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Stories through Monologues

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Writer: Delia Baskerville

Year: 13 Level: 8 Duration: 13 lessons

Rationale:

This unit of work is designed to develop empathy by sharing stories, and realising a role through writing and performing a monologue. This focal point aims to provide opportunities for the cooperative creation of monologues where students' prior knowledge is legitimised, and shared with peers and the teacher; where students are encouraged to communicate purposefully and be contributors accountable to the learning community outcome in a positive, participatory and supportive environment. For this reason (and to cultivate the values embedded in the school curriculum) the focus of this unit is on providing opportunities to generate, refine, and express ideas, and communicate histories, cultures and identities within the context of storytelling through monologues.

Values

(Teachers please insert the values your school have agreed to and identified).

Key Competencies

Relating to others: This meaning making process provides opportunities for students to purposefully communicate ideas as a class, in small groups and in pairs. Accordingly, students are supported to: work responsibly; meet deadlines; synthesise cognitive, sensory and emotive forms of thinking as they use their imagination to explore ideas; and are able to reflect on who we are and what we want to be remembered for. This learning context provides students with opportunities to recognise and value differences whilst also affirming commonalities.

Achievement Objectives: Level 8

The students will:

Developing Practical Knowledge in Drama (PK)

Students will research, analyse, and integrate elements, techniques, conventions, and technologies in dramatic forms for specific purposes.

Developing Ideas (DI)

Students will research, critically evaluate and refine ideas to create original drama work.

Keywords

monologues, depression years, time capsule, and relating to others

Summative Assessment:

There are two summative assessment opportunities in this group:Firstly teacher observation of class: individual student participation, and group contributions in the performance of Time capsule. This unit of work provides the rich teaching and learning required to assess AS 90609 (3.3). The activity time capsule supports internal assessment for AS 90609 (3.3).Secondly, a portfolio that reflects on class activities, student participation in relation to the skills, knowledge, understanding and attitudes gained and justifies and explains their individual / group decisions through the process.

Resources/ Materials:

For this unit the teacher supplies:

  1. monologues
  2. pictures, poems, stories, sayings, music and newspaper articles that depict the 1930's and the 21st century.
  3. costumes, props and make up needed to

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this unit students will be able to relate to others to: LO1: understand the social and culture aspects of the 1930's depression in NZ LO2: use monologue as a dramatic form to reveal character and point of view LO3: research, devise, refine, reflect on and perform a monologue to the class.

Elements Role time focus space action tension Techniques Voicemovementgesture Conventions Hot seatingchorus of movement
Teaching Learning Sequence Key Questions to Guide Formative Assessment

Lesson One:

Learning Intention (LI):

We are learning to relate to others when investigating, analysing and discussing the features of an effective monologue

Success Criteria (SC):

We will know this when we identify the effective structure of a monologue.

Prior knowledge: Questions are asked to ascertain what we bring to this unit of work.

Reading for understanding: As a class we read a monologue and look for exemplars to illustrate the effective structure of a monologue using the structural questions.

 

 

 

Character voice: We discuss the character and the traits that are revealed through this monologue.

 

Side coach character imaginings: In pairs (with eyes closed) imagine this character in a different situation. Observe this imagined environment. (N.B. The teacher may side coach Stanislavski questions at this point). Think about something that happened to this character in this place. Open eyes and think about a story to tell about your character.

Suggested approaches: In groups of four we share stories about this character in relation to - embarrassing moments, a special event in their childhood, their worst vacation or a hospital stay.
Group reflection: Have we interacted effectively in our group by actively listening, accepting others points of view, negotiating and sharing ideas?
Personal reflection: What do I need to change about my behaviour in a group to relate well to others effectively?
Discussion: What were the struggles and successes of sharing a story about our characters?

Closure: Pair share: What do we need to consider when effectively writing a monologue?
Reflective circle: What have you learnt about the structure of an effective monologue?

Prior knowledge exemplar question:
What is a monologue?
How is an effective monologue structured?

Structural questions: Beginning:
What initially grabs the audience's attention?
Where does the story start?
What entices the audience to find out what happens next?
What lead to this?
Why is this character talking to us? Why now?

