Lesson 8: Dialogue

"True teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross; then, having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create their own." -Nikos Kazantzakis

I tried to keep this lesson on the shorter side so that I could give the students plenty of time to write their dialogue. However, the lesson ended up taking much more time than I had planned. Although the students grasped the concept and significance of dialogue, they were having trouble understanding script format and finding dialogue opportunities within their stories. This was a major wake-up call for me, and it's during times like these that I am so grateful for the many wonderful teachers throughout my life that have been willing to stray from the lesson plan and stick to a topic before moving on to ensure that every child understands. I now see that it isn't easy, and it can very much throw things off. I had expected to be finished with dialogue after one lesson, but I could now see that my students would need at least one more day of strictly dialogue focus. I had expected my students to make the transition to writing dialogue so easily. I had failed to realize that with fourth graders, I can't assume that they will connect the dots and fill in the blanks on their own - they need to be guided every step of the way until they can do it on their own. I was very grateful that I had enough time in my schedule that I was able to include one more lesson day. I am also very grateful for Miss Richins and her patience and being willing to adjust her schedule so that I could come for an additional lesson.

As the students wrote their dialogue for the step 4 activity, they were very anxious to read their scenes for each other. However, I hadn't included it in my lesson plan and, since we were running short on time, I figured it was more important that they work on their own stories than perform for each other. I felt bad about disappointing them, but sometimes priorities have to be met. I learned once again how quickly an hour goes by and that I should always be prepared for when things go wrong.

Miss Richins gave me some wonderful pointers of exactly how to go about breaking things down so that the students can understand the concept. She is an invaluable resource to me, and I will never forget the things that I've learned just from observing her in the classroom!

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Casey Greenwood

BYU Arts Bridge

4^th Grade

UNIT: Playwriting

UNIT OBJECTIVE: Students will demonstrate their ability to write effective stories by writing a play inspired by a stimulus.

LESSON 8: Dialogue

LESSON OBJECTIVE: Students will demonstrate their ability to write dialogue by writing dialogue for their stories.

THEATRE ARTS CORE STANDARDS:

Standard 1

Playmaking: The student will plan and improvise plays based on personal experience and heritage, imagination, literature, and history for informal and formal theatre.

Objective 3

Describe and explain plot structure in terms of beginning, middle, climax, and end.

Standard 2

Acting: A student will cooperate, imagine and assume roles, explore personal preferences and meanings, and interact in classroom dramatizations.

Standard 4

Analyzing and Constructing Meanings: The student will explain personal preferences and construct meanings by responding to improvised and scripted scenes and to theatre, film, television, and other electronic media productions.

Objective 1

Analyze and explain how the wants and needs of characters in a dramatic presentation are similar to and different from one’s own wants and needs in real life.

MATERIALS NEEDED: Whiteboard, markers, sentence papers, scene situation papers

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Hook: Give each table of students a strip of paper with a sentence on it. When you point at the table, have the students at that table say that sentence out loud in unison. Point at different tables to somewhat make sense of what is being said, but leave room to have fun and once in awhile throw in a sentence that doesn’t make sense in context. Examples of sentences can be found in the lesson supplements.

Step 1: Transition

Ask the students questions such as: Why did this dialogue not work sometimes? Answers may include: It sounded funny, it didn’t make sense sometimes, etc. When did this dialogue work? Answers may include: When responses were natural.

Step 2: Checking for Understanding

Have the students select two storybooks from the bookshelf and write down one example of dialogue from each book.

Step 3: Model

Get examples of dialogue that the students found in books. Write some of them on the white board in the format that would be seen in a play.

Step 4: Group Practice

Provide each table with a scene situation. In their tables, have the students write dialogue that could be featured in the scene (encourage them to keep it 5 lines or under). Have them consider what each character is feeling and what he/she wants as they write the dialogue. Have them read it out loud to one other team.

Step 5: Assessment

Have the students consider the following questions as they write dialogue for their stories: What is the character feeling? What does the character want? What could the character say to try to get what he/she wants?

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LESSON SUPPLEMENTS

Write the following on strips of paper for the hook activity:

“Did you go to basketball practice?”

“No. I’m sick today.”

“I’m sorry. Do you need anything?”

“A sandwich would be nice.”

“PB&J?”

“Sure, sounds good. Thanks!”

Write the following on strips of paper for scene scenarios:

A brother and sister fight over the last cookie.

Three astronauts are stranded on the moon.

The power goes out at a birthday party—leaving the guests in the dark.

Four friends play a game of volleyball until the ball starts to deflate.

Two sisters get lost while taking their dog for a walk.

A boy is walking home from school when he hears an old lady calling for help.