Devising With Integrity

Overview

This is lesson 9 of 18 in Canadian Theatre: Voices, Contexts, and Performance. Students move from studying Canadian theatrical contexts to creating original performance material through ethical research, ensemble agreement, and transparent source use. The lesson is designed for a mixed Grade 9–12 class: younger students receive structured prompts, while senior students take greater responsibility for evaluating sources and framing whose perspectives are represented.

Learning intentions

Students will:

• generate original dramatic material from researched Canadian social, regional, or artistic contexts
• select and combine movement, sound, imagery, language, character, focus, and tension to communicate meaning
• distinguish inspiration from imitation and identify cultural appropriation risks
• collaborate ethically by seeking consent, crediting sources, and considering missing perspectives
• give and apply feedback using drama-specific language

Success criteria

• I can create a short sequence that communicates a researched context without copying or stereotyping.
• I can explain which sources informed my work and how they are credited.
• I can identify whose perspective is missing and make a responsible artistic choice.
• I can contribute to an ensemble agreement and revise my work in response to feedback.

Curriculum links

• Explore and create dramatic works to express ideas, meaning, and emotions through movement, sound, imagery, and language.
• Intentionally select and combine dramatic elements, conventions, strategies, and symbols for an intended audience.
• Examine social, cultural, historical, environmental, and personal influences on drama.
• Demonstrate personal and social responsibility, including awareness of cultural appropriation, plagiarism, performer safety, and audience responsibility.
• Receive, provide, and apply constructive feedback to develop and refine dramatic work.

Lesson structure (75 minutes)

1. 0–8 min · Ethical hook and framing. Teacher opens the hook and ethical framing slides with the question, “When does research become copying?” and establishes that students will not invent ceremonies, use sacred symbols, reenact trauma without care, or present stereotypes as authentic; students silently consider the difference between being inspired by a context and speaking for a community, then share one idea with a partner.

2. 8–18 min · Object-to-image-to-action warm-up. Teacher demonstrates how an ordinary classroom object can become an abstract image and then a purposeful action without pretending the object has cultural significance; students work in pairs, select a safe classroom object, transform it into three contrasting images, and connect each image to a short action or sound.

3. 18–28 min · Research, consent, and source transparency. Teacher uses the research and source-transparency slides to model a fictional example, showing how a public source can inspire a dramatic question without reproducing its language, style, story, or identity. Distribute the cultural-safety and originality protocol and the Source Notes planner. Students record their context, source details, intended use, consent status where relevant, and one perspective that may be missing. Make clear that interview material may only be used with informed consent; students may use teacher-provided or publicly available sources instead.

4. 28–35 min · Ensemble agreements and prompt selection. Teacher forms groups of four or five and displays the devising prompts and group-process slides; each group chooses a researched Canadian social, regional, or artistic context and completes an agreement covering respectful language, roles, veto or pause procedures, source crediting, and the right not to disclose personal experience. Students assign roles in writing, movement, sound, design, performance, or facilitation, then select one prompt such as: “What changes when a place is described by an outsider and an insider?” or “How can an artistic movement influence belonging?”

5. 35–58 min · Collaborative devising and dramaturgy checks. Teacher circulates as a dramaturg, using the protocol to ask: “What is your source?” “What exactly is original here?” “Are you representing, or claiming to speak for, someone else?” “What harm could this choice cause?” and “Whose perspective is absent?” Students devise and rehearse a 2–3-minute sequence using at least three dramatic elements, such as focus, contrast, tension, mood, levels, sound, blocking, or symbolism. Each group records source credits and makes any needed change to avoid imitation, invented cultural practices, stereotypes, or careless trauma representation.

6. 58–70 min · Sharing and response. Teacher invites groups to present their sequences and uses the sharing and feedback slides to remind the audience to respond to artistic choices rather than judge identities or communities. After each performance, the audience identifies one effective dramatic choice, one clear source-transparency decision, and one question about perspective or context. Groups note feedback and choose one revision.

7. 70–75 min · Exit reflection and next step. Teacher displays the reflection and exit slides and asks students to complete the final section of the cultural-safety and originality protocol. Students submit one sentence explaining how their work avoids appropriation, name a missing perspective, and state the revision they will make before the next class.

Resources

• Slide deck covering the hook, ethical framing, research process, devising prompts, feedback, and plenary
• Cultural-safety and originality protocol worksheet
• Source Notes planner
• Teacher-prepared source cards about Canadian social, regional, and artistic contexts
• Devising prompts
• Consent forms for any interview material
• Notebooks, pencils, and classroom objects
• Open rehearsal space and optional audio-recording device

Assessment

• During devising, use the cultural-safety and originality protocol to check source transparency, consent, originality, respectful representation, ensemble participation, and purposeful use of dramatic elements.
• Listen for students using drama vocabulary such as focus, tension, mood, contrast, levels, blocking, symbolism, and audience.
• Collect the exit reflection and source notes to assess ethical reasoning, awareness of missing perspectives, and a specific plan for revision.

Differentiation

• Provide Grade 9 groups with one clearly defined source card, sentence starters, a three-part sequence structure, and a short list of approved dramatic elements; invite Grades 11–12 students to compare sources, question reliability, and lead ethical framing.
• Offer roles in writing, movement, sound, design, performance, facilitation, or documentation so students can contribute without being required to perform or disclose personal experiences.
• Provide visual prompts, modelled examples, rehearsal checklists, read-aloud instructions, and additional processing time for EAL learners and students with learning or communication needs.
• Permit students to work from public research or teacher-provided material rather than personal, family, or community experience; establish a private opt-out and a clear pause procedure for sensitive content.
• Extend confident students by requiring a deliberate shift in viewpoint, a contrasting theatrical form, or a brief explanation of how venue and intended audience affect their choices.

Extension

• Revise and submit a one-page process note explaining the research question, sources, consent decisions, original dramatic choices, feedback received, revision, and whose perspective remains missing.
• Groups may attach a source-credit list and an ethical framing statement to their performance documentation.