Teachers ResourceDEVELOPMENT

PARTNER

PRINCIPAL COMMUNITY

PARTNER

INNOVATION PARTNER

Welcome

These notes are designed to help you develop a creative series of sessions/lessons to explore My Robot. You can use just a few or most of the suggested strategies and activities, adapting them to meet the needs, interests and abilities of the students in your class - or the after school context in which you’re working.

The play is particularly written for students in Kindergarten to Year 4 but is also suitable for older students. It lends itself to rich integration across the primary curriculum. Activities have been suggested to set the scene for the performance both several weeks before and on the way as well as to further engage with and reflect on the performance afterwards.

This Resource Pack has been curated by Barking Gecko’s Honorary Scholar, Professor Robyn Ewing AM. Robyn is Professor of Teacher Education and the Arts at the University of Sydney. Who has a passion about arts, education and the importance of quality arts experiences for children and the impact it can have throughout a child’s education.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Barking Gecko Theatre Company

Barking Gecko Theatre Company is Western Australia’s locally cherished, nationally significant company that creates and tours world-class theatre for children and families. Barking Gecko’s home in Perth is the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia.

For nearly 30 years Barking Gecko has created exquisite and thought provoking productions, making it WA’s longest running theatre company. Barking Gecko’s award winning history of innovation and excellence reaches on average 35,000 people a year, encouraging them to embrace a life of curiosity, empathy and play.

Alongside Barking Gecko’s theatre productions is the company’s exceptional commitment to creative learning and education programs. Operating state-wide, these programs support children’s academic, social and emotional well-being. Participation in these programs develops life-long skills in WA’s young people.

www.barkinggecko.com.au

S AY H E L LO !

Hannah Smith, Education Manager

T (08) 6212 9391 E hannah.smith@barkinggecko.com.au

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Synopsis

When Ophelia moves with her family to the seaside, she’s not impressed. She doesn’t like the beach, misses her old home and thinks the people in this town are pretty strange. While unpacking her room she discovers a mysterious box full of gadgets, parts and pieces, and a strange note that reads ‘You. Make. Me.’ Her curiosity gets the better of her and she spends all night assembling the objects into Olivetti, a robot with a typewriter chest and an alarm clock heart. Made up of pieces, but more than the sum of his parts.

Together Ophelia and Olivetti take on the local bully and make friends with a child so worried about allergies that he never leaves the house, all while trying to keep her dad from discovering that Olivetti is really a robot. But a bigger challenge is coming – can the pair save their friend and reunite him with his mother?

My Robot takes audiences of all ages on a rambunctious adventure filled with robot antics, laughter, daring rescues and bewildered parents, all told with the care and artistry synonymous with Barking Gecko’s award winning shows. Children will discover that we’re all just made from pieces, and that when we feel less than whole we can find – or make – a part that fits!

To: Our AudienceFrom: Finegan Kruckemeyer This play is about a person journeying from snowy mountains to a warm coast, where they encounter new friends and invent something magical. And to create it... I journeyed from snowy mountains (Tasmania's kunanyi) to a warm coast (your lovely city, Perth), and sat down with new friends to invent something magical.

The 'something magical' refers to two things. One exists in the play, and is a small futuristic friend you'll soon meet who can do very wonderful tricks, but is actually made from a lot of pieces - if any one of those pieces were to go missing, then the magic would stop.

And the other 'something magical' is not in the play you're soon to see - it is the play you're soon to see. Because my favourite thing about this job, is that the story I write is just one small piece of a much larger puzzle, and it's only when combined with the skill of shape-shifting actors, and visionary designers, and tinkering builders and patient managers and a clever director, that this play can play before you - if any one of those pieces were to go missing, then the magic would stop as well.

So I hope you enjoy, and hope also that you accept your role in the magic trick too. Because a play isn't a film that will run just as well in an empty cinema or a full one. And it isn't a book that will hold its story whether on the shelf or off. A play is a conversation, between those onstage and those sat in front of it.

A play demands that we all believe together. And if the trick works... then this theatre will disappear, and your seat will disappear, and the rest of the audience will disappear. And instead you'll suddenly find yourself living in a small town by the sea, making friends who are humans and robots both.

And that ability (to jump time and space for fifty minutes, using your imaginations alone)... well that really is a bit magic.

