Georgia Standards

 

South Carolina Standards

 

Key Vocabulary

 

Materials

• A text (poem, autobiography, biography and/or informational text) for each historical female character that you choose
• 5 hula hoops
• Pencils 
• “I Am” Poem Template - Fierce Figurative Female

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

HISTORICAL CHARACTER CONVERSATION & IMAGES

• What is a historical figure?
• Show images of historical figures familiar to your students and content.
  • (i.e., Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Amelia Earhart, Susan B. Anthony, King Tut, The Wright Brothers, Alexander Hamilton, William Shakespeare, etc.)

 

HISTORICAL CHARACTER SPEECH

• Sing the song, “Happy birthday” with students. 
• Ask students to choose a famous historical character.
• Have them create a statue of their character using their body. Students should use body shapes and frozen poses to create their statues.
  • Encourage students to use different levels and gestures to embody their character.
• Have students stand at an imaginary podium and give a speech as that character using the lyrics to the “Happy Birthday” song. Emphasize that students are focusing on embodying the character.
  • Encourage students to:
    • Stay in character as they present the song as the historical character. 
    • Walk up to and away from the podium as the character would walk and move. 
    • Add physical gestures while making the speech.
    • Add vocal expression using pitch and pacing.

 

Work Session

DEFINING FIERCE

• Discuss with students what it means to be fierce. Fierce is…
  • Something that is of exceptional quality, strong, bold, surprising and unforgettable 
  • A word used to describe something that is out of the box, non-traditional, and dynamic
  • Passionate, joyful, and positive! 
  • To demand excellence
• Ask students: Do you know anyone who is fierce? Are you fierce about something in your life or world? 

 

INTRODUCING FIERCE FEMALE HISTORICAL FIGURES

• Choose an autobiography, biography, informational text or poem for students to learn about each of the female historical figures you chose.
• For the purpose of this lesson, we will explore:
  • Harriet Tubman
  • Ruby Bridges
  • Malala Yousafzai
• Have students read a particular type of text related to each figure so they become familiar with the lives and works of the characters (see “Additional Resources” for further information on these women). 

 

COMPARE AND CONTRAST USING TABLEAU

• Set three hula hoops on the floor. 
• Each hula hoop will represent one of the three characters.
• Ask questions about the characters. What is special about each character?
  • Have one student create a statue with their body of that attribute/detail/trait and stand in that character’s hula hoop.
  • Once you get several statues in each hula hoop, ask students what similarities there are between the three characters. 
  • Place two more hula hoops in front of the three on the floor. These will be your similarities (female, courageous, fighter, etc.)
  • Have the similar elements move to the three front hula hoops. 

 

EXPLORE CONSCIENCE

• Ask students: What does conscience mean?
  • Show an image of an angel and devil on either shoulder of a figure.

• Tell students that conscience is knowledge of right and wrong and a feeling one should do what is right.
• For example, if a child feels uncomfortable watching his friend pick on another child or speak disrespectfully to his/her parent/caregiver, that is conscience. The child knows it is not right to treat someone else disrespectfully, and he/she feels the emotions within himself telling him that it's wrong.

• Ask students: Does your inner voice/consciousness ever talk to you?
  • Turn and talk about the time you heard your inner voice/consciousness.

 

CONSCIENCE ALLEY

• Conscience Alley is a technique for exploring any kind of dilemma faced by a character and providing an opportunity to analyze a decisive moment in greater detail.
• Identify a student to be one of the historical females.
• Identify a decision that the character had to make to be fierce.
  • Harriet Tubman - “Should I help enslaved people escape to freedom through the Underground Railroad?”
  • Ruby Bridges -  “Should I fight to be allowed to attend a white school?”
  • Malala - “Should I stand up for the rights of girls to go to school?”
• Explore both sides of the argument.
  • For - Reasons why the character should fight.
    • Identify people that might have been on this side of the argument/issue. Ask them what reasons they would have given.
    • Ask six students to line up to represent the people/reasons “for” fighting. 
  • Against - Reasons why the character should not fight.
    • Identify people that might have been on this side of the argument/issue. Ask them what reasons they would have given.
    • Ask six students to line up to represent the people/reasons “against” fighting.
    • Have both lines face each other so that they are parallel to create an alley/tunnel in the middle. 
• Have the character stand at the beginning of the alley.
  • Have the character state the question/decision that they face. 
  • The character then takes one step into the alley.
    • The first person on the “for” side says their statement
    • The first person on the “against” side says their statement. 
  • The character keeps taking one step at a time into the alley and hearing both arguments at each step.
  • When the character reaches the end of the alley, they stop and state their decision and why.

Helpful Coaching:

• Encourage students to:
  • Stay “in character” using their voice and body to portray the character
  • Use vocal expression to convince the character
  • Speak from their heart with passion
  • Convince the character that they believe what they are saying

REVIEW ADJECTIVES AND DESCRIPTIVE LANGUAGE

• Review adjectives and descriptive language.
• As a group, generate examples of adjectives describing each of the characters.

