Beginning Voice and Diction by Megan Powell

Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to understand the qualities of voice and diction by performing a poem and puppet show.

Class Level: Beginning

Main Concepts: Voice, Diction, Volume, Rate, Tone, Pitch, Emotion in voice and body, effective communication

1994 National Standards: CONTENT STANDARD 1: Script writing by improvising, writing, and refining scripts based on personal experience and heritage, imagination, literature, and history.CONTENT STANDARD 2: Acting by developing, communicating, and sustaining characters in improvisations and informal or formal productions.CONTENT STANDARD 3: Designing and producing by conceptualizing and realizing artistic interpretations for informal or formal productions.

Description:Voice and Diction concepts are taught and then applied with a poem performance and then puppet show. The voice and diction unit is to be used in a beginning theatre class with ninety minute class periods.

Lesson PlansLesson 1: Intro to Voice and DictionStudents will demonstrate their ability to use projection and diction in speaking by creating a tongue twister and teaching it to the class.

Lesson 2: Rate and PitchStudents will demonstrate their ability to control their voice by performing a nursery rhyme.

Lesson 3: Tone of Voice; Introduce Poem and Memory SkillsStudents will demonstrate their ability to understand tone of voice by participating in the activities, choosing a poem, and beginning to work on it.

Lesson 4: Interpreting PoemsStudents will demonstrate their understanding of scoring a poem by beginning to score their own and working on their poem in pairs.

Lesson 5: Movement with PoemsStudents will demonstrate their ability to incorporate effective hand gestures or movement in their poems.

Lesson 6: Performing PoemsStudents will demonstrate their understanding of vocal characteristics used when speaking on stage by performing a poem.

Lesson 7: Making PuppetsStudents will demonstrate their ability to understand storyline by creating a storyline and characters and begin to make puppets that go along with their story.

Lesson 8: Performance DayStudents will demonstrate their ability to utilize voice and diction concepts by performing their puppet show.

Lesson 9: Performance Part 2 and QuizStudents will demonstrate their ability to further understand voice and diction by performing their puppet show and taking a short quiz.

1: Intro to Voice and Diction

ObjectiveStudents will demonstrate their ability to use projection and diction in speaking by creating a tongue twister and teaching it to the class.

Materials NeededThe House that Jack Built poemTongue Twisters paperMy Fair Lady (movie)DVD player and TV

Related Documents The House that Jack Built Tongue Twisters

Lesson DirectionsAnticipatory Set/HookWatch a clip from My Fair Lady. Body language can communicate many things, what can voice communicate? What are the distinct characteristics of their voices? What is different about them? What do they communicate? We need to be aware of how we are speaking. That often influences how people think of you. There are often stereotypes of “people” Valley girl, dude man surfer dude, nerd talks, proper British man, royalty often British. (Scene Ideas: The best two scenes to use would be either the opening scene between Eliza (as the flower seller) and Higgins (taking notes), and/or the lesson where Eliza "gets" the pronunciation)

InstructionSTEP 1:Transition – Ask the students what point Henry Higgins was making as he talked to Eliza.   Discuss with them that how people talk affects how they are thought of.  For example, a person using low-level speech would be thought to be an uneducated person and a person who spoke clearly and precisely would be thought to be well-mannered and educated.  Ask them what they believe people might think about them from the way they speak. STEP 2: Checking for Understanding – Relate the discussion now to this class.  Brainstorm with the students how important voice is to portraying a character.  Some answers might be that voice could demonstrate a character's background, education, social status, relationship, etc.  Teach the students that there is much more to speaking on stage than saying words, and that they will be studying specific tools they can use with their voice to convey meaning and emotion on stage. STEP 3:Group Practice- Gather the students in a circle. Play the game 3x FAST. This activity will help them with their voice and get it warmed up a little. This is a name game that even though the students know each other’s names will help emphasize the point of volume and diction. The students are in a circle and 1 student is in the middle. The student in the middle says someone in the circle name 3x really fast. That person that had their name said has to say the person in the middle’s name once. If the student in the middle says the other person’s name 3x before the other can say their name once they switch places. Continue as long as you would like.

