Drama

Stage 2 — Explorers
Unit Duration: 1–2 lessons
Forms: Improvisation, Movement

‘Explorers’ has been selected as a topic on which an almost endless series of drama lessons can be based.
It can allow students to develop dramas in which they can construct and reflect on cultural values and, as
the theatre has always done, such drama experiences can encourage them to learn more about the world
in which they live and about the people and other living things that inhabit it with them. Students’
interests, knowledge and understanding can be extended through the use of dramatic forms.

Content
Students in Stage 2 will

learn to: learn about drama through the experience of:

• express dramatic meaning by taking on and • interpreting everyday situations through a
sustaining familiar and different roles and by range of drama elements (eg tension,
selecting character-specific props, gestures contrast, symbol, time, space, focus, mood)
and movements
• use the elements of drama to deepen the • making decisions and asking questions which
meaning of the drama and in discussing help to develop in-role depth and dramatic
drama work responses
Stage 2

• consolidate interpretative and symbolic work

in the drama forms of improvisation,
movement, mime, storytelling, puppetry, mask
and playbuilding
• devise drama using narrative or episodic • acting in and devising drama from the
sequences in collaboration with others perspective of drama maker and audience
• interpret the meaning of their own drama and • appreciating drama by viewing others’
that of others performances

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 Drama

Outcomes and Indicators

DRAS2.1 Takes on and sustains roles in a variety of drama forms to express meaning in a wide
range of imagined situations
• adapts and sustains belief in roles from their imagination and literature (including
poetry)
• makes decisions about role interactions, symbolic representations and dramatic context
in the shared fiction of the action of the drama
• interprets a dramatic context by responding in drama form, eg improvisation and
movement
• improvises scenes that demonstrate episodes in the drama.

DRAS2.2 Builds the action of the drama by using the elements of drama, movement and voice
skills
• devises action through movement and voice to adapt a character to create dramatic
meaning through metaphor
• expresses feeling and other responses when depicting an event
• interprets imagined situations to make drama by deciding on dramatic elements, eg
tension, contrast, symbol, time, focus and mood.

DRAS2.3 Sequences the action of the drama to create meaning for an audience
• demonstrates confidence in gesture, movement and vocal skills
• demonstrates how characters interact with others
• selects props, costumes, artefacts, sound effects and movement sequences to refine role,

Stage 2
place and situation to add meaning to the drama
• improvises scenes that demonstrates the episodes in drama.

DRAS2.4 Responds to and interprets drama experiences and performances

• shares the processes of shaping and making drama and the reasons for choices
• engages in role to communicate meaning to an audience and engages as a respectful and
appreciative audience member.

Resources
• Space for the enactment of the drama. The classroom space would be suitable.
• Paper and pencils, sufficient for each member of the group.

Assessment
Key assessment opportunities are marked *.

Creative Arts K–6 Units of work Explorers 133

 Drama

Sequence of Learning Experiences

PURPOSE TEACHERS CAN NOTES TO TEACHERS

To set the context for the • Explain to students as a class group that the drama
action of the drama will be about explorers. Have the students engage in
a discussion about who explorers are, where they
might go and why.
• Have students decide what sort of explorers should Ask questions such as:
be portrayed. ‘Will you be explorers
who explore on land or
• Exit, re-entering in role as someone who wants to be on sea, or in space?’
an explorer, and asks if he/she can join the next
expedition. This new explorer asks where they are
going, what this place is like and why the explorers
would be going there, and if he/she can accompany
the explorers on their journey.
• Have students engage in a discussion (in role as
explorers) of the equipment they will need and the
clothes they should wear, and enact this. Ask the
explorers to get their equipment so the new explorer
knows what is involved.
Stage 2

• Have each member of the group (including the new Teacher in role
explorer) collect a box of clothing (an imaginary box) comments on how heavy
and equipment (‘from the imaginary store’). equipment is and
demonstrates this by
movement and mime,
encouraging other group
members to do the same.

• Ask the group (in role) what sort of equipment is in In role, direct the action
the box. Have each member of the group take out through questioning.
whatever has been suggested and either stow it in an
imaginary bag or, if clothing, put it on.

To decipher information • Out of role, say he/she is going to turn away and The teacher (out of role)
about a character from return as another character. asks the group who this
their demeanour and new character could be.
voice • Return with the stance and voice of authority: ‘Good Select one idea. Ask the
morning, explorers.’ Ask the explorers if they are group what they would
ready to go on their expedition to … (wherever was call this person
previously decided upon) and give orders, asking the
group to show that they are properly equipped and
clothed. Character exits saying he/she is sure the
expedition will be a great success.
• Have the students sitting in a group and tell them Use vocal and bodily
(out of role) that they are going on a journey where expression to indicate
that the group are
no-one has ever gone before.
embarking on a journey
• Have the students as a group jointly make a decision into the unknown and that
as to how they will journey to their destination. this may have unforeseen
consequences

