A brief guide to engaging students in narrative writing by having them program robots to act out their stories.

Pursuing a career in the theater can seem intimidating and overwhelming. In this video from Treasures of New York: The Drama League, students receive advice from successful theater professionals like director Diane Paulus and actress Judith Light. From practical suggestions like staying informed by reading the newspaper, to more general advice like finding one’s passion, students hear from and are inspired by the words of experienced artists.

Learn about the physical characteristics of environments and act out the animals that live there!

You are the next contestant on the Take the Stage game show ANIMAL SURVIVAL where you will travel in a hot air balloon to the forest of North America, the savanna of Africa, and then take a submarine ride underwater in the ocean. To play the game, you will act out an animal that would live in each environment, and then write how the physical characteristics of each environment helps your animal survive.

Learning Objective: observe and describe the physical characteristics of environments and how they support populations and communities of plants and animals within an ecosystem.

Andrew Branca, a high school student from Central Academy of Technology and Arts, in North Carolina talks about how he was inspired to write Boal after attending a summer theater workshop on Brazilian theater activist Augusto Boal. Cast members discuss what it was like to collaborate on the playwriting process and why they felt it was important to start a serious discussion on racism and Islamophobia.

Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.

Find the theme of a story by acting it out!

Take out your magnifying glass detectives-in-training, because you’re about to solve The Case of the Missing Theme. By acting out a story with Carmen and Detective J, you will remember important clues. These clues will help you find the story’s theme!

Learning Objective: Infer the theme of a work, distinguishing theme from topic.

¡Encuentra el tema de una historia actuándolo!

Saca tu lupa de detectives en formación, porque estás a punto de resolver El Caso del Tema Perdido. Al representar una historia con Carmen y el Detective J, recordarás pistas importantes. ¡Estas pistas te ayudarán a encontrar el tema de la historia!

Objetivo de Aprendizaje: inferir el tema de una obra, distinguiendo el tema del asunto.

This lesson is designed to help middle school students understand the Fantasy Genre in literature.  What makes fantasy different than realistic fiction or historical fiction.  They will learn the elements of fantasy and then act out a short 5 minute fantasy using those elements.