 STEP 4:Check for Understanding- Ask the students what were important things to try and remember during this activity, voice, diction, speed, etc. As a class we are going to explore the many things that will influence and manipulate our voice!

 STEP 5:Transition- Tell them that as an actor, their voice is one of their most important tools. Memorizing Shakespeare does an actor no good if they can’t say the line and communicate to an audience. Tell the students that an important aspect of the actor’s voice is to project. This is why vocal warm ups before performance is preferred. Let them know that in this lesson they will be participating in vocal warm-ups.

STEP 6:Instruction- Ask the students what one of the most important parts of using one’s voice is. Answer: using the diaphragm. Ask if anyone can describe the diaphragm and what it does. Answer: it is a muscle under the lungs that controls our breathing. Tell them that speaking from the diaphragm will make their vocal power stronger. Have the students take in a deep breath. Tell them to make sure their stomach, not their shoulders or chest, is moving. Tell them it’s okay to feel silly; it’s kind of like being Santa Claus, but instead of belly of jelly, it’s air. Have them say “Ha!” several times to feel where the diaphragm is. Their stomach should move with each “Ha.” Have them inhale and then continue saying “Ha ha ha ha ha” until they run out of air. Have the students make a “sss” sound. Inhale make the sss sound as they exhale. Have a competition for who can go the longest. This is where you voice should come from. We want to get out of the habit of talking with our throats. In theatre that will just ruin your voice faster.

STEP 7:Group Practice- To get proper voice when speaking we are using the diaphragm but we must learn to breath properly and take breath only when necessary. Conduct the activity of learning to breath with the poem, “The house that Jack Built” Using your breath is essential to getting good volume and diction. Hand each student the poem and go through only taking breaths when indicated.

STEP 8:Modeling/Group Practice- Ask them what happens if an actor is loud, but she mumbles? What else does an actor need to do/use? Answer: Pronunciation, enunciation, diction, etc. Tell them that this is to warm up the other vocal tools, the places of articulation. Have them massage their jaw and face with their hands. Then do Lion and Mouse. For Lion, have students open their mouths wide, also open their eyes wide as if the whole face is stretching open. Then, for Mouse have them squinch their faces close and tight as if all their facial features are being pulled in to the nose. Mouth will pucker, eyes should close tight, even forehead muscles should squint close. Have them repeat opening wide and closing shut tight.

STEP 9:Modeling- Teach them the warm up: “The teeth, the lips, the tip of the tongue, the tip of the tongue, the teeth, the lips.” Make sure they enunciate, or even over enunciate each consonant.

STEP 10:Group Practice- Start doing various tongue twisters with them starting with a familiar one such as Peter Piper. Have them feel their diaphragm throughout. Continue through any number of tongue twisters. (These tongue twister have a repetition of sounds.) Go through each slowly, one fragment at a time and then repeat all together. 

STEP 11:Transition- Now that we have warmed up our voices we want to practice projection in a large space. (Hopefully we can be in the auditorium if not stand at the other end of the classroom) Move the class to the auditorium.

STEP 12:Group Practice/Instructions- Play the activity Shoot Your Voice. Split the group in half. The first group stands in a horizontal line in front of you and the other group stand in line with you. Group 1 says a phrase like, “How are you?” then they take two steps back and say it again. They repeat the phrase until they reach the back of the classroom or auditorium. Repeat with Group 2. The point of this is to get the students to send their voice to you using the diaphragm like they felt when they breathed with the book. You have to always be able to hear them and the words they are saying. They must all move together. Remind them to take a deep breath and use the diaphragm not the throat!

