group’s shared goals and
ideas. The lessons are not meant to overwhelm students and dive too deep to fast. The goal is
for students to recognize and acknowledge that everyone is unique, and we should recognize
these similarities and differences in all humans. We all have strengths, weaknesses, emotions,
feelings, and thoughts and that is what makes us human. In drama, we are just trying to make
sense of them all through acting out, expressing, reflecting and experimenting with realistic
scenarios.

The unit explores and challenges students to work together to clearly communicate ideas and
stories with one another but also to collaborate with others to express a collective/shared goal
and message. Through the mini-unit, students are actively growing their knowledge of self and
others. The lesson plans are designed for students to gain knowledge and skills in acting
through improvisation to clearly express and represent these ideas/themes collectively.

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Unit Overview:

Lesson 1:​ March 4th, 2020 Pre-Assessment and Orientation

SWBAT: Trust, Safety, Expectations, Communication, Cooperation

Improv/Acting (Junior High) S.L.E.’s: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12

Throughout this class, I will be doing a pre-assessment on skills and where the unit may also
need to go following the first few lessons. I am still getting to know students and their abilities/
what skills they already come with. So there will be a lot of pre-assessment activities and get-to
know you games as well in order to gauge the class.

Tasks: Introduction, Question of the Day, Bumpity Bump Bump, Bean Bag Toss of Names,
Expectations, Human Knot (2 groups?), Bippity Boppity Boop, Taxi, Discuss Rubric and goals for
this unit, (sponge activity: chivalry (moving in as a group in a circle).

ASSESSMENT: FORMATIVE (OBSERVATION OF STUDENTS, CHECKLIST)

Lesson 2: ​ March 5th, 2020

SWBAT: Communication, Cooperation and Character Development, Collaboration

Improv/Acting (Junior High) SLE’s: 1, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 20, 21, 22.

Introduction, Question of the Day, Circle of Death (Name Game), Greetings, stop at the same
time, Ailment at Dr. Office, partner storytelling, Try that on for size (listening #3), ​Trifecta​, 3
lines.

ASSESSMENT: FORMATIVE (OBSERVATION OF STUDENTS, CHECKLIST)

​ arch 6th, 2020

Lesson 3: M

SWBAT: Communication, Cooperation, Fluidity, Sustain Action, Collaboration

Improv/Acting (Junior High) SLE’s: 13, 14, 15, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25

Introduction, Question of the Day, Zoom Schwartz Profigliano (2 groups, if they make a mistake
they join the other circle), Big Booty (2 groups), Touch or Name, Fluidity and Sustained Action,
Blocking, No P (die), Trans-Siberian Express (maybe in 2 groups), Sponge Activity: Story Story
Die (Groups of 6, Listening #1)

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ASSESSMENT: FORMATIVE (OBSERVATION OF STUDENTS, CHECKLIST)

​ arch 11th, 2020

Lesson 4: M

SWBAT: Collaboration, Communication, Cooperation, Blocking, Accepting and Offering

Introduction, Question of the Day, horseshoe, yes let’s, accepting and offering (make anchor
charts with students for starting lines, emotions that you can play,attitudes towards each
other), what your saying makes me feel, yes let’s, blocking (activity and discussion), ​10 line
partner scenes.

Improv/Acting (Junior High) SLE’s: 13, 14, 15, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 29, 30, 32, 33

​ arch 12th, 2020

Lesson 5: M

SWBAT: Communication, Accepting and Offering, Cooperation, Collaboration

Improv/Acting (Junior High) SLE’s: 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25

Introduction, Question of the Day, crisis situation with objects, Yes and.. Or
Fortunately/Unfortunately, ​Gift Giving with emotions​, Offer and Acceptance line-ups drill,
Because (groups of 4-5, from advancing #3), Freeze Tag Improv.

ASSESSMENT: FORMATIVE (OBSERVATION OF STUDENTS, CHECKLIST)

​ arch 18th, 2020

Lesson 6: M

SWBAT: Fluidity and Sustained Action, Communication, Cooperation

Improv/Acting (Junior High) SLE’s:13, 14, 15, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24,25, 26, 27, 32?