Thank you for coming.

A L L A B O U T M Y R O B OT 3

A L L A B O U T M Y R O B OT

Relevant links to the Australian curriculum: general capabilities

These teaching resources and strategies address the following general capabilities:

• Literacy

• Numeracy

• Information and communication technology (ICT) capability

• Critical and creative thinking

• Personal and social capability

• Ethical understanding

• Intercultural understanding

(https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities)

Selected key themes for exploration

• Friendship

• Relationships

• Belonging

• Identity

• Bullies & Bullying

• Solving problems

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C U R R I C U LU MF

OU

ND

AT

ION

L I T E R AT U R E

Literature and context Recognise that texts are created by authors who tell stories and share experiences that may be similar or different to students’ own experiences

( AC E LT 1 5 7 5 )

Responding to literature

Share feelings and thoughts about the events and characters in texts

( AC E LT 1 7 8 3 )

Examining literature Identify some features of texts including events and characters and retell events from a text

( AC E LT 1 5 7 8 )

Replicate the rhythms and sound patterns in stories, rhymes, songs and poems from a range of cultures

( AC E LT 1 5 7 9 )

Creating literature Retell familiar literary texts through performance, use of illustrations and images

( AC E LT 1 5 8 0 )

Innovate on familiar texts through play ( AC E LT 1 8 3 1 )

L I T E R ACY

Interacting with others Listen to and respond orally to texts and to the communication of others in informal and structured classroom situations

( AC E LY 1 6 4 6 )

Use interaction skills including listening while others speak, using appropriate voice levels, articulation and body language, gestures and eye contact

( AC E LY 1 7 8 4 )

Interpreting, analysing, evaluating

Use comprehension strategies to understand and discuss texts listened to, viewed or read independently

( AC E LY 1 6 5 0 )

Creating texts Create short texts to explore, record and report ideas and events using familiar words and beginning writing knowledge

( AC E LY 1 6 5 1 )

Foundation, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4 Australian CurriculumRelevant English outcomes The Australian Curriculum: English https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/english/

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C U R R I C U LU MY

EA

R 1

L A N G UAG E

Language for interaction

Understand that language is used in combination with other means of communication, for example facial expressions and gestures to interact with others

( AC E L A 1 4 4 4 )

Explore different ways of expressing emotions, including verbal, visual, body language and facial expressions

( AC E L A 1 7 8 7 )

L I T E R AT U R E

Literature and context Discuss how authors create characters using language and images

( AC E LT 1 5 8 1 )

Responding to literature

Discuss characters and events in a range of literary texts and share personal responses to these texts, making connections with students' own experiences

( AC E LT 1 5 8 2 )

Listen to, recite and perform poems, chants, rhymes and songs, imitating and inventing sound patterns including alliteration and rhyme

( AC E LT 1 5 8 5 )

Examining literature Discuss features of plot, character and setting in different types of literature and explore some features of characters in different texts

( AC E LT 1 5 8 4 )

Creating literature Recreate texts imaginatively using drawing, writing, performance and digital forms of communication

( AC E LT 1 5 8 6 )

L I T E R ACY

Interacting with others Engage in conversations and discussions, using active listening behaviours, showing interest, and contributing ideas, information and questions

( AC E LY 1 6 5 6 )

Use interaction skills including turn-taking, recognising the contributions of others, speaking clearly and using appropriate volume and pace

( AC E LY 1 7 8 8 )

Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning about key events, ideas and information in texts that they listen to, view and read by drawing on growing knowledge of context, text structures and language features

( AC E LY 1 6 6 0 )

Creating texts Create short imaginative and informative texts that show emerging use of appropriate text structure, sentence-level grammar, word choice, spelling, punctuation and appropriate multimodal elements, for example illustrations and diagrams

( AC E LY 1 6 6 1 )

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C U R R I C U LU MY

EA

R 2

L I T E R AT U R E

Responding to literature

Compare opinions about characters, events and settings in and between texts

( AC E LT 1 5 8 9 )

Examining literature Discuss the characters and settings of different texts and explore how language is used to present these features in different ways

( AC E LT 1 5 9 1 )

Identify, reproduce and experiment with rhythmic, sound and word patterns in poems, chants, rhymes and songs

( AC E LT 1 5 9 2 )

