GRADES K-3
Specific Session Objective:
Students will use brainstorming to create an
age appropriate definition of stress and use non-verbal dramatic form to
explore stress in their lives.
Terms
Stress Source - an activity or situation which
causes the person in question to experience stress.
Session Content
1. WARM-UP
Following a brief physical stretch which ends
with relaxing and tensing specific muscle groups, discuss and demonstrate
ideas of how our bodies look when we are relaxed versus not relaxed.
2. DISCUSSION/BRAINSTORM
Introduce the word "stress" by writing it on
the blackboard. Ask students to brainstorm on what they think the
word means and scribe all student input on the board. Narrow ideas
down using consensus and guiding questions about vocabulary choices until
students develop an age and language appropriate definition of the word
stress.
3. TABLEAUX
Ask for ideas from the students on when and where
they might feel stress, returning to the physicalization of stress addressed
in the warm-up if necessary. Scribe lists of ideas on the board and
use brainstorming process to narrow choices. Explain that these situation
written on the board can be called "stress sources". Explain that
the class is going to be participants and audience at a Stress Exhibit
at the Museum of Science. Divide students into groups of three and
ask them to choose one situation from the board and create a "Polaroid
picture" (tableaux) of this stress source. Take turns looking at
each group's sculpture and describing what is seen.
Session Assessment
Come to a circle and lead discussion on our definition
of stress developed at the beginning of the session.
What words or ideas would you change?
Ask for demonstration of an example of a stress
source at students' age level.
Ask for an example of how you could tell that
someone was experiencing stress without
asking them with words.
Developed by E. O'Hara
GRADES 4-5
Specific Session Objective
Students will use creative drama techniques such
as hot seating and interviewing to recognize and identify stress sources
not only in their own lives, but in a larger contextual environment such
as home and school.
Terms
Stress Source - an activity or situation which
causes the person in question to experience stress.
Session Materials
15 index cards, each with a description (who,
what, where) of a stress source which
takes place either at home or at school
Session Content
1. WARM-UP
"The Stress Machine" - Explain the guidelines
of "machine making" in drama, each person coming up with a repetitive sound
and movement which they will incorporate with those of the other students
to create a "human machine." Explain that this machine will be a
Stress Machine - a machine depicting how bodies and voices appear when
we are experiencing stress. Ask students to add on to the machine
one by one; then have the machine speed up, slow down, and come to rest.
2. INTERVIEWING
Begin this activity with a brief discussion of
stress and what a stress source is: In what situations do you experience
stress? How is the stress you experience related to that experienced
or perceived by other people in a specific environment such as a classroom?
Divide students into pairs and ask hem to choose
who will be the interviewer. The other person will choose a situation
like the ones just discussed, and the pair will conduct an interview during
which the interviewers will try and find out as much as they can about
the stress source which the other person is experiencing. Encourage
interviewers to use open ended questions such as: Can you describe
how the stress you are experiencing changes the way your body of voice
looks, sounds, or feels? Share each pairs' work through spotlighting,
one group at a time.
3. HOT SEATING
Ask for three volunteers to improv a scene based
on a stressful situation written down on prepared index cards. Freeze
the scene at points of tension and invite audience to "hot seat" characters
to find out how they feel and how the other characters' actions affect
them.
Session Assessment
Revisit Warm-up: Re-create the stress machine
worked on during the warm-up. This time, however, the machine will
focus on expressing how the stress of someone else can affect our own physical
feelings. The students' movements and sounds should be more inter-connected,
as they are literally cueing off each other's actions. Relax and
discuss differences and similarities between this Stress Machine and the
first machine.
Relevant References in Goleman's Emotional Intelligence:
pp. 65-69
Created by E. O'Hara
GRADES 6-8
Specific Session Objective
Students will explore potential solutions and
ways to address handling stress in their everyday lives.
Terms
Stress Source - an activity or situation which
causes the person in question to experience stress.
