How Do I Love Thee: Embodied Thinking
Part 1
Potential Body Experiences
Potential Body Experiences
Movement
Potential Body Experience One
Dance
Is a beautiful yet eerie dance that can help represent character development, setting, and conflict in the play (parts of the elements of plot). My online students could create their own video/s or study the use of movement and how it affects the learning and understanding of plot by watching the video below. Students can also search for other videos on the play that are available and show them to the class. Additionally, students can share random dance videos that think would represent the assignment. They are looking specifically for videos that show conflict and other emotions between characters and a setting that has been created to allow freedom of movement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMXiL8vmr_8
Potential Body Experience One
Dance
Is a beautiful yet eerie dance that can help represent character development, setting, and conflict in the play (parts of the elements of plot). My online students could create their own video/s or study the use of movement and how it affects the learning and understanding of plot by watching the video below. Students can also search for other videos on the play that are available and show them to the class. Additionally, students can share random dance videos that think would represent the assignment. They are looking specifically for videos that show conflict and other emotions between characters and a setting that has been created to allow freedom of movement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMXiL8vmr_8
Potential Body Experience Two
Miming
Another potential way of teaching how bodies can experience my topic is through the use of mime images and/or videos.
This image represents conflict.
Miming
Another potential way of teaching how bodies can experience my topic is through the use of mime images and/or videos.
This image represents conflict.
The video below shows mimes representing emotions. For the understanding of the play, “The Crucible” one needs to understand the range of emotions the characters experience.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuY_vIc9jaM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuY_vIc9jaM
One objective is for students to find and show their own images or videos to peers in my online classroom. Another is to discuss with their peers how watching the movements of mimes can be useful in teaching about character development and conflict in the play. Because I am in an online setting I cannot use many of the activities that are use in traditional drama courses. If I were teaching in a traditional school I have students perform miming activities together in class that would show levels of emotions a character/s can experience throughout the play.
Empathy
Potential Body Experience Three
Objectives:
Lesson:
Show short, cute, fun video on emotions to get the lesson started.
Empathy
Potential Body Experience Three
Objectives:
- Teach difference between sympathy and empathy
- Students are to recognize someone is in pain and want to respond to their feelings and thoughts
- Students understand that empathy is about feeling someone else’s pain and imaging themselves in the same position.
- Students are to work together to practice empathy skills and techniques
Lesson:
Show short, cute, fun video on emotions to get the lesson started.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEk48QQSPo4
Check Mark-X Game
After a discussion of the definition of empathy and how it is different from sympathy, students will be guided through an online activity to help them to understand empathy and ways to practice it. Students will address what it means to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and how they can show ways to be more understanding.
Students will be given a series of scenarios and then they will be asked to think about if they are an empathetic person. They are to click on the green check mark if the scenario is something they would do and on the red x if it is something they would not do. Because their answers are only visible to the teacher, students will hopefully answer honestly. The green checked answers would obviously show the student’s level of empathy towards people. More red marks would indicate that students might need to learn how to become more empathic towards others.
Next, the students will be grouped in pairs and the intent is to allow them to practice being empathic to each other. They are to tell each other real or fictional stories about being scared mad, hurt, sad, or embarrassed. The final part of the lesson requires the entire class to meet together in the online classroom. Once there, everyone will click on the raise your hand icon to show that their hand in up. Then students will take turns sharing something they learned about empathy, lowering their hand afterwards. If someone shares another students’ thought, they are to lower their hand as well. The lesson continues until all the hands are lowered.
Below are images of the tools (taken from my online live classroom) that the students would use to complete the lesson.
Check Mark-X Game
After a discussion of the definition of empathy and how it is different from sympathy, students will be guided through an online activity to help them to understand empathy and ways to practice it. Students will address what it means to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and how they can show ways to be more understanding.
Students will be given a series of scenarios and then they will be asked to think about if they are an empathetic person. They are to click on the green check mark if the scenario is something they would do and on the red x if it is something they would not do. Because their answers are only visible to the teacher, students will hopefully answer honestly. The green checked answers would obviously show the student’s level of empathy towards people. More red marks would indicate that students might need to learn how to become more empathic towards others.
Next, the students will be grouped in pairs and the intent is to allow them to practice being empathic to each other. They are to tell each other real or fictional stories about being scared mad, hurt, sad, or embarrassed. The final part of the lesson requires the entire class to meet together in the online classroom. Once there, everyone will click on the raise your hand icon to show that their hand in up. Then students will take turns sharing something they learned about empathy, lowering their hand afterwards. If someone shares another students’ thought, they are to lower their hand as well. The lesson continues until all the hands are lowered.
Below are images of the tools (taken from my online live classroom) that the students would use to complete the lesson.
Part 2
Understanding and Explanation of the Topic of Embodied Thinking
My understanding of the cognitive tool of embodied thinking is that involves Kinesthetic Thinking and Empathizing. Kinesthetic Thinking is using our bodies and its sensations to learn and understand the world around us. It requires listening to and using the body to learn new things and to find solutions to problems. Empathizing is the understanding of another person’s feeling and emotions. It is the ability to put one’s self in the other person’s shoes and feel what they are feeling. It enables people to connect with other people in a compassionate way, which I believe is crucial for the survival of any society. Simply put, it makes people want to be good and to learn new ways to help others.