STEP 13:Group Practice- Now have them pick a short phrase that they can say over and over again. For example, “Wait for me!” “I can’t believe he did that” “Don’t leave me”. Same groups, this time they will all be saying different things. This time they do not have to move together, but know that they have to send their voice to the teacher and the other classmates.

STEP 14:Check for Understanding- Now have all the students line up in a single file line and one by one walk to center stage and say a line such as, “How are you?” Stand at the back of the auditorium or about half way. Have each student project that phrase, if it’s not clear or loud enough have them repeat and do it again.

STEP 15:Individual Practice- Now let’s practice your diction skills even more. Each of you in partners will be creating your own tongue twister. Have the students get with a partner and create a tongue twister at least 10 words long. Go around the auditorium and offer assistance as necessary. For example, if students are at a loss, give them a sound to work with such as “m.”

STEP 16:Performance- Have the students sit in the auditorium seats. Sit back about halfway again and have them project to you. Have each group come up and present their tongue twister for the class. Remind them they are to project and use diction when speaking. After presenting it once, have them teach it to the class by reciting one fragment at a time and the class repeating it.

STEP 17:Transition- Have the students write their names on their tongue twisters and turn them in.

AssessmentAs the students present their tongue twisters, take general notes on their projection and diction and participation in activities.

2: Rate and Pitch

ObjectiveStudents will demonstrate their ability to control their voice by performing a nursery rhyme.

Materials NeededThe game MAD GABCopies of Nursery RhymesThe Gettysburg AddressClips from Singin in the Rain and Bateman. Related Documents

Gettysburg Address Nursery Rhyme ideas

Lesson DirectionsAnticipatory Set/HookPlay the GAME MAD GAB. (This can be found in any game store) Divide the class into at least 3 teams. This game is basically reading a jumble of sounds on a card and then having your team guess what you are saying. As you can see, voice is important!!

InstructionSTEP 1:Transition- Review what we learned last time, that volume is one of the voice qualities. Diction goes hand in hand with all the qualities of the voice.

STEP 2:Modeling- Play two movie clips for the students to watch. The first one is from Singin in the Rain. Play a scene in which Leena is talking a lot. She has a very distinct high voice. Play a few different scenes that emphasize her voice. Next movie, show clips from Batman, scenes where he really lowers his voice to disguise his normal voice. Tell the students to pay attention to Leena’s and Batman’s voice and what they do with it. What makes it unique and different? Was their voice high or was it low? What kinds of things were they doing with their voice?

STEP 3:Transition- Tell the students that one way they can manipulate their voice is pitch, which is how high or low you speak. Another way we can manipulate our voice is through rate. Rate is how slow or how fast you talk and using pauses. Write those two terms on the board and define them again for the students.

STEP 4:Modeling- Ask for two girl volunteers or two girls you know will give you what you are looking for. Tell the girls that they will pretend that they have not seen each other in a really long time and that you get to greet each other now. Show us that reaction. If all goes as planned the girls will greet each other and automatically their voices will increase in pitch and they will talk really fast. After the students have done this ask the class what just happened. What did you hear in the girl’s voices? What emotions were displayed? Fast and high pitch talking often communicates excitement and happiness. Now ask for two male volunteers or once again predetermined men. Have them do the same thing and watch for their reactions to each other. 

A steadily increasing speed creates feeling of tension and excitement while slow deliberate delivery of important passages impresses the hearer with their significance. Light, comic, happy and lyric passages are usually spoken rapidly. Calm, serene, reverent, tragic and awesome passages are delivered more slowly.

STEP 5:Group Practice- Tell the class that they will count from 1 to 10. They will practice changing the pitch of their voice. One will be in their normal voice and as they count up their voice will get higher and higher. Then they will start at 10 in their high voice and as they count down their voice will get lower and lower. Ask students who thinks they have the highest voice? The lowest voice? Have them demonstrate that for you. Have a few volunteers. This way they are able to count as a group first and feel safe and then they can try it out on their own. 