 

CHARACTER GROUNDING

• Assign students a character.
  • Strategize so that students can partner up with a different character. 
• Ask students to create a statute of their character.
  • Tell students to use body shapes, energy, frozen pose, and active pose.
• Count “1, 2, 3, action” and tell students to bring the statue to life with a voice using pitch, pace, volume, accent, and texture.
• Ask a question and have all students answer in character at the same time.
  • Use the questions on the “I Am” poem template to guide you. 
  • This is a brainstorm on their feet before sitting and writing.
  • This allows students to more fully embody the character.

“I AM” POEM BRAINSTORM

• Have students complete the “I Am” Poem template. 
• Next, have students stand up and simultaneously freeze in their statues.
• Finally, have students bring their characters “to life” and speak the answers to the poem template aloud at the same time.

 

“I AM” POEM PARTNER SHARE

• Teacher should demonstrate reading a character “I Am” poem with a student who is playing a different character. 
• The first character says the first line; the second character says the second line. The characters then alternate speaking lines. 
• Have students practice in pairs around the room.

“I AM” POEM PRESENTATION 

• Ask pairs of students to share their partner “I Am” poems.
• Encourage projection, articulation, and vocal expression. 
• Discuss the similarities and differences between the two characters when listening to the partner poems. 

 

Closing Reflection

Reflect with students on the following questions:

• What does it take to be fierce? 
• Were these females fierce? Why do you think that? 
• Did they make changes that help females today? How?
• How can you be fierce and make a change in your world?
• What did you notice about yourself in this process? Were you able to empathize with your character?
• Name one thing that you are proud of yourself for doing in this process.

 

Assessments

Formative

Teacher will assess students by: 

• Circulating the room while students are completing their “I Am” poem template to assess their knowledge of the character and ability to express their knowledge through writing. 
• Assessing students’ ability to use their voice and body to portray characters. Encourage those who are having difficulty.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

• Students can articulate important details about the characters and the historical events attached to each character.
• Students can empathize with someone from a different time period and speak from their point of view.
• Students can embody a historical figure using their bodies, voices, and hearts.
• Students can write a poem from a historical figure’s point of view and present it using theatrical techniques.
• Students can collaborate to create a theatrical piece.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Accelerated:  Have students add movement/blocking to poem presentations.  Have students create a scene and include facts about the time period and historical events encountered by the characters. Students can also incorporate dialogue. Remedial:  Simplify the poem template.  Have students speak the answers and the poem; do not require them to write the poem.  Work together as a class to create a group “I Am” Poem for each character. Have students use the class poems when they partner.

 

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

“I Am” Poem Template - Fierce Figurative Female Happy Birthday song: Happy Birthday Song Harriet Tubman: The Story of Harriet Tubman: An Inspiring Biography for Young Readers (biography-young readers) Go Free or Die: A Story about Harriet Tubman (biography-older readers) Harriet Tubman by Eloise Greenfield (Poetry) Ruby Bridges: The Story of Ruby Bridges (biography) Ruby Bridges Goes to School: My True Story (autobiography) Ruby Bridges' Brave Step by Latorial Faison (poetry) Malala Yousafzai: Malala Yousafzai: Warrior with Words (biography - great illustrations - young readers) Malala: My Story of Standing Up for Girls' Rights (autobiography- young readers) I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World (autobiography - older readers) The Story of Malala Yousafzai: An Inspiring Biography for Young Readers (biography - young readers) For the Right to Learn: Malala Yousafzai's Story Malala by Andy Posner (poetry) Suffrage Movement:  Suffrage Sisters: The Fight for Liberty (Sudan B Anthony, Elizabeth Coady Stanton, Alice Paul)

 

*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: Susie Spear Purcell. Updated by: Katy Betts.

Revised and copyright:  July 2024 @ ArtsNOW

 

 

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.
• 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”. 
• 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.
• 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.
• “Pass the ‘Ha!’”:  Lead students in practicing expelling all the air out of the lungs in one exhalation saying “Ha!”.
• 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.
• “Hiss it Out”:  Direct students to breathe in using their diaphragm muscle, and then exhale slowly and evenly using a hiss.  
• Use fingers to count out how long it takes to completely exhale the breath. 
• Repeat several times, trying to extend the hiss each time.
• “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.
• 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?”  
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Toy boat, toy boat, toy boat
• Unique New York, Unique New Yorl
• She sells seashells by the seashore.
• Use other tongue-twisters by preference. 

 

• Introduce the elements of vocal expression to students. 
• 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.
• Volume:  Louder/quieter
• Pace:  Faster/slower
• Articulation:  Clearer/mumblier
• Pitch:  Higher/lower

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.
• 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”. 
• 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.
• Have individual students come to the front, slate and speak the selected text.

 

• Incorporate the concept of characterization. 
• 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. 
• Practice one or two together as a class.
• 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.
• 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.
• Allow students to perform their character for the class. 
• Facilitate a class discussion of how the students embodied the character using their voices.

 

Closing Reflection

• Ask students to point to their diaphragm.  
• Ask students the following questions: 
• 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?
• 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