Students will demonstrate their ability to find different tactics for their characters by making a list of tactics they could use in their own monologues.
Students will enter the classroom as a clip of the Lion King is playing. We will watch this clip for about five minutes. When it is over, ask the class, “What was Rafiki trying to do?” Guide their answers toward teaching Simba or getting Simba to go back. “How did he do it?” Accept their more physical answers like hitting him or showing him his dad in the water, etc. We will slowly expand and go deeper with the idea of tactics, so these answers are a great beginning.
Teaching Presentation:
• Explain what objectives and tactics are. The objective for your monologue is the thing that your character wants the most and is trying to get. He or she achieves this through tactics. • In (play we’ve already covered as a class), what does the main character want? What is his objective? How does he get it? What tactics did he use to accomplish what he wanted? • Pass out tactics list. “See how different all of these are?” Most tactics aren’t physical actions. They can be, but you want to use a wide range of tactics to get your objective. • Invite everyone to get up and on their feet. Get with a partner. You want something from this partner. Don’t tell me what it is. Don’t tell them what it is. Just think about it. What do you want from your partner? Now I’m going to call out a few tactics from this list. Be bold! Just go for it! As strange as each tactic sounds, use that tactic to get what you want from your partner! Yell out random tactics. Go around and give feedback and assistance where people need it. • Ask for understanding. Do you understand now what objectives and tactics are? Does anyone still have any questions? Have everyone get back in their seats. • Now we are going to work on your own monologues. Think about your character. What is his or her objective? Now, we are going to have each of you come up to the front of the class and begin performing your monologue. I might stop you or have you start over, so don’t worry if you don’t perform the whole thing. Keep your objective in mind. I will call out random tactics. You must use these to try to get what you want. The rest of the class will also be giving tactics. If you want to give a tactic, please raise your hand. Some of these might be difficult! This is just to make you think about the different ways your character could work with others. Some tactics will not work at all. Don’t worry about it! This is a learning experience! o Bewitch, lecture, frighten, free, evade, prod, reprimand, quash, remedy, etc. • Use the tactic list to help push each student along. Use the students’ tactics as well! Look for those students that aren’t very engaged. Ask them personally if they would like to contribute. If a student is too shy or doesn’t really understand, help them along! Give them a tactic to call out and let them go! Get everyone involved and let everyone get up and present their monologues for the class. • When finished, have them sit down and start to write out a list of tactics that their characters would use. Assign them to rehearse these tactics tonight as homework for at least twenty minutes. We will do a little check on this tomorrow. • Close the class period by asking the students what objectives and tactics are. Make sure they truly understand. How can using different tactics be helpful with your characters? Why is this important? When you feel like they understand very well, dismiss them!
