Soon another school year bites the dust, and summertime fun begins. For your child, summer is a l‑o‑n‑g time. In three months, she can forget many of the skills she learned this year. You can help give her a head start on success next year by following the suggestions below:
Math:
1) Maintain your child's counting skills and help her learn to estimate by asking, "How many?" Ask her to guess how many radishes are in the bag you're opening or how many songs will play on the radio by the time you reach the store. Then have her count to see how close her guess was.
2) Skip counting (counting by twos, threes, etc.) is helpful in learning multiplication. Your child can skip count any time she is grouping objects. For example, she can practice counting by twos when rolling socks or by five when stacking books.
3) Use a calendar to practice counting, adding, and subtracting. Ask your child questions like: How many Saturdays are in this month? What will be the date in three days? How many days is it until your birthday?
4) Have everyone dump change in a cute bank each day. Let your child help you roll the coins and keep a record of the money collected. When there's enough for a family treat, take her to the bank to cash it in.
5) Whenever you measure something, let your child help. Cooking has its own rewards, but measuring for drapes or bookshelves also gives a child math practice and shows her math is useful.
6) Understanding graphs is an essential math skill. You can make graphs of: the growth of a plant, the weather, or scores in sports.
7) Many games involve math skills. Keeping score uses addition facts as well as other addition skills. Have each player keep her own score so everyone gets practice!
8) Use "wasted time" to quiz your child on her math facts ‑ in the car, while doing chores, waiting at the dentist's office. Keep things on a game‑like level. Let your child quiz you, too!
9) Counting games can help with multiplication facts. For example, if your child has trouble with her four‑times table, assign a point value of four for each of a certain object passed while driving ‑ say, for each red car. Change point values on different trips to give your child practice on different tables.
10) You can buy motivating computer games that will help your child practice her math skills. At the store, ask to see "educational software," not just "games." No computer? Teacher stores sell card games and board games that practice basic math skills. Many of these games cannot be played by large groups, so you can actually make better use of them than a teacher can!
11) Use broken clocks to practice telling time. Set the hands of the clock and ask your child the time. Sometimes tell her a time and let her set the hands.
12) Work in your checkbook, balance your bank statements, and do the family budget in your child's presence. Show her that math is important in "real life."
Language Arts:
When teachers talk about "the language arts", they mean listening and speaking, reading, spelling, and writing. Here are some ways you can help your child keep her language arts skills:
13) Write notes to your child about chores, plans for the day, or what a great kid she is. Set up a central place for family notes. Encourage your child to write notes to other family members or to herself.
14) Use word play to help your child learn about and enjoy our language. Puns, riddles, and jokes can be fun for everyone. Challenge your family to think of words that rhyme with a particular word, all the meanings of a word like "run", or words that are associated with a certain topic.
15) Copy poems or quotations and put them at your child's place at the table or in her lunchbox. Save these and repeat during the summer. You may find your child requesting favorites!
16) Get your child and yourself library cards. Take her or send her to library activities. Let her check out books she can read and books that can be read to her. Check out books yourself ‑ remember ‑ you are your child's most important role model.
17) Set aside some time each day for reading. Everyone in the house should read whatever she wants for at least ten minutes ‑ longer as the summer progresses. Your modeling will teach your child the joy of reading.
18) In the car, at the supper table, or wherever you can, tell stories. Share your childhood, books you've read, and old movies with your child, and let her do the same. Retelling a story or program is good for your child, and shows you how well she remembers and understands. Discuss why things happened as they did and what lesson the story or show was trying to teach.
19) Read aloud to your child each day. You can read to her as she does chores. Car trips go quickly if an exciting story is being read aloud. Being read to allows your child to experience stories beyond her present reading ability and to hear what good reading should sound like.
20) Be sure your child sees you write. Keep lists and write letters. Write for the editorial section of your newspaper, and send letters to magazines.
21) Get your child a penpal ‑ a relative or friend. When she writes her penpal,
encourage her to use complete sentences, capitalization, and punctuation. Do not sit beside her spelling out every other word. This practice distracts her from getting her thoughts down and reinforces feelings of inadequacy about writing. Tell her to spell the best she can, then leave her alone while she writes. If she is very concerned about her spelling, ask her to look over the finished letter and pick out a few words she thinks are misspelled, then help her "fix" them
22) Encourage your child to write stories if she's interested, but don't force the issue. If you write, your child may want to write. Or you may interest her by suggesting she write down a story she's told you.
If you can, make typed copies of your child's stories. You can correct errors as you type, since you are a "publisher", but do not change the story. Let the author illustrate her story, too!
23) Be your child's secretary sometimes. Let her dictate a story while you write her words down. This gives her the freedom to be more creative. Read back what you've written, and have your child read it to you daily for a week.
24) Buy your child a blank‑paged book to use as a journal. Talk about how journals are private, and encourage your child by writing in your own journal. Occasionally share something from your journal with your child, and let her share with you.
25) Have your child tape herself reading and send the tape to an appreciative audience. Let her record, listen, and retape several times before sending off the tape. This can help her learn to read in a natural voice.
And one more: Have fun! You're just trying to maintain what your child already knows. Don't make her and yourself miserable by pushing too hard or spending hours a day on "schoolwork." Summers are for kids to be kids!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Hitting the Funny Bone
Kids love funny stories.
So do editors! They know that funny stories make reading fun for their readers, even the kids with poor skills or little motivation. They understand that humor can make age-old themes seem fresh. And they appreciate how moral lessons become more palatable and less preachy when served up alongside a serving of laughter.
How can you give editors what they’re looking for? Just write something funny.
If only it were that simple! Writing humor is serious business – and more difficult than most people realize. No one can tell you how to write a funny story, but here are a few practical suggestion for getting humor into what you write.
1) Make your main character interact with a "little" kid. In a children’s story, a "little" kid is anybody younger than your readers. From the lofty reaches of your readers’ greater maturity and experience, a little kid’s mistakes, character flaws, and reactions are terribly funny. A further element of humor comes in with your main character’s frustrations dealing with the little kid. The Fudge books by Judy Blume are, of course, masterpieces in the use of this method, but it works well in short stories, too.