STEP 6:Modeling- Write this sentence on the board. “The queen my Lord is dead.” Ask the students to write down the sentence as well. They will practice changing the rate of their voice. How many places can you put a pause? Can you say it faster or slower? What does it do to the meaning of the sentence? Have students read aloud the sentence with a pause in a different spot and ask the students if they hear the difference in the meaning when a pause is put somewhere else. 

STEP 7:Group practice- Hand out copies of the Gettysburg address. You will go through part of this together as a class. Have all the students read the first paragraph out loud together in a monotone voice with no emotion. Now ask the class to vary the speech to make it more interesting. How can they vary the pitch of their voice? How can they vary the rate of their voice? Call on students to read sentences or paragraphs making it more powerful. Coach them through sections if they need it, helping them understand how changing the pitch or rate of their voice can communicate more effectively. What power and meaning can they convey?

STEP 8:Individual Practice- Tell the students that they will get to practice the skills learned today by practicing on nursery rhymes. Hand out nursery rhymes to each student. Have them read through it a few times and experiment with different pitches and rate. Are they happy sad, confused, caring, king, frustrated, bored, agitated, Shakespearean? Give them a few examples of emotions ideas to help them think of different pitches and rates that would match.

STEP 9:Performance- Have each student come up and read through their nursery rhyme. After each one talk about what the student did to convey meaning? Did they use pauses effectively? Did they use a different rate and pitch other than their own? AssessmentStudents will be assessed by their participation in activities and their nursery rhymes. 

3: Tone of Voice; Introduce Poem and Memory Skills

ObjectiveStudents will demonstrate their ability to understand tone of voice by participating in the activities, choosing a poem, and beginning to work on it.

Materials NeededTongue TwistersCopies of PoemsMemory Power PointGame “Moods” or slips of papers with emotions and sentences on them

Related Documents Poem ideas Vocal Emotions and Lines

Lesson DirectionsAnticipatory Set/HookLead the class through some vocal warm-ups. Tongue Twisters, Count 1-10 again from high to low. Just to get their voice warmed up.

InstructionSTEP 1:Transition – Explain to the students how important warming up the voice and articulators is to speaking for stage.  Encourage them to warm up before every rehearsal and performance so that their vocal chords are strong and ready to be worked.

STEP 2:Group Work – Focus the class in on the first characteristic – tone or quality.  In order to demonstrate how important vocal tone is, divide the class up into two or three smaller groups and play the board game "Moods".  If that game is unavailable, you can conduct an activity where each student chooses a slip of paper that has an emotion printed on it and a slip of paper that has a random sentence printed on it.  Each student takes a turn in front of the rest of the class saying their sentence using only the emotion written on the slip of paper.

STEP 3:Check for Understanding- After you play the game, quiet the class down and explain that you have important information for them that you found out over the weekend. The play that we have been rehearsing we have lost the rights and so now we can’t do it anymore. Basically we have to quit rehearsing now! Wait for reactions and then say, “Who believed me?” What if I said it in a different tone? Would you believe then? Probably not. The tone that you use and your body language tell a lot about a person/character and how you are portrayed.

STEP 4:Instruction – Conduct a discussion with the class about how they can learn to manipulate the tone and quality of their voice to further convey emotion and personality with their character.  Talk with the students about people that they know. What kind of tone or quality did those people show?  What vocal mannerisms did they convey?  How can actors show character types through their voices? What tone

does your mom use if you come home late for curfew? What would she say if you got all A’s on your report card?

STEP 5:Check for Understanding- Review all aspects of the voice that we have learned, volume, diction, rate, pitch and tone. Ask specifics about each aspect. Ask for examples of each as well.

STEP 6:Modeling – Gather the class around you as in story-time.  Choose any poem or excerpt of reading from a novel (I like using Edgar Allen Poe).  Read the excerpt with as much variety in vocal characteristics to hold the interest of the class.  After the reading, ask the class what you did that made listening to the excerpt interesting to hear.  Explain to the students that they will be performing short poems to demonstrate their own vocal characteristics.