Middle:
What is different about this story that we have not heard before?
What dilemma is the character facing?
What tension is developing because of this dilemma?
What crisis is this character facing?

End:
How does this character conclude their story?
 Who is this person? Where are they from? What are their hopes, dreams, and disappointments? How does this character view the world?

Stanislavski questions:
Who am I?
What time is it? Where am I?
What surrounds me?
What are the given circumstances?
What are my relationships?
What is my objective?
What is the action?

 How do we structure an effective monologue?

 

Journal: What positive interactions with others supported my learning today?

Research: Begin to gather information, ideas, stories, pictures and poems that reflect living in the depression years in New Zealand and bring to next class.

Hand in research (photos, newspaper articles, stories, poems etc) about our town in New Zealand today.

Lesson Two:

Learning Intention (LI):
We are learning to participate and contribute to devising
and performing an issue as a political message.
Success criteria (SC):
We will know this when we present, respond to and made critical judgements about group performances.

Prior knowledge: Questions are asked to recap on yesterday's lesson.

Wall of fame: We walk and read the poems, stories and look at the pictures that are on the walls in our space whilst listening to the lyrics of a NZ 1930's NZ song.

We read out loud beginning with Iris's monologue (Wednesday to Come), stories of the depression years , stories from the book The Sugar Bag Years and other stories retrieved by class members. We discuss how these stories might be used to enhance Iris's monologue to add to our understanding of the depression years.

As a class we decide what additions are required, and discuss how we might write this important information.

Think, pair share: In pairs, choose A & B. A hot seats B to develop Iris's character.

Share stories: In pairs we take turns to each share a story regarding Iris's: struggles; special toy she had as a child; her regrets; attitude towards these hard times; a disaster she has witnessed; and what she misses because of financial hardship.

Selection process: From the ideas generated from stories brainstorm the content to add to Iris's monologue that tells more of the hard times she has had.

Structuring a new monologue: We begin to structure monologues based on our understanding of the depression years.

Conferencing: Discuss ideas with another pair and receive feedback regarding the effectiveness of illustrating the hard times Iris is experiencing.

Closure: Think Pair Share: A question is posed:
What are your thoughts about structuring an authentic monologue?

 

Recap questions:
How do we structure an effective monologue?
What do we need to know about our character to create an authentic voice for a monologue?

 

 

 

 

What information could be added to this monologue to further describe the hardships of this time?

 

 What are the struggles and successes of telling a story about a character?
How has my partner supported me in learning about Iris's struggles?
How have I supported my partner to learn about Iris's struggles?

 

 

Journal Entry: How have other's ideas supported me in developing my understanding of structuring an authentic monologue? How have I contributed to other's understanding of structuring an authentic monologue?

What skills, attitudes and understandings do I need to develop in order to relate more effectively to others during the learning process?

Journal research: Continue to gather information, ideas, sayings, pictures that reflect living in this day and age in our town in New Zealand, New Zealand.

Hand in research (photos, newspaper articles, stories, poems etc) about our town in New Zealand today.

Lesson Three:

LI: We are learning to rehearse and perform.
 SC:We will know this when we have performed, responded to and made critical judgements of group performances.

Flying in five strategy: A picture of the depression years is placed on the OHP. We record our response to this in journals. We discuss any further insights gained through reflecting on this picture.

Wall of fame: We re-walk the depression year's wall of fame.

Brainstorm: In pairs, choose A & B, to invent a character.

Hot seating: A hot seats B to develop the character.
Discuss what may have happened to this character's status because of the depression.

Share stories: In pairs we take turns to each share a story regarding this character's: struggles; special toy they had as a child; regrets; attitude towards these hard times; a disaster they have witnessed; and what they have lost and miss because of financial hardship.

Selection process: From the ideas generated from stories brainstorm the content of a monologue.

Writing a monologue: Begin to plan the structure of a monologue based on your character in the depression.

Class Discussion:What authentic thoughts and feelings do you think people experienced during the depression years?

Closure: Pair share:What similarities and differences do we have with characters of the depression years?

What have you noticed about the depression from studying this picture?

What new things have you noticed about the depression years?

 

What have you learned about your character
through using the convention hot seating?