For example, the humor in my story, "Horse Fever," (My Friend, February, 2001) comes from both little sister Ruthie’s belief that she can grow up to be a horse and big sister Amber’s difficulties convincing her of the truth. In the following scene, Amber tries to use a book about horses to get Ruthie to understand reality:
When we came to a picture of a colt, I said, "Why is that horse so little?"
"Because," Ruthie said, "it’s a baby horse."
"And one day it’ll be a grown-up horse, right?"
"Unless is wants to be a efelant," she said.
"A what?"
"Efelant! You know, with a long nose!"
"Ruthie!" I cried. "A baby horse isn’t going to grow up to be an elephant!"
"You’re probably right," she said thoughtfully. "Being a horse is the best thing. I bet that baby horse doesn’t want to change."
"It can’t change!" I shouted.
"Amber," said Ruthie very seriously. "The baby horse has to decide for itself."
2) Let your main character dig himself a nice, deep hole. Whatever wrong thing the main character is doing, don’t let him get caught too quickly. Build humor by allowing him to succeed awhile, making ridiculous excuses, and fooling himself (but not your readers) that he’s going to keep getting away with things.
For example, in my play "Would I Lie to You?" (Just Deal With It! Funny Readers Theatre for Life’s Not-So-Funny Moments, Teacher Ideas Press, 2004) the main character tells big stories to impress the other kids. Of course, they eventually realize that she’s lying, and she loses everybody’s trust. Pretty deep hole, huh? But the main character digs herself in even further
by pretending to be her own twin sister in order to get a fresh start! This situation provided lots of opportunities for funny interactions between the girl and the other characters before she had to do the right thing and ‘fess up.
3) Annoy your main character. If you want to really crack up your readers, bug the heck out of the main character while he deals with his troubles. For example, a story about a kid whose parents send her to summer camp even though she hates the outdoors has great potential for humor. But the story becomes even funnier if she has to partner up with someone who’s a camping fanatic. That secondary character can drive her nuts by relishing everything she detests!
A lot of funny things could happen in a story about an only child staying with a swarm of cousins, especially if the main character has a hard time adjusting to being around so many people. However, more humor might develop if the cousins live in a teeny house where the main character has to share a barracks-like bedroom and one little bathroom. The extra layer of aggravation could push the humor over the edge from amusing to hilarious.
4) Write in first person. In a third-person story, you can report what your main character is thinking and feeling, but you can’t flavor the whole story with the character’s attitude. Compare these two examples, written about the same incident:
For the next week, Sophie’s brothers hid in their room, working on their Christmas gifts for her. They often borrowed art supplies from Sophie. And they told her that she would never guess what they were making. The boys were excited about their gifts, but Sophie didn’t expect to be impressed by anything they made.
Over the next week, the boys acted so-o-o secretive about the gifts they were making. They kept borrowing things from me like crayons and markers and other supplies. And they kept saying "mysterious’ stuff like, "You’ll never guess what I’m making, Sophie!" Like they could be making anything good with old tissue boxes and cardboard! ("A Handmade Christmas," My Friend, December, 2001)
The second sample has a more humorous tone because every sentence is filtered through Sophie. Her underwhelming enthusiasm for her brothers’ homemade gifts couldn’t be clearer. Her attitude makes this paragraph funny – and sets the stage for later laughs when Sophie’s gifts are even worse than she expected.
5) Use a funny event from real life as the seed for a story. The humorous anecdotes that people tell you...the family stories that crack everyone up...the embarrassing moments that eventually become cocktail party stories...Don’t write about them just as they happened. Almost NEVER does a real-life event make a good story when told factually. However, a funny happening can inspire a funny story.
For example, my grandfather visited my parents the night before their first Thanksgiving together. When he found they didn’t have the money for a feast, he insisted on buying them a turkey. The store had closed just before they arrived, but Grandpa got my parents their dinner by flapping his elbows and gobbling loudly until the store workers cracked up, reopened the store, and sold him a turkey.
In my family, we always laughed when my dad told that tale, and I often thought I might write about it. The problem was: it made a nice anecdote, but there wasn’t really a whole story there.
Eventually I realized that I could just use the incident as an inspiration. I wrote a story (and later a play) about a boy whose grandfather moves in and does all kinds of embarrassing things. ("My Roommate - Grandpa!" story - Pockets, May, 1993; play - Just Deal With It! Funny Readers Theatre for Life’s Not-So-Funny Moments, Teacher Ideas Press, 2004.) When the family’s financial troubles keep the boy from having the special feast he wants for his birthday, his grandfather does my grandfather’s turkey act with the same results. The real-life incident became the pivotal moment that showed the main character the love behind Grandpa’s antics.
6) Remember that the humor isn’t the point. Sure, kids enjoy reading funny stories, but a good story doesn’t just make readers laugh. A good story makes them think and feel. Setting out to "write a funny story" without any purpose or direction usually won’t work. The story doesn’t hold together well, and the humor often falls flat because it doesn’t have a real point. Before you write, decide what you want your readers to get out of your story. If you can communicate those ideas and feelings through humor, then go ahead and write a funny story. If not, stick to a more serious style. Editors need good stories of all kinds!
So do editors! They know that funny stories make reading fun for their readers, even the kids with poor skills or little motivation. They understand that humor can make age-old themes seem fresh. And they appreciate how moral lessons become more palatable and less preachy when served up alongside a serving of laughter.
How can you give editors what they’re looking for? Just write something funny.
If only it were that simple! Writing humor is serious business – and more difficult than most people realize. No one can tell you how to write a funny story, but here are a few practical suggestion for getting humor into what you write.
1) Make your main character interact with a "little" kid. In a children’s story, a "little" kid is anybody younger than your readers. From the lofty reaches of your readers’ greater maturity and experience, a little kid’s mistakes, character flaws, and reactions are terribly funny. A further element of humor comes in with your main character’s frustrations dealing with the little kid. The Fudge books by Judy Blume are, of course, masterpieces in the use of this method, but it works well in short stories, too.
