Teacher's Notes

The following is an excerpt taken from the Introduction to the VoiceWorks Teacher Resource Book.

Introduction | VoiceWorks: Features of the texts | VoiceWorks in the classroom | Reader’s Theatre | Preparing | Rehearsing | Script Handling | Performing | Everyone can play | What will we achieve?

Introduction

VoiceWorks is a collection of sixteen appealing traditional, contemporary and language-play stories told in dramatic text form. Three of the scripts are dramatic adaptations of the most popular stories from the SupaDoopers series—Fish for Sale, Princess Euphorbia and Snow White and the Seven Sumos. Others are scripts developed from well-loved traditional stories such as Bendomelena and The Musicians of Bremen while play scripts such as The Yuckiest Wish and Quick Nick and Slow Jo have been written especially for VoiceWorks.

VoiceWorks provides teachers of children in the middle primary years with an ideal opportunity to introduce their students to the notion of character and story development as well as setting and plot while they participate in small group reading. Class performance through Reader’s Theatre and other dramatic presentations will extend students guided reading experiences by making the texts 'come alive'.

VoiceWorks will enable you to enhance your English program through engaging reading, writing, speaking & listening and visual literacy experiences. The three big books form an ideal resource through which students can discuss how stories can be presented in an alternative form of text—that of the play script—and what the writer has to consider when writing such a text. These play scripts have been selected specifically to be in shared text form as they are ideal models for students’ own writing.

VoiceWorks will also enhance your Arts program as the play scripts provide an excellent way of focusing upon performance speaking, acting, musical and sound accompaniment, stage craft and importantly, co-operative work.

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VoiceWorks: Features of the texts

An important feature of VoiceWorks is the text design. Play scripts should be easy to read with each reader being able to easily identify their reading part and read it aloud without confusion. In VoiceWorks each part is identified through the use of colour coding and through having the name of the character sitting outside the body of the text. Script conventions such as capitalising words that should be stressed, the insertion of stage directions in italics and spacing to delineate phrasing have been carefully adhered to. The number of characters and one idea of what they might look like are introduced visually at the beginning of each beautifully illustrated book. Sound and Stage tips appear at the end of each script providing excellent points for discussion after the first reading.

Play scripts are a combination of two text types—dialogue and information. In addition, many visual text elements are often used such as sound-symbol icons and character sketches. The information may take the form of explanation, recount and procedure. Dialogue conveys the story and provides both reader and listener with a notion of the characters themselves.

Developing an understanding of how narrative works and how it is used to create atmosphere, develop sympathy for characters, gain an understanding of time and setting and elicit a response from the audience can help students to gain a greater appreciation of dramatic text types.

The scripts are presented in four narrative stages—orientation—setting the scene; complication—an event or events occurring in order to provide the basis for the development of the story; a series of events—recurring action that builds an expectation of a resolution and resolution—a conclusion to the complication is reached by providing an expected, or unexpected and in many cases entertaining, ending to the story. Sometimes a comment stage follows the resolution. This is often a moral such as those that appear at the end of Aesop’s Fables.

VoiceWorks in the Classroom

One way in which you may wish to use the play scripts is to use the performance technique—Reader’s Theatre. This technique works very well after students have participated in guided reading sessions using the play scripts.

Reader’s Theatre

The traditional style of Reader’s Theatre sees the readers arranged in a row or semi-circle sitting on high stools or standing. The scripts can be held or set on music stands. The readers look straight out towards the class or audience rather than looking at each other.

Another way of presenting Reader’s Theatre is for the characters to move around a stage or an open classroom area much as in a play, acting out or suggesting the movements described in the script often by simple mime devices such as walking in place. The narrator looks at the audience but characters usually look at each other.

Preparing

So that students can become familiar with their parts it is necessary for them to have read the script through, either within a guided reading group or silently, before they participate in a performance. They also need to read their part aloud once or twice and to seek assistance with pronunciation if they feel they need to do so. To solve any difficulties that may arise you may wish to read the script aloud to the group — but make sure that you too practise before doing so! You may also wish to discuss the difference between characters and narrators. .

Rehearsing

Here are some points that will help the students enjoy their performance:

• Hold your script at a steady height and ensure that it does not hide your face
• Try to look up as often as you can. When reading your script move your eyes only and try and keep your head up.
• Speak clearly and try not to rush.
• Speak quite loudly as everyone needs to hear you.
• Read with feeling—remember you are the character!
• Remember to be the character even when you are not speaking.
• If you are the narrator make sure you give the readers enough time for their reading and for actions.

Script Handling

Students should be encouraged to see if they can handle the books so that they can be easily referred to but don’t seriously restrict movement or distract the audience. This is a skill and takes practise. Although readers do not need to memorize the script they do need to know their lines and cues well enough so that they can look up from their scripts with ease. When they do look down encourage students to do so with their eyes only.

Performing

Before a Reader’s Theatre performance talk with your students about the 'what-ifs'.

• If the audience laughs—and they are sure to do so—stop speaking until they can hear you again.
• If someone talks in the audience just ignore them.
• If some one unexpected walks into the room don’t stop and don’t look!
• If you make a mistake pretend it was correct!
• If you drop something try to leave it where it is at least until the audience is looking elsewhere.
• If a reader forgets to read don’t whisper to them—read their part yourself or just skip over it.
• If someone falls over, gets the giggles, slides off their stool or bursts into tears pretend that they haven’t
• Have fun!

Everyone can play

VoiceWorks provides many opportunities for all students to join in either as part of a group reading or in a performance. The less confident student can participate as part of a group in those plays where there are an unspecified number of parts for members of a group. The more confident students will usually choose to take the individual roles and those don’t who don’t wish to 'perform' but want to participate may be offered the narrators’ roles. Be prepared to be surprised—you may have an aspiring actor in your class who has not yet been discovered!

What will we achieve?

Through VoiceWorks students’ self-confidence and independent reading strategies will be enhanced as they:

• work co-operatively with others in their class as they read, rehearse and present play scripts.
• extend their reading experiences through drama and role play.
• are introduced to vocabulary that they otherwise may not encounter.
• identify and gain an understanding of the dramatic script form.
• write their own play scripts.
• read and present their own play scripts.
• innovate on stories through rewriting them as play scripts.
• identify different types of drama scripts and the features of these texts.
• share their sense of story and dramatic form with others.
• gain a sense of how stories can come to life through drama.
• enjoy playing with language in order to create a response from a audience.
• discuss the way in which stories work and why characters behave in certain ways.
• suggest ways in which sound accompaniment can be used.
• suggest costumes to suit the characters and setting.
• discover that performance reading can be fun.