STEP 7:Transition - Before you pass out the poems, tell the students that you are aware that some of them may be really nervous to present a poem to the class and are worried about memorization. You are going to help them memorize and share some techniques with them. Have the students go back to their seats.

STEP 8:Instruction- Conduct a short lecture on Memory and how to memorize for their poems. Go over the requirements once again with the students. (On Power Point)

STEP 9:Individual Practice- Pass out copies of the poems.  For reference, see the supplements to this lesson. Write down and/or post the guidelines of the Poem Performance assignment.  Students should focus on memorization, breath control, and variety of vocal characteristics. Have them choose their poem before the end of class and rewrite their poem onto a separate sheet of paper. Make sure you check off with them that they have chosen their poem and have written it down before they leave class.

STEP 10:Group practice- If there is time have the students begin to memorize their poem. Tell the class that next time we will be working on how to interpret the poems. You need to understand what you are saying and you need to communicate that effectively. We will be going over how to score a script as well.

AssessmentStudents can be assessed by participation in the activities and choosing and writing down their poem.

4: Interpreting Poems

ObjectiveStudents will demonstrate their understanding of scoring a poem by beginning to score their own and working on their poem in pairs.

Materials Needed3 syllable words and situationssample scoring sheetpoem analysis sheet Related Documents

Poem vocal analysis sheet Three syllable word examples Improv examples Scoring a script 

Lesson DirectionsAnticipatory Set/Hook As each student enters the room, hand them a slip of paper that has a three-syllable word printed on it.  Instruct them that they can only speak that particular word until you tell them otherwise.  Listen for regular speech and remind students who talk normal to use only their three-syllable word.  They can use body language and pantomime as they speak their one word.  You can ask the class questions like "Who did something exciting this weekend?  Tell us about it." (but only allow the three-syllable word to be used in their descriptions). InstructionSTEP 1Modeling- Tell the students that they will be doing a short improvisational scene with a partner. They are only allowed to communicate using the three syllable word given to them. Demonstrate what that will look like. Choose a word to say and pretend you are a teacher teaching to a class that is being disruptive. Say the word many times in this example so they get the point that they have to say the word more than once to get their point across and convey emotion. STEP 2:Guided Practice – Call the students into partners and give each partnership a simple setting/situation that they must improvise speaking only their three-syllable word.  Have every member of the class participate in a short improvisation. STEP 3:Individual Practice- Have each partnership do their improvisation for the class. Tell the students to get out a piece of paper and for each partnership that goes up have them write down the relationship and what was going on in the scene. STEP 3Transition – Let the ban on regular talking be lifted.  Discuss with the class how it felt to be tied to only one word in speaking.  Ask questions about their improvisations such as: What were you thinking as you tried to communicate with only one word?  How else can you communicate?  What emotions could you use to convey how you felt?  How important are exact words in speech?