For example, the humor in my story, "Horse Fever," (My Friend, February, 2001) comes from both little sister Ruthie’s belief that she can grow up to be a horse and big sister Amber’s difficulties convincing her of the truth. In the following scene, Amber tries to use a book about horses to get Ruthie to understand reality:
When we came to a picture of a colt, I said, "Why is that horse so little?"
"Because," Ruthie said, "it’s a baby horse."
"And one day it’ll be a grown-up horse, right?"
"Unless is wants to be a efelant," she said.
"A what?"
"Efelant! You know, with a long nose!"
"Ruthie!" I cried. "A baby horse isn’t going to grow up to be an elephant!"
"You’re probably right," she said thoughtfully. "Being a horse is the best thing. I bet that baby horse doesn’t want to change."
"It can’t change!" I shouted.
"Amber," said Ruthie very seriously. "The baby horse has to decide for itself."
2) Let your main character dig himself a nice, deep hole. Whatever wrong thing the main character is doing, don’t let him get caught too quickly. Build humor by allowing him to succeed awhile, making ridiculous excuses, and fooling himself (but not your readers) that he’s going to keep getting away with things.
For example, in my play "Would I Lie to You?" (Just Deal With It! Funny Readers Theatre for Life’s Not-So-Funny Moments, Teacher Ideas Press, 2004) the main character tells big stories to impress the other kids. Of course, they eventually realize that she’s lying, and she loses everybody’s trust. Pretty deep hole, huh? But the main character digs herself in even further
by pretending to be her own twin sister in order to get a fresh start! This situation provided lots of opportunities for funny interactions between the girl and the other characters before she had to do the right thing and ‘fess up.
3) Annoy your main character. If you want to really crack up your readers, bug the heck out of the main character while he deals with his troubles. For example, a story about a kid whose parents send her to summer camp even though she hates the outdoors has great potential for humor. But the story becomes even funnier if she has to partner up with someone who’s a camping fanatic. That secondary character can drive her nuts by relishing everything she detests!
A lot of funny things could happen in a story about an only child staying with a swarm of cousins, especially if the main character has a hard time adjusting to being around so many people. However, more humor might develop if the cousins live in a teeny house where the main character has to share a barracks-like bedroom and one little bathroom. The extra layer of aggravation could push the humor over the edge from amusing to hilarious.
4) Write in first person. In a third-person story, you can report what your main character is thinking and feeling, but you can’t flavor the whole story with the character’s attitude. Compare these two examples, written about the same incident:
For the next week, Sophie’s brothers hid in their room, working on their Christmas gifts for her. They often borrowed art supplies from Sophie. And they told her that she would never guess what they were making. The boys were excited about their gifts, but Sophie didn’t expect to be impressed by anything they made.
Over the next week, the boys acted so-o-o secretive about the gifts they were making. They kept borrowing things from me like crayons and markers and other supplies. And they kept saying "mysterious’ stuff like, "You’ll never guess what I’m making, Sophie!" Like they could be making anything good with old tissue boxes and cardboard! ("A Handmade Christmas," My Friend, December, 2001)
The second sample has a more humorous tone because every sentence is filtered through Sophie. Her underwhelming enthusiasm for her brothers’ homemade gifts couldn’t be clearer. Her attitude makes this paragraph funny – and sets the stage for later laughs when Sophie’s gifts are even worse than she expected.
5) Use a funny event from real life as the seed for a story. The humorous anecdotes that people tell you...the family stories that crack everyone up...the embarrassing moments that eventually become cocktail party stories...Don’t write about them just as they happened. Almost NEVER does a real-life event make a good story when told factually. However, a funny happening can inspire a funny story.
For example, my grandfather visited my parents the night before their first Thanksgiving together. When he found they didn’t have the money for a feast, he insisted on buying them a turkey. The store had closed just before they arrived, but Grandpa got my parents their dinner by flapping his elbows and gobbling loudly until the store workers cracked up, reopened the store, and sold him a turkey.
In my family, we always laughed when my dad told that tale, and I often thought I might write about it. The problem was: it made a nice anecdote, but there wasn’t really a whole story there.
Eventually I realized that I could just use the incident as an inspiration. I wrote a story (and later a play) about a boy whose grandfather moves in and does all kinds of embarrassing things. ("My Roommate - Grandpa!" story - Pockets, May, 1993; play - Just Deal With It! Funny Readers Theatre for Life’s Not-So-Funny Moments, Teacher Ideas Press, 2004.) When the family’s financial troubles keep the boy from having the special feast he wants for his birthday, his grandfather does my grandfather’s turkey act with the same results. The real-life incident became the pivotal moment that showed the main character the love behind Grandpa’s antics.
6) Remember that the humor isn’t the point. Sure, kids enjoy reading funny stories, but a good story doesn’t just make readers laugh. A good story makes them think and feel. Setting out to "write a funny story" without any purpose or direction usually won’t work. The story doesn’t hold together well, and the humor often falls flat because it doesn’t have a real point. Before you write, decide what you want your readers to get out of your story. If you can communicate those ideas and feelings through humor, then go ahead and write a funny story. If not, stick to a more serious style. Editors need good stories of all kinds!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Easier Theatre
Easier Theatre
When you consider using theatre with your students, don’t think of it as THE-AH-TAH! You don’t have to stage huge productions of Shakespearean dramas with hand-made costumes, award-winning sets, and Oscar-worthy performances. You can keep things simple and your kids will still get the benefits of theatre. (See “Ten Reasons Why Using Theatre in Your Classroom Isn't as Nuts as You Think” on my website http://www.dianarjenkins.bravenet.com/.) Here are some suggestions for making the use of theatre easier:
Keep it to yourself.
There’s no rule that says you must perform in front of an audience – you can use theatre just as a classroom experience. You’ll find that simple theatre activities can be fun, rewarding, and educational!
A little bit of theatre makes a good filler at the end of a period, in the few minutes before lunch, or just before going home. You can have kids play charades – either what I call “Big Idea” charades or the traditional game. In “Big Idea” charades, kids act out a whole concept at once. For example, a kid could pretend to paint on an easel for “artist” or act out hitting a ball and running the bases to get across “Babe Ruth.” In traditional charades, kids act out individual words or even syllables and the audience must put all the pieces together. A student could do something like hold up fingers for “three” and pretend to be a beast for “Three Bears.” Both activities make kids think, build their confidence, and help them become more comfortable standing up in front of people.
