This unit, based on Gardner's Multiple Intelligences, was designed for use with Years 11 or 12. The choice structure is designed so that students need not choose from every section but can focus on two intelligence areas that they feel strong in. Added to this, though, is the requirement of choosing from two other areas. The benefit of this approach is that students can feel competent in their two chosen strong areas and can get positive achievement from attempting these, while also stretching their skills base in areas where they feel less confident of achieving.

Choose two questions/activities from at least two sections and one further question/activity from any other two sections - ie, a total of six. If choosing any of the group-work activities, please let me know your interest areas so that I can arrange suitable groups.

 

Plays to choose from:

Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (Lawler)

A Stretch of the Imagination (Hibberd)

Don's Party (Williamson)

The Chapel Perilous (Hewett)

Brumby Innes (Pritchard)

 

Verbal/Linguistic

o Write 500 words on a personal dilemma faced by any character of your choice from these plays.

o Conduct a debate about the Australian male ethos as presented in any one of the plays above.

o Create a set of research questions sparked by your reading of one of these plays.

o Write a five-minute scene dealing with an issue that you see as intrinsically Australian.

o Hold a mock trial in which one of the main characters from any of the above plays is being judged on a personal choice that they have made.

 

Logical/Mathematical

o Create a time-line of the major turning points in Australian theatre and outline the main factors that depict these periods.

o List reasons why women may be portrayed as they are in any two of the above plays. Make connections to Australian society as you see it has developed.

o If one of the main characters in the above play were a member of the opposite sex, would you imagine the outcome to be different? Give reasons for your hypothesis.

o What were the reasons for the main character's actions? Find a pivotal moment in the play that could have changed the course of events and discuss why you chose this particular moment.

o Design twenty research questions that arise from any one of the plays above. These should include issues to do with Australian society.

o Create a props, costume and set manual for items needed in any one of the above plays.

 

Visual/Spatial

o Design a set for any one of the above plays.

o Develop a lighting design for any one of the above plays.

o Create a storyboard for any one of the above plays.

o Create a folder of images related to the time zone in which any one of the above plays is set. Include images that strike you, related to costume, architecture, furnishings, household goods, icons of the time, etc.

o Design a poster and program for any one of the above plays.

 

Musical/Rhythmic

o Design a sound inventory of music and sound effects for any one of the above plays. Include mood music for use before the play starts and for after the final curtain.

o Write a score for any one scene out of any one of the above plays.

o Find a piece of music that you think depicts the dramatic action of the play and either bring it to class and discuss your reasons for your choice with the class or write a justification for your choice.

o Develop, in a group of up to four people, an operetta based on any one of the above plays.

o Use musical instruments to represent the different characters in any one of the above plays and present a scene using the music to depict the characters' actions and intentions.

 

Bodily/Kinaesthetic

o Develop a movement sequence that depicts the dramatic action and main events in any one of the above plays.

o Do a mimed performance in mask, concentrating on body language to depict your character, based on one of the main characters from any one of the above plays.

o Take a fifteen-minute excerpt from any one of the above plays and present it to the class, using rehearsals to develop the scene. (To be negotiated with the teacher and other class members who may be interested.)

o Develop a scene that comes before the first written scene of any one of the above plays and present it to the class. (To be negotiated with the teacher and other class members who may be interested.)

 

Interpersonal

o Develop a character dossier for each of the characters in any one of the above plays. Include some discussion of their relationships with each of the other characters.

o Give a written discussion (with specific strategies) for how you, as stage manager, would deal with a problem with one of your crew related to the working environment (eg an unreliable crew member who is always late and sometimes doesn't turn up; an actor interfering with your decisions regarding organisation of the space and crew).

o Develop a group-devised fifteen-minute piece based on one of the situations presented in any one of the above plays. You are to create new characters and put them into this situation.

o Within a group, choose one of the following roles: director, costume designer, lighting and sound designer, set designer, publicity officer. Choose any one of the above plays and come up with a design plan that has developed through group negotiation. Present the final outcome for your own role in a written form, including discussion of the formulating process.

 

Intrapersonal

o Write a journal reflecting on your impressions of two of the above plays. Talk about the feelings that they evoked in you and which characters you identified with and who you didn't. Give reasons why.

o Write a directorial approach that you would take if you were to present any one of the above plays.

o If a main character from any one of the above plays were to live in your house, how do you think that they would fit in? Write about what impact they would have on you and your family/housemates.

o Choose any one of the above plays and create a new character that comes in to one scene. Describe the character and discuss how this new person may impact upon the scene: what would change, why and how. Optional: take this further and discuss how this new character may impact on the play as a whole.

o Look at the era in which any one of the above plays was written and discuss what elements of the play support the general beliefs of that time.

 

[Janine Bendit was a Graduate Diploma in Education student at UNE in 1998.]

©TalentEd is located at the School of Curriculum Studies, University of New England, Armidale, Australia.

This page updated: 23 January 2006 Webmaker: Howard Smith. hsmith4@une.edu.au