KRISTA D. PRICE

Day 1: Story / Read a Play (Exposition)

 

1.)   Students finished performing final scenes and completed Reflection #4 in Google Classroom.

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Day 2: Story / Read a Play (Exposition)

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1.)   Journaled in response to the following questions: 

(in Google Classroom PROCESS JOURNAL; Title: Thinking creatively")

• What have you learned about thinking creatively as a result of creating original scenes this unit?  (If absent, be sure to do this on your own.)

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2.)  Watched Ira Glass on Storytelling - part III (0:00-1:54) and discussed how creative thinking CAN be developed by constantly creating (a large volume of work) and how failure is a part of the creative PROCESS..  (Watch HERE)  (if absent, be sure to watch)

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3.)  Discussed:

• What have you been taught about "failure" in your life?  (through adults' actions, not words)

• How can learning to think creatively (and producing creative work) help you in YOUR chosen career/life path? 

• Discussed how creativity CAN be developed (re-visited) by doing, doing, doing and that "failure" is a necessary part of the creative process.

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4.) Discussed:  If you switched from performing an ORIGINAL CONCEPT/IDEA to performing a SCRIPT, what would be the differences? 

• Discussed what a script LOOKS like and what it includes (character's name and what he/she says).  Discussed how scripts aren't meant to be read...they're meant to be SEEN.

• Discussed ways to better use your imagination while reading a script.

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5.) Learned about playwright Neil Simon and his Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Lost in Yonkers. 

• If absent, just know that Neil Simon is a well-known 20th century playwright who wrote many plays and screenplays.  Many of his plays were influenced by where he grew up (New York) and when he grew up (during/after the Great Depression). 

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6.) Discussed  the "world of the play" that we will be reading in class (Yonkers, New York, 1942) and the ways the play's characters may be influenced by that "world".

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DAY 3: Story / Read a Play (Exposition / Conflict / Build)

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1.) Reviewed  the "world of the play" that we are reading in class (Yonkers, New York, 1942) and the character relationships established in the play's exposition.

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2.) Learned about Freytag's Pyramid:  conflict & build 

• Conflict = the first "significant event" in a story that "unlocks the plot"  (there will be MANY conflicts in most stories, but the first significant one typically is introduced as the main conflict that needs to be resolved before the story ends

• Build = the "rising action" of the play (in theatre, this rising action in a scene or story is called "build")

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3.) Read Lost in Yonkers by Neil Simon together as a class.  If absent you MUST keep up with the reading of this play. (see below) 

Click the links below to read (in order) anything you've missed in class. 

•  Act I, Scene1 (pgs 3-21) Exposition = the beginning of the play where we learn about the characters and their relationship to eachother 

• Act I, Scene 1 (pgs 21-26) Conflict = the moment that "unlocks" the plot/rising action of the play.  The first big conflict often drives the storyline of the play.

• Act I, Scene 1 (pgs 26-39) Build = the "rising action" in the story (in theatre it's called "build") - Today we read  through page 36; if absent be sure to read on your own BEFORE next class (start at "Exposition" from above links and read up to pg 36).

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DAY 4:  Story / Read a Play (Build) 

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1.) Reviewed:  Plot terms & definitions (inciting incident, exposition, conflict, build, crisis, climax, denouement)

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2.) Read the play Lost in Yonkers by Neil Simon.  If absent, you MUST read what we read in class (see below).

Click the links below for each day's reading. ​​

• Act I, Scene 2-4, pgs 40-63 (Build)  - Today we started on pg 36 and read through pg 90; if absent you must read this BEFORE next class.

• Act II, Scene 1-2, pgs 64-95 (Build)  

• Act II, Scene 2, pgs 96-103 (Crisis) 

• Act II, Scene 3, pgs 104-112 (Build After Crisis)

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