You can also work theatre into your subject areas. In Social Studies, kids could act out famous events like the Boston Tea Party, the discovery of King Tut’s tomb, etc. In Science, ask a student to pretend to be Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie, or another scientist and explain his or her discoveries. In English, have students ad lib new endings to stories or write short skits based on something they’ve read. These are valuable activities even if nobody in the outside world ever sees your kids perform.
Use readers theatre.
See “Readers Theatre -- The Shortcut to Dramatic Success” also on this blog.
Make it up as you go.
Maybe you want to have your students perform plays (in your classroom or for the outside world), but it just seems too complicated, time-consuming, etc. Readers theatre can help. (See above.) Or you might find it helpful to use the make-it-up-as-you-go method.
Choose a story familiar to your students. A folk tale or fairy tale works well, but you can use any story. Quickly assign parts, and then ask the kids to tell you how the story starts. Send the appropriate actors to the front of the room and have them act out the first scene. Then ask the kids about what happens next, add or remove actors as needed, and move on to the next scene. Continue on until the whole story has been acted out. You may need to ask leading questions or even model roles until kids get the idea.
After they’ve experienced this process a number of times over weeks or months (same story with different casts or different stories), your students will be able to put together some surprisingly well-developed scenes. And you might feel like you want to try performing something for an audience. If so, finalize your cast and let them rehearse enough that they’ve pretty well established what they’re going to say and do.
Maybe you’re thinking that a putting on a performance without a script is like doing a trapeze act without a net. There is a certain level of anxiety with the make-it-up-as-you-go method, but it has a lot of pluses, too. For one thing, kids have a real understanding of plot, motivation, and other aspects of the story, so they often give better performances than they would with a memorized play. And since they made the play up themselves, they’re not as likely to forget something important. Even if something does go amiss, it’s easy for other actors to adjust and fix the problem since they understand what should be happening, what the characters are feeling, etc.
Put together a Poetry Extravaganza!
A Poetry Extravaganza makes a great public performance, but it’s really easy to do -- especially if you use poetry throughout the year anyway! It also has the benefit of practically eliminating your worries about performance day absences. Here’s how to do it:
Expose your students to poetry regularly – even for just a few minutes here and there. Read poems to them, put poems on your bulletin board, pass out poems, and have students read and reread the poems in your reading or literature book. Whenever my students came to a poem, we read it several times and went back to previous poems in the book, too. Sometimes we took turns on verses or did choral reading. And now and then I tried to fit in poems in the last few minutes of class. Eventually, the kids began to become familiar with particular poems and we’d play around at reciting a few lines by heart. Some would even attempt to memorize whole poems.
Eventually, I’d suggest we put some poems together in a program. Kids would select poems they liked, either ones we’d already had in class or completely new poems. (I steered the students who had difficulties to the familiar poems and more capable students to something new.) We’d practice standing up in front of the room and reciting the poems. If a student wanted to do his poem by memory, he could. If not, then we put the poem on a cool-looking scroll, inside an appropriate book, or on a prop. Sometimes kids would come up with costumes that fit their poems, and sometimes other kids would appear on stage, too, acting out the poem. When everybody was pretty comfortable, we invited an audience to see our Poetry Extravaganza. If someone was absent…oh, well! We just skipped their poem! Missing background performers were easily replaced or eliminated.
Relax – right now!
Theater with kids can be nerve-wracking if you try to control things too much. Sure, you don’t want them running wild, but you need to accept that theater just isn’t as organized, calm, and rigid as some other activities. You can gently guide kids to be better performers (See “Is That a Woodpecker on Your Shoulder? Or How to Get Good Performances Out of Young Actors” also on this blog), but don’t squelch all their creativity trying to achieve perfection. Take a deep breath, relax, and enjoy!
When you consider using theatre with your students, don’t think of it as THE-AH-TAH! You don’t have to stage huge productions of Shakespearean dramas with hand-made costumes, award-winning sets, and Oscar-worthy performances. You can keep things simple and your kids will still get the benefits of theatre. (See “Ten Reasons Why Using Theatre in Your Classroom Isn't as Nuts as You Think” on my website http://www.dianarjenkins.bravenet.com/.) Here are some suggestions for making the use of theatre easier:
Keep it to yourself.
There’s no rule that says you must perform in front of an audience – you can use theatre just as a classroom experience. You’ll find that simple theatre activities can be fun, rewarding, and educational!
A little bit of theatre makes a good filler at the end of a period, in the few minutes before lunch, or just before going home. You can have kids play charades – either what I call “Big Idea” charades or the traditional game. In “Big Idea” charades, kids act out a whole concept at once. For example, a kid could pretend to paint on an easel for “artist” or act out hitting a ball and running the bases to get across “Babe Ruth.” In traditional charades, kids act out individual words or even syllables and the audience must put all the pieces together. A student could do something like hold up fingers for “three” and pretend to be a beast for “Three Bears.” Both activities make kids think, build their confidence, and help them become more comfortable standing up in front of people.
You can also work theatre into your subject areas. In Social Studies, kids could act out famous events like the Boston Tea Party, the discovery of King Tut’s tomb, etc. In Science, ask a student to pretend to be Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie, or another scientist and explain his or her discoveries. In English, have students ad lib new endings to stories or write short skits based on something they’ve read. These are valuable activities even if nobody in the outside world ever sees your kids perform.
Use readers theatre.
See “Readers Theatre -- The Shortcut to Dramatic Success” also on this blog.
Make it up as you go.
Maybe you want to have your students perform plays (in your classroom or for the outside world), but it just seems too complicated, time-consuming, etc. Readers theatre can help. (See above.) Or you might find it helpful to use the make-it-up-as-you-go method.
Choose a story familiar to your students. A folk tale or fairy tale works well, but you can use any story. Quickly assign parts, and then ask the kids to tell you how the story starts. Send the appropriate actors to the front of the room and have them act out the first scene. Then ask the kids about what happens next, add or remove actors as needed, and move on to the next scene. Continue on until the whole story has been acted out. You may need to ask leading questions or even model roles until kids get the idea.