 STEP 4:Checking for Understanding – Ask a student to review the four vocal characteristics that they were taught previously. Make sure that students understand the difference between volume and projection and your other elements of the voice.  Tie in the three-syllable activity to the characteristics by pointing out instances where students communicated effectively simply by altering the volume of their word or tone etc.  Also be sure that students understand that it is difficult to use only one vocal characteristic at a time; rather they all work together to appropriately portray the characters on stage. STEP 5: Instruction – Have the students get out the copy of the poem that they did yesterday. Write down and/or post the guidelines of the Poem Performance assignment.  Students should focus on memorization, breath control, and variety of vocal characteristics. Students do not need to focus on blocking, movement, gestures, etc. It will be an element of their performance but the focus is on the voice. STEP 6:Modeling – To help the students apply their vocal characteristics to the poem, it is helpful to understand and interpret the poem.  Pass out the Poem Vocal Sheet.  Go over what the worksheet is asking each student to interpret (you can use the reading excerpt you just performed as a way to check for their understanding for the vocal sheet), and brainstorm with the students how interpreting their poem will show them which vocal characteristics to apply where.  Demonstrate the concept of "scoring" a script (making notations through symbols and markings where vocal changes and characteristics occur).  Encourage choosing and scoring a "high point" and a "low point" in the poem, scoring a place to have a fast rate and a slow rate, and noting changes in tone and volume.  You can create a "key" to the scoring as a class. STEP 7:Modeling- Model this scoring for the class. Pass out the scoring sheet. You will use this as the key to scoring their poems. Write down the first sentence of the monologue (the scoring sheet) on the board. Have students also re-write this sentence. Have them write scoring down to make the sentence more interesting and to give it meaning. (a pause here, an emphasis, speed up speech, slow down)Have the students score their own poems. They need to have at least two of all the points. STEP 8:Individual Practice- Have the students begin to memorize their poems. They will be performing them in two class periods. Remind the students to use their time wisely and that we will be working up to the bell. Assessment Students can be assessed by their participation and copies of their scored poems and the poem analysis sheet. Also by working on their poems.

5: Movement with Poems

ObjectiveStudents will demonstrate their ability to incorporate effective hand gestures or movement in their poems.

Materials NeededPartner Poem Evaluation Sheet Lesson DirectionsAnticipatory Set/HookGather the class into a circle. Tell the students that we are going to work more on our poems today and that we need to focus and work hard. We will be doing a focus game. Conduct the activity COUNTING. This is a focus game. Everyone forms a tight circle. As a group we will count to 20 (or however many are in the class) each person will say a number from 1 to 20. If you say a number at the same time as someone else the counting starts over at 1. Try to say a number before someone else says it. Go as long as you feel necessary, sometimes it takes a while to play this game to realize how to listen and focus in the group. InstructionSTEP 1:Transition- Now that we have been focusing let’s try to use and focus that energy into our body now. Stand straight up and begin to move your right hand. As large or as small as you please. Stop. Now Ask them to do a cross with your left hand. Stop. Ask the students to do both at the same time. This may be difficult or easy for others. Let them know it’s hard to complete, so they don’t feel like a failure. in a circle, now try to move your left hand in a cross. Now with your right foot draw a circle. Keep going for a while. Stop. Now ask them to write their name with their right hand as their right foot is doing circles. Once again this is very challenging. You can also try left foot making circles and right hand writing the name. STEP 2:Discussion- Lead a short discussion on what that experience was like for the students. Was this difficult or easy for you? Why? Was it natural? We need to get used to moving our body and recognizing what it can do. Let’s explore that further in the next exercise. Get used to your body moving STEP 3:Guided Practice- Tell the students that we are going to visit our childhood and play a game of Simon Says. If some don’t know how to play explain the game to them. Guide the students first through some simple Simon Says, like touch your nose, touch your feet, etc. Then have them do things like cross the room, touch the wall, say the first line of their poem. Let the students explore the whole classroom and all ranges of movement. This will help them get warmed up and loose for the rest of the class. STEP 4:Group Practice- Conduct the activity Columbian Hypnosis. Tell the students to focus on moving ways you have not before and remember what we just did in the previous activity. Internalize what is means to be moved by someone else and focus on those physical reactions. Instructions: Played in pairs. One player holds her open hand, fingers upward, about 2-3 inches from her partner`s face. She then starts moving her hand about slowly, while her partner tries to keep his face at

exactly the same distance from her hand, like her hand is pulling and pushing his face about. Switch sides and partners after a couple of minutes. Have the new partner think how they can move differently than they were moved. This is really also an exercise for the hypnotized, as she needs to ensure that her partner is able to follow her. Tell each partner to create trust by not allowing your partner to run into others. Trust each other that you won’t run into anything. No vocal communication with each other, use just your hands. STEP 5:Transition- After the exercise is over lead a short discussion on what their experience was like. Try to lead the conversation to blocking in a scene/monologue. What happened?  What did you feel?  Was there a difference between being the leader and being the follower? How difficult was it to have someone be in control of your movement? How easy was it to move someone else's body? What could have made the whole activity easier and more natural? What ideas or suggestions do they have for natural blocking movement in the scene? How important is natural, motivated blocking to a performance? What have students done in the past for performances to create natural blocking?

