Students will demonstrate their beginning of the mastery of the Shakespearean language techniques of vocal levels, punctuation, word coloring, and rhythm by performing their monologues memorized.
Materials Needed:
– computer or paper to take individualized notes
Warm-up: (5 minutes)
Have students stand up in a circle. Start with vocal levels—have students count up 1 to 10 matching the vocal volume with the number they are saying. Punctuation—Shout out a punctuation mark and have students gut reaction respond pahysically and vocally without using real words to the stated punctuation. Word coloring—Say a word—pain. Color it soft, high, and slow.
Previews: (Remainder of students)
Remind students that their upmost respect is expected while other students are performing. Participation points will immediately be docked off their grade if they are on their phones or talking during performances. All you have to do in order to get full points is perform memorized. If you bring up your script, or call for lines more than 3 times, you will receive a 50% on your preview—the same grade as if you come in before school memorized later this week to perform for me. Remember, the more memorized you are, the better your acting will be, therefore the more notes I can give you to help before your final performance.
While students are performing, take notes on which areas of the final rubric the student needs to work on the most.
Instruction: (10 minutes)
Give general notes based off of whatever the weakest area was for the class overall. Even if this is not mentioned in your specific feedback, it’s something everyone can improve on. Depending on the class, it may be nice to redo one of the group activities from the previous lessons to solidify concepts.
Instruction: (3 minutes)
Next time your final performance is going to include one extra element from your preview. Before you slate, you are going to give us a 60 second synopsis of your play or the context of this particular scene so that we know what’s going on before you start your piece. I WILL cut you off at 60 seconds, so plan exactly what you need to say to help your audience understand your monologue. This isn’t just for us, but for you, to make sure you know your play and your character.
Practice: (remainder of class)
Students have the rest of class to practice monologues either individually or in small groups. They can also take the time to ask questions about notes they got on their feedback.
