Georgia Standards

 

South Carolina Standards

 

Key Vocabulary

 

Materials

• Anchor paper
• Markers
• Photo Image of the respiratory system showing the diaphragm
• Copies (or projection) of text that demonstrates characterization
• Paper and pencils

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

• Introduce Neutral Position to students. 
  • Discuss the meaning of “neutrality” as ready and not committed to movement or action in one direction or another.
• Have students stand in a large circle (alternative: have students stand at desks or tables). 
• Tell students to put their hands on their hips and look down to place their feet directly under their hips and shoulders. Tell students, “Your feet shouldn’t be too far apart or too close together; directly under the hips; hip distance apart”.
• Tell students that this is called Neutral Position. Have students repeat the term.  
• Have students drop their hands by their sides and lead them through some shoulder movements, such as forward and back, up and down, then circles to the front and the back. 
• Give the students a signal (such as a clap) to move their bodies freely, and then suddenly to return to Neutral Position. Practice several times. 
• Explain that Neutral Position is a good starting point for speaking with a clear voice.

 

Work Session

• Introduce “Breathe” to students.
  • Have them imagine there is a tire around their belly/waist area. Encourage them to fill up the entire tire, the front, the back and the sides.
• Ask students what “breathing” means. Take in answers and discuss the definition in scientific terms.
• Instruct students, “Breathe in through your nose all the way to your toes”. 
• Tell students that this is using our diaphragm. Show an image of the diaphragm to explain its role in supporting breath and the production of sound.

 

• Introduce vocal exercises to students.
  • Model saying the “Ha!” to the next person in the circle, and having them pass it on.  The “Ha!” is then passed around the circle at full volume.
  • Use fingers to count out how long it takes to completely exhale the breath. 
  • Repeat several times, trying to extend the hiss each time.
• “Pass the ‘Ha!’”:  Lead students in practicing expelling all the air out of the lungs in one exhalation saying “Ha!”.
• “Hiss it Out”:  Direct students to breathe in using their diaphragm muscle, and then exhale slowly and evenly using a hiss.  
• “Ahhhh”:  Shift from the hiss to a voiced “Ahhhh,” continuing to elongate by evenly drawing out the breath longer with each “Ahhhh”.

 

• Introduce articulation to students.
  • Explain that “articulators” are the body parts that help us to shape sound:  Lips, teeth, tongue, cheeks, jaws, the roof of the mouth, the nasal cavities, etc.
• Ask, “Does anyone know what the word “Articulation” means?  Discuss the definition of “articulation”, as well as the related words “enunciation” and “diction”.
• Ask, “What do you think ‘articulators’ are?”  
• Instruct students, “Let’s warm up our articulators by scrunching and stretching our mouths saying, ‘ee’ and ‘ooo’.”
• Have students chew on an imaginary wad of bubble gum that keeps getting bigger and bigger, thus requiring greater stretching of the articulators.
• Discuss how articulation can be very important in communicating with an audience.

 

• Introduce tongue twisters to students.
  • Toy boat, toy boat, toy boat
  • Unique New York, Unique New Yorl
  • She sells seashells by the seashore.
  • Use other tongue-twisters by preference. 
• Ask the students to repeat each line of the tongue twisters that you say. Lead the following “call and response” phrases one line at a time.

 

• Introduce the elements of vocal expression to students. 
  • Volume:  Louder/quieter
  • Pace:  Faster/slower
  • Articulation:  Clearer/mumblier
  • Pitch:  Higher/lower
• Describe and define the four main elements of vocal expression: Volume, pace, articulation and pitch.
• Direct the students to change the volume, pace, articulation and pitch with which they speak the tongue twisters.

Teacher note (South Carolina): Tell students that these elements are sometimes referred to as Craft Techniques – aspects of the craft or techniques of speaking.

• Make an anchor chart of volume, pace, articulation, and pitch.

 

• Apply concepts to a class text.
  • Tell students that slating is when you state your name and introduce what you will be reciting in a strong clear voice. 
  • For example, say, “My name is ______ and I’m going to say the first part of the Itsy Bitsy Spider”. Speak the chosen text using the concepts that students have learned.
  • Ask students what techniques they recognized.
• Apply the voice work to a particular text.  It can be a general text (familiar nursery rhyme, poem, part of a story), or something drawn specifically from a current curriculum topic (e.g., a paragraph about weather, a dialogue between two characters, roles of community helpers, etc.).  
• Model walking to the front of the room and “slating”. 
• Have individual students come to the front, slate and speak the selected text.