Creating literature Create events and characters using different media that develop key events and characters from literary texts

( AC E LT 1 5 9 3 )

Innovate on familiar texts by experimenting with character, setting or plot

( AC E LT 1 8 3 3 )

Interpreting, analysing, evaluating

Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning and begin to analyse texts by drawing on growing knowledge of context, language and visual features and print and multimodal text structures

( AC E LY 1 6 7 0 )

Creating texts Create short imaginative, informative and persuasive texts using growing knowledge of text structures and language features for familiar and some less familiar audiences, selecting print and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and purpose

( AC E LY 1 6 7 1 )

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C U R R I C U LU MY

EA

R 3

L I T E R AT U R E

Literature and context Discuss texts in which characters, events and settings are portrayed in different ways, and speculate on the authors’ reasons

( AC E LT 1 5 9 4 )

Responding to literature

Draw connections between personal experiences and the worlds of texts, and share responses with others

( AC E LT 1 5 9 6 )

Examining literature Discuss how language is used to describe the settings in texts, and explore how the settings shape the events and influence the mood of the narrative

( AC E LT 1 5 9 9 )

Discuss the nature and effects of some language devices used to enhance meaning and shape the reader’s reaction, including rhythm and onomatopoeia in poetry and prose

( AC E LT 1 6 0 0 )

Creating literature Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts demonstrating increasing control over text structures and language features and selecting print,and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and purpose

( AC E LY 1 6 8 2 )

L I T E R ACY

Texts in context Identify the point of view in a text and suggest alternative points of view

( AC E LY 1 6 7 5 )

Interacting with others Listen to and contribute to conversations and discussions to share information and ideas and negotiate in collaborative situations

( AC E LY 1 6 7 6 )

Use interaction skills, including active listening behaviours and communicate in a clear, coherent manner using a variety of everyday and learned vocabulary and appropriate tone, pace, pitch and volume

( AC E LY 1 7 9 2 )

Creating texts Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts demonstrating increasing control over text structures and language features and selecting print,and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and purpose

( AC E LY 1 6 8 2 )

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C U R R I C U LU MY

EA

R 4

L A N G UAG E

Language for interaction

Understand that social interactions influence the way people engage with ideas and respond to others for example when exploring and clarifying the ideas of others, summarising their own views and reporting them to a larger group

( AC E L A 1 4 8 8 )

L I T E R AT U R E

Responding to literature

Discuss literary experiences with others, sharing responses and expressing a point of view

( AC E LT 1 6 0 3 )

Examining literature Discuss how authors and illustrators make stories exciting, moving and absorbing and hold readers’ interest by using various techniques, for example character development and plot tension

( AC E LT 1 6 0 5 )

Creating literature Create literary texts that explore students’ own experiences and imagining

( AC E LT 1 6 0 7 )

Create literary texts by developing storylines, characters and settings

( AC E LT 1 7 9 4 )

L I T E R ACY

Interacting with others Interpret ideas and information in spoken texts and listen for key points in order to carry out tasks and use information to share and extend ideas and information

( AC E LY 1 6 8 7 )

Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations incorporating learned content and taking into account the particular purposes and audiences

( AC E LY 1 6 8 9 )

Use comprehension strategies to build literal and inferred meaning to expand content knowledge, integrating and linking ideas and analysing and evaluating texts

( AC E LY 1 6 9 2 )

Use interaction skills such as acknowledging another’s point of view and linking students’ response to the topic, using familiar and new vocabulary and a range of vocal effects such as tone, pace, pitch and volume to speak clearly and coherently

( AC E LY 1 6 8 8 )

Creating texts Re-read and edit for meaning by adding, deleting or moving words or word groups to improve content and structure

( AC E LY 1 6 9 5 )

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C U R R I C U LU M

F O U N D A T I O N T O Y E A R 2

Explore role and dramatic action in dramatic play, improvisation and process drama ( AC A D R M 0 2 7 )

Use voice, facial expression, movement and space to imagine and establish role and situation

( AC A D R M 0 2 8 )

Present drama that communicates ideas, including stories from their community, to an audience

( AC A D R M 0 2 9 )

Y E A R 3 T O 4

Explore ideas and narrative structures through roles and situations and use empathy in their own improvisations and devised drama

( AC A D R M 0 3 1 )

Shape and perform dramatic action using narrative structures and tension in devised and scripted drama, including exploration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander drama

( AC A D R M 0 3 3 )

Relevant Drama Content Descriptions https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/the-arts/

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P R E - P E R F O R M A N C E AC T I V I T I E S

Pre-performance activities building the field

M OV I N G I N S PAC E

Ask students to walk around the room filling the space. Ask them to move at different paces (for example: slowly/quickly/ as a someone who’s just arrived in a new place they’ve never visited before/as a robot).

