Getting Ready (10 minutes)

The following information will help you focus and organize your professional development session.

Learning Objectives

• Develop a plot structure for a multi-arts piece.
• Plan and implement a dramatization for the piece.
• Create and perform movement for the piece.
• Create costumes for the piece.
• Create and perform a musical score for the piece.
• Understand choreographic principles and processes in creating, performing, and responding.

Guiding Questions
These are questions for your group to consider as you work through the session:

• What are the steps in the process of creating a multi-arts performance piece?
• How does a teacher effectively guide the development of a student-created work?

Materials and Resources

• Videotape or broadcast of Program 4 — Creating a Multi-Arts Performance Piece
• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
• Paper, pencils, and markers
• Handout: Elements of the Hero’s Journey (PDF)
• Reading: Orff Instrumentarium (PDF)

Opening Steps
If you have had your own students create costumes for characters from history or literature, discuss this experience:

• How effective were the students in representing artistic and historical elements in their design choices?

If you have not explored these activities with your students, share and discuss your lesson plans or journal writings about how you could integrate these ideas in your classroom.

Facilitator: Discuss your experiences with having your students create costumes for characters from history or literature:

• How effectively did students represent artistic and historical elements in their design choices?

Distribute the handout, Elements of the Hero's Journey. Discuss the classic hero's journey in myth and folklore and the prevalence of the journey structure in literature.

To download PDF files, you will need a free copy of Acrobat Reader.