Objectives
to create improvisations from students’ own life experiences and to relate that work to the story of “George Washington and the Cherry Tree”.
Materials
empty peanutbutter jar, blackboard and chalk, or posterboard and marker.
Activities
Warmup: a) Have each student think of something, silently, that they shouldn’t do but want to. Everyone together is to say “Yes”, then “No” out loud, while thinking of reasons for and against what they want to do. Continue to say “Yes” and “No” until each student has made an inner decision. For fun you may want to count the yeses and noes.
b) Show the students a peanutbutter jar. Tell them that is a new jar that never has been opened. They are tempted to open the jar to stick their finger in it to get a big lick. Should they or shouldn’t they? Pass the jar around so that each student gets a chance to show his inner conflict. No words. The class will determine if the student was able to tell others what he was thinking by his actions.
Next the class members will be asked to verbalize their temptations. Write down on the board the student answers to the question, “Were you ever tempted to do something that you weren’t suppose to do? What was it?” After each student has a chance to contribute, divide the class into small groups of two to four people. Each group will create an improv based on one of the temptations. In group, they decide
what
the conflict is,
who
the people are, and
where
it takes place. (Eg. What—to take or not to take cookies; Who—playmates and a mother; Where—in the kitchen.) It is important
not
to over plan an improv. Stress that the students are not to plan ahead of time, but to allow the action to develop as they perform for the class. To keep things interesting, other members of the class may be chosen to call out “caught in the act” or “caught after the fact.” Or an audience member might suggest the actors “tell the truth” or “tell a lie.” Experiment and see what happens.
Conclusion
Have the students read or tell the story of “George Washington and the Cherry Tree.” Ask the class to determine the What, Who and Where of the tale. How did George’s actions and words compare to those in the student improvisations? Discuss the validity of the tale and have the class determine what values the tale was trying to teach. This would be a good time to introduce Parson Weems.