 

By sharing stories what added information do you have about your character?
How has your partner informed your thinking?
In working together what new ideas have you developed?

 

 

Is your character authentic for this time of the depression?
How have you revealed your character's point of view?
What authentic character thoughts and feelings have you revealed?

 

Journal research: Continue to gather information, ideas, sayings, pictures that reflect living in this day and age in our town in New Zealand, New Zealand.

Hand in research (photos, newspaper articles, stories, poems etc) about our town in New Zealand today.

Lesson Four:

LI: We are learning to refine ideas to write a monologue.
SC: We will know this when we have reflected, provided feedback on other's work and received feedback on our monologues.
Recap:As a class discuss the hardships faced by people in the depression.

Character dream: With eyes closed we are side coached to imagine our characters in a particular situation. In our imaginings, we observe this environment. We think of something that our character has experienced in this place. We open eyes and share the story with our partner.

Think, pair, share: We discuss any new ideas gained about our character from this exercise and if and how these might be incorporated into the monologue.

Writing our monologue: 15 minutes is allocated to write our monologues

Think, Pair Share: Delegate A and B. A is to read the monologue, whilst B is to focus on the structural questions whilst listening. B feeds back ideas that may improve future reading. In pairs we discuss the structural questions together.

Rehearsal: We choose roles: director and performer. Together in pairs, we rehearse our monologues.

Pair Conferencing: A performs our monologue to another pair and we receive feedback re: the effective use of the techniques of drama.

Class Discussion:
We are delegated a point of focus for our audience response to monologues before we become an audience member and critique monologue performances:

  • The effectiveness of drama techniques
  • The structure of the monologue
  • The authentic character
  • Audience insights gained into the depression years.

Performance: Volunteers perform monologues to the class and receive feedback from the audience regarding aspects mentioned above.

Reflection:
In what ways are our lives similar or different to the depression years?
What knowledge, understanding and attitudes do we need to understand in order to clearly illustrate another era in history?

 

What were the hardships faced by people in the depression?

 

Side coach using Stanislavski questions:
Who am I? What time is it? Where am I?
What surrounds me? What are the given circumstances? What are my relationships?
What is my objective? What is the action?

 

In what ways has my partner supported me to clarify my ideas and way of thinking about my character?

Structural questions:
Does the dialogue sound natural? Does it flow? Where are the stops and starts? Where are the changes of rhythm and pace?

 

How have these different roles supported new approaches to developing a monologue?

 What am I noticing about pitch, pace pause, inflection tone quality and tone quantity? How does pitch, pause, pace, inflection, tone quality and tone quantity impact on the delivery of a monologue?
How has my feedback impacted on the learning of others today?
What do I need to be aware of when giving feedback so I am not competitive and support others to improve their work?
What feedback did I receive from others? What strategies have I used to ensure I have interpreted this feedback accurately? How have their ideas impacted on my thinking?
In what ways is this character authentic to the depression years?

Journal Entry: What have we learnt about depression years?
NB. Permission slips need to be organised for a class outing to a public place (EG. mall, airport) for the observation exercise.

Journal research:Gather information, ideas, sayings, pictures that reflect living in this day and age in Our town in New Zealand. Stress this is the final opportunity to add to our wall of fame.

Lesson Five:

LI: We are learning to select and refine data that illustrates our era in history.
SC:We will know this when we have identified topics that require further research.

Flying in five strategy picture: We read and write a reaction to a picture in our journals.

Discuss picture - We talk about our ideas and what we want to tell others in the future about our lives.

Time capsule: We are going to create a time capsule that contains monologues of characters living in our town in New Zealand at this time. These will be integrated (with ensemble movement) into a group performance.

Organising our wall of fame: We discuss all aspects of our society that would need to be researched to understand life in our town in New Zealand at this time: for example, politics, work, religion, education, family structure and life, theatre, entertainment, food, the social issues, demographics, and geographical landmarks. We make these headings and place "data" under these headings on the wall. (NB. Think about physical accessibility and place this material in a way that clusters of students may read the material with ease).

Reading our wall of fame: New Zealand music plays. We read our wall of fame and notice things of interest to ourselves.