Introduction, Question of the Day, Jump Turn Twizzle, Circuits,Environments, Pairs Presents
(pairs, justification), Opening Line/Starting Line, ​*Number of Lines Improv*

ASSESSMENT: Formative (OBSERVATION OF STUDENTS), CHECKLIST

​ arch 19th, 2020

Lesson 7: M

SWBAT: Fluidity and Sustained Action, Communication, Cooperation, Accepting and Offering

Improv/Acting (Junior High) SLE’s: 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21,22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 32?

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Introduction, Question of the Day, Big Booty or Touch or Name, Circle Transformations
(Justification), Fairytale/given scenario Improv (Groups of 4-5) aim for 5 minutes tops (possible
side coaching).

ASSESSMENT: Formative (observation of students) and an individual Summative Mark following

the rubric for the unit objectives.

​ arch 20th, 2020

Lesson 8: M

SWBAT: Cooperation, Communication, Collaboration, Fluidity and Sustained Action,

Accepting and Offering to advance a scene.

Improv/Acting (Junior High) SLE’s: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23,
24, 25, 26, 27,

Introduction, Question of the Day, Warm Up Game (Zoom or Circuits) That’s Because
(Justification), Performance Task: Given scenario start and end line scenes (groups of 4-5 tops
aiming to be about 3 minutes, improv given the theme or place groups of 3-4 with side
coaching.) While coaching talk about don’t ask open ended questions, refrain from
blocking/saying no, think about what you want from the others.

ASSESSMENT: Formative (observation of students) and an individual Summative Mark following

the rubric for the unit objectives.

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 Sample Lesson Plans

GENERAL INFORMATION: Lesson Plan #1

Teacher: Ms. Hammer Subject/Grade: Drama 7-9
Unit/Topic: Improvisation Date/Time: March 4th, 2020
1:51pm - 3:15pm (84 minutes)
Related GLO & SLO/Goal(s):
GLO​: Goal 1: To acquire knowledge of self and others through participation in and reflection on
dramatic experiences.
Goal 2: To develop competency in communication skills through participation in and
exploration of various dramatic DISCIPLINES.
SLO​: ​Improv/Acting S.L.E’s from the teacher’s resource manual: # 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12
Pg. 67 -68
Background information about the students and/or the topic:
This is the first unit to an 8 -lesson unit on improvisation. This will be the first unit and lessons
being taught to a group grades 7-9 for myself and so the first few lessons we will be going over
expectations, requirements and orientation activities mixed in throughout the lesson to start of
the unit. Forming positive relationships with students and doing some simple, low-risk activities
first with students will be important in forming trust and bonds with students to initiate the
unit with.
OBJECTIVE(S)
The students will start to learn: cooperation/collaboration, participation, characterization,
communication, accept offers from others, make offers to others and maintain fluidity/action
throughout the activity (minimal pauses of silence.
Peak of lesson ​- Taxi - improvisation/ characterization games.
SWBAT - dramatize a given situation/scenario using improvisation and characterization through
the game taxi.

ASSESSMENT
Formative and Summative Assessment:
Student checklist of 5 criteria, teacher observations - looking for participation, engagement,
willingness to take risks and put forth an effort, working well with others to achieve a goal.
Materials & Equipment:​ question box, Bean bags or objects to toss, unit rubric (one per each
student), chairs/cushions for taxi.
Where did I get the inspiration for this lesson? ​Canadain Improv Games, lessons and resources
from Sara Cochrane, lessons and resources from John Poulsen (Drama Curriculum and
Instruction Professor)

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PROCEDURE​ ​(Teacher’s script in italics)
Running time: 84 minutes
Introduction, Question of the Day, Bumpity Bump Bump, Bean Bag Toss of Names,
Expectations, Human Knot (2 groups?), Bippity Boppity Boop, Taxi, Discuss Rubric and goals for
this unit, (sponge activity: chivalry (moving in as a group in a circle).
Introduction/Question of the Day (10 Min):
Today we will be starting our improv. Unit. Does anybody know what improv means?
Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever
can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without
specific or scripted preparation.
Discuss why I chose to do an improv. Unit with them. Its fun to be spontaneous and have the
freedom to do your own thing in drama (unscripted). You get to create the story, the character you
want to become. It is a safe way to take risks and experiment working with many different people on
the spot. It’s okay to make mistakes in improv because no one, not even the audience knows where
the scene can go/ lead to and so you can be creative and imaginative in any way you want with it.

