4. Middle School Assignment Day 1
Bell Ringer: What makes a book, movie, TV show or play engaging? Do any of those traits occur in historical events? Is history good inspiration for drama?
Watch the following “Newsies: The Musical” YouTube clip in class.
Read pgs. 4-5 as a class.
As a class, you will all be learning how to perform a piece of a “large group musical number”. You will each have one newspaper sheet to dance with. Don’t tear it up! Keep it in your hands until you learn the choreography and blocking to the song.
You will learn 8 counts of a choreographed dance for the song “Seize the Day”.
The teacher will serve as your “choreographer”, so play close attention because she will only explain it twice. Look and hear for the counts and blocking.
As soon as you hear your cue which will be the choreographer saying “5,6,7,8” you will begin to dance to the song as a class.
The choreography will include you to put the newspaper on the floor where you will step on and slide on it, pick it up, roll it up into a ball and as a class shoot the paper ball to the Promethean Board.

5. Middle School Assignment Day 2
Bell Ringer: Can you think of any moments in history that have been made into a novel? What about a book or a TV Show? A stage play or a musical?
Creating a Character:
Choose one of the photos in your “Newsies: the Musical Study Guide” or from the following slides and create a character based on the image you selected. Complete the worksheet with information based on your class discussions, the information in the guide and your own imagination! Pg. 13

14. Middle School Assignment Day 3
In your drama journals write a 3-4 paragraph critique (4-5 sentences each). You can glue a piece of newspaper to your journal for decoration.
Consider the following questions in your critique: What did you like about the movie musical? What was different about the YouTube clip we saw of the live performance in comparison to the movie musical? If you preferred the movie, why did you prefer the movie? If you preferred the live musical, why did you prefer it live? Would you have directed it differently? What would you have done differently?

15. High School Assignment Day 1
Bell Ringer: What makes a book, movie, TV show or play engaging? Do any of those traits occur in historical events? Is history good inspiration for drama?
Watch the following “Newsies: The Musical” YouTube clip in class.
Read pgs. 4-5 as a class.
As a class, you will all be learning how to perform a piece of a “large group musical number”. You will each have one newspaper sheet to dance with. Don’t tear it up! Keep it in your hands until you learn the choreography and blocking to the song.
You will learn 8 counts of a choreographed dance for the song “Seize the Day”.
The teacher will serve as your “choreographer”, so play close attention because she will only explain it twice. Look and hear for the counts and blocking.
As soon as you hear your cue which will be the choreographer saying “5,6,7,8” you will begin to dance to the song as a class.
The choreography will include you to put the newspaper on the floor where you will step on and slide on it, pick it up, roll it up into a ball and as a class shoot the paper ball to the Promethean Board.

16. High School Assignment Day 2
Bell Ringer: Can you think of any moments in history that have been made into a novel? What about a book or a TV Show? A stage play or a musical?
Turn of the Century:
Scene Work: Working in small groups, select an event described in the second paragraph of the article on the previous page(pg ). Work with your group to write a scene from the play based on the event you selected; your scene should include at least two characters and five lines of dialogue and follow these guidelines: (25 pts each)
Each character must have a name.
You must communicate your setting using dialogue or stage directions. Stage directions are unspoken words that describe the setting, and tell us where the actors go and what they do onstage. You can put your stage directions in parentheses.
Your scene must have a beginning (exposition), middle (conflict), and an end (resolution).
Incorporate historical facts from the article as you write your scene, but also use your imagination to create characters and fill in the gaps of your story.

17. High School Assignment Day 3
In your drama journals write a 3-4 paragraph critique (4-5 sentences each). You can glue a piece of newspaper to your journal for decoration.
Consider the following questions in your critique: What did you like about the movie musical? What was different about the YouTube clip we saw of the live performance in comparison to the movie musical? If you preferred the movie, why did you prefer the movie? If you preferred the live musical, why did you prefer it live? Would you have directed it differently? What would you have done differently?

18. High School Improv Assignment Day 1
Bell Ringer: What makes a book, movie, TV show or play engaging? Do any of those traits occur in historical events? Is history good inspiration for drama?
Watch the following “Newsies: The Musical” YouTube clip in class.
Read pgs. 4-5 as a class.
As a class, you will all be learning how to perform a piece of a “large group musical number”. You will each have one newspaper sheet to dance with. Don’t tear it up! Keep it in your hands until you learn the choreography and blocking to the song.
You will learn 8 counts of a choreographed dance for the song “Seize the Day”.
The teacher will serve as your “choreographer”, so play close attention because she will only explain it twice. Look and hear for the counts and blocking.
As soon as you hear your cue which will be the choreographer saying “5,6,7,8” you will begin to dance to the song as a class.
The choreography will include you to put the newspaper on the floor where you will step on and slide on it, pick it up, roll it up into a ball and as a class shoot the paper ball to the Promethean Board.

19. High School Improv Assignment Day 2
Bell Ringer: Can you think of any moments in history that have been made into a novel? What about a book or a TV Show? A stage play or a musical?
Two Sides to the Story:
Read the article and timeline on the following pages as a class. Pgs
In your drama journals, summarize the Newsboys’ Strike of in your drama journals.
As a class we will create two columns, labeling one “Newsies” and the other “Publishers”. Ask the students to offer items that both sides of the strike were fighting for and record them in the appropriate column. We will as a class, review the outcome of the strike, and we will vote on who “won”. We’ll answer as a class why is this a genuine compromise?

20. High School Improv Assignment Day 3
In your drama journals write a 3-4 paragraph critique (4-5 sentences each). You can glue a piece of newspaper to your journal for decoration.
Consider the following questions in your critique: What did you like about the movie musical? What was different about the YouTube clip we saw of the live performance in comparison to the movie musical? If you preferred the movie, why did you prefer the movie? If you preferred the live musical, why did you prefer it live? Would you have directed it differently? What would you have done differently?