Tableaux/Still Image

In a tableaux, students make still images with their bodies to represent a scene. A tableaux can be used to quickly establish a scene that involves a large number of characters. Because there is no movement, a tableaux is easier to manage than a whole-group improvisation – yet can easily lead into extended drama activities. It can be used to explore a particular moment in a story/production or to replicate a photograph or artwork for deeper analysis. This strategy can be used in many different subject areas. One way a teacher might use tableaux is to ask students to strike a silent, motionless pose to show how they feel about certain characters or events in a story that the class has read. Teachers can also modify this activity for older students by having students create a tableaux in small groups of what they thought was the most important event in a chapter book that they are studying as a class. This strategy requires students to be conscious of body language, facial expressions and proximity between characters to understand the situation or scene. It also enables students that are less likely to verbally communicate their thoughts in front of a class to create meaning and tell a story.  

Here is a great video that provides greater detail of what a tableaux is and how teachers can implement this strategy in the classroom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlxw9qflKxk