A Day in the Life of…:
Description:
A great way to start to introduce an embodied approach to literature or other subjects. The teacher begins by leading the students through a gentle guided meditation to begin to understand and embody the character that they are about to create or the experience that they are about to imagine. After the students have had some guided meditation then they will get up and start to create the character through guided pantomime. The teacher will lead the students through a day in the life of the character that they have decided on during the meditation. Step by step the guided pantomime leads each student through a series of choices that allow them to imagine and embody a day in the life of someone other than themselves.
Application:
This is a great way to have students start to analyze and think about the experience of others. Using A Day in The Life of… students can start to internalize and embody the text that the teacher is about to introduce. This experience is a great way to get students active thinking and able to start to address some of the ideas that will follow in the lesson. This is a great way to access some kinaesthetic, spatial, visual ways of knowing.
Variations:
- The teacher can use time lapses to increase the students thinking about the life of the character that they have embodied. What happens the next day? Do things repeat themselves? How do they change day-to-day?
- What happened the day before the day your chose to create. How did this day affect what your character did during A Day in The Life of?
Notes:
Will Whitten 