Session Materials
15 index cards with scene starters printed on
them
Session Content
1. WARM-UP
Ask students to move around the room, shaking
out arms and legs as they go. Ask them to focus mentally on one thing
in their lives which is causing them to experience stress, one specific
stress source. Tell them to imagine that the stress they feel about
that issue right now is at level 5; use guiding questions such as: How
do you feel this stress in your back? In your arms? Shoulders? etc.,
to encourage students to become conscious of how their bodies process stress.
Next ask them to imagine that the volume level on this stress is now up
to 6, then 7. We should see the stress rising in our bodies; it should
affect how we walk, breathe, talk, etc. Allow students to interact
briefly with each other as they go to 8-10, then back down to level 1,
where the stress of the activity or situation is virtually gone from their
minds.
2. DISCUSSION
Circle the class and explain that what they went
through is one way of handling stress, called guided imagery - where we
use our imaginations to address the physical and emotional symptoms of
stress. Summarize Goleman's section on the medical effects of stress
and brainstorm about possible ways of short circuiting stress situations
such as exercise or relaxation.
3. BEGINNINGS AND ENDS
Divide students into small groups and give each
group time to come up with an ending to a scene starter provided for them
on index cards. Scene starters should include at least the number
of people in the group and offer a playable depiction of stress in the
lives of students. Each group should come up with at least two different
endings, each one expressing a different solution to stress such as exercise,
imagery, relaxation, or ones they invent. Share and discuss each
groups' work.
Session Assessment
Journals: Ask each student to write a one
page response to the session addressing the following questions:
What is a situation you found yourself in recently in which you experienced
the kind of stress we worked on today? Which of the solutions we
discussed would have helped you out of the situation and why? Which
ones would not have worked and why?
Relevant References in Goleman's Emotional Intelligence:
p. 72-75
Created by E. O'Hara
GRADES 9-12
Specific Session Objective
Students will discuss and explore patterns relating
to stress in their own lives and use verbal communication (Forum Theatre)
and non-verbal communication (mirroring movement activity) to explore action
and consequence as they relate to stress management.
Terms
Stress Source - an activity or situation which
causes the person in question to experience stress.
Session Content
1. WARM-UP
"Mirror Movement" - Begin by explaining a simple
mirror exercise; pair students up to take turns mirroring each others'
movements. Encourage simplicity in movement and a slow pace.
As students' comfort with the activity grows, shape it to now focus on
reaction to each other's movements. The leader will count to three,
during which time all of the A's will move and come to freeze on three.
On the next count of three, the B's will move in response to the movement
and posture of the A's. Encourage students to focus on the images
that come to mind during their partner's movements as well as the emotions
and tension levels they experience.
2. DISCUSSION
Explain that the warm-up was addressing an important
part of handling stress: the recognition of it as part of our day.
Each partnering experienced tension and stress in reacting to each other's
movement. Ask for examples of this from the group and offer leader's
observations. Discuss the patterns which tend to form in how we interact
with other people and how that relates to handling stress: Do we
tend to back away when confronted by an aggressive move, figuratively or
literally? Do we experience "fight or flight"? How does this
affect our stress levels? Do we avoid stressful situations or do
we navigate them once it is too late? When do we find ourselves doing
each of these things?
3. FORUM THEATRE
Explain the basics of Forum Theatre (beginning
a scene, stopping the action and reworking or discussing the action before
replaying it, giving students the opportunity to step in). Ask for
volunteers to come up and begin an improv based on a set of given circumstances
offered by the audience: Where are we? What is the relationship
these people have? What is the conflict? Ask students to watch
for the generation and expression of stress patterns in each of the characters
and encourage them to stop the action when they see the opportunity to
break these patterns by finding some way of "short circuiting" the situation.
Continue in this manner with the next group until all students have had
a chance to begin a scene.
Session Assessment
1. LETTERS TO A CHARACTER
Have students choose one character they saw in
the Forum Theatre exercise to whom they will write a letter, expressing
their opinions on how the character acted and reacted to the stressful
situation they were in: Do you feel you might react the same way?
Why or why not? Was the character's choice effective? How would
it apply itself to other contexts? Students may choose to write more
than one letter if time permits. Regroup and share letters on a volunteer
basis.
Developed by E. O'Hara
