Unit Title: Creating Vocal Characters in Puppetry
Author: Kate Tullis
Unit Objective:
Students will demonstrate their ability to create a character using only their voice by utilizing the skills of tone, timbre, rate, pitch, projection, and diction in a puppet show performance.
Learning Level:
This is designed for 7th graders with little to no experience in drama.
Prior Experience:
Students in the Drama Foundations have little to no experience with drama. This is the second unit in the semester and students have a basic understanding of physicality and pantomime.
National Standards:
TH:Cr3.1.7b. Develop effective physical and vocal traits of characters in an improvised or scripted drama/theatre work.
TH:Cr1.1.6 c. Explore a scripted or improvised character by imagining the given circumstances in a drama/theatre work.
TH:Cr.1.1.5.b. Propose design ideas that support the story and given circumstances in a drama/theatre work.
TH:Pr6.1.7.a. Participate in rehearsals for a drama/theatre work that will be shared with an audience.
TH:Cr3.1.7a. Demonstrate focus and concentration in the rehearsal process to analyze and refine choices in a devised or scripted drama/theatre work.
TH:Pr6.1.8.a. Perform a rehearsed drama/theatre work for an audience.
Understanding By Design Elements
The Big Idea:
Vocal variety has the power to draw audience members into a story.
Essential Questions:
What makes a story interesting to listen to?
How can voices work together to tell a story?
What can I do to take care of my voice?
What does self-reflection help me discover about my performance?
Enduring Understandings:
We can act with our voices.
Vocal variety makes a story more interesting.
Stories built with exposition, rising action, climax, etc. are the most engaging. Rehearsal leads to a better prepared performance.
Authentic Performance Tasks:
Students will perform tongue twisters for the class as they demonstrate proper diction and projection.
Students will demonstrate vocal variety as they perform a short contentless scene for the class. Students will record a preview of their puppet performance and assess their personal progress. Students will create their vocal characters as part of a short puppet show group performance for the class.
Lessons
Lesson 1 (Need link added after created)
Objective: Students will demonstrate their understanding of projection and diction by performing a tongue twister for the rest of the class which will be seated at the back of the auditorium.
Lesson 2 (Need link added after created)
Objective: Students will demonstrate an understanding of pitch, rate, and tone by performing a nonsense (contentless) scene utilizing these vocal qualities for the class.
Lesson 3 (Need link added after created)
Objective: Students will demonstrate their understanding of plot structure, playwriting, and character development by filling out a storyboard and character worksheet.
Lesson 4 (Need link added after created)
Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to create a character as they develop a puppet and justify their creative choices based on their created character traits.
Lesson 5 (Need link added after created)
Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to make effective vocal choices using the unit vocabulary terms as they do a self-evaluation of their work.
Lesson 6 (Need link added after created)
Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to refine their work through rehearsal by assessing their own work and then picking and working on specific rehearsal tasks to help them meet the rubric standards.
Lesson 7 (Need link added after created)
Objective: Students will demonstrate their ability to create a character using only their voice by utilizing the skills of tone, timbre, rate, pitch, projection, and diction in a puppet show performance.
Creating Vocal Characters in Puppetry Unit by Kate Tullis (Need link added after created)