F O R D I S C U S S I O N A N D R E S E A R C H

1. I wonder what we know about robots?

What is a robot? An electromechanical device that can react in some way to its environment. Robots are able to take autonomous decisions or actions to carry out a specific task.

http://www.robotshop.com/blog/en/how-to-make-a-robot-lesson-1-3707

Related project: Students could research robots. They may examine video clips of historical concepts or robots and future ideas. For example Rosie, the robot maid in The Jetsons vs modern designs:

http://wonderfulengineering.com/10-modern-robots-that-will-shape-our-future/

Over the next few weeks they can research, design and build their own robot from junk materials either individually or in small groups.

2. I wonder what it’s like to move to a new place?

Those children who have moved to a new place can talk about how they felt. They can share their feelings about the move itself and then how it felt in a new environment. What did they miss? What did they like about their new place?

Related picture books that could be read and discussed include:

Amy and Louis Libby Gleeson and Freya Blackwood

Clare’s Goodbye Libby Gleeson and Anna Pignataro

For older students, Shaun Tan’s graphic novel The Arrival and Libby Gleeson’s Eleanor-Elizabeth are excellent.

3. Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong?

What made you feel out of place?

D E F I N I N G C O N C E P T S T H R O U G H S T I L L I M AG E S

In small groups children make still images* (also known as frozen moments and tableaux) that depict:

• friendship versus loneliness

• belonging versus exclusion

• support versus bullying

The teacher can tap in to see how the children are feeling in these different portrayals. They can then draw these images and list other related vocabulary.

R E F L E C T I V E AC T I V I T Y

Children can draw their favourite place and annotate the special things about it.

On the way to the performance

Sketch or make a list of the different kinds of suburbs you travel through on your way to the performance. Beside each suburb add any descriptive words that come to mind. Discuss with your partner which area/suburb you feel most comfortable in? Why? (These could be collated on return to the classroom).

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P O S T P E R F O R M A N C E AC T I V I T I E S

Beyond the performance

W H AT ’ S I N A N A M E ?

Why are our names so important to us? Students could research the meanings of their names?

' W E ’ R E A L L M A D E O F P I E C E S ’

This is an important comment that Ophelia makes several times during the play. What might she mean? Students can discuss and think about our physical body parts as well as our different emotional/social attributes that make us distinctive. They can represent their different pieces on traced outlines of themselves which can be displayed around the classroom walls.

Poem:

I’m all made of hinges

I’m all made of hinges ’cause everything bends

From the top of my neck way down to my ends.

I’m hinges in front, and I’m hinges in back;

But I have to be hinges, or else I would crack!

(“Hinges” Children’s Songbook, #277)

http://www.missgiggles.com/blog/2012/09/im-all-made-of-hinges/

S P OT L I G H T O N T H E C H A R AC T E R S

The class can listen to the interviews recorded with Arielle and St John. Teacher could list some of the attributes, characteristics they highlight for their respective roles. Do you agree with their views about the characters? How did you feel about the different characters?

Children can discuss whether they think the actors embodied some of these in their performances? How did they communicate these qualities?

Choose one of the characters and walk in role around the room thinking about level, pace etc.

S C U L P T I N G * I N PA I R S :

• Decide who is A and who is B. A will be the sculptor, B the clay.

• A. will sculpt their ‘thinking clay’ as Ophelia by showing or telling them what to do.

• B. will sculpt A as Olivetti or Ophelia’s dad or Ophelia and Orson.

• Share and discuss the images created. Students can form concentric circles facing their partners.

• Over 10 beats they can transform into the other sculpture and then back again.

• All the sculptures of Ophelia can be viewed as an ‘exhibition’ and similarities and differences noted. This can be repeated with other sculptured characters.

• Students might think about a 30 second conversation these two characters might have at one of the times they are together in the play. They can consider:

• Who might start the conversation?