Small group work: We self select groups of four or five. We discuss what things of interest we noticed. We brainstorm other information we need to gather to deepen our understanding of these aspects, and the characters we might create to tell these stories.

Class discussion: As a class we discuss each group's findings. We note any gaps that need addressing so all aspects of our society are represented. We identify what further information we need to gather and who we will interview to discover more about this topic. The two questions are given out.

Chorus of movement: We brainstorm rituals that are prevalent in our society, for example, travelling on a train, changing TV channels, driving cars, texting, skateboarding etc. In pairs we devise a ritual comprising of four different movements. We rehearse this until we cannot tell who is leading. We join with another pair and teach each other our rituals. We rehearse until we can remember the timing, order and relevance to our 21st century lives?

Interview: In pairs we discuss the questions and modify them for their own use. We feedback our new derived questions to the rest of the class. We write down any questions for use in the impending interview.

Class Closure:What aspects of life in our New Zealand town are we further researching?

Next class: Hand out permission slips for a visit to a local mall / setting that will be appropriate for observations on which to base a character.

What does this picture say about our lives in New Zealand today?

 What do people in the future need to know and understand about us and our times to have an authentic picture of characters in New Zealand in the 21st century?

  

  

 What ideas did I contribute to the wall of fame today? What different points of view supported me in developing new ideas?

  

  

 What more do we need to add to our wall of fame?

  

 Are all aspects of our society represented through our expression of interests?

 Who could we interview to find more information about this topic?

Guideline Questions:

  • What aspects of our society today are important to remember?
  • If you were to leave a record of your point of view about your life today in a capsule, what would it say?

What rituals are part of our lives?
How can we use stylised gesture to make these effective in performance?
What is needed to perform these in unison so timing, movement, and use of space are synchronised?

 

In what ways has my partner informed my thinking today?

 

Journal Research:Students draw a time line for when they are going to research this topic before next class and who they are going to interview.

Lesson Six:

LI:We are learning to research to create an original monologue.

SC: We will know this when we have observed people and refined ideas to develop a character.

Flying in five strategy: Photograph on OHT. We read and write a reaction in our journals to a picture on an OHT.

Class discussion: We discuss what this picture tells us of life in New Zealand at this time. We discuss what we have learnt through conducting an interview.

Observation Sheets: We read observation sheets and ask any questions so all understand the observation exercise.

 

 

 

 

 

Observation: In pairs we find a place to sit and observe. Partners discuss possible people to observe and begin to make notes. Fifteen minutes is given for this exercise.

Discussion (on return to school): We discuss our experiences and findings.

Reflection: Pair share: In pairs we discuss what we need to begin further organisation of our ideas for creating a character and the content for our monologues.

Where was the photo taken?
Who took the picture?
Why were the people in the photo gathered?
Why are they together in this moment?
What were they doing?

What did you discover through conducting an interview?

Observe the people around you:
What do you see in to the character?
How do they move?
How do they dress?
What tones can you hear in their voice?
What do you think these things tell us about them?
Who might they be?
What is their story?
What aspects of our society am I focusing on?
What do I want to say?
How will I organise these thoughts?

What do these observations reveal about our characters?
At what times did we relate to others and work 4effectively together to find new approaches, ideas and ways of working?

Student's reflect on:
When did I interact effectively with others by actively listening, accepting other's points of view, negotiate and share ideas during class today? Illustrate answers with specific examples.

Homework: Creating a character and his/her story
Imagine yourself in the situation.
Make a list of character's hopes, delights and desires.
Think of a problem your character has to solve.
What are your character's faults and fears?
In what ways does your character change from the beginning to the end of the story?
How will your character solve the problem?
Invent a story that derives from your character's life.
Practice telling this story to a family member.

Lesson Seven:

LI: We are learning to refine ideas to create a monologue
SC:We will know this when we have adjusted our story after receiving feedback.

Flying in five strategy: Picture on OHT. We read and write a reaction to the photograph in our journals.

Recap: discuss as a class the successes and struggles involved in yesterday's observation.

Chorus of movement: In our small groups we practice our rituals. We vary the pace using slow motion at the crisis point to create dramatic tension.