Question of the Day: Something that you enjoy doing in Okotoks? I grew up in Olds, we have a
swimming pool, hockey rink, movie theatre, or bowling alley.
Improvising as mentioned before involves being open with the people you are about to work
with, being spontaneous, communicating clearly with others and working with each other to
make a screen that is easy to understand by the audience. THroughout the next few lessons in
the unit we will play a variety of games and activities that help us improve these skills that will
help to create an effective scene.
What makes a scene interesting? What makes you want to watch a play or what part of a play
keeps you interested? I.e. when there is suspense between two characters, a problem that is
about to be solved, an event that is important or substantial, a mystery.
When we do improv. It is our job as the actors of the scene to keep it moving and interesting for
the audience, there should hardly be any pauses or silence (unless miming actions/movements).

Behaviour Expectations and Norms in the classroom (10 Mins): ​Side note, we need to discuss
my expectations in the classroom and what is acceptable/ not acceptable in my class.
Cellphones, washroom/water, participation expectations, question box/ suggestion box, refrain
from inappropriate gestures or language in your scenes (when acting) if for some reason it slips
out we will deal with it at the time of occurrence. Any questions? Are my expectations clear, do
you know your responsibilities?
Great, so to get us started we are going to play a few warm-up games that involve getting to know
one another and thinking fast on your feet.

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Body (Activities):
Bean Bag Toss of names (5 Mins):
Bumpity Bump Bump(5 Min):
Human Knot (10 mins): Groups of 2. Then maybe one big group?
Bippity Boppity Boop (7 mins):
Taxi (20 mins):
In groups of 4-5 students will choose and embody a character that they will be within the
scene. When the scene starts actors will enter the “taxi” clump of charis as their character and
present their situation/ conflict to the taxi driver. The taxi driver must mimic/copy the
characterization expressed by that actor, when a new actor enters the taxi the taxi driver will
switch to now miming the next actor. However the original actor(s) will maintain their
character throughout the scene. THe objective of each actor is to get/achieve what their
character is wanting. The taxi drivers job is to help each character achieve their objectives and
add to the scene by supporting the other actors around them. The taxi driver decides on where
they are going and what need is presented as more important than the others.
The audience's job is to guess what each character is and what they want/ what is their
objective. Once all characters are guessed correctly, then the scene will end and a new group
will come up to participate.
Closure (15 Min)​: Discussion and Go over rubric/grading for the unit. Answer any questions.
Gather students together in a big group circle with the stools. Hand out rubric.
How did everyone feel that went? Did you find the taxi game easy? What made groups/scenes
successful and why? Tomorrow we will build upon that activity (taxi)and get into more improv
skills and working on being present and spontaneous in a scene. Those aspects are really
important when doing improv.
If I finish early: ​You can use the rest of the class to talk with your peers, put something in the
question box, come talk to me individually about the rubric, don’t leave the class until the bell
rings and have a fantastic day!
Follow up - What will the students do next?
Art of Teaching - What specific area(s) of teaching will you be working on during this lesson
and how will you know if you have succeeded?

If I finish early what are some sponge activities? (Chivalry - group game: 5 - 10 minutes)

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If I were to teach this lesson again: What would I do differently next time to improve this
lesson?

What went well that I should build on?

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 Lesson Plan 2

GENERAL INFORMATION: Lesson Plan #2

Teacher: Ms. Hammer Subject/Grade: Drama 7-9
Unit/Topic: Movement Date/Time: March 27th, 2020
1:51pm - 3:15pm (84 minutes)
Related GLO & SLO/Goal(s):
GLO​: Goal 2 - To develop competency in communication skills through participation in and
exploration of various dramatic DISCIPLINES.
SLO​: ​Improv/Acting S.L.E’s from the teacher’s resource manual: # 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12
Pg. 67 -68
Background information about the students and/or the topic:
OBJECTIVE(S)
The students will demonstrate and represent:
The students will start to learn: cooperation/collaboration, participation, characterization,
communication, accept offers from others, make offers to others and maintain fluidity/action
throughout the activity (minimal pauses of silence.
Peak of lesson ​-
SWBAT - effectively communicate the groups’ main goals and ideas through clear and sharp
movements, that demonstrate collaboration, cooperation and events of their past.