STEP 6:Modeling- Give good and bad examples of movement in poems. It can either enhance or hinder your performance. You want it to add to your performance. Don’t want it to be distracting in any way.   Now that we are adding movements don’t let your vocal qualities sail out the door, but use your movement to enhance what you are saying. If you pause, should your body pause as well? Should you pace? Think about what you are saying that can be enhanced by gestures and movement. I am not saying that you have to pace around, but if you are using hand gestures or moving make it specific and real. How you talk and your body should match each other, they go hand in hand. STEP 7:Individual Practice- Allow some time for each student to practice their poems out loud. They should be off book by now. Make sure they are practicing out loud, it makes a huge difference to talk out loud. Also have them practice adding movement to their scene.

STEP 8:Partner Practice- Hand out partner evaluations to each student. Go over the evaluation form with them and make sure they understand what they will be doing for the rest of class. Get into partners and perform for your partner. Your partner will fill out the evaluation sheet and discuss with you for a few minutes. Now switch performers. Repeat the evaluation process. Now switch partners again. Perform your poem and have your partner help you. Saying that sounds great doesn’t do anything. You should have two evaluation filled out to hand back.

STEP 9:Transition- Remind students that we will be performing the poems next class period. Remind the students of how you want them to introduce their poem, name, author, title, then present poem. When done say thank you. AssessmentStudents can be assessed by their participation in class activities, by filling out evaluation forms for their peers, and by practicing their poems without their scripts.

6: Performing Poems

ObjectiveStudents will demonstrate their understanding of vocal characteristics used when speaking on stage by performing a poem.

Materials NeededPoem Performance Evaluation sheets Lesson DirectionsAnticipatory Set/Hook Conduct a warm-up with the students.  It could be any vocal warm-up previously taught them or a completely new one you have discovered. Ideas: the Hokey Pokey; Big Bigger, Biggest; Energy Ball; Whiz Bong. InstructionSTEP 1:Transition – Collect the completed Poem Analysis Sheets, and their marked up poems.  Give the students a short time to review their poems aloud individually.

STEP 2:Performance – Have the students perform their poems, using your guidelines and properly introducing the poem with performer's name, poem title, and poet.  While they are performing you can take notes on a simple evaluation sheet.  You could also just jot down a few notes on the back of their Poem Vocal Sheets instead.

STEP 3:Instruction- Once everyone has finished their poem performances. Go up to the front of the class and talk to them about things they did well and things that you are excited to see progress in the final project of the Unit.

STEP 4:Transition- If there is time start talking about their final project. Hand out the final project assignment that describes the Puppet Show. Have a student read aloud each section of the assignment so that everyone understands what is going on. Ask if the students have any questions. Tell them they can pick their own groups as long as they will be able to work and stay focused. Remind the students they will perform their shows before the term ends so they only have a few class periods to work on it. Assessment Students can be assessed on their Poem Vocal Sheets and poem performance.

7: Making Puppets

ObjectiveStudents will demonstrate their ability to understand storyline by creating a storyline and characters and begin to make puppets that go along with their story.

Materials NeededPuppet Show assignmentLittle Mermaid song CDLittle Mermaid Lyrics2 Socks for each studentsupplies to make puppets (eyes, ribbon, felt, paper, etc) Related Documents

Ursula song lyrics

Lesson DirectionsAnticipatory Set/HookListen to a song from the Broadway show, Little Mermaid, "I Want the Good Times Back." Hand the students the lyrics to that song. Have them listen and pay attention to what Ursula does with her voice. Have them circle or underline the parts in the lyrics in which Ursula does something with her voice.  Tell the students to pay attention to the vocal qualities that she displays. Look at the possibilities that you can do with your voice. You will need to create two distinct voices in the puppet show. InstructionSTEP 1:Transition- Hand out the final project assignment that describes the Puppet Show. Have a student read aloud each section of the assignment so that everyone understands what is going on. Ask if the students have any questions. Assign students partners so that they can work with different people. Remind the students they will perform their shows before the term ends so they only have a few class periods to work on it.

