Final Design Project Proposal

Christine Janson
Ed Tech 586
John Carroll University
11/23/09

I have been teaching Introduction to Acting at Saint Joseph Academy for six years now. And every year, when I consider ways to approach Chapter 3, entitled “Voice and Diction,” I consider using readers’ theater as a tool to enhance the subject matter. Even though I have seen readers’ theater performed on several occasions, even though I have directed readers’ theater several times, and even though I have a book full of readers’ theater scripts, for some reason, I have not incorporated it effectively into my classroom teaching.

In the past, when I have reached this chapter, I have given each actress a hand-held tape recorder and given any number of voice and diction assignments, such as:

Record 45 seconds of monologue or dialogue from your favorite cartoon or animated movie; replay and listen closely to the vocal qualities that make each character distinctly different, unique and funny; prepare to recreate one of the voices for your classmates while changing your own pitch, volume, tone, diction, pace, resonant quality, etc.

Record yourself reading a poem of your choosing or the one assigned to you currently; consider using your many vocal qualities to bring life, character and interest to that poem; after the first recording listen and take note of what you liked as well as what you didn’t like about your poetic reading; rerecord it, share the recording with a partner and discuss the two of recordings.

Before I continue, let me say that tapping into beginning acting skills stems from having a connection with a character deeply enough that the actress wants to, and is able to, explore that character’s thoughts, feelings and motivations. So, having a likeable script – or at least convincing the students that they will like the script and outcome is of utmost importance. With that said, if the students are given a readers’ theater script that they can connect to – even if they have to write one of their own using a scenario from a successful movie for instance – the following use of technology could really work to promote understanding and growth.

So, here is exactly why and how I think incorporating readers’ theater into my classroom could be better served using more technology more effectively. Once the students have a working script and each actress has a role for which she has created a character sketch, the students would practice and then digitally record their voices in either an MP3 or WAV file format – which is a much higher quality device than a hand held tape recorder – download the file onto a computer and then upload it onto my website for a listening by the whole class. This process for each readers’ theater script (there will probably be either 2 or 3 separate scripts and groups) will take place at least twice, if not three times. After each recording and download, the actors will listen to each others readings and critique them. I think the best way to end this unit would be for the third and final listening to use both audio and visual qualities – for which I would use my digital camera – the SJA Flip Camera – after which the readings could be viewed on my YouTube video channel. That way, the students can not only hear each characters voice, but they can see the way each characters voice is enhanced by simple gestures and facial expressions. As with most of my projects, the students would have a rubric to help guide them so they are working toward and evaluating specific individual, as well as group-oriented goals. I know the students would benefit from the use of these technologies, and I believe that using readers’ theater in my classroom might actually work for the first time ever!