Exercise: Positive/Negative Post-Its

It’s easy for students to downplay their accomplishments, brush off compliments, and outright tear themselves down mentally or verbally. Negative self-talk can seriously affect students’ confidence and self-esteem. However, in drama class, we can work on this with our students. Below, you will find a variety of warm-up questions to give to your class to help them think and speak more positively about themselves. Have students choose one of the questions below and respond to it. If they are feeling bad about themselves for any reason, have them choose two or more and respond to them. • Choose three positive words or phrases to describe yourself. Why did you choose them? • What are three things that you like about yourself? • What's something you did recently that made you feel proud of yourself? • Describe something kind you did for someone recently. How did that person react? How did it make you feel? • Think about a compliment, kind word, or uplifting comment you gave to someone recently. Apply it to yourself. If you wish, you can follow up with: • Do you feel any resistance to thinking or saying kind words to/about yourself? If so, why? • Are any negative statements you’re telling yourself true or untrue? How can you determine this? If you think your students are up for a challenge, try this warm-up exercise. Have students write down three negative things they’ve said about themselves in the past, leaving a space in between each sentence. Then, have them cross out the negative thought and replace it with a positive one. It can be a full replacement of the sentence, for example, changing “I can’t do xyz” to “I’m great at abc and I’m proud of how hard I worked to achieve it.” Or, it could be as simple as changing “I can’t do xyz” to “Yes I can” or adding the word “yet,” i.e., “I can’t do xyz yet, but I will keep working at it.” If your students are really struggling with coming up with positive things to say about themselves, have them try the following roleplay mini-exercise. It can also be used as an additional standalone warm-up exercise. Have students pair up. One student will say something kind, positive, or uplifting about their partner, and their partner will say thank you and agree with them. For example, Partner A might say, “(Partner B), you work really hard in drama class and you’re a great actor.” Partner B would respond with, “Thank you, I do work really hard and I think I’m a great actor as well.” Partner B will then give Partner A a compliment and Partner A will respond in kind. Again, check in with your students to see if they’re feeling any resistance towards speaking positively to themselves. At the end of class, have students respond to the questions in the reflection below. You can revisit these warm-ups anytime your students need a pick-me-up, or sprinkle them throughout your usual activities during the term to improve their confidence. You may wish to track when you incorporate these warm-ups into your lessons to see how they affect students’ performances (hopefully they’re improved!).

Negative self-talk is so common and can be very difficult to overcome, not only for students but also for teachers. It’s easy to fall into the trap of berating ourselves over mistakes and telling ourselves we aren’t good enough. We would never speak to a friend or even a stranger like that, so why do we do it to ourselves? If your students need a bit of a pick-me-up, the following exercise can help them become aware of their own negative self-talk and dismiss it. Instructions: 1. Individually, have students write a list of up to three negative things that they have thought or said about themselves. Allow them to share some of the negative thoughts and write them on the board if they want to. (This can help students see that others may have had similar negative thoughts about themselves, and that they aren’t alone.) • Another suggestion is to have students write out their negative thoughts on Post-it Notes and submit them to you so you can display them anonymously where everyone can see. Then students can see that others have similar negative thoughts but no one has to volunteer their thoughts. 2. Take a moment to think about this negative inner voice in your head. RuPaul (from RuPaul’s Drag Race) calls this negative voice the “inner saboteur.” Alberto from the movie Luca calls it “Bruno.” Give your negative inner voice a name. It can be anything except for your own name. 3. Come up with a character for the negative inner voice. What do they look like? What does their voice sound like? How do they move? If time permits, have students draw a sketch of the character, have them get up as a group and move around the space as their character, or have them partner up and try out different voices for their character. 4. How would you tell your negative voice to be quiet or stop putting you down? Make up a phrase. Alberto says “Silenzio Bruno!” when his negative inner voice talks to him. For example, students could say “Thanks for your input,” “That’s not true,” “Stop lying,” “Be quiet,” or any other phrase that dismisses the negative thought. 5. Have everyone stand up. Choose a negative thought to say. At the same time, have students say their thoughts out loud in their negative inner voice’s character voice/persona. 6. Then, students will stand up straight in a strong position — standing tall, feet flat on the floor, shoulders back, chin up. At the same time, in a powerful voice (their own), they will say the phrase that they chose to dismiss the negative thought. Feel free to repeat this step as many times as you wish. 7. Have students make a big show of scrunching up their original lists of negative thoughts and throwing them away. 8. Students will respond to the exit slip below.

We are all about reflecting here at Theatrefolk. You’ll notice that the vast majority of exercises and lessons here and in the Drama Teacher Academy include an exit slip or reflection questions. Reflecting helps students in so many ways, including allowing them to pause, think about what they’ve learned, make sense of the material, and relate it back to themselves and their individual situations. Reflecting is also great for teachers to look back on the work they’ve done, see what worked and what didn’t, and think about what they can do going forward. Below, you’ll find a great collection of reflection-focused articles. The end of the year is a natural time to look back on the work you’ve done, but these reflections can be modified and adjusted to suit just about any reflection need that arises. For Students• Exercise: Year-End Reflection A series of year-end questions that can be mixed and matched to fit the needs of your drama class. • 20 Self-Reflection Journal Prompts These questions are focused on the five areas of social and emotional learning: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. • Reflection: Looking Back and Looking Forward At the end of the term/semester, students reflect on their time in drama class and create a document to help future drama students. • Reflection Exercise: Positive/Negative Post-Its Students use post-it notes to write positive and negative words and phrases they think about themselves and have heard others say about them. Is it easier for your students to come up with positive or negative traits? • Post-Exercise Exercise: Rate Yourself A multi-purpose exercise that helps students develop awareness of the effort they display in class and how it relates to their performances. Production-Related• Putting On a Class Production: Post-Show Reflection This is the final article in a five-part series about putting on a class production with your students, and gives them the opportunity to reflect on the full process of putting on a show, from play selection to casting to the production itself. The questions can also be applied to an extracurricular production if you wish. • What’s Changed? A Rehearsal Reflection This article focuses on helping students stay motivated throughout the rehearsal process, keep things fresh, and notice what’s different and what they’ve learned each rehearsal day. • Coming to the End: Reflecting On Your Process A series of questions for students to reflect on their time rehearsing and performing in a show, with 15 additional questions for teachers. For Teachers• A Classroom Skills Reflection for Teachers 25 questions for teachers to reflect on what went well and what could be improved upon for their next class. • 12 Days of Drama Teacher Self-Care A series of feel-good tasks for teachers at the end of the year, including reflecting on happy memories and creating a “happy” file for nice messages and positive feedback. • Drama Teacher Self Check-In It’s easy to get lost in the shuffle of daily tasks. Take a moment to reflect on what went well, what you’ve learned, and what you accomplished. • _Do You Still Have Passion for Teaching Theatre? _ An important question to ask yourself, regardless of how long you’ve been teaching.