PSawyer AATE 2015 Presentation - Spoken Word in the High School Classroom

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Spoken Word in the
High School Classroom
Mining the Minor's Mind
Paul Sawyer
Sacred Heart Schools – Atherton, California
Originally presented at the American Alliance for Theatre & Education National Conference in
Milwaukee, WI, 8/8/2015
© Paul Sawyer - 2015 - FOR PRVATE
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Question of the Day
• If you could meet ANYONE…
• Living or Dead…
• Real Or Fictional…
…who would it be?
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Goals in the first six weeks…
• Surveyed 150 teachers
• Stage comfort/presence
• Sense of play
• Character
• Relationship
• Independently create
• Creative curiosity
• Physical awareness
• Connecting to audience
• Objective/Tactic/Obstacle
• Class ensemble
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What Is Slam Poetry?
• Marc Smith, 1984
• “The very word 'poetry' repels people. Why is that?
Because of what schools have done to it. The slam gives
it back to the people.... We need people to talk poetry to
each other. That's how we communicate our values, our
hearts, the things that we've learned that make us who
we are.”
• Smithsonian Magazine, 1992
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What Is Slam Poetry?
• Format
• Three minutes long
• No music, props or costumes
• All-original work
• Poet is the performer
• Sample Playlist (some discretion advised)
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Design of Sequence
• Personal Museum
• Creation of Poetic Text
• Workshopping Poems
• Performance of Poems
• Personal Reflection/Audience Reaction
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PERSONAL MUSEUMS
“What moves you?”
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Starting to Dig
• Think of five things that…
• Truly move you
• Are at the core of who you are
• Are irreplaceable
• Make up your personal identity
What is one of your five things?
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Creating Your Museum
• Pick five items of supreme significance
• Represent them artistically
• No more than one from any art form
• Compile them into a 90-120 second film
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Free Powerpoint Templates© Paul Sawyer - 2015 - FOR PRVATE
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Example
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Can you guess who this is?
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Harry Potter
• Family
• Fate/Destiny
• Magic
• Owls/Flight
• Friends
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Personal Museum Examples
• Example One
• Example Two
• Example Three
• Example Four
• Example Five
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Bridge to Creating Poetry
• Identifying themes
• Understanding yourself as a character
• Language
• Style
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CREATING SLAM POETRY
From concept to text…
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What themes might you see in
your own classroom?
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Exploring Theme
• Identifying themes
• Expectations of Peers
• Love of Family
• Social Justice
• Transitional Identity
• Faith/Religion
• Private Trauma
• Cathartic Outlets
• Mental Illness
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Creating Text
• Checklist
• Who are you?
• What are you trying to say?
• Who are you talking to?
• Where/when are you talking to them?
• Style: Verse or prose?
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CREATING TEXT
Personal Approach discussion
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Workshopping
• Semi-anchored performance
• Focus on scoring
• Verbs
• Building structure
• Arc of the piece
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Workshopping
• Common issues
• Memorization
• Lack of vocal variety
• Reading versus Performance
• Flat physicality
• Similar to other scripted work
• Easier since the text is their own
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Poet Response to Performance
• Immersion
• Satisfaction
• Areas to work
• Moments of complete connection
• Reading the audience
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Slam in Drama Curriculum
• Class progression
• Personal Museums/Slam Poetry
• Improvisation
• One Word Scenes
• Monologues
• Group Scene Study
• Self-Produced Performances
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Class Learning Objectives
• Identifying a character’s
journey
• Finding personal voice
• Confidence on stage
• Use of verbs/scoring
• Physical/vocal technique
• Utilization of text
• Memorization
• Building an artistic
community
• Director/Actor dynamic
• Workshopping/Rehearsal
process
• Aristotle’s Six Areas
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National Core Arts Standards
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Conclusions
• Safe way for beginning exploration
• First text is their own
• Discover the “class personality”
• Find baseline of class/individual skill-set
• Explore catharsis of theatre VS other classes
• Build trust and personal connection
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OPEN Q&A SESSION
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Special Thanks
• Sacred Heart Schools - Atherton
• SHP Drama Boosters
• American Alliance for Theatre & Education
• Rachel Prouty
• Stacey Ardelean
• Marc Pinate
• Nicole & Jackson Sawyer
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Special Thanks
• Ted & Judy Buszkiewicz
• Susan & Paul Jordan
• Siobhan Thompson
• T.B.
• A.S.
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Contact Information
• Paul Sawyer
• Psawyer@shschools.org
• www.shschools.org
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PSawyer AATE 2015 Presentation - Spoken Word in the High School Classroom

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