After they’ve experienced this process a number of times over weeks or months (same story with different casts or different stories), your students will be able to put together some surprisingly well-developed scenes. And you might feel like you want to try performing something for an audience. If so, finalize your cast and let them rehearse enough that they’ve pretty well established what they’re going to say and do.
Maybe you’re thinking that a putting on a performance without a script is like doing a trapeze act without a net. There is a certain level of anxiety with the make-it-up-as-you-go method, but it has a lot of pluses, too. For one thing, kids have a real understanding of plot, motivation, and other aspects of the story, so they often give better performances than they would with a memorized play. And since they made the play up themselves, they’re not as likely to forget something important. Even if something does go amiss, it’s easy for other actors to adjust and fix the problem since they understand what should be happening, what the characters are feeling, etc.
Put together a Poetry Extravaganza!
A Poetry Extravaganza makes a great public performance, but it’s really easy to do -- especially if you use poetry throughout the year anyway! It also has the benefit of practically eliminating your worries about performance day absences. Here’s how to do it:
Expose your students to poetry regularly – even for just a few minutes here and there. Read poems to them, put poems on your bulletin board, pass out poems, and have students read and reread the poems in your reading or literature book. Whenever my students came to a poem, we read it several times and went back to previous poems in the book, too. Sometimes we took turns on verses or did choral reading. And now and then I tried to fit in poems in the last few minutes of class. Eventually, the kids began to become familiar with particular poems and we’d play around at reciting a few lines by heart. Some would even attempt to memorize whole poems.
Eventually, I’d suggest we put some poems together in a program. Kids would select poems they liked, either ones we’d already had in class or completely new poems. (I steered the students who had difficulties to the familiar poems and more capable students to something new.) We’d practice standing up in front of the room and reciting the poems. If a student wanted to do his poem by memory, he could. If not, then we put the poem on a cool-looking scroll, inside an appropriate book, or on a prop. Sometimes kids would come up with costumes that fit their poems, and sometimes other kids would appear on stage, too, acting out the poem. When everybody was pretty comfortable, we invited an audience to see our Poetry Extravaganza. If someone was absent…oh, well! We just skipped their poem! Missing background performers were easily replaced or eliminated.
Relax – right now!
Theater with kids can be nerve-wracking if you try to control things too much. Sure, you don’t want them running wild, but you need to accept that theater just isn’t as organized, calm, and rigid as some other activities. You can gently guide kids to be better performers (See “Is That a Woodpecker on Your Shoulder? Or How to Get Good Performances Out of Young Actors” also on this blog), but don’t squelch all their creativity trying to achieve perfection. Take a deep breath, relax, and enjoy!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Getting Good Performances Out of Young Actors
Is That a Woodpecker on Your Shoulder?
Or How to Get Good Performances Out of Young Actors
Some kids are natural-born actors. They speak naturally. They display natural facial expressions. They communicate natural emotions, and they portray natural characters. Naturally, kids with that kind of talent are few and far between.
Many kids need help to move beyond robotic recitation of their lines to realistic portrayals of their characters. Some young actors will never be Oscar material. (Hey, that’s part of what makes kids’ performances so cute.) However, you can work with most kids and at least get them from wooden to something not-so-wooden. Here are some tips for how to do that:
Don’t give up the script too soon.
If you’re performing readers theatre, you never have to give up the script. (See “Readers Theatre – The Shortcut to Dramatic Success.”) But if you’re doing conventional theatre, allow students to keep their scripts a while. If you push kids to memorize everything early on, they focus on getting the lines down instead of getting the lines to express something. Letting kids rely on their scripts and concentrating your rehearsals on developing good performances pays off in the end.
Motivate actors to think about motivation.
Some young actors think that just saying their lines is “acting.” They need your help to understand that their characters have feelings – and “acting” means showing those feelings to the audience. Asking leading questions is one of the best ways to get kids to consider what’s behind their characters’ words. Try questions like: “How do you think he’s feeling?” “What does she mean?” “Is he telling the truth?” “What’s she hoping for?”
Once an actor can articulate what his character is feeling, encourage him to show those feelings. A simple, “play-like” direction is usually effective and less threatening than pressure to “Act! Act!” Just say something like, “Play like you’re mad, too.” Or “Play like you’re lying.”
Echo read…read…read….
If you still can’t get good expression out of an actor, try echo reading. Sit down with the kid and tell him he’s your echo. Then say one of his lines the way you’d like for him to perform it and ask him to copy you exactly. Likely, he will repeat the line in the same robotic way as usual, but don’t be discouraged. Remind him that he’s to do the line exactly as you do it, and try again – and again if necessary. Once he improves on that line, continue the process with his next lines. Once an actor gets the idea, he can usually carry on by himself with just an occasional echo read for difficult lines.
Prepare for interruptions.
One of the most awkward and unnatural parts in a play is the poor interruption. It goes something like this:
Francine: I can’t help it! I didn’t even know about.
Jacob: (after an embarrassing pause) Don’t make excuses, Francine! I was there when you.
Francine: (after another embarrassing pause) Shut up already! You’re always on my.
If your play includes an interruption, have the involved actor write out what she thinks the character intends to say. Then when she performs the line, she can continue on until the next actor actually interrupts her or until the end of the line if he doesn’t.
Hold off on the extras.
Kids love costumes, props, set pieces, and the like, but they love them too much. Once a young actor has a towel turban or a bejeweled throne or even one little magic rock, he’s likely to be distracted from creating a quality performance. Hey, who needs good expression when you’re wearing a pig snout? Let your actors mime the extras until their performances are in pretty good shape. Then you can work in the other stuff without detracting from the acting. Saving the extras also has the added benefit of pepping things up if repeated rehearsals are getting old.
Perform for a fake audience.
Arrange for somebody to “drop by” during a rehearsal. Or do a dress rehearsal with a non-threatening audience like a group of little kids. Getting a taste of performing before an audience can energize lackluster actors. It finally clicks with them that they’ll be doing their thing in front of “real” people. And audience reactions during a play bring things into focus for the actors, making it clear what’s funny or surprising or scary. Audience comments afterwards can clarify what’s working or not working in a production – especially if you forewarn your fake audience to watch out for something in particular.
