Donna Washington Storyteller Study Guide By Mesa Publ ic Schools Creat ive and Performing Arts Department & DLW Storyte l ler

Theatre Etiquette YOU, the audience, are the most important part of any live theatre event. Performers depend on you to:

Remain seated

Listen

Refrain from talking during the performance

Laugh when something in the show is funny

Clap to show appreciation

Please turn off cell phones and other devices. Cameras and other recording devices are prohibited.

Performing Arts: Meeting Arizona Arts & Academic Standards

The learning activities in this study guide address specific standards to assist classroom teachers in inte-grating the performance to meet Arizona Arts and Academic Standards. The specific standards will be noted in a text box accompanying learning activities.

Demonstrate respectful audience behavior.

About the Show SHOW TOPICS

Imagination Writing Collabo-

rating Storytelling

Let’s Talk About It!

Before you start, take a few minutes to discuss the following points: 1. Where do you think storytellers get their story ideas from? 2. What are some tools a storyteller might use when telling their story? (Voice changes,

movement, facial expressions) 3. What are sound effects? How would a storyteller use them?

Donna Washington learned her love of storytelling as a child. Born an army brat she traveled all over the world with her parents. Her father would sit at the dinner table and spin the wildest yarns imaginable. He taught her Ar-thurian Legend and Greek Mythology by telling the stories in the first person. She thought he had actually been with Merlin and Oedipus. She thought he was thousands of years old. An award winning storyteller and published au-thor, Donna has been featured at storytelling festivals around the country.

Pre-Show Activity Objective - Imagine and Create: Students will collaborate to create Story Prompt boards for the classroom. Materials: A few pieces of poster paper or poster board Pencils, markers, crayons, etc. Erasers Teacher: The biggest thing children complain about is not having anything to write about or not being able to think of an idea for a story. Creating a Story Prompt Board helps address both of these problems. As a class: Brainstorm ideas for stories. What would the opening line be? What would the topic be? The possibilities are endless and no suggestion is too silly. Collect as many suggestions as possible and record them on the board. Split the class into groups. Give each group a piece of poster paper, drawing/coloring tools, and

a selection of writing prompts from the list on the board. Have each group work to list and then decorate the poster. Make

sure lists are bright and easy to read from across the classroom. Display the finished posters on the walls to use throughout the year

for writing assignments. Some examples of story prompts: The time I accidentally got shot our into outer space The haunted house next door The time I was lost at . . . The time I found . . . The time I solved a mystery The first person to climb Mount Everest The first person on the moon What it is like to be a paleontologist How do you make ice cream What is my favorite kind of bug Why I want an iguana for Christmas

Arizona Arts, Academic, and Common

Core Standards

AZ Common Core Standards; English Language Arts; Speaking and Listening Comprehension and Collaboration K-6.SL.1 Participate in collaborative conversa-tions Comprehension and Collaboration K-6.SL.3 Ask and answer questions Writing Text Types and Purposes 1-2.W.3 Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events Text Types and Purposes 3.W.3 Write narratives to develop real or im-agined experiences or events

Post-Show Activity Objective - Demonstrate: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the oral story telling process. Activity: As a class discuss the performance and how the performer used ‘tools’ (facial expressions, movements, voice modification) to tell the sto-ry and give the characters life. Split class into groups of 10. Within each group the first person makes a statement that is patently impossible to begin the story. Students may peak at the story prompt posters for ideas. For example: “Yesterday I woke up and the whole world had turned green. I had to climb up to the sun and check out what was going on. I had to wash the whole sun to get the green gunk off of its surface.” The next student continues the absurd story beginning with . . . “Well that’s nothing . . . “ and tries to create an even bigger whopper building off the first. “Well that’s nothing. A I was climbing down the ladder when a spaceship flew by and I had to jump on it so I wouldn't get knocked down. It flew me all the way to a land called “spinach world”. The next person says “Well that’s nothing” and adds their portion of the tale. This continues until the last person In the circle closes all the loopholes and ends the story. Extended activities: Have each group stand in front of the class tell their story in its entirety. Encourage the groups to add as movement and expression as possible to add even more excitement to their story. After each story has been shared with the class, students may work in their groups to turn their story into a book by putting the story in writing and adding illustrations.

Arizona Arts, Academic, and Common

Core Standards

AZ Common Core Standards; English Language Arts; Speaking and Listening Comprehension and Collaboration K-6.SL.1 Participate in collaborative conversa-tions Comprehension and Collaboration K-6.SL.3 Ask and answer questions Writing Text Types and Purposes 1-2.W.3 Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events Text Types and Purposes 3.W.3 Write narratives to develop real or im-agined experiences or events AZ Theatre Standards Creating Anchor standard 1: Generate and con-ceptualize artistic ideas and work. C. Imagine and describe characters, their relationships, what they want and why (e.g., through variations of movement and gesture, vocal pitch, volume, and tempo).