My topic is the study of Aristotle’s elements of drama, specifically looking at the elements of plot structure used in theatre. For this assignment I chose to focus on some of the parts of plot that my online students are studying in the “The Crucible.” They are character development, setting, and conflict. I chose three embodiments, two that represent kinesthetic movement and one that represent empathizing. The potential body experiences I chose impacts my topic by giving my students a new insight and way to learn and explore some very important elements of plot they must know in order to understand and complete their study of “The Crucible”, plot structure, and theatre. One objective is for my students' to not just learning the material in the same age-old way. My students are being encouraged to think about their bodies and how movement and empathizing with others allow them to connect with themselves, their classmates, and the material in a very new and stimulating way.
The first potential body experience I chose reflects Kinesthetic Thinking and is represented through the movement of dance. I chose this embodied thinking because I think it expresses my topic in a way that high school students can learn from and relate to. The YouTube dance video, The Forrest Dance, is a video depicting a scene in the beginning of the play in which the young girls are seen dancing in the woods. Many of the townspeople believe that the girls are worshipping Satan and attempting to cast evil spells upon their neighbors. The video displays, through movement, an eerie, yet beautiful dance that shows the development of the setting and conflict in the play. The girls’ movements are not quite visible {they dance in almost darkness}, which creates a feeling of uneasiness that helps to establish an unfriendly setting (environment) that is continued throughout the play. The wild and frenzied movement of the girls represents the conflict in the play brilliantly. Through their movements one can feel fear, anxiety, and passion.
The second potential body experience I chose also reflects Kinesthetic Thinking. It is through the movements of mimes. Students are to view mime images and videos in order to study character development and conflict. I chose this embodiment because, by seeing elements expressed through emotions and movement of mimes, the students hopefully will learn about the elements in way that will give them a new understanding of the topic. This exercise requires my students to look for their own videos and images to share with the online class and then to discuss their views and experiences after watching and studying mimes.
My last potential body experience is represented through Empathizing. I chose a lesson that requires first a discussion of the meaning of empathy and how it is different than sympathy. Next, students are to play a game that helps them to understand what it means to empathize, to truly put themselves into someone else’s shoes. I chose this embodiment because the game allows the students to explore different scenarios that require them to think about whether or not they can empathize with others. They study the topic alone, in pairs, and then as an entire group, which allows the students to view the ways their classmate’s express and view empathy. The lesson is also designed to spot if students need to learn how to be more empathic towards others.
My topic is the study of Aristotle’s elements of drama, specifically looking at the elements of plot structure used in theatre. For this assignment I chose to focus on some of the parts of plot that my online students are studying in the “The Crucible.” They are character development, setting, and conflict. I chose three embodiments, two that represent kinesthetic movement and one that represent empathizing. The potential body experiences I chose impacts my topic by giving my students a new insight and way to learn and explore some very important elements of plot they must know in order to understand and complete their study of “The Crucible”, plot structure, and theatre. One objective is for my students' to not just learning the material in the same age-old way. My students are being encouraged to think about their bodies and how movement and empathizing with others allow them to connect with themselves, their classmates, and the material in a very new and stimulating way.
The first potential body experience I chose reflects Kinesthetic Thinking and is represented through the movement of dance. I chose this embodied thinking because I think it expresses my topic in a way that high school students can learn from and relate to. The YouTube dance video, The Forrest Dance, is a video depicting a scene in the beginning of the play in which the young girls are seen dancing in the woods. Many of the townspeople believe that the girls are worshipping Satan and attempting to cast evil spells upon their neighbors. The video displays, through movement, an eerie, yet beautiful dance that shows the development of the setting and conflict in the play. The girls’ movements are not quite visible {they dance in almost darkness}, which creates a feeling of uneasiness that helps to establish an unfriendly setting (environment) that is continued throughout the play. The wild and frenzied movement of the girls represents the conflict in the play brilliantly. Through their movements one can feel fear, anxiety, and passion.
The second potential body experience I chose also reflects Kinesthetic Thinking. It is through the movements of mimes. Students are to view mime images and videos in order to study character development and conflict. I chose this embodiment because, by seeing elements expressed through emotions and movement of mimes, the students hopefully will learn about the elements in way that will give them a new understanding of the topic. This exercise requires my students to look for their own videos and images to share with the online class and then to discuss their views and experiences after watching and studying mimes.
My last potential body experience is represented through Empathizing. I chose a lesson that requires first a discussion of the meaning of empathy and how it is different than sympathy. Next, students are to play a game that helps them to understand what it means to empathize, to truly put themselves into someone else’s shoes. I chose this embodiment because the game allows the students to explore different scenarios that require them to think about whether or not they can empathize with others. They study the topic alone, in pairs, and then as an entire group, which allows the students to view the ways their classmate’s express and view empathy. The lesson is also designed to spot if students need to learn how to be more empathic towards others.