Physical Expression Unit: Facial Expression, Areas of the Stage, and Tableau

Exit, stage left!

This unit teaches how to use physical expression to communicate to an audience. The unit is in three primary sections: facial expression, areas of the stage, and tableau/stage picture.

This bundle encapsulates my entire physical expression unit. The bonus document is a full unit plan including essential questions, standards, national SEL and Social Justice standards, goals, understandings, and links to every resource.

Facial Expression

Have you ever wondered if you could tell when someone is fake smiling? Do you wish you could better tell if someone is lying or how they are feeling? After these lessons you will!

The Duchenne smile refers to a real smile, created involuntarily. To begin, you and your students will study smiles and how they affect the entire face.

There are seven universal facial expressions, and you will next discover how faces are affected by anger, sadness, disgust, surprise, fear, and contempt.

Included:

DUCHENNE SMILE LESSON PLAN

• Question of the Day/Journal Prompt
• Links to examples of real and fake smiles with suggested questions
• Slideshow activity for guessing which smiles are real (includes a link to a great informational video about duchenne smiles!)
• Picture Perfect Activity: instructions, examples, templates (individual activity or homework)
• Instructions for an improv game about smiles and laughter

SEVEN UNIVERSAL FACIAL EXPRESSIONS LESSON PLAN

• Question of the Day/Journal Prompt
• Slideshow including links to videos, link to an original coordinating Kahoot for practice and/or review, two reflection activities, and a bonus activity to explore further
• Video links and instructions to two coordinating games for more exploration and practice

Areas of the Stage

This lesson plan is perfect for introducing or reviewing areas of the stage with elementary, middle, or high school students. It is simple, yet active and engaging, and will leave your students familiar with stage right, stage left, upstage, downstage, levels and basic areas of the stage.

This plan includes:

• suggested question of the day
• slideshow
• instructions for two (2) physical activities/games
• a Kahoot review game that coordinates with the slideshow
• "The Play About Me" activity (see below)

The slideshow can also be assigned to do individually or in remote learning.

The Play About Me

This activity invites students to share about themselves while reinforcing terminology for the areas of the stage. Get to know your class better while teaching important vocabulary for the theater classroom!

Includes:

• Written Instructions
• Video Instructions
• Template
• Fully completed example

This activity can be completed as homework or individual classwork. Students also enjoy sharing their finished products with one another.

Stage Pictures/Tableau

How can we tell a story physically?

Next, these lessons teach the elements of a visually interesting stage picture/tableau through observation and exploration.

These include: levels, use of space (proximity), unison/variety, body language, and facial expression. Students will learn how to view a tableau, how to interpret a tableau, and how to create a tableau that tells a story.

In the final PBA (performance based assessment), students will work in groups to divide a well known story into it's most important six moments. They will then create tableaux (still and silent stage pictures) that will communicate the moment to their audience and perform them in sequence like a live action slideshow.

Included:

• Five (5) approximately one hour lesson plans
• Questions of the Day/Journal Prompts
• Slideshow of famous and unknown stage pictures for students to interpret through Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) and instructions
• Instructions for two coordinating games
• Slideshow and instructions to present and perform two activities to explore creating tableaux

Tableaux Slideshow PBA:

• Slideshow with instructions and links to all resources
• Vocabulary List and Definitions
• Planning Document with instructions
• Full Planning Document Example
• Rubric
• Suggested reflection questions