Accentuate the positive.
Performing is fun and exciting, but it’s also scary for kids. Negative comments and demands for perfection only make things scarier, but it’s easy to forget that under the stress of putting together a show. Just remember: you’ll get a better performance from young actors in a positive atmosphere where they feel comfortable. So praise anything you can, point out every little bit of progress you see, and relax. Your young actors will charm the socks off their audience!
Visit my website: http://www.dianarjenkins.bravehost.com/.
Or How to Get Good Performances Out of Young Actors
Some kids are natural-born actors. They speak naturally. They display natural facial expressions. They communicate natural emotions, and they portray natural characters. Naturally, kids with that kind of talent are few and far between.
Many kids need help to move beyond robotic recitation of their lines to realistic portrayals of their characters. Some young actors will never be Oscar material. (Hey, that’s part of what makes kids’ performances so cute.) However, you can work with most kids and at least get them from wooden to something not-so-wooden. Here are some tips for how to do that:
Don’t give up the script too soon.
If you’re performing readers theatre, you never have to give up the script. (See “Readers Theatre – The Shortcut to Dramatic Success.”) But if you’re doing conventional theatre, allow students to keep their scripts a while. If you push kids to memorize everything early on, they focus on getting the lines down instead of getting the lines to express something. Letting kids rely on their scripts and concentrating your rehearsals on developing good performances pays off in the end.
Motivate actors to think about motivation.
Some young actors think that just saying their lines is “acting.” They need your help to understand that their characters have feelings – and “acting” means showing those feelings to the audience. Asking leading questions is one of the best ways to get kids to consider what’s behind their characters’ words. Try questions like: “How do you think he’s feeling?” “What does she mean?” “Is he telling the truth?” “What’s she hoping for?”
Once an actor can articulate what his character is feeling, encourage him to show those feelings. A simple, “play-like” direction is usually effective and less threatening than pressure to “Act! Act!” Just say something like, “Play like you’re mad, too.” Or “Play like you’re lying.”
Echo read…read…read….
If you still can’t get good expression out of an actor, try echo reading. Sit down with the kid and tell him he’s your echo. Then say one of his lines the way you’d like for him to perform it and ask him to copy you exactly. Likely, he will repeat the line in the same robotic way as usual, but don’t be discouraged. Remind him that he’s to do the line exactly as you do it, and try again – and again if necessary. Once he improves on that line, continue the process with his next lines. Once an actor gets the idea, he can usually carry on by himself with just an occasional echo read for difficult lines.
Prepare for interruptions.
One of the most awkward and unnatural parts in a play is the poor interruption. It goes something like this:
Francine: I can’t help it! I didn’t even know about.
Jacob: (after an embarrassing pause) Don’t make excuses, Francine! I was there when you.
Francine: (after another embarrassing pause) Shut up already! You’re always on my.
If your play includes an interruption, have the involved actor write out what she thinks the character intends to say. Then when she performs the line, she can continue on until the next actor actually interrupts her or until the end of the line if he doesn’t.
Hold off on the extras.
Kids love costumes, props, set pieces, and the like, but they love them too much. Once a young actor has a towel turban or a bejeweled throne or even one little magic rock, he’s likely to be distracted from creating a quality performance. Hey, who needs good expression when you’re wearing a pig snout? Let your actors mime the extras until their performances are in pretty good shape. Then you can work in the other stuff without detracting from the acting. Saving the extras also has the added benefit of pepping things up if repeated rehearsals are getting old.
Perform for a fake audience.
Arrange for somebody to “drop by” during a rehearsal. Or do a dress rehearsal with a non-threatening audience like a group of little kids. Getting a taste of performing before an audience can energize lackluster actors. It finally clicks with them that they’ll be doing their thing in front of “real” people. And audience reactions during a play bring things into focus for the actors, making it clear what’s funny or surprising or scary. Audience comments afterwards can clarify what’s working or not working in a production – especially if you forewarn your fake audience to watch out for something in particular.
Accentuate the positive.
Performing is fun and exciting, but it’s also scary for kids. Negative comments and demands for perfection only make things scarier, but it’s easy to forget that under the stress of putting together a show. Just remember: you’ll get a better performance from young actors in a positive atmosphere where they feel comfortable. So praise anything you can, point out every little bit of progress you see, and relax. Your young actors will charm the socks off their audience!
Visit my website: http://www.dianarjenkins.bravehost.com/.
Readers Theatre - Shortcut to Dramatic Success
Just think of what could go wrong if your students put on a public performance!
Go ahead. I’ll wait….
Did you imagine the awkward silence that hangs in the air when someone forgets his lines?
Maybe you visualized a catastrophic set collapse? Or a time-sensitive prop that breaks at the very second it’s needed?
Perhaps a long-buried memory of some costuming trauma broke into your consciousness? Ripped seams? Dropped pants? Disintegrating turbans?
Or did you envision the director’s worst nightmare – the absent actor! Oh, the horror!
Now take a deep breath and read on to find out about the cure for all these problems: readers theatre!
What is readers theatre?
In readers theatre, actors keep their scripts and read their lines instead of memorizing them. Costumes, sets, props, and even movement are not needed. Kids can just sit there and read!
What’s so great about readers theatre?
Since the actors always have their scripts right in front of them, there’s a lot less pressure in readers theatre. The constant worry that someone’s going to forget a line is gone! Kids can feel more confident about performing well – and they can handle “bigger” roles than they thought possible.
Needing less rehearsal to put together a production is another benefit of readers theatre. You don’t have to keep practicing until you’ve pounded the lines into everybody’s heads! And you don’t need to spend time blocking out movements and rehearsing them over and over. Usually, the actors just sit quietly on chairs or stools until it’s time to read their parts. If you want to get fancy, you can have the actors put their backs to the audience when they’re not reading and turn around when they are.
And let’s face it: the extras like costumes, sets, and props add a lot of hard work to a production. They can cause problems, too, when they malfunction, break, or disappear. Leaving them out of your readers theatre production means you’ll be ready for a public performance more quickly – and things are likely to run more smoothly.