 

• Incorporate the concept of characterization. 
  • Practice one or two together as a class.
  • Remind students to try articulating how the character would and to speak from their diaphragm.
  • Refer to the different vocal qualities on the anchor chart as needed.
  • Facilitate a class discussion of how the students embodied the character using their voices.
• Discuss vocal expression and vocal qualities that characters take on.  
• Make an anchor chart of different characters or types of characters (e.g., monster, cowboy, kitten) and next to each write some of the vocal qualities they would have. 
• Arrange students in pairs. Assign (or allow pairs to choose) a character from the list. Students should use what they learned about vocal qualities to speak as that character.
• Allow students to perform their character for the class. 

 

Closing Reflection

• Ask students to point to their diaphragm.  
  • What is diaphragmatic breathing? 
  • Can you point to your articulators?  Who can demonstrate moving one of your articulators?  
  • How can we make different types of sounds?
  • How does an actor’s voice help to convey a character in a play or story?
• Ask students the following questions: 
• Have students draw pictures to show people speaking loudly and quietly, fast and slow, clearly and mumbly, and high and low to show what they learned.

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding throughout the lesson by observing how students use their voices as each technique is taught and how students use the techniques to embody a character.

 

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

• Students can use the elements of voice to express emotions, ideas and to embody a character.
• Students can identify different types of vocal qualities.
• Students can show what they learned about vocal qualities through drawings.

 

 

 

Differentiation

Acceleration:  Have students create their own tongue twisters. Have students practice changing volume, pace, articulation and pitch on a scale of 0-10, exploring more subtle gradations. Have students create their own characters and dialogue instead of using one from the class chart.   Remediation: Allow students to work and vocalize at their own level of comfort throughout the lesson. Introduce the tongue twisters slowly and chunk them into sections. Provide pictures for students to sort and glue onto a chart in the closing activity rather than drawing.

 

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

An exploration of tongue twisters and vocal expression with ArtsNOW Theatre Consultant Susie Spear Purcell

 

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Ideas contributed by: Jessica Rosa Espinoza and Barry Stewart Mann

Revised and copyright:  June 2024 @ ArtsNOW

 

 

 

Georgia Standards

 

South Carolina Standards

 

Key Vocabulary

 

Materials

• A preselected book, story, poem, or literary excerpt (preferably with a variety of characters)
• Paper & pencils
• Box (any shape, size or color.)

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

THIS IS NOT A BOX 

• Hold up a small box and offer an imagination challenge for the group. 
• The object of the game is to transform the box into something it is not. 
• For example, “This is not a box. This is a butterfly.” (making the box open and close to fly like a butterfly.) 
• Ask students to describe what you did.
• Reference the performance skills that actors use to transform an object including the voice, body, face, mind, descriptive language, etc. 
• Explain that each person in the circle will take a turn. 
• They will say: “This is not a box. It is a …”
• They will use their gestures, bodies, facial expressions, and voices to transform the object into something new. 
• Pass the box around the circle so that each participant can transform it. If students repeat the same actions as their peers, encourage them to act out new ideas.  Provide ideas as needed (be prepared with suggestions, in case students can’t think of new ideas.  For example, depending on the size of the box: a drum, a birthday present, a box of cereal, a frisbee, a box of popcorn at a movie, an old video camera, a hat, a hamster box, a shoe, etc.).
• The pace of the game is dependent on the needs of the group, but the teacher should keep the goals of spontaneity and creativity in mind.

 

Work Session

READ ALOUD 

• Discuss how the activity activated the entire class’s imagination: the actor conveyed an idea through their acting, and the rest of the class had to visualize or imagine that idea as they observed.  Explain that this lesson will use a similar process to explore characters in literature.
• Read the selected text aloud.  Model expressive reading by using different voices for the characters, conveying emotion through facial expressions, and employing simple gestures.  Ask students to identify and visualize the characters as they listen.  As appropriate, bring students into the reading as much as possible, providing sound effects, repeating phrases or dialogue, and doing simple movements indicated in the text. 

 

CHARACTER GROUNDING

• Ask students to imagine that they are a character from the story. 
• Model creating one of the characters.  Select a character, then use voice, body, facial expressions, and gesture to become the character, introducing him- or herself to the class.
• Group Character Creation: Choose a character for the entire class to enact.  It can be the same one that the teacher enacted or a different one.  Guide the students through a step-by-step process to depict the character from the story.
• Teacher says, “How do we stand, move, or walk as ______ (the character)?”. Use observational language to promote student choices (“I see Olivia is standing tall; Manuel has his shoulders pulled back,” etc.)  
• Encourage a variety of possibilities – individual actors can interpret the character differently. 
• Have students stay in their spots or allow them to move, as appropriate for the class and the space.

