Unit Overview

Created in Partnership with:

This Ontario Ministry of Education resource was prepared by teachers, for teachers in partnership with the Aga Khan Museum. Curriculum resources were inspired by the Museum’s Permanent Collection. Object information and images courtesy of the Aga Khan Museum.

Abstract

This unit has been created for a Grade 9 or 10 Drama class. The unit could be situated in the middle to latter part of the course so that students can apply the knowledge, skills and techniques they have learned throughout the course and connect them with their own stories and experiences in a meaningful way. The purpose of this unit is threefold: for students to: 1) engage in self-inquiry and object-based work to tell stories about objects of personal cultural significance from multiple perspectives and lens, 2) to do guided inquiry which explores intersections and interrelationships found in the shapes, patterns and designs of Islamic art and architecture and to create individual and collaborative movement and dance pieces to represent these connections, and 3) to do independent and collaborative inquiry work using objects and materials found in the main galleries and online digital collections of the Aga Khan museum in order to use both drama and movement strategies to tell the stories behind the creators and the creation of the objects themselves and about their social and cultural significance.

For more information on how to support students in inquiry learning, see BLM #1 - Engaging students in Inquiry-based Learning.

For a brief introduction to Islam and Muslim Peoples, see BLM #2 - A Brief Introduction to Islam and Muslim Peoples

For an introduction to the Aga Khan Museum and Collection, see BLM #3 - Introduction to his Highness the Aga Khan and the Aga Khan Museum

Drama, Grade 9 ADA 1O: Overall Expectations

A. Creating and Presenting

  • A1.  The Creative Process: use the creative process and a variety of sources and forms, both individually and collaboratively, to design and develop drama works;
  • A2.  Elements and Conventions: use the elements and conventions of drama effectively in creating individual and ensemble drama works, including works based on a variety of sources;
  • A3.  Presentation Techniques and Technologies: use a variety of presentation techniques and technological tools to enhance the impact of drama works and communicate for specific audiences and purposes.
Specific Expectations
  • A1.  The Creative Process: A1.1, A 1.2
  • A2.  Elements and Conventions: A2.1
  • A3.  Presentation Techniques and Technologies: A3.1, A3.2

B.  Reflecting, Responding, and Analysing

  • B1.  The Critical Analysis Process: use the critical analysis process to reflect on and evaluate their own and others’ drama works and activities;
  • B2.  Drama and Society: demonstrate an understanding of how societies present and past use or have used drama, and of how creating and viewing drama can benefit individuals, groups, and communities;
  • B3.  Connections Beyond the Classroom: identify knowledge and skills they have acquired through drama activities and ways in which they can apply this learning in personal, social, and career contexts.
Specific Expectations
  • B1.  The Critical Analysis Process: B1.1.
  • B2.  Drama and Society: B2.4.
  • B3.  Connections Beyond the Classroom: B3.1, B3.2

C. Foundations

  • C1. Concepts and Terminology: demonstrate an understanding of the nature and functions of drama forms, elements, conventions, and techniques, including the correct terminology for the various components;
  • C2. Contexts and Influences: demonstrate an understanding of the origins and development of drama and theatre arts and their influence on past and present societies;
  • C3. Responsible Practices: demonstrate an understanding of safe, ethical, and responsible personal and interpersonal practices in drama activities.

Specific Expectations

  • C1.  Concepts and Terminology: C1.1, C1.2
  • C2.  Contexts and Influences: C.2.1
  • C3.  Responsible Practices: C3.2, C3.3

Drama, Grade 10 ADA2O: Overall Expectations

  • A.  Creating and Presenting
  • A1.  The Creative Process: use the creative process and a variety of sources and forms, both individually and collaboratively, to design and develop drama works;
  • A2.  Elements and Conventions: use the elements and conventions of drama effectively in creating individual and ensemble drama works, including works based on a variety of sources;
  • A3.  Presentation Techniques and Technologies: use a variety of presentation techniques and technological tools to enhance the impact of drama works and communicate for specific audiences and purposes.
Specific Expectations
  • A1.  The Creative Process: A1.1, A1.2.
  • A2.  Elements and Conventions: A2.1, A2.2.
  • A3.  Presentation Techniques and Technologies: A3.1, A3.2.