Warm up: The teacher side coaches as we walk in the space:

  • Who is the person you observed?
  • How old are they?
  • What gender?
  • Show this in the way you walk.
  • Freeze. Where do they carry their body tension? What annoying habits do they have?
  • Unfreeze. Move in the space showing this habit.
  • Over exaggerate the habit.
  • Freeze: Mime your character's favourite past time. Unfreeze.
  • Freeze.

Share stories: Find a partner and sit in space. We tell our partners the story about our character we have developed.

Feedback: Feedback questions are discussed and storytellers choose a focus for their partners before telling the story. Each listener shares their observations with the story teller.

Re-think the story
Discuss the adjustments that need to be made in order to incorporate the feedback received.

Think about SFX, live singing, costume, props, and make up you might use to enhance the performances of our stories.

Introduction to class: Partners introduce characters and the ideas of the monologue to the class. Check to see we are covering all aspects of our society today and our time capsule is going to illustrate our world well.

Closure:Are these developing stories honest illustrations of our lives in our town in NZ today?

What do you notice about these people?
What does this photograph tell us about their lives?

In what ways was an observation helpful as a starting point to create a character?

In what ways is our unison movement improving?

 

 

In what ways can we honour the stories of these characters we are creating?

 

Feedback focus:
Did the story have a beginning, middle and an end?
How well did it begin? Did it engage you? Hold your attention?
What kept you listening?
Were there any twists, turns or surprises?
How was the information revealed?
In what ways did tension build in the story?
Was there a strong theme?
Did the story build to a crisis point?
Was there a resolution?
Was the ending what you expected?
What was important about the story?
Was there an underlying human truth.
Was this story authentic to NZ at this time and in this place?

How did my feedback to others support their learning? Illustrate with specific examples.

Reflection: In what ways am I effectively relating to others so that my monologue reflects an authentic, unique voice of our experiences today?

 

What new ideas do we notice?

Do our stories provide a rich picture of our lives in the 21st century?

Have we covered interesting aspects of our lives for our time capsule?

Lesson Eight:

LI: We are learning to research and critically evaluate our stories.
SC:We will know this when we have developed authentic facts and character voices.

Wall of fame: We walk the wall of fame and read the poems, stories, newspaper articles, and art works. We return to one of particular personal interest and (when directed) we read out loud to the class.

Brainstorm: We note the emerging themes. Are these covered in our monologues? We make a note of what aspects we need to address so our time capsule of monologues represents an authentic picture of our lives in the 21st century.

My character memory: We close our eyes and imagine our characters in a photograph. Notice the detail. Imagine beyond the photo. The teacher side coaches:

  • Where was the picture taken?
  • Who took the picture?
  • Why were people in the photo gathered?
  • How were they related?
  • Why were they together at this moment?
  • What were they doing?

Open eyes and form a rolling role (donut). In their pairs students share stories that describe:

  • The setting
  • The date and age of the character
  • The people in the photograph
  • What is happening in the memory

Working towards a monologue: We fill out our worksheet .

Ensemble: We practise walking in space carrying suitcases. We contribute ideas to develop this scenario as an opening for our time capsule drama.

Closure: Reflection in pairs:What have I learnt about my character today?

 

What we have learnt about our characters during this exercise?
In what ways have I interacted effectively with others to develop our class time capsule?

 

 

Journaling: This worksheet expands on ideas gathered during the previous lessons and helps us to find the authentic voice of our characters.

 

 

 

 

 

What have I learnt about the way my character thinks, what s/he values, how s/he shares information and the attitudes s/he has towards others, and life experiences?

 

 

 

What have I learnt about my character's movement in space and where s/he carries his / her body tension?

Lesson Nine:

LI: We are learning to refine ideas to create a Monologue.
SC:We will know this when we have reflected and critically evaluated our stories.