• Teacher says, “Let’s add our faces.  How would _______’s face look?  How would he/she use his/her face to express his/her feelings?  Use your eyes, eyebrows, mouth, cheeks; use the angle of your head.”  Listen to students’ ideas, and validate various choices.
• Teacher says, “How would _______’s voice sound?  Would it be high or low?  Loud or soft? Would he/she talk fast or slow?”  Listen to students’ ideas, and validate various choices.
• Teacher says, “Characters feel emotions, and actors use their bodies, facial expressions, and voices to convey characters’ emotions.”  
• Discuss different emotions (happy, sad, angry, frightened, nervous, excited, frustrated, brave, etc.).  
• Discuss the feelings that the selected character experienced at different points of the story.  
• Guide students to convey those emotions, modeling as needed.  
• Solicit a line of dialogue for each, whether drawn directly or inferred from the story.  
• Using body, facial expressions and voice, convey the emotion while speaking the line, either standing in place or taking a few steps, as appropriate.

 

HOT SEAT

• Explain that the class will use an activity called Hot Seat, in which an individual actor will play the character, and the class will have the opportunity to ask the character questions.

• Generate questions: Give a sample question or two for the character, such as: 

• How did they feel at different points in the story
• Why did they do what they did in the story 
• What did they learn from what happened
• How they feel about other characters
• What did they plan to do in the future based on the events of the story

• Remind students that ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions, and other questions that require some sort of description or explanation, are preferable to ‘who’, ‘when’, and ‘where’ questions, and other questions that only require a brief answer, or a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’. 
• For example, “Why were you so angry?” or “How did you feel when . . .?” or “What do you like about . . .?” are stronger than “Were you excited when . . .?” or “How old are you?” or “Who is your best friend?”).
• Model Hot Seat:  
• Sit in a chair in front of the class and assume the character from the story in character (with body, facial expressions, and voice).  Speak in first person as the character (“Hello, everyone, I’m __________.  Who has a question for me?”).
• Select students to ask questions from the group brainstorm, reminding or prompting as needed.  Model strong character choices, making sure to add details and emotional context while answering questions from the Hot Seat.
• Student Hot Seat Warm Up:
• Assign students to work in pairs.
• Have them decide who will go first.  Instruct that student to go into the role as the character (with body, facial expressions, and voice) and introduce themselves to their partners in character. 
• Instruct the partners to ask questions of the character.
• Have partners switch and repeat the process.
• Students in Hot Seat:
• Draft one student to walk like their character to the front of the room and sit in a chair facing the audience.
• Start the Hot Seat questioning by asking the student/character to introduce himself/herself (if needed, remind the actor to maintain their character choices). 
• Ask a question of the character.
• Give other students the chance to ask questions.

Teacher note: Be prepared, if necessary, to interject or prompt students with probing questions that get to the heart of the character and the story.

 

• Optional variations:

• The above process can be conducted using the same character throughout, or students can be given the option to become other characters in the story.  If necessary, take time to develop questions for each different character.

• After establishing the practice of Hot Seat, expand it into a panel, having several students sit in a row of chairs, assuming different characters from the story.

WRITING-IN-ROLE

• After participating in Hot Seat, ask all students to return to their seats and tell them that they will draw the character and, if appropriate, write something the character might think or say in a thought or speech bubble.  Invite students to have the character say something that a) they said in the story, b) they said in the Hot Seat activity, or c) the student could imagine the character might say or think.

 

Closing Reflection

Ask students to respond to one or more of the following reflection questions:

• How did it feel to become the character?
• What did you learn about the character from our activity?
• How did we use our bodies, voices, and facial expressions to play the character(s) and convey their feelings?

Assessments

Formative

Teacher will assess student understanding by:

• Noting student observations and inferences about the characters.
• Listening as pairs of students ask and answer questions.
• Observing as students portray the character in pairs and in the Hot Seat.

 

 

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

• Were students able to step into their role and talk, move, walk, and write from their character’s point of view? 
• Were the students able to recall and retell a key point of the story from the character’s point of view?

 

 

 

Differentiation

Accelerated:  Students in the audience take on another character from the book and speak from that character’s point of view while asking questions to the character in the Hot Seat.  Students can also pick different characters and talk to each other from their seats. They can then improvise and write a scene with the two characters.    Remedial: Teacher in the Role - The teacher becomes the character and then asks a student to copy what they are doing, so that the teacher and student are playing the same character at the same time. The teacher then invites other students to ask questions, with prompting as needed.  Teacher and student answer questions together. Then, allow students, who are willing, to take turns in the Hot Seat as the same character.

 

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Ideas contributed by:  Barry Stewart Mann

Revised and copyright:  April 2023 @ ArtsNOW