3 more lessons till it comes to the end. This is too fast! Our goal is to help them develop and present (act out) believable characters from the ancient civilizations. They still have some gaps before they were able to do that so today I focused on the skills in developing characters.
We did a Photo Copy exercise where they were given pictures (or ancient Roman sculptures) and they had to copy with their facial expression and body. They had much fun with it. The facial expression ones were subtle, so it was hard for them to find ways to copy. Perhaps, it was a good lesson to redefine what drama really means. Acting doesn't mean being dramatic, but it is about telling the truth, which is very subtle most of the time.
Then we did a "sculpting" activity where the students paired up and sculpted each other according to the description about Julius Caesar and Augustus. They were able to come up with very different ideas! I was very surprised how they relied on their own creativity instead of my or their peers' ideas. I also invited them to look at each other's choices and gather new ideas to make more effective artistic choices.
I loved this lesson so much because they used a lot of creativity! If I had a chance to go back and change this lesson, I would give them a printed text about the two Roman emperors or I would hold a discussion with the students about the characteristics and personalities of the people we are sculpting. This will help them to have a better idea on what artistic choices to make and the reason to make them.
I can't wait for the next lesson which we'll introduce movement to the sculptures!