STEP 2:Modeling- Tell the students that they are going to be writing scripts. Draw two rectangles in “portrait” (not “landscape”) on the board. Draw in lines on one as if it were a book. Draw in lines in the other one as if it were a script. Show the students that a script has a lot more blank space, so one page isn’t all that much to write. Remind the students that is only has to be about 2-3 min long. So that is only about 3 pages of dialogue and action.

STEP 3:Instruction- Review plot structure with them that they learned in their Pantomime Unit. Have them tell you what makes a good story. 

STEP 4:Modeling- Have students brainstorm ways to get ideas for a script. For example, true stories, fairytales, fractured fairytales, myths, character journey, etc. Ask students what one important thing to do in their puppet show. Demonstrate by performing a quick, boring show with your hands where the two characters only talk. Answer: action and characters. Ask students how they can add action to their scripts. Talk about characters and the voices that you need to give them.

STEP 5:Group Practice- Give the students time to get into partnerships and work on their scripts. Tell students once again that they need two distinct characters, and to watch their vocals. Since this is a vocal unit, your main grade will be in the characters and voices that you create for them. You will need to create an interesting plot, but focus heavily on the voices you create. They have to be two different voices.

STEP 6:Group Practice- To get the students to stay focused remind when time is almost up to finish their scripts. When you can determine a good stopping point have them put their scripts done and get ready to make puppets! Give them time to create puppets from the characters that they created.

STEP 7:Rehearsal Time- After they create their puppets they need to start experimenting with their voices and their script. Have them start rehearsing their script with their puppets. AssessmentStudents can be assessed by their written down script, and creation of their two puppets. Author's NotesA "Puppet Show Assignment" sheet was not submitted.  The rubric from lesson 8 could be used or used as a guide to creating one.

8: Performance Day

ObjectiveStudents will demonstrate their ability to utilize voice and diction concepts by performing their puppet show.

Materials Neededpuppet show rubricpuppet show stage

Related Documents Puppet Show Rubric

Lesson DirectionsAnticipatory Set/HookAsk the students what the world’s worst puppet show would look like? What could go wrong? How can we avoid these things? Have students give examples of what can go wrong. Have students give examples of what a good performance would look like. InstructionSTEP 1:Group Practice- Have students get into their groups and start rehearsing their puppet show. Set up an area for a stage and have the students each take turns rehearsing on the stage.

STEP 2:Individual practice- Walk around to each group and make sure they are using different voices for each character.

STEP 3:Performance- Have the students sign up for a puppet performances slot on the board.(This may carry on to the next class period.) AssessmentStudents can be assessed by rehearsing and performing their puppet show.

9: Performance Part 2 and Quiz

ObjectiveStudents will demonstrate their ability to further understand voice and diction by performing their puppet show and taking a short quiz.

Materials NeededVoice and Diction QuizPuppet show rubricPuppet show stage Related Documents

Voice and Diction quiz

Lesson DirectionsAnticipatory Set/HookHand students their puppets and once again set up for the puppet show. InstructionSTEP 1:Performance- Continue with the order of performances until everyone has performed.

STEP 2:Instruction- After students have completed their performances thank them once again for a great progress and encourage them to keep using their voice to communicate effectively because we will be using your voice more and move throughout the semester.

STEP 3:Quiz- Review briefly for the quiz and then hand out the quiz.

STEP 4:Closing- Collect the quizzes and begin to grade them. AssessmentPerformance Rubric and Quizzes