I always share my lesson plans with students.

I include descriptions of exercises as well as my teaching notes and any helpful variant versions.

Before I found the wonder of Notion, I’d often write out PDFs for everyone.

Week 2 - Slow Burn.pdf

The other day a student expressed gratitude that I took the time to do that and it got me thinking about how an art form changes and grows.

Because I’ve always loved that improv is open source. It’s a body of art that’s being worked on in public. Anyone whose interested can see the code, copy and paste bits, rework or repurpose whole sections.

Improv isn’t for one set of people and no one person has all the answers. We’re all crazy computer hackers - cobbling together working models and editing them on the fly.

OF COURSE, I’m going to give away my lesson plans because almost every exercise was taught to me by someone else, and mostly they got it from someone else in their turn. I don’t own the IP of improv. But I can certainly feel proud of the way I home brew the ingredients together AND how I present them to a class. Every improv teacher knows that the same exercise can be used to tease out multiple modalities. I’ve used I am a tree to teach everything from simple narrative to game theory to group mind. There’s definitely a quiet thrill in diagnosing a challenge aspect of someone’s improv and then deploying the ideal exercise to help them get unstuck. That’s the kind of thing that comes with experience and a deep affinity for the subject matter.

Just because you can wield an axe with dexterity and skill, doesn’t mean you made that axe. And even if you did make that axe, you probably didn’t come up with the concept of axes. We are all beneficiaries of the knowledge, work and wisdom that came before us.

Some final thoughts in no particular order:

1. If you do use someone else’s exercise, make sure you name check them, verbally during class or in the notes later on. Ideally, do both.
2. There are some exercises that are exempt from the “just grab it and use it” maxim. I’m thinking of things like stage combat or intimacy exercises - these are areas that need more formal training so as not to endanger your students.
3. When you do start creating your own exercises, it’s a good idea to explicitly say to students if they can take your ideas and use them. That clears up any confusion. Likewise, if someone states they don’t want you using their games, do the honourable thing and comply.
4. In general, using an exercise is fine, copying a whole syllabus game for game is pushing it too far (unless explicitly invited to do so).
5. There’ll come a time in your life as an improv teacher where you’ll start creating your own exercises - I can very clearly see my own progression from

following the syllabus exactly → writing my own plan but with established games → modifying established games → creating brand new games → creating brand new games during class to help with a challenge I’ve just identified

I’m still working on being comfortable with all these different gears.

10 PRINT "I ❤️ IMPROV!"

20 GOTO 10