And if your star is absent? No big deal! Somebody else can simply read the part. Having someone understudy big roles just in case is a good idea, but the show can still go on even if you don’t do that.
But props are fun! And costumes are cute! And isn’t all that sitting around kind of boring?
Remember – we’re talking about a shortcut here. Readers theatre can get you to a successful performance quickly. Without all the extras, your rehearsals can focus on good expression, authentic emotion, and realistic portrayals. So a readers theatre production is anything but boring!
However, the extras are fun so you may want to use traditional readers theatre to get started and change things up later. After a few productions, you and your students might be ready to add some movements, costumes, props, or sets to their performances. You may even work into doing “regular” theatre, dropping scripts and memorizing lines. But don’t feel you have to make a big production out of your theatre program. Keep things as simple as you like – and as fun as you can!
For more about theatre in the classroom visit http://www.dianarjenkins.bravehost.com.
Go ahead. I’ll wait….
Did you imagine the awkward silence that hangs in the air when someone forgets his lines?
Maybe you visualized a catastrophic set collapse? Or a time-sensitive prop that breaks at the very second it’s needed?
Perhaps a long-buried memory of some costuming trauma broke into your consciousness? Ripped seams? Dropped pants? Disintegrating turbans?
Or did you envision the director’s worst nightmare – the absent actor! Oh, the horror!
Now take a deep breath and read on to find out about the cure for all these problems: readers theatre!
What is readers theatre?
In readers theatre, actors keep their scripts and read their lines instead of memorizing them. Costumes, sets, props, and even movement are not needed. Kids can just sit there and read!
What’s so great about readers theatre?
Since the actors always have their scripts right in front of them, there’s a lot less pressure in readers theatre. The constant worry that someone’s going to forget a line is gone! Kids can feel more confident about performing well – and they can handle “bigger” roles than they thought possible.
Needing less rehearsal to put together a production is another benefit of readers theatre. You don’t have to keep practicing until you’ve pounded the lines into everybody’s heads! And you don’t need to spend time blocking out movements and rehearsing them over and over. Usually, the actors just sit quietly on chairs or stools until it’s time to read their parts. If you want to get fancy, you can have the actors put their backs to the audience when they’re not reading and turn around when they are.
And let’s face it: the extras like costumes, sets, and props add a lot of hard work to a production. They can cause problems, too, when they malfunction, break, or disappear. Leaving them out of your readers theatre production means you’ll be ready for a public performance more quickly – and things are likely to run more smoothly.
And if your star is absent? No big deal! Somebody else can simply read the part. Having someone understudy big roles just in case is a good idea, but the show can still go on even if you don’t do that.
But props are fun! And costumes are cute! And isn’t all that sitting around kind of boring?
Remember – we’re talking about a shortcut here. Readers theatre can get you to a successful performance quickly. Without all the extras, your rehearsals can focus on good expression, authentic emotion, and realistic portrayals. So a readers theatre production is anything but boring!
However, the extras are fun so you may want to use traditional readers theatre to get started and change things up later. After a few productions, you and your students might be ready to add some movements, costumes, props, or sets to their performances. You may even work into doing “regular” theatre, dropping scripts and memorizing lines. But don’t feel you have to make a big production out of your theatre program. Keep things as simple as you like – and as fun as you can!
For more about theatre in the classroom visit http://www.dianarjenkins.bravehost.com.
Getting Motivated to Write
Maybe you’ve heard the story about Michelangelo and the block of marble that would one day be his statue of David. Some important guy – a prince or something – heard that Michelangelo hadn’t done anything with the marble even though he’d had it for months. The man went to see about this himself and found the artist just standing there, staring at the huge block of stone. “What are you doing?” asked the visitor. Michelangelo replied, “I’m working.”
I imagine Michelangelo was thinking, planning, visualizing, dreaming up and rejecting ideas, preparing himself to create. He really was working!
A lot of a writer’s work is invisible, too, because it goes on inside the mind. But too many times we tell ourselves we’re doing the Michelangelo thing when we’re really just stalling around. Writing is tough. (See Gene Fowler’s quote in the sidebar.) It’s hard to start writing. It’s hard to keep writing. It’s hard to rewrite as much as you should.
Here are some ideas for getting and staying motivated. You’ll have to figure out what works for you, but hopefully one or more of these suggestions will help!
Set a reasonable goal.
Okay, everybody tries setting goals. The problem is that most writers set pie-in the-sky goals that are just too hard to meet. (Like you’re going to get up a four in the morning every day and work on your novel!) You need to set a goal you can actually achieve. And if you really have trouble getting yourself to write, make your goal so easy that you’d feel ashamed to miss it. That way you’ll get somewhere with your writing even if it is just a little at a time – and you can feel proud when you overachieve!
Lose the not-worth-it attitude.
It’s wonderful to have a whole hour, a whole afternoon, a whole day to write. (I was so happy when I was able to quit teaching and write!) But usually real life doesn’t allow that. It’s easy to feel there’s no point in even trying to write when you have tight time limits. Why, you’ll barely get started! And you certainly won’t get very far! And the end is nowhere in sight! Why bother? But even though it’s slow and inefficient, writing in little pieces can really work. Eventually you’ll write a whole something. Keep waiting until you have plenty of time, and you’ll eventually write…nothing whatsoever.
Work on several projects at a time.
It seems counterintuitive, but working on several pieces of writing at once can be easier than concentrating on just one. When you have a single writing project, hitting a snag can stop you cold. You sit there for ages, unable to decide what to write next, getting more and more discouraged until you finally quit, never to return to the computer until you’ve worked through the problem, which, face it, could take months. But if you keep several projects in the works, you can set aside a piece that’s not working and move on to something else. And something else if you have problems with that piece. Having several projects also makes it easier to start writing because you have a choice of possible projects.
Make the job fit.
To keep yourself working for all of your valuable writing period, match your writing tasks to your personality and energy level. If you’re someone who works best when you’re fresh then start writing as soon as you hit your desk. Don’t squander your most productive time on checking your email, printing address labels, doing research, and the like. You can turn to those tasks later when you’re getting tired. Having some easier jobs at that time can keep you from quitting early. If you’re someone who needs to settle in a bit first, then go ahead and do some of those jobs. Just be sure to watch the clock so you don’t piddle away your time.