Finding our authentic character voice: we stand in a donut. Suggested story topics are side coached, and in role we share stories about our characters regarding:

  • A time when the character was sick
  • When and who gave him / her flowers
  • their favourite toy as a child
  • a significant key on their key ring
  • when they last packed a suitcase and where they went
  • a special sacred space that they visit regularly
  • their most treasured photograph
  • their most exciting hair cut
  • their most favourite spare time activity

Moving in character: We move around the space as our characters. Suggested tasks are side coached and we respond to prompts to freeze and unfreeze. In character we mime

  • make a cup of tea
  • carry a suitcase
  • wait for a bus
  • put on a shoe
  • take a photograph
  • tidying our appearance
  • signing our name

Writing my monologue: We fill in the worksheet .

Feedback: In pairs explain the ways in which you identify with your character. We share new ideas from the worksheet and give feedback regarding the element of surprise, and effectiveness of the ideas. We make suggestions how this monologue may be improved.

Incorporating ideas: In pairs we discuss how these new ideas may be incorporated into the monologue.

Unison: We practice our opening scene as an ensemble.

Closure:What new ideas have we gained today?

Journaling:
We make notes that structure our story into a monologue.

 

Reflection: How has my feedback to my partner improved his /her monologue?
How has my partner's feedback to me influenced my monologue?

 

 

Journaling:
Write your character monologue by next class.

 

 

 

Feedback: structural questions:
Did the story have a beginning, middle and an end?
How well did it begin? Did it engage you? Hold your attention?
What kept you listening?
Were there any twists, turns or surprises?
How was the information revealed?
In what ways did tension build in the story?
Was there a strong theme?
Did the story build to a crisis point?
Was there a resolution?
Was the ending what you expected?
What was important about the story?
Was there an underlying human truth.
Was this story authentic to NZ at this time and in this place?

In what ways did the stresses on the words change the meaning?
In what ways did this add any new dimensions to our characters?

What ideas influenced your decisions regarding choices of music, SFX and movement?

What new discoveries have we made about our characters?

Lesson Ten:

LI: We are learning to critically evaluate monologues
SC:We will know this when we have reflected, analysed, and re-worked our monologues

Ensemble: As a low energy, slow motion scene we contribute ideas for gestures, movement, and sounds that introduce the concept of passing time for our Time capsule drama.

Reading our monologues: In pairs, we discuss the aspect of feedback we want to receive. We read our monologues to our partners and discuss in relation to the previous elected feedback. We imagine a change in the person (to whom we are meant to be talking to) for the second reading. We reverse roles.

Different actions: Read the monologue doing different actions.

  • Playing tennis
  • Washing dishes
  • Writing a letter
  • Watering a plant
  • Hammering in a nail

In pairs, we discuss how the different actions changed the meaning of the scene.

Add music and movement: We add music and / or SFX to enhance our monologues or set the scene. We block our monologues, and discuss these ideas with ours partners who give us feedback.

Closure reflection as a class:How have today's exercises contributed to the development of our characters?

 

Journaling:
We finish writing the final copy of our monologues before next class.
In what ways has my partner's feedback influenced my thinking?

Suitcase:
Find a suitcase and fill it with all the costume. props, and make up required to perform the character.

Lessons Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen:

LI: We are learning to refine, and rehearse our monologues
SC:We will know this when we have performed and critically reflected on our performance

Monologue setting worksheet : We use these to support our developing ideas

Rehearsal: We rehearse our monologues considering use of props, costume, make up and technologies.

Feedback: Another pair views our work and gives feedback regarding:

  • the clarity of the monologue structure
  • the effectiveness of our roles

Reflection: We discuss how the feedback might be incorporated into our performance. We rehearse our monologues incorporating feedback.

Annotation of script: We annotate our scripts to show the intention we want to realise through performance.

Ordering and ensemble: The practiced ensemble work is refined and the order of monologues decided on.

Dress rehearsal: We rehearse using costume; make up; lighting and sound.

Performance: We perform our monologues within the context of the opening of our time capsule when the audience arrives.

Reflection: Partner pair share: How did our interaction through the process influence the development of our monologues? Reflective circle: What do we need to do to relate to others more effectively in another process?

Students are ready for assessment using AS 90609 AS (3.3)

 

 

 

 

How do we develop interesting transitions between monologues using our suitcases as the metaphor for the time capsule?

What ensemble movement script needs to be devised to strengthen our drama?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journal entry:
What are the components of an effective monologue that reflects an authentic voice in a specific historical time?

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