“If you want to know someone’s story, they have to tell it aloud. But every time, the telling is a little but different. It’s new, even to me.”
– Jodi Picoult, author
Lesson 5: Practice Makes Perfect
Objective
Students will perform their pieces in front of partners to continue to revise and improve their performances.
Introduction (1 minute)
Today, we are going to work with partners to finalize our performance pieces and ensure that we are clear in our messaging and emotion. We’re excited to dive into our work together for constructive and thoughtful feedback.
Do Now (5 minutes)
Listen to the song “Brave” by Sara Baraleilles.
If you had to tell a 4-5 sentence story about this song, what would you say it is about and what emotions do you feel when listening to it?
After having 2-3 students share, you can share the following from Wikipedia:
“Brave” was written by Bareilles and Jack Antonoff from the band fun. in 2011 about the struggles a friend experienced while coming out as gay. Antonoff described the song “as a real civil rights anthem at a time when there are no civil rights anthems and there’s a giant need for civil rights anthems.” Bareilles also discussed the song in many interviews, revealing that she thinks “there’s so much honor and integrity and beauty in being able to be who you are, [and] it’s important to be brave because by doing that you also give others permission to do the same.”
Lesson Materials (20 minutes)
Today, students will be partnering to receive feedback on their performance piece. Share the following protocol for the partnership:
- Have students partner with someone (or assign partners)
- Student 1 performs the piece that they have so far (2-5 minutes)
- Student 2 listens actively to the piece and takes notes. He/She/They will then share back to Student 1 what message they took to the piece. (1 minute)
- Student 1 will then share how well their interpretation aligns to the story, theme, and meaning. (1 minute)
- Student 1 will take a minute to write notes and consider, how can the lyrics/narrative be altered to provide more clarity.
- Students will then switch and repeat the exercise for Student 2’s piece.
Homework (30 minutes)
Revise your draft based on feedback and prepare to perform again in the next session.