• How might the other respond?

• What are the different voices of the different characters?

Children can draw the character they embodied. The qualities they were embodying can be added.

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P O S T P E R F O R M A N C E AC T I V I T I E S

H OT S E AT I N G *

Small groups of 3-4 children are allocated a character (Olivetti, Ophelia, Mrs O’Leary, Dad, Otis, Orson). They brainstorm questions they would like to ask each of the characters. Choose some volunteers to be hotseated. Set up opportunities for several of these at a time to be hotseated. (NB If the children are new to this drama device the teacher may model first.)

E X P LO R I N G T H E P LOT

In small groups think about a key image in the play and make a still image*. Ask all groups to depict their images at the same time. In turn view the different still images created, alternately one from the beginning, the middle and the end of the story. The teacher might tap in* to ask how a participant is feeling at this moment in time.

In between each tableau have the audience close their eyes while the next group makes their image.

Alternatively, the image can be unfrozen for a 30-40 seconds and then refrozen.

These images can be visually recorded for assessment or for using for writing at another time. Students may then use the images or their own drawing and write about that moment in time.

Students could write in role as the character they depicted in the still image.

P O E T RY

Ophelia uses poetry to express how she is feeling. In the whole class group or in smaller groups students can take one of the poems and work on scripting it as readers’ theatre.*

R E F L E C T O N T H E P E R F O R M A N C E

• Were there any surprises in the performancesfor you?

• What was your favourite moment, why?

• Write a letter jointly or individually to thedirector Matt Edgerton and send it togecko@barkinggecko.com.au

You could tell him what you liked most about the production. You could make some suggestions or ask a question or two. Share a drawing of your favourite character or some other work you have been doing in class that is related to the play.

C O N S C I E N C E A L L E Y

• Brainstorm the two sides of this argumentOphelia should tell her dad about the robotshe has created.

• Have participants line up on each side of theroom, as one person playing Ophelia walksdown the middle.

• One side tells Ophelia why she should tell her dadabout Olivetti.

• The other side tells her why she shouldn’t.

• Students can create a plus/minus and interestingchart to represent these different views. Olderstudents may write an persuasive text takingone point of view.

C R E AT I V E R E S P O N S E AC T I V I T I E S

Choose one of the following suggested activities:

a) Give each group copies of the play to re-tell forthe class, using tableaus and narration.

b) In small groups, discuss, write and perform amoment before the play begins or after it ends.

c) Write / draw/perform an alternative ending for thestory. Older students may want to share it as a radioplay, silent scenes with narration or using puppetry.

F O R D I S C U S S I O N , R E S E A R C H , R E S P O N S E :

How might technology assist in the future?

Write/draw/sculpt/script your response to

this question.

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G LO S S A RY & R E S O U R C E S

Glossary

S T I L L I M AG E : a person or the members of a group use their bodies to make an image that captures an idea, theme, or moment in time.

S C U L P T I N G : a process convention where, either individually or as a group, the participants create a sculpture with their bodies to convey a meaning, action or idea.

H OT S E AT I N G : Class members ask questions or interview a student to learn additional information, ideas, and attitudes about their character or role.

TA P I N : The teacher freezes the action and taps individual students on the shoulder for them to reveal their inner thoughts.

R E A D E R S ’ T H E AT R E : readers read from a ‘script’ and read parts. There is no need for memorisation of scripts, costumes, or lighting is needed.

Resources

Ewing, R. and Simons, J. (2016). Beyond the Script Take 3. Drama in the English and literacy classroom. 3rd edn. Sydney: Primary English Teaching Association Australia.

Ewing, R. (ed.). (2012). The Creative Arts in the Lives of Young Children: Play, Imagination, Learning. Melbourne: ACER.

Ewing, R. & Saunders, J. (2016). The School Drama Book: Drama, Literature and Literacy in the Creative Classroom. Sydney: Currency Press.

Gibson, R. & Ewing, R. (2011). Transforming the Curriculum through the Arts. Melbourne: Palgrave Macmillan.

Miller, C. & Saxton, J. (2004). Into the Story. Language in Action through Drama. Portsmouth: Heinemann.

Miller, C. & Saxton, J. (2016). Into the Story 2: More Stories! More Drama!. University of Chicago: Intellect.

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