Lesson 9: Script Format

"Teach the children, so it will not be necessary to teach the adults." -Abraham Lincoln

As I thought of a script example that the students would easily understand and be able to relate it to real life, I recalled that many of my students love sports. I thought it would be fun to feature a video from a sporting event featuring announcement dialogue of some kind so that my students could be excited about writing scripts. As I prepared the lesson, I remembered one particular day in class when some of my students, after learning that I am a BYU student, had talked about how funny they think the Scott Sterling video is. I decided to feature the video in my lesson as an example of narration, and the kids ate it up! They were so happy, and they remembered the dialogue really well and were able to quote it when I asked for examples of narration later.

I wanted my students to have more opportunities to act, so instead of just showing examples of scripts, I had volunteers read the examples out loud. I had been focusing so much on making sure they had time to write their scripts that I had been giving them less time to act. I think in the future, instead of doing half-acting half-writing days- which often seem to run out of time for one or the other activity- I will create strictly acting days and strictly writing days. I feel that more can get done with less multitasking, especially with fourth graders.

Once again, I was incredibly grateful to have Miss Richins as a resource. She helped me break down the steps of writing dialogue for the students and provided fantastic examples that really helped the students to understand how to get from point A to point B, instead of jumping to step C.

The students were very excited to write their own dialogue in the Individual Practice step! They wrote one line that a narrator could say to set up the scene, followed by a line that a character in the scene would say. The students then read what they had written for each other. It's a little hard to hear, but a video can be viewed here (I couldn't upload it directly to the blog because my laptop is out of memory. Sorry!). I've also included photos of the students looking for opportunities for dialogue in their stories to turn them into plays!

After working through this lesson, the students made the transition to turning their stories into plays MUCH easier. And to think this lesson wasn't even originally in the plan! I am amazed at how much I have learned about teaching from this experience, as well as about my own abilities and preferences.

***********************************************************************************************

Casey Greenwood

BYU Arts Bridge

4th Grade

UNIT: Playwriting

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

LESSON 8: Script Format

LESSON OBJECTIVE: Students will demonstrate their ability to write dialogue by writing their stories in play format.

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.

Standard 2

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

MATERIALS NEEDED: Projector and screen, script examples, images to project, computer and appropriate connecting cables

*********************************************************************************

Hook: Stand in a circle. Invite each student to share one line that he or she has planned for his or her story. Ask questions such as: How is dialogue helpful in a story? Answers may include: Helps the audience to understand what’s happening, helps the audience to understand the characters and what they are thinking, helps lead to the next part of the story, etc.

Step 1: Transition

Show the “Scott Sterling” video from Studio C. Ask the students questions such as: In a play, do you think there could be someone announcing what happens? How would this be helpful? Answers may include: Because it would take forever for characters to say it through dialogue, sometimes things happen really fast and it would be hard to understand what’s going on, sometimes the characters can’t or shouldn’t speak, etc. Introduce the children to the concept of a narrator by watching a clip from Into the Woods.

Step 2: Model

On the projector, show students examples of play scripts, one of which having a narrator. Ask questions such as: What do you notice about this script? What do you remember that we talked about last time about scripts? Answers may include writing the character’s name before what they say, every time a character speaks it is called a “line,” etc.

Step 3: Individual Practice

Project images onto a screen featuring a variety of situations, and have the students write a line that a character could say based on that situation. For example, one photo could feature a mean-looking teacher entering a classroom. The kids could write: “TEACHER: CHILDREN! Open your books to page eight hundred and ninety-two.” Etc. Invite each student to read out loud what he or she wrote for the whole class or for the students at their table.

Step 4: Checking for Understanding

Have the students search for moments within their stories that they could insert lines to begin dialogue. Have them write notes in their stories before writing it on a new sheet of paper.

Step 5: Assessment

Have the students pull out a new sheet of paper. Now that they have an idea of what they want the characters to say in their play, have them write it in script format.

*********************************************************************************

LESSON SUPPLEMENTS:

“Scott Sterling” video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F9jXYOH2c0

Into the Woods video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqwzUVsihs8 (00:00-00:52)

Script examples:

Christmas With the Aliens by Nikki Lewis