Library Conference

Acting Up Oct 97 9:30 - 11:15.. w/ break, 1 ½ hours. Room: Plaza G. Luke, Alison, Audrey, Julie S.

Handouts? Afterwards?

Me: teach speech and English… Triopia 27 years Special Consultant to the Illinois Elementary School Association for speech and drama Director of theatre for J’ville T. Guild, Lincoln’s New Salem. Author: over 100 plays and a weekly newspaper humor column. Two books… one out in November. last night.. proofed 5th time.. I don’t care if I ever see it again. Scripts: creativeideas.com Now… that’s over.. I hate that part of a speech.. but I’ve sat through so many conferences listening to some guy speak, wondering “Does he know what he’s talking about?”

I also taught reading and English on the Jr High level for over 20 years. I’ve used improvisation as a jumping off point for reading and writing for all my teaching career.

I WANT TO TALK TO YOU TODAY ABOUT USING IMPROVISATION AS A TOOL IN INSPIRING KIDS TO READ.

FIRST: Why Improv?

It is “Democratic.” allows all levels of students to become part of the creative process with no regard to reading or interest levels.
It is a motivating tool. Students who constantly say, “I can’t think of anything” …. do. And it bleeds over into other language disciplines… students don’t just say I can write and read.. but I can create.
It’s an exciting creative process. .. literally formed before your eyes.
Any time you involve a student in the creative process, the desire to read is stimulated.
It is pro-active. I’ve yet to encounter a class which doesn’t love it. On one hand we know that we are teaching a generation to whom “Sit quietly and do your work” is a foreign phrase. TV, video, computers, etc. On the other hand, we know the value of reading and we know that it is a solitary, quiet exercise. Improv is fun for the participants and highly entertaining for the spectators.

Improv is the oral equivalent of writing… group story-telling.

One year I took a group of Jr High students, had them read the books available in elementary reading collections and then traveled to the elementary school to present their improvisations. We had a blast. Teachers said it greatly increased reading and my Jr High students were big shots.

Scripted pieces are fine, but they require time, memorization, and therefore exclude many students.

How I’ve used Improvisation: To stimulate interest in books.

We read the book as a group then improvise scenes.
We read the book as a group then put the same characters in different situations, having the same character traits. Thus, teaching character development.
Used as a book report format. I listened to too many years’ worth of book reports. … I was headed for an early death. Improvisation requires knowledge of the book and if a student is enlisting friends to help, it requires their explaining the story to others. Two types of Improv: Prepared and On the Spot. I used Prepared for the book report setting.

To stimulate interest in reading.

Found it’s the most powerful method I know to stimulate interest in a book. Ex: Would often use Durango Street and Sounder as subjects of Improv.

To stimulate the interest in writing. Many short stories and plays have come from Improvisations. On the professional level: A Chorus Line. Studs Terkel’s Working. Kids will see plots develop before their eyes. Also: the advantage of many minds working on the same idea. Also: shows that there is always more than one angle on anything. Give three groups the same idea and send off to work separately. Watch the three ideas and how different they are.

Yesterday… Travis… 7th-grader working on a 3rd-grade level. Brought me a theme… unassigned… I was floored. Bugged me all day until I’d read it. I could bare make it out. “You think I could be a famous writer?” Here’s the problem… before we allow students to exercise their creative skills, we first insist they master the art. This insistence on mastery cuts most creativity off at the pass. “I don’t have any ideas,” usually means, “I have mastered the language.” Improv allows them to shortcut this in writing and reading. They can get turned on to creating, then be motivated to learn the craft.

Once turned our summer storytime hour into an Improv workshop every other session. The # of books checked out nearly doubled.

So… You have probably asked yourself several times already.. Do I want to use this? Can I use this? The first question is up to you. I assume you’re open to new ideas or you wouldn’t be here. The second: Absolutely. You can use it Monday morning. In the classroom. In the library… and most importantly, share with teachers to stimulate learning in their classrooms. I believe that the single most damaging thing we can do is to categorize language. To separate reading from writing from speaking from performance. These are all variations on the same process, making language. To separate them is to say that they are somehow different and thus each requiring very different skills. Not true.

Improvisation is an exciting and fun-filled way to integrate the various forms of making language.

3 things today 1) warmups, 2) working on specific language skills, 3) take a specific piece of literature and show how it’s done. GET SOME HELP FROM THE AUDIENCE? Warm-ups are vital. Circle.. Cow, Grape, Cowboy. One start action. Imagination Walk “What are you Doing?” One behind using hands. One move one. Doo Wacka Doo Goin’ for a Ride Complaint Dept. Mr. Mumble

To Get Them Talking: Partner non-stop Simul-talk (idea from the audience) The Brain

Character Emotions: School Bus Walk on, sit, walk off. (as a specific character) Choice: Huckleberry Finn, Winnie the Pooh, Black Beard the Pirate, Little Bo Peep, Maniac Magee. 2-person Improv… me tapping. fear, joy, nervous, annoyed, guilt, embarrassed, pride, lonely, shame, sadness, jealousy, excitement, love.

Character Motivation: To talk about motivation… The same words with different motivation: “Will you? No. Will You? No. Please? Ok.”

Setting the scene: Michaelangelo One, Two, Three, Four, Freeze. Huck Finn and his friends painting the fence. Moses crossing the Red Sea. The 3 Bears discover Goldilocks. Peter Rabbit & brothers sneaking into garden The Grinch comes home to his family at night Barney and his friends 101 Dalmations in potty training

Viewpoint: Styles of writing… Scene Three Ways (get idea from the audience.. their day so far) Soap Opera, Shakespeare, Sesame Street, Baywatch. Fairy Tale (use narrator) Character viewpoint… Tell a story (get one from the audience) Truckdriver, 1st grader, British aristocrat, tenny-bopper, Cowboy, Barney,

Being Believable.. (takes detail) 2 lies, 1 truth (send teachers out?)

Teaching the Intention… going deeper than the surface story 2 talk, 2 tell what they’re thinking First day of First grade… strangers seated next to each other.

Building to a climax: Justify a tag line (get one from the audience)

Expanding on an idea: What Happened next? What happens after the story is done?

3 little pigs.. Cops come to investigate a missing wolf Jane wants a new house from Tarzan Miss Muffet returns for revenge.

Brainstorming an idea… jumping off points Freeze Tag

After break… get specific with actual stories. In a situation where the class has read a book together…..

Maniac McGee

p. 5-6 (read first) Living with Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan Maniac, Aunt Doc, Uncle Dan… Morning breakfast before school. Uncle Dan sitting on one room… asking Maniac to come watch TV with him. Aunt Dot in the other, asking him to help with the dishes.

p. 6-7 Chorus Concert.. “Talk! Talk, will ya! Talk! Talk! Talk!” taken out into the night. (talk about Aunt and Uncle coming in.. sitting in different spots.. first time in the same room in years) Maniac Girls on each side… Principal who takes him out.

P. 10 Amanda and Maniac meet… Amanda. Maniac Two girls with her … not trusting this white boy.

p. 20.. Cobble’s Knot. Maniac working on the huge ball of string. Amanda… believing he can do it. Two kids… thinking he can’t.

Questions?

I hope you’ve had some fun. I want to thank my students.. Julie, Audrey, Alison & Luke. I hope you latch on to this fascinating way to make language come alive in your school…. That you’ll never give up on finding new ways to stimulate reading. Thanks for your attention..

PAGE

PAGE 7