Objective: Students will demonstrate critical thinking, problem solving, and communication skills by exploring and experimenting with various memorization techniques.
Informal. Participate in class activities to help with memorization
Informal. Share with a partner a short piece memorized during class. Discuss what technique you used and if it worked or not.
Who has ever had to memorize something before? Who enjoys memorizing things? Why?
Who does not like to memorize things? Why do you dislike memorizing? What would make memorization projects more enjoyable for you? Those who like memorizing, what can you share with the students that may not enjoy it as much?
Key Learning Activity(20 min)
Randomly hand outthe collection of practice poems. Tell students to find the other 3 or 4 people with the same selection as you. This will be your group.
Read the poem once first. In your groups, talk about the meaning behind the piece, the order of events that occur, things that may be happening that aren’t written, any impressions or thoughts you had while you read. Write down 2 things you discussed.
Read through the piece again. How would you go about memorizing this? What challenges might you face with this particular piece? What about this piece do you think will be easy to memorize? Write down one thing talked about here. (Write questions on board while sharing)
Discussion(5 min)
Memorization is hard. But there are many great techniques out there to help us! What are some methods or tools you have used before to help you memorize something?
Hand outMemorization Helps page. Share these suggestions with the students after they are through with their ideas.
Memorization Helps(5-10 min)
Walk while you recite, take your mind off it
Hand-write multiple copies
Make silly acting choices
Storyboard: draw out big moments in order of occurrence
Repetitive Reading or Listening
Record & Follow: Record yourself reading your story on your phone then speak (don’t read!) along with the recording as you play it back.
Visualization: Image in your mind moving through the events of the monologue
Memorizer.me : step by step memorization online
Practice(10 min)
Read through your piece one more time on your own, then select 2 or 3 different techniques discussed that you like and think could work for you to help you memorize this piece. (Allow approx. 10 minutes for individual memorization practice. Go around to groups and students to check in. Offer additional help.)
Pair-Share(5 min)
Share with a partner which 2-3 memorization techniques you used. Talk about the pros and cons of each. Which ones will you use tonight as you work to memorize your first monologue?
Practice Activity (can be cut for time)
Invite students to get into pairs. Do not tell them what you are making. Give careful and slow instructions to teach the students to make cootie catchers. Slowly teach each fold in the process step by step, making sure everyone is following along.
Tell the students to write one of each of these four activities on each of the inside tabs:
“perform the first three sentences in your monologue as fast as possible,”
“perform the last three sentences in your monologue as slow as possible,”
“recite your full monologue with a different accent,”
“pretend your monologue is a poem- recite it with a cadence or rhythm.”
Invite the older partner to pick a random number and begin working on their monologues by following the cootie catcher promptings.
Walk around and assist students with their monologue work. Provide individual assistance.
Have the students switch partners and begin working on straight memorization. One student will work on remembering and reciting their monologue while the other student checks it word for word.
Wrap-Up(5 min)
What techniques worked best for you? What techniques did not suit your needs at all? Why?
Did you discover a new method that really helped you with memorizing?
Remember these techniques and use them when you work on memorizing your monologues.
Conclusion(5 min)
Good work today practicing different techniques to help you memorize your first monologue. Keep working on perfecting that memorization. You need to have your first monologue completely memorized but next class.
Homework: Have your first monologue memorized by next class
