Drama class ideas for after the final project

It’s that age-old drama classroom conundrum: Final projects have been completed, but there are still a handful of school days to fill before the year officially ends. This can be a challenging time for teachers who are expected to keep their students occupied in creative and appropriate ways. To help fill this drama class downtime, here are four activities to keep your classroom engaged all the way to year's end.

Theatre Game Roundup

If your classroom is anything like mine, you know that some classroom activities are more popular than others. Whether they are warm-up exercises, focus activities, or improv games, these are the games and activities students want to participate in again and again. So why not fill these extra days AND provide an informal review of previous classroom activities by leading your students through a re-playing of your classroom’s “greatest hits”?

• Work with your class to generate a list of their favorite classroom theatre games and activities. Help them remember activities that happened earlier in the year they may have forgotten.
• Write each item on a slip of paper.
• Place the slips of paper into a hat (or bag, box, etc.).
  
• Have a student pull a slip from the hat and read it out loud.
• As a class, go through the steps of the game.
• Have a student lead the activity.
• At the conclusion of the activity, have a lightning round discussion asking students why they like the game and what they learned by playing it.
• Draw the next slip of paper and go again!

Lip Sync Battle

A classroom lip sync battle is an engaging, high-energy activity where students perform choreographed routines, lip-syncing to popular songs. Groups can compete head to head, or in a round-robin format where everyone goes at least once. Here is how to structure a classroom lip sync battle:

• Students work in small groups, either chosen or approved by the teacher.
• All lip synced songs must be approved by the teacher.
• Song cuttings will be between 30 and 90 seconds long.
• Choreography must be included and must be school appropriate.
• Props and costumes are welcome but not required. Personal or common classroom items can be used.
• Groups are given a set amount of time to choreograph and rehearse their songs.
• Determine how winners are chosen (e.g., enthusiasm of audience applause, teacher input).
• Awards such as Most Creative, Most Dramatic, or Best Use of Props can be presented, making sure that every group receives an award.
• If you want to use a rubric, review with students the rubric criteria ahead of time. Of course, it can just be for fun too!

Click below for a Lip Sync Battle Rubric!

Improv Olympics

Organizing a classroom Improv Olympics involves dividing students into teams, setting up varied improv game challenges, and scoring based on creativity, teamwork, and sportsmanship.
Here are some quick, simple improv games that are great for head-to-head competition:

• Questions only: Players create a scene in which they can only ask each other questions. The first player not to ask a question will get buzzed out and a new player will come in to challenge the remaining player.
• ABC Game: Two players will create a scene in which they must start each sentence with the next letter of the alphabet. Students can challenge each other by trying to successfully get through the alphabet in the shortest amount of time. Mistakes in the order of the alphabet result in a five-second penalty.
• Operation Gibberish: Two teams of two compete in this game.
  • Both teams are sent into “isolation.”
    
  • While they are in isolation the class determines a secret objective that must be completed by the team (say a word, perform a simple task, etc.).
  • The first player of Team 1 is retrieved and told the task they must get their teammate to accomplish. However, the first player may only speak in gibberish.
  • Their teammate enters and the scene begins. Player one speaks in gibberish trying to get player two to accomplish the assigned task.
  • The scene is timed and the time ends when the second player completes the assigned task.
  • Player one from Team 2 is then brought in and given the same challenge.
  • Player two enters and the scene begins.
  • Team 2 plays until the objective is met. Their scene is timed.
  • The team with the quickest time wins a point.

Click below for more games!

Shakespearian Insult Posters

If you have a group of students who are reluctant to engage in performance, you can set them on this fun design project instead. Shakespeare was famous for his clever and cutting insults, and the imagery he used was quite colorful. Consequently, his insults are a perfect vehicle for visual interpretation in poster form. Here’s how to bring it into your classroom:

Materials

• Poster-sized paper
• Markers, crayons, or other art materials

To create poster

• Put students into small groups.
• Give each group a list of Shakespearian insults. (A list of insults is available for free below.)
• Have each member of a group choose one insult they would like to illustrate.
• As a group, have the students design the layout of their poster. Have them think of the following:
  • A “frame” element around the edge of the paper
  • A title block for the poster
  • The design of their individual images
  • The location of each illustrated insult
  • The uniform size of each illustration
  • A coordinated color pallet
• Have students determine who is responsible for each section of the poster.
• Give students a set amount of time to work on their poster. (If you have a large amount of time to fill, require more elements and details on their posters.)
• When time is up, have students present their posters to the class. Their presentation should include information about:
  • Their design process
  • Why they chose their insults
  • The most challenging part of the project
  • What they enjoyed the most

Click below for a list of Shakespearian insults!