1. Teacher: Michele Martyn
Grade: 7B
Time: 1 hour 42 minutes
Lesson: Movement Introduction
Subject: Movement
Date: March 20, 2014
GLOs: students will
develop the ability to initiate, organize and present a project within a given set of
guidelines
develop the ability to interact effectively and constructively in a group process
develop the body and voice as tools of communication
become familiar with dramatic terminology and script format
SLOs: students will
Movement:
2. move within personal and shared space
5. move individual body parts
6. practice proper posture
12. use levels
14. create shapes with the body
16. freeze movement
Learning Outcomes: students will
1. discover movement potential of individual body parts
2. create different images with their bodies, individually and in groups
3. interpret sentences into movement
Assessments:
Classroom observation (1,2,3)
Materials:
“How to Train Your Dragon”
“Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief”
Words from a hat
Procedure:
Introduction (10 min):
Attendance/Question of the Day
Introduction to Movement (12 min) (LO#1)
We’ve just wrapped up our Tableau Unit, so now we’re going to move from frozen
pictures, to moving ones.
Before we do any movement, we need to make sure that this is a safe space. That
means you always need to be aware of your surroundings (people, walls, chairs,
curtain, etc.)
Warm up – yoga-type stretching (mountain, forward fold, downward dog, warrior,
downward dog, warrior, downward dog, child’s, upward dog, downward dog, forward
fold, mountain pose)
First, exploring individual body part movement (bringing it more into movement field,
and farther away from disco dancing)
Start out just moving right pointer finger. See how moving your right pointer finger can
make your right wrist move, then right elbow, moving all the way to your feet. By the end
of this, students’ entire bodies should be moving, led by their right pointer finger.
Repeat, leading with left foot (entire body moving, led by foot).
Repeat, leading with head (entire body moving, led by head).

2. Now, students will “choreograph” their first “movement piece”. In partners, students
repeat previous exercise, but Student A instructs Student B which body part to lead with
(first the left ear, then the right knee, then the nose). Switch.
Congratulations! You’ve choreographed your first movement piece!
Creating Shapes with our Bodies (15min) (LO#2)
This is a nice introductory activity to interpreting sentences, because students just need
to interpret a single word. The game is “Flamingo”
Have the students start walking around the room at a leisurely pace, using the space,
but not bumping into each other or hiding in the nooks and crannies. After  10
seconds, have the students freeze wherever they are in the room, and have them take
note of where they are standing, they will have to return to this exact spot later.
Whenever you call “flamingo”, students must return to this spot and strike a “flamingo”
pose (however they choose to interpret that). Students will hold this pose unti l you
instruct them to continue walking. As students walk around, call out “flamingo!” to have
them return to those spots. As time progresses, have them freeze elsewhere, taking
note of where they are, and create a motorcycle with a partner. Now you have 2 words
to call out. Add in new positions & objects that students can create (ex: sun (individual),
submarine (4 person), lion (individual), dinosaur (3 person), pirate ship (the whole
class). As students improve, you can raise the stakes by making this an elimination
game (if you choose), where the last person/pair/group to create their object is
eliminated until you have a winner.
Interpreting Words into Movements (15 min) (LO#3)
Students move into a circle for Domino
Now instead of creating a frozen shape for a word, we’re going to create a movement
that we can repeat
Pick words from a hat – start with every student having a different word, then one word
for every other student, then one word for half the circle, then one word for whole circle
The key is to make sure that the movements are different (the last word should be an
adjective or something that is open to more interpretation)
Interpreting Sentences into Movements (30 min) (LO#3)
Explaining to students the different components of sentences that you can interpret into
movement
I find it easiest to write a sentence on the board (from the book), and identify the
nouns, adjectives and verbs.
Verbs are the easiest to translate into movement, because they are action words
Next are the nouns, because you just turn your body into the shape of the noun
(a lion, a telephone, etc.)
Adjectives are a bit harder to interpret into movement, because it’s not as literal.
That also means that this is where we can open our movement up to artistic
interpretation! What might a soft movement look like? A harsh movement? A loud
movement?
Have students line up, facing SmartBoard. Each student will interpret one sentence into
movement from the book, in order down the line.
Begin with Domino action, getting everybody involved and paying attention to what
other students are doing.
Move on to students performing action down the line, without the repetition

3. Students scattered throughout room performing in numbered order.
Congratulations! This was the class’s first movement performance!
Interpreting Music into Movements (19 min)
Circle for Domino with Music (have playlist prepped)
Another thing that inspires movement is music.
When you’re listening to music, it may be fast or slow, smooth and connected or quick
and disjointed, happy or sad or scary. Movement can show this. So whatever your
movement is for the music, I should be able to tell what kind of song is being played just
from watching your movement.
Start with just one song per student. Move on to domino-domino-own thing.
Try to get to where students are all just interpreting songs on their own without paying
attention to what the other students in the class are doing/getting out of their bodies.
Closure (5 min)
What are the different ways that we moved our bodies today?
What did we interpret into movement?
What were the easy things to interpret? Was there anything that was difficult to
interpret?
Has anyone ever seen a movement performance before? (ex. mime, dance)
After spring break, we’ll be creating our own movement pieces!