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 Drama

PURPOSE TEACHERS CAN NOTES TO TEACHERS

• Have students, in role as explorers, write down how The teacher may need to
they feel as they begin this journey (again using move among the students
and give assistance with
voice to build the mood). The students write their
writing when needed
thoughts.*
• Place a table with a chair each side of it to define the
entry point to the imaginary transport.
• Have the students step on the first chair, walk across The teacher (in role)
the table and step onto the second chair. should go first and
demonstrate what is
• Have each explorer (including the teacher in role) required of the students
hold their paper as they step on the … (whatever
was decided) that will take them to their destination,
and read what they have written as they enter.*
To provide dramatic • In role as the captain of the transport (spaceship, The drama could end here.
focus of this scene, the ordinary ship, train, bus …), greet each explorer and If continued on a later
emphasis being that say something like ‘Welcome to our …,’ and occasion, have the
there is a point of students seated in a group
conclude by saying, ‘The journey begins.’
departure and narrate the story to
date. Show the group the

Stage 2
thoughts that the
explorers expressed on
paper, which may be
displayed around the room

• Have the students walk around and read what has The teacher can say, ‘If
been written, then stand next to a statement they someone else is standing
like, but not the one they wrote themselves. next to the one you like,
then find another one’
To express and develop a • Move around the room, reading the statements and
mood of concern using a ‘public voice’ which expresses the feelings of
the written thoughts.*
• At the conclusion of reading, turn to the group and The teacher should use
say, ‘But of course, the explorers never returned his/her voice and facial
home, for a terrible disaster overtook them all.’ expression to emphasis
that what happened was
disastrous
To collaboratively script • Have students sitting as one group and ask for their The more disastrous the
the storyline ideas about the disaster that might have occurred. ideas they come up with,
the more forthcoming
the enactments will be

To provide the actors and • Have students in small groups enact an aspect of the Have students specify
audience with a disaster that overtook the explorers. what part of the disaster
theatrical experience they are intending to
develop

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 Drama

PURPOSE TEACHERS CAN NOTES TO TEACHERS

• Have groups perform enactments for the rest of the The teacher can be in
class.* role as a photographer.
It is important that the
• Have the groups make a still picture of some part of group itself and its
their scene that is suitable for photographing. audience know what is
Explain that a book is to be written about the being depicted. The
disaster and photographs are required of the most teacher can ask each
group what is being
important scenes.*
depicted, and announce
the title of each picture
in a way that gives it
importance
To make sense of the
drama in which the
students have
participated • Have the students sit as a whole group and conclude
with narrative: ‘So the explorers who set off that day
experienced a disaster which they overcame and
their journey will never be forgotten.’
• Have students consider: how the explorers might
have felt when the disaster occurred (relate the
question/s back to the enacted disaster), why their
Stage 2

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Additional Information
In this unit the teacher needs to work in role, and sometimes in more than one role, throughout the
course of the drama. It is not necessary for a teacher in role indicate when he/she is coming out of role in
order to facilitate the drama, but it is important to tell students when his/her role changes.

It is suggested that the total lesson duration be 45–60 minutes.

As stated in the rationale, the basic premise of the drama can have many variations. Explorers can travel
to a multitude of destinations. Their journey can end successfully. They can meet difficulties which they
overcome. They can undertake their journey for a multiplicity of purposes. They can meet people en route
who can hamper or facilitate their progress, and students, given some encouragement, are well able to
make suggestions that the teacher can use to build the drama.

Another possibility that can be used to extend a drama on explorers is enacting figures in a museum. The
students can be asked to develop ‘waxworks’ which will show some aspect or incident of the explorers’
journey, and these can be individual or group portrayals. The ‘museum’ can be extended to show waxworks
which incorporate some movement whenever a visitor (teacher in role) presses a switch. An even more
complex development can enable waxwork figures to speak to the visitors. This is a difficult proposal. The
teacher (in role as a visitor to the museum) is more able to ask the sorts of questions that will elicit
meaningful responses from the waxworks, but the students are also likely to want to take on the powerful
role of permitting the waxworks to speak. It may work best if the teacher and some students visit the
museum together, with the teacher asking the first question and possibly some others as well, thus
modelling appropriate inquiries, while the students also have a chance to interrogate the figures.

Stage 2
When students are involved in the action of the drama they may experience powerful and real emotions.
At the end of the drama it is important that the teacher provide students with the opportunities to de-role
by being able to talk about key moments and tensions in the drama. De-roling may involve whole group
discussions or quiet reflection or through writing about experiences in a journal, or it may involve
channelling energy into another activity such as writing a poem or a song, or painting a picture.

Classroom Organisation
This unit contains many opportunities for students to work in groups. If the teacher feels that some
students are having difficulties, it may be possible to regroup them with more able and confident class
members. If the tasks seem difficult for most of the class, it might be wise to change focus and practice,
and involve the group in activities they can cope with more easily. This might mean working with the
whole class rather than pairs or small groups. By careful observation, the teacher should be able to make
appropriate adjustments as the drama proceeds.

Links with other Key Learning Areas

ENGLISH
RS1.5 Reading and Viewing
WS1.9 Producing Texts
Locate, read and discuss texts about exploring new places. Write a recount of a visit to a new place.

Creative Arts K–6 Units of work Explorers 137