ASSESSMENT
Formative ​- observation from teacher, class discussion of expectations of what fluidity in
improv. Is, looks like and is obtained in a scene. The students will also be provided with
opportunities to practice spontaneity and creating a constant flow/fluid story through improv.

Materials & Equipment:​ chairs/stools.

Where did I get the inspiration for this lesson?
From our Drama C and I class, John Poulsen, and PS2 TA Sara Cochrane.

PROCEDURE​ ​(Teacher’s script in italics)

Running time: 84 minutes
Introduction, Question of the Day, Circle of Death (Name Game), Greetings, stop at the same
time, Ailment at Dr. Office, partner storytelling, Try that on for size (listening #3), 3 lines.
Introduction/Question of the Day (8 Mins):
Question of the Day: In improv. Do you think that having the intention or objective to make
another character leave in a scene a good objective, a good purpose, why or why not?

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Yesterday we played Taxi. for those of you who got a chance to be in a scene what did you find
helpful that others may have done (physically) or say that helped you be involved in the scene?
Did you feel like you had a purpose to stay in the taxi? Or could have you left/should have you
left and why?
For those who didn't get a chance to participate or weren’t here could someone explain to them
what taxi was trying to make us practice? What it made you do, what you had to provide as it
relates to improv. ?
If we aren’t actively trying to pursue a character need or we aren't helping others to achieve
their needs in a scene then there is no purpose for us to be there. Thus you need to always be
actively trying to get something in your scene. Whether it be for yourself or someone else.
Today we are going to focus on sustaining action/fluidity in a scene. This is very important. Why
do you think it is important to maintain action and a flow throughout a scene or play?
It’s more interesting to watch, it’s easy to understand. It provides some structure when doing
unscripted work.
So, today we are going to play some games where you will need to think quickly on the spot,
and to practice following your instincts and living/playing that out. It’s all about trying things
out and just keeping moving the scene along. This is really important to improv. or else the
scene is going to die really quickly.
Body (Activities):
Circle of Death (5 Min): practice quick reactionary time, and familiarize ourselves with each
other and get to know names for myself.
Greetings (5 Mins):
Stop at the same time ( 5 Mins): getting a feel of the energy and others in the room. Getting a
chance to work with others and communicate non verbally to achieve a collective task.
Partner Storytelling (5 mins) Pick a partner A and B. The topic is, talk between your partner
about it. Everytime I say switch A or B will then take over the story. This is to practice thinking
on the spot, and just rolling with an idea and building upon that to create a story.
Dr. Office (30 Mins): purpose is to pick a character, inner motivation/objective in a scene and
to stick with it. Continue to actively seek out what you need in a scene. To gather a feel of what
it’s like to work with others, interact with characters and others objectives in a scene without
overpowering one another.
Try that on for Size (20minutes): Is an activity to quickly come up with statements, and lines on
the spot, spontaneously. It involves having to actively think on the spot and roll with it. It
practices building confidence and going with your gut feeling in a given situation.
It also provides a chance for students to understand perspectives and see how one simple topic
can be played out in many different ways. A critical thing when it comes to improv.
To realize that no one group scene will ever be the exact same.

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Closure (6 Min)​: Discussion. ​How did everyone feel that went? Did you find it easy or difficult to
make things up on the fly?... Was it easy or difficult to work in a group?
Can anyone describe to me what you tried to do when you were faced with something
unexpected in the Dr. game or try that on for size. For instance when someone said something
that threw you off guard what did you attempt to do with that? Or did you find it too surprising
and just freeze in the moment?
If we finish early: We can play Trifecta or 3 lines and start to introduce the importance and
what offers are. ​You can use the rest of the class to talk with your peers, have a fantastic day!

Follow up - What will the students do next?

Art of Teaching - What specific area(s) of teaching will you be working on during this lesson
and how will you know if you have succeeded?
Forms of Assessment? Observation of student participation and understanding the
importance of fluidity in improv. Were students able to see the effectiveness of flow and
steady action in a scene when playing Dr. Office, try that on for size or 3 lines?

If I were to teach this lesson again: What would I do differently next time to improve this
lesson?

