Scenarios: beginning, middle (incidents), end
http://artswork.asu.edu/arts/students/tb/03_05_scenarios.htm

In working to create drama, friendly to the current classroom climate, we have used small groups working together as a means to make certain that each child has the opportunity to contribute to the development of the drama story/scenario and that the scenarios include roles of significance for each child in the group. Occasionally it may be your role to steer the material away from sensitive/inappropriate areas for the group and the school. We have found the students accept our input as a member of the group. We are all working to create a drama that we will be proud of.

Vocabulary: scenario, brainstorm, original, character, setting/environment, problem/plot, conflict/tension, sequence, conclusion/solution; cooperate, compromise, consensus

Use:

1. To help students learn about the structure of drama and literature: characters, setting, problem/tension, sequence, conclusion/solution
2. To prepare students to write scenarios for improvisations based on curriculum content
3. To prepare students to write dialogues or full plays 

Materials:

1. A scenario form for each student. Find at the web site. 

Standards 

Theatre

• Choose characters, setting and problem that will help an audience understand the story the group wants to tell
• Select and organize a playable sequence of events that includes a beginning, middle and conclusion
• Work with a small group to reach a consensus about the scenario
• At a more advanced level, carefully choose characters whose motivations and personality contribute to the problem and the solution

Language Arts

• Develop vocabulary related to story and drama structure
• When appropriate, do research on a topic for the drama, choosing salient information for notes and summarizing the reading
• Brainstorm the characters, setting and problem for a scenario
• Develop the drama scenario with a sequence that is clear with appropriate characters and setting

Your Role:

1. Do an activity to motivate interest in doing a drama about the selected topic. We often use an improvisation to develop interest and start the students thinking about possible characters, setting and problem. For instance, with an Immigration Unit, we like to use a scene from the novel, Letters from Rifka (Scolastic Books), that has the soldiers enter the house looking for the Jewish boy to take him back and execute him as an example to other Jewish youth who refuse to serve in the Russian army. With 2^nd graders we've told and played out Stone Soup before helping the students develop a scenario about a group that learns to share.
2. With older students who will research their topic, it is important to demonstrate how to find the important ideas in their reading to summarize, and then record the ideas for their notes to share with their group.
3. At the web site, read the scenario text with the children.
4. Review the elements of a story: character, setting, plot/problem, relating these elements to those of a drama. List the elements on the board, or overhead.
5. Model developing a scenario. Agree with the students on the theme, or the general topic and circumstances of the story.
6. Brainstorm the characters, setting and problem. Then develop the sequence of events. For example:
   1. Who might be in the story? What is their problem?
   2. Where might this take place? Let's think about the sequence of events. What will the characters be doing when the audience first sees them? Will this let the audience know who they are and what they want? If not, what else might the characters do?What happens next? How are they going to solve their problem and end the drama?
   3. It is possible to start the brainstorming with characters, or with the problem. The setting usually becomes obvious as the story develops.
7. Give the students the Scenario Form from the web site. We have followed several procedures for the writing.
   1. With kindergarten, 1^st and 2^nd graders, we brainstorm the scenario, writing characters, setting, problem on the board as we go. Then, over night, we decide how best to put the children's idea into a story. The next day we tell the students their story (check out storytelling for hints about this art). Then we cast and play the scenes of the story.
   2. With 3^rd graders and up, particularly with those who are just starting to do drama, we have each student write a scenario. (When the students use their research as they write their scenarios.) We collect the scenarios, group them by gneral topic - similar story, setting or theme - then the next day, put the students in these groups. The students then, working in small groups, decide on a character for each. We also model how to reach 'consensus' by being willing to compromise about characters, setting and events for the final story. (See our note about this process in the Theatre Artists Work Together below) We are also certain to travel from group to group to guide their decision making process and their writing.
   3. With more experienced students, we divide the students into groups of four to six, being certain that there is a good writer in each group. The group is given a scenario form, and they are instructed to make and record their decisions about character, setting, problem, sequence. We start each of these sessions by reviewing how groups can work together by brainstorming, getting ideas from everyone, and reaching consensus for the scenario.
8. Choose several scenarios that include the elements needed to make an interesting drama. Show them to the class, perhaps on the overhead?? Critique the scenarios making certain that the students use the appropriate vocabulary. See the questions we suggest in Criticism: Creating the Play http://artswork.asu.edu/arts/students/tb/08_00_critisim.htm
9. Be certain the students enact their dramas. See the section on improvisation at http://artswork.asu.edu/arts/students/tb/05_02_improvexample.htm.

Time:

1. Introduction 15-20 minutes
2. Writing 15-20 minutes
3. Critique 10 minutes

Assessment:

1. Did the students understand the concepts of character, setting, problem, sequence and did they contribute appropriate ideas to the brainstorming session?
2. Did they accept everyone's ideas?
3. In the groups, did the students demonstrate the ability to listen to one another and to compromise to reach consensus?
4. If the students were doing research for the drama content, were they able to select, summarize and record appropriate ideas from the reading (not just copy the material verbatim). Were they able to share this information with the class or their group?
5. Did the resulting scenarios have appropriate, interesting characters and stories with a problem that found an ending and that can be played out by the students?
6. Will they be able to relate their characters and the problem to real life experiences?