Drama Teachers and Smart Board

[Debby Shellard]

I was just given a smart board to begin using this fall and I have no idea what to do with it in drama.  I teach drama to 6th, 7th and 8th graders.  Any thoughts would be helpful to get me started!  Thanks!

[Randy Tran]

While I speak of this in relation to sports, I know it can be used for Drama as well (or anything else for that matter).

 

If you have a video capture card, or a means of getting your video to your computer, you can run the video/live feed to the SMART Video player, and annotate over the video (when you pick up a pen in the video player, its going to freeze that frame immediately allowing you to annotate over it).  Perhaps to point out things like positioning, acting quirks, etc.   I've always had people tell me that sometimes it can be hard to explain what you'd like to see in words, so perhaps drawing a picture, or in this case, a picture on top of a picture can help.

 

This is kinda like when you see coaches or Sportscasters draw lines and pictures on top of a video feed or a picture to get the point across to teams/spectators what happened and/or what should happen.

 

I'm no drama teacher, but this is the very first thing that comes in mind when I read of your request as I've usually ended up making these same suggestions related to sports and military.  I've seen some amazing and unorthodox solutions come up here so I'm sure someone else will come along and depict an even better idea for using this with a Drama class.

 

#R

 

Edit: failing that, some of my colleagues are going with the suggestion of using it as a prop for a school setting, the jokers.

[Debby Shellard]

Thank you!

[Obe Hostetter]

I would use the SMART Board in drama by:

1. Show on the board positions for a play

2. Show a text on the board and write over the text

3. Use the page recorder in Notebook to record a scene of where you want actors to go

4. Use the SMART recorder to record voice and action of what actors say and go on stage. 

 

Download drama Notebook lessons from http://exchange.smarttech.com/search.html?q=drama

[Joanne Villis]

 Hi Debbie,

I'm not a drama teacher either but I teamed up with a drama teacher to create a SMART board presentation for drama/music for the early years. I created 3 parts:

1. Mime - I used a flip camera to record and link students playing the 'body movement game'. Basically, a student moves their body in various ways, it is recorded using a flip video camera and projected through the SMART board.  Students are then able to mime a mirror image of the body movements. I then selected a theme (ie beach) and inserted images into a Notebook documents which students were able to sort according to activities we do and do not do at the beach. I then created a concept map using the shape tools to help classify/list beach activities and then to describe body parts used for the actions. This was followed by downloading and inserting a clip from YouTube about the beach, providing multisensory engagement for students who did not have prior or background knowledge of the beach. The video clip can be viewed in dual page so you can scribe students' ideas as the video plays. Students then formed small groups and prepared/acted out a beach activity.

2. Freeze frames - I began by looking at facial expressions (images from the gallery) to convey meaning. I used the image dice from the gallery to insert various facial expressions which students could practice. You can also use the random word chooser to type in a range of expressions which are randomly selected before students try to copy the emotion or modify it according to their interpretation. I then told students a story and in small groups they created freeze frames, focusing on expression and still actions in small groups. You can use a digital camera to take shots of each freeze frame, insert them into a Notebook document and then use your pen tool to discuss various aspects.

3. Narration – I then used audacity to record student’s narration of the freeze frames and linked them as sound files. If you select a fairy tale form the gallery (ie Little Red Riding Hood) you can then use the Notebook pages as background images, put the digital freeze frame of the students over the top, use object transparency to remove unwanted background of the photos and then colour match your pen tool to fix up any edges.

I have more ideas on how you can use the SMART board for looking at elements of the stage, lighting and mood if you are interested. Sorry about the long reply but I hope I have given you a few ideas to work with.

Jo

[Debby Shellard]

Jo,

Thank you for taking the time to write this extensive use for the Smart Board.  I really appreciate your ideas.  I have a month to retool some of my lessons and your suggestions got my brain moving.  I can begin to see the possibilities!  Thank you!!

[Debby Shellard]

Thank you Obe!

[Lindsey Al]

Hi Debby,

 

We would love to hear how you're using the SMART Board to teach Drama once you develop your lesson. Please share.

 

Have a great year!

Lindsey

[Robert Muskett]

I posted several SMART Notebook activities on both Drama and Sports on SMART Exchange. Just search for my last name Muskett.  Let me know if you have any questions. Rob