Refresh!
When you’re wrestling with a story, taking a moment away can really help. You can do that by setting the story aside and working on another writing project. (See #3.) Doing something unrelated to writing can help, too, so you might just step away from your desk for a few minutes, get a cup of coffee, sit on your deck awhile, or walk the dog. But be careful – and honest with yourself. If a certain activity tends to lead you into the temptation of just quitting for the day, don’t even start it. Substitute a less tempting activity and set a time limit for it.
You can keep your writing energy up over time by refreshing yourself with somenonverbal activities. Art classes, hobbies, and sports give you a break from all those words, words, words so you can come back to writing feeling renewed and open to new ideas.
Join a critique group.
Getting together regularly with other writers is one of the most motivating things you can do. Reading other people’s work inspires you to write yourself. The support you get from writing friends keeps you going. Other writers’ suggestions help you improve your work which makes you want to write more. And needing material for your meetings encourages you to write on a routine schedule.
End with a jumpstart.
When you reach the end of one writing session, set things up so it’ll be easier to get started next time. Some writers stop in the middle of something – an exciting scene, an interesting dialogue, or even a sentence! I sometimes jot a few notes about where I’m planning to go next: a few words about plot, a snippet of possible dialogue, a question. If you’re using some kind of outline, check off what you’ve finished. Even just straightening up your desk and setting out what you need next time can help you get a good start.
Be nice to yourself.
You’re trying to do something really hard so cut yourself some slack. Gag that critical inner voice, and take joy in what you’ve written. Write as much as you can but don’t hate yourself if that darn stupid real life gets in the way. When you can’t write, let your mind imagine, dream, plan, and prepare what you’ll write next. Who knows? You might be working on your masterpiece!
For more about writing, visit http://www.dianarjenkins.bravehost.com
I imagine Michelangelo was thinking, planning, visualizing, dreaming up and rejecting ideas, preparing himself to create. He really was working!
A lot of a writer’s work is invisible, too, because it goes on inside the mind. But too many times we tell ourselves we’re doing the Michelangelo thing when we’re really just stalling around. Writing is tough. (See Gene Fowler’s quote in the sidebar.) It’s hard to start writing. It’s hard to keep writing. It’s hard to rewrite as much as you should.
Here are some ideas for getting and staying motivated. You’ll have to figure out what works for you, but hopefully one or more of these suggestions will help!
Set a reasonable goal.
Okay, everybody tries setting goals. The problem is that most writers set pie-in the-sky goals that are just too hard to meet. (Like you’re going to get up a four in the morning every day and work on your novel!) You need to set a goal you can actually achieve. And if you really have trouble getting yourself to write, make your goal so easy that you’d feel ashamed to miss it. That way you’ll get somewhere with your writing even if it is just a little at a time – and you can feel proud when you overachieve!
Lose the not-worth-it attitude.
It’s wonderful to have a whole hour, a whole afternoon, a whole day to write. (I was so happy when I was able to quit teaching and write!) But usually real life doesn’t allow that. It’s easy to feel there’s no point in even trying to write when you have tight time limits. Why, you’ll barely get started! And you certainly won’t get very far! And the end is nowhere in sight! Why bother? But even though it’s slow and inefficient, writing in little pieces can really work. Eventually you’ll write a whole something. Keep waiting until you have plenty of time, and you’ll eventually write…nothing whatsoever.
Work on several projects at a time.
It seems counterintuitive, but working on several pieces of writing at once can be easier than concentrating on just one. When you have a single writing project, hitting a snag can stop you cold. You sit there for ages, unable to decide what to write next, getting more and more discouraged until you finally quit, never to return to the computer until you’ve worked through the problem, which, face it, could take months. But if you keep several projects in the works, you can set aside a piece that’s not working and move on to something else. And something else if you have problems with that piece. Having several projects also makes it easier to start writing because you have a choice of possible projects.
Make the job fit.
To keep yourself working for all of your valuable writing period, match your writing tasks to your personality and energy level. If you’re someone who works best when you’re fresh then start writing as soon as you hit your desk. Don’t squander your most productive time on checking your email, printing address labels, doing research, and the like. You can turn to those tasks later when you’re getting tired. Having some easier jobs at that time can keep you from quitting early. If you’re someone who needs to settle in a bit first, then go ahead and do some of those jobs. Just be sure to watch the clock so you don’t piddle away your time.
Refresh!
When you’re wrestling with a story, taking a moment away can really help. You can do that by setting the story aside and working on another writing project. (See #3.) Doing something unrelated to writing can help, too, so you might just step away from your desk for a few minutes, get a cup of coffee, sit on your deck awhile, or walk the dog. But be careful – and honest with yourself. If a certain activity tends to lead you into the temptation of just quitting for the day, don’t even start it. Substitute a less tempting activity and set a time limit for it.
You can keep your writing energy up over time by refreshing yourself with somenonverbal activities. Art classes, hobbies, and sports give you a break from all those words, words, words so you can come back to writing feeling renewed and open to new ideas.
Join a critique group.
Getting together regularly with other writers is one of the most motivating things you can do. Reading other people’s work inspires you to write yourself. The support you get from writing friends keeps you going. Other writers’ suggestions help you improve your work which makes you want to write more. And needing material for your meetings encourages you to write on a routine schedule.
End with a jumpstart.
When you reach the end of one writing session, set things up so it’ll be easier to get started next time. Some writers stop in the middle of something – an exciting scene, an interesting dialogue, or even a sentence! I sometimes jot a few notes about where I’m planning to go next: a few words about plot, a snippet of possible dialogue, a question. If you’re using some kind of outline, check off what you’ve finished. Even just straightening up your desk and setting out what you need next time can help you get a good start.
Be nice to yourself.
You’re trying to do something really hard so cut yourself some slack. Gag that critical inner voice, and take joy in what you’ve written. Write as much as you can but don’t hate yourself if that darn stupid real life gets in the way. When you can’t write, let your mind imagine, dream, plan, and prepare what you’ll write next. Who knows? You might be working on your masterpiece!
For more about writing, visit http://www.dianarjenkins.bravehost.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