What went well that I should build on?

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Assessment

Formative assessment will occur throughout each lesson to check-in and observe
students ask to whether they are growing/advancing their skills in the five areas mentioned in
the unit overview:

Participation checklists will be received formally at the end of each class. If students are
participating and showing a willingness in each lesson, then students will be able to hit, obtain
and master these skills that are required within this unit and expectations for each class.

For each of these aspects listed in the rubric, students will receive a mark out of /10,
students will be given opportunities to master and re-learn these outcomes throughout the
whole unit (formative assessment) before receiving a summative mark for the unit through this
rubric, all aspects in the provided rubric are weighted evenly as all of these objectives are
equally important aspects for students to understand and demonstrate through drama.

The final performance task will be weighted just ask must as the ongoing assessment
throughout the unit. THis way it provides an opportunity for students to demonstrate growth in
the five areas throughout the unit and gives them a responsibility to put for their best effort
each day as well to achieve marks/participation grades.

While observing students daily to assess individual growth, skills and willingness to
participate, I will use a simple checklist (achieved or not achieved), each day I will mark either
yes or no to if they provided these things for that day. If they demonstrate these things for that
day then they would receive full marks for that day. I am still deciding whether for this to be a
tool of formative assessment or include this in their summative.

The rubric with these expectations and the weight of each objective would be given out
and explained to the students at the beginning of the unit and then re-discussed and explained
with each student at the beginning of the last lesson in the unit before being assessed a grade
to maintain fairness, validity, and reliability, scoped as a whole unit.

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 Analytic Rubric for Improv Unit (Drama 7-9)​ ​ Student’s Name:

Criteria: 4: Excellent 3: Good 2. Needs 1. Not Yet Final Mark:

Improvemen Average of ongoing assessment
t throughout the unit

Fluidity (no blocking) ​ / 5 (ongoing)

I.e. The scene has minimal times

where there are moments of
silence or rejection of offers
occuring.
The scene should have a nice
and steady flow to it that paints
a clear story.

Provide Offers (take risks) ​ /5 (onging)

I.e. The individual contributes to

the scene/group by offering
lines, ideas, thoughts and
comments that advance the
action/story overall for other
actors to build upon. These
offers are creative, imaginative
and easy to react to. This can be
expressed aloud both verbally
and physically to get the point
across.
Shows a willingness to take risks
and experiment with situations,
scenarios and ideas in the
scenes/activities.

Accept Offers ​ /5 (ongoing)

I.e. The student is demonstrating

taking offers/ lines from others
in scenes and building upon/
adding to them to create further
action and reaction in a scene.
This looks like: reacting to what
one says, building on a idea/
thought/statement presented
from someone, saying “yes
and…, or yes let’s”.

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Rhythm/Pacing ​/ 5 (ongoing)

I.e. The scene being created has

a steady and clear storyline that
is established. There was a clear
beginning, middle and end to the
story being told without rushing
it or jumping to a conclusion/
ending of the scene.

Characterization ​/ 5 (ongoing)

I.e. The actor fully embodies the

personality, emotions, behaviour
and mannerisms (both vocally
and physically) that represent
the character in the scene to
help advance action and story.

Collaboration/ Participation ​ /5 (ongoing)

I.e. The student is actively being

present, prepared and
contributing to the
activities/scenes. This is putting
forth your best effort and is
aware of others' ideas and offers
and demonstrates the ability to
positively work with others and
collaborate to achieve successful
scenes and tasks in activities.

Total = / 30

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Materials:

Open room classrooms, chairs, formative checklists daily, rubrics for students provided by
teacher.
Question of the Day
Some type of object to throw and catch (bean bag)
Question and Response Box

Bibliography

Refer to the Drama Junior High, Teacher Resource Manual. 1989.

Ed 3601 - C & I for Majors - Drama. John Poulsen. Lecture and Seminar. Jan- Feb. 2020.

​ on
Booth, David W. and Charles J. Lundy. ​Improvisation: Learning Through Drama. D
Mills: Academic Press Canada, 1985.

Canadian Improv Games: ​http://improv.ca/lesson-plans/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIHnGvbiWU8&feature=youtu.be#t=04m43s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKIC7f5uqdw

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