Thursday,+July+14,+2011

=Thursday, July 14, 2011=

Using Performance to explore Different Perspectives and Deepen Insights of Content Related Texts and Issues
In choral reading, a group of people select a text or part of a text and decide how they will communicate meaning through the way they perform it. __People Speaking__ __•__One person •Two people •Small group •Whole group •Male / Female
 * Choral Reading**

__Quality of Voice__ •Strong / Soft •Slow / Fast (pace) •Rhythmic / Musical •Expressing emotion (anger, sadness…)

Directions At your table are copies of the “I Have a Dream” speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. •As a group, choose a part of this speech you would like to perform. •Decide how your group will read the speech to best communicate its meaning. Practice and be ready to share

•Read your copy of //Bat Loves the Night// by Nicola Davies…or choose another text you would like to explore.
 * Found Poetry**

•After reading it, look through it again and write a list of phrases or words from the book that speak to you, or seem to hold the essence of the text.

•Now reread your list, and create a poem from the words and phrases you have found.

•Feel free to rearrange the phrases, add endings to the words, or add words or phrases …and make the poem your own.

With one, two or three other participants choose a nonfiction topic you teach or have become interested in this week at the institute or on your own. It can be a current issue or something from the past.
 * Poetry in 2-3-4 Voices: Developing a Point of View**

Think about people who would have differing points of view about your topic. For instance if your topic was about raising gas prices how might point of view change among an oil executive, a gas station attendant, a limo driver and a bicyclist.

Grounding the Point of View For this to powerfully link to your work with nonfiction you will want to ground your point of view in factual information. Use resources in the room or use your computer to research the topic.

Developing Multiple Perspectives Make a list of all the points you would want to make from your point of view. One way to do this is to think of a differing point of view and refute it. The frame for doing this might be, “You might think….. but actually…… “ Ground you point of view in facts as much as you can.

Help for the Group Once each person in the group has brainstormed everything they can about their point of view, share each list so that the group can help extend and strengthen each point of view.

Building the Poem: Options for Poems in 2, 3, or 4 Voices Here are some options as you create your poem: •A common refrain •A common line with one word different •A trading of lines or chunks of text from one person’s poem followed by chunks of text from someone else’s. •Weave together separate poems that were developed individually.

Who Are you Talking To? Since the writing is projecting a point of view, a stance on a topic, it will be helpful as you put it together to decide if you are addressing others in the group, or if collectively you are writing to an audience. What you decide might influence how you write it and certainly how you would perform it.

Performing your Poem •Practice your poem together. •How you stand and who you look at will help the audience know if you are addressing them or members in the group.