This week, I assisted teaching a theater class to 3rd-5th graders with Imagination Stage. In the class, conducted over Zoom, students worked on creating a character from scratch and developing characteristics for their character.
We started every class with a voice and body warmup to get our actors' tools prepared. Then students picked characters from movies and tv shows to pretend to be. I did a little 1 on 1 work in breakout rooms with some students to help them better resemble their character. For example, there was a girl who wanted to be Joy from Inside Out so I assisted her with adjusting the pitch of her voice and helping her enunciate the right words in her scene in order to sound more optimistic. There was also a boy who needed help being Superman so I helped him adjust his stance and posture to appear more confident.
After we had our voice, body and imagination prepped, we set aside the last 15 minutes of every class for the students to actually work on their own characters. First, we assisted everyone in coming up with their general character, like a witch or a monster. Then we went over specifics, like their characters' motives in their scene and the voice they would use to properly portray their character.
At the end of the week, there was a showcase where the students were able to present their scenes to their parents. I really enjoyed the experience and I'm going to continue teaching theater because I really think I can make a difference.