B.  Reflecting, Responding, and Analysing

  • B1.  The Critical Analysis Process: use the critical analysis process to reflect on and evaluate their own and others’ drama works and activities;
  • B2.  Drama and Society: demonstrate an understanding of how societies present and past use or have used drama, and of how creating and viewing drama can benefit individuals, groups, and communities;
  • B3.  Connections Beyond the Classroom: identify knowledge and skills they have acquired through drama activities and ways in which they can apply this learning in personal, social, and career contexts.
Specific Expectations
  • B1.  The Critical Analysis Process: B1.1.
  • B2.  Drama and Society: B2.2, B2.4
  • B3.  Connections Beyond the Classroom: B3.1, B3.2

C.  Foundations

  • C1.  Concepts and Terminology: demonstrate an understanding of the nature and functions of drama forms, elements, conventions, and techniques, including the correct terminology for the various components
  • C2.  Contexts and Influences: demonstrate an understanding of the origins and development of drama and theatre arts and their influence on past and present societies;
  • C3.  Responsible Practices: demonstrate an understanding of safe, ethical, and responsible personal and interpersonal practices in drama activities.
  • Specific Expectations
  • C1.  Concepts and Terminology: C1.1, C1.2
  • C2.  Contexts and Influences: C2.1.
  • C3.  Responsible Practices: C3.1, C3.2, C3.3  

Unit ‘Big Questions’ and Sub-Questions

Questions Relating to Multiple Perspectives in creating object-based work in Drama

  • What do artifacts tell us about people or peoples?
  • What other stories do artifacts tell?
  • What might individual artifacts combine to create in a museum?
  • How can the stories behind the artifacts change depending on who has had possession of the object at a particular time?
  • What elements of the artifact are most useful in helping us to tell stories about them?
  • Considering that objects can tell or reveal different stories at different time periods, considering the contexts in which they are created for the purposes for which they are used, how many stories can be told from different perspectives about particular objects?

Questions Relating to Islamic art, architecture and design

  • What is Islamic art? In what forms is it produced? For what purposes is it used?
  • What are the historical origins of the use of geometric shapes and patterns used in Islamic art and architecture?
  • Why are these shapes and patterns used in Islamic art (for example in mosaics, arabesques, tiles, on the folios of the Qur’an)? Students will develop a deeper understanding of the symbolic use of shapes, patterns and designs in Islamic art and architecture throughout the lesson.
  • What can be learned from an exploration of intersections and interrelationships in these patterns which is representative of the ways in which over time artistic knowledge was transmitted between different cultures and different parts of the Islamic world?
  • How does Islamic art reflect the cultural, social, political and economic contexts in which it was produced and/or used?

Questions about the Aga Khan Museum and collections

  • Who is His Highness the Aga Khan?
  • What is the purpose of the Aga Khan Museum?
  • What kinds of works of art and other objects are part of its permanent, digital and temporary galleries?

Questions about inquiry, storytelling and the use of drama and dance strategies to tell the stories of artifacts from their creation to their acquisition as part of the Aga Khan Museum collection

  • How can we select and develop useful inquiry-based questions that will help us uncover the backstories behind the creators, users of the object (in its varied ways) and how the object came to be part of the Aga Khan collection?
  • What questions do I need to generate and figure out the answers to missing questions that I have relating to my chosen object?
  • What resource materials (digital, museum-based etc) can help to answer questions connected to the independent/collaborative inquiry work?
  • How can a combination of drama and/or dance and movements strategies be useful to describe/tell the journey of how artifacts in the Aga Khan collection were created, used, travelled and arrived in Toronto as part of the collection?
  • Which drama and/or dance strategies are most useful in creating a performance-based piece using a combination of storytelling and movement-based pieces in different formats?

Assessment and Evaluation

Lesson 1

Class Discussion, Success Criteria, Teacher/Peer Feedback, Teacher Checklist.

Lesson 2

Graphic Organizers, Class Discussion, Teacher Observation, Teacher/Peer Feedback, Journal Writing, performance

Assessment Tools: BLM #12 - Flocking the Shapes Performance Rubric

Lesson 3

Success Criteria, Class Discussion, Side Coaching, Teacher and Peer Feedback, Peer and Self Evaluation.

Assessment Tools:  BLM #15 - Performance Rubric  

Assessment for Learning

  • Circulate during writing and discussion
  • Help to organize learning using graphic organizers
  • Check in with students, giving them descriptive feedback and offering prompting questions
  • Encourage them to consider previous learning
  • Co-construct success criteria and post using anchor charts

Assessment as Learning

  • Continually prompt students to reflect on their work, orally and in writing
  • Encourage them to observe, reflect on and offer feedback to their peers
  • Ask students to describe their intentions as artists and to reflect on and justify their choices

Assessment of Learning

  • Co-constructed criteria communicated through rubrics used as tools to evaluate performances and other creative tasks.