by Alex Taylor
EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVE:
Students will demonstrate their ability to write dialogue by composing a script for a silent sitcom clip.
STANDARDS:
Utah Standard L1.T.P.1: Interpret the character, setting, and essential events in a story or
script that make up the dramatic structure in a drama/theatre work.
MATERIALS NEEDED:
TV or Projector, whiteboard, sitcom clip (The Office, Big Bang Theory, Friends, etc.)
TEACHING PRESENTATION:
WARM UP/HOOK:
Get the students to shout out as much information as they can about Aristotle (Greek, philosopher, first theatre critic, admirer of Sophocles, wrote Poetics, etc.)
STEP 1: Transition
Teach the students how Aristotle attended ancient Greek theatre festivals and became curious as to why some plays were good and others weren’t. So he decided to create a list of elements that, if incorporated by playwrights, would help to make a good play. He wrote these up in a body of work called the Poetics.
STEP 2: Instruction
Introduce and outline on the board Aristotle’s elements of a plays.
- Plot – action/events (soul of the play)
- Characters – people
- Diction – language
- Thought – emotions (theme, feeling)
- Sound – audible
- Spectacle – visual
Have students research the 6 elements and write them on the board. Define as a class what each of the 6 elements are and why they are important to a story.
***Highlight the dialogue element: any conversation that results from tension or conflict.
STEP 3: Individual Practice
Conduct the One-Minute Play Activity: instruct students to get a piece of lined paper out and write ‘A’ in the center of the top line. Have them skip a line and write ‘B’ in the center of the third line. Have them continue skipping and writing in an alternating pattern (A, B, A, B, etc.) down the center of the front of the page. Inform them that A and B are characters in a play and students will be writing their dialogue. They will have exactly one minute to write this short play between A and B. Write the first line of dialogue on the board and have the students write it under the first “A” line starting on the left margin (like normal writing on paper). The first line of dialogue: “Hey, did you see that….” (students will finish the sentence). Tell the students not to think about their writing or worry about how interesting or logical it is – just continue the conversation. Start the time.
STEP 4: Discussion
Have a few of the students read what they wrote. Several students can share their One-Minute Plays and the class can comment on the different conversations. Ask the class if they were able to imagine the characters that their classmates created based solely on their dialogue.
STEP 5: Modeling
Note with the class that they have just practiced the basic format for playwriting and that they have created dialogue that could be performed on stage.
STEP 6: Guided Practice
Show the students a short clip from a sitcom episode but be sure to mute the sound level. Students will hopefully be unfamiliar with the clip and will be creating the dialogue for the clip. You may want to establish the character’s names for ease of writing, but do not give any clues to relationships of characters or actual storylines. Remind the students to write the character’s name in the center of their paper and the dialogue off of the left margin. Encourage them to supply the conversation in the clip, but not to worry about providing an exact line-by-line dialogue for every time the actor’s mouths move.
Show the clips three times: first to allow the students to see the clip all the way through and jot down some key actions that take place in the clip; second to start imagining and writing what the characters are saying as they perform the action viewed; third to make sure they have written all they want to.
STEP 7: Checking for Understanding
Have selected students share their scripts. Encourage the class to respond to the scripts and have the scriptwriters share their ideas and inspirations (Why did they choose to write that? What made them think of that?).
STEP 8: Modeling
Play the clip one more time but this time with the sound level raised so that the students can hear what the professional writers of the sitcom created.
ASSESSMENT:
Students can be assessed through their One-Minute Plays and sitcom scripts.