Grade: 9-12 Subject: Debate Topic: Interps

Date Lesson: Picking an Interp Script

Lesson Title
LESSON FOCUS AND GOALS:

THE FIRST STEP TO HAVING AN INCREDIBLE INTERP IS CHOOSING A SCRIPT

WITH THE POTENTIAL TO PERFORM WELL. EVEN THE BEST ACTORS CAN ONLY
TAKE A MEDIOCRE SCRIPT SO FAR.

MATERIALS NEEDED: LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

BASIC STORYLINE (TO SHOW THEM)
HOW TO CHOOSE AN HI SCRIPT (TO READ
THROUGH WITH THEM/HANDOUT)
STUDENTS WILL LEARN HOW TO
HOW TO CHOOSE A DI SCRIPT (TO READ SELECT AN IMPACTFUL SCRIPT WITH
THROUGH WITH THEM/HANDOUT)
THINKING THROUGH YOUR SCRIPT
A THEME AND A GOOD STORYLINE.
(WORKSHEET)

STRUCTURE / ACTIVITY:
START BY SHOWING STUDENTS THE BASIC STORYLINES.
EXPLAIN THAT GOOD STORIES ALL FOLLOW SIMILAR PLOT LINES. WHETHER THEY CHOOSE AN
EXISTING SCRIPT OR CUT THEIR OWN, THEY NEED TO MAKE SURE IT HAS A STORY ARC TO IT.
THEN GO THROUGH HOW TO CHOOSE AN HI/DI SCRIPT
THESE ARE A SET OF QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS TO ASK THEMSELVES ALONG WITH EXAMPLES
TO HELP THEM COME UP WITH IDEAS OF STORIES THEY MIGHT WANT TO TURN INTO SCRIPTS.
THE QUESTIONS WILL ALSO HELP THEM NARROW DOWN THEIR IDEAS TO SEE WHICH SCRIPT
CHOICE WOULD BE THE BEST.
AFTER THAT, LET STUDENTS LOOSE TO LOOK FOR A SCRIPT.
ONCE THEY HAVE AN IDEA, GIVE THEM THE "THINKING THROUGH YOUR SCRIPT" WORKSHEET TO
HELP MAKE SURE THAT THE SCRIPT THEY'VE CHOSEN IS A GOOD ONE.
THIS WORKSHEET WILL ALSO HELP THEM BEGIN THINKING ABOUT WHAT THEY WANT TO SAY
IN THEIR INTRODUCTION BY ASKING THEM ABOUT THE MOST IMPORTANT PARTS OF THE
STORY AND WHY THEY'RE CHOOSING TO TELL IT.

ASSESSMENT:
BY THE END OF THIS LESSON, STUDENTS SHOULD HAVE SELECTED A SCRIPT AND FILLED OUT THE "THINKING THROUGH
YOUR SCRIPT" WORKSHEET.
GO THROUGH THE WORKSHEETS TO MAKE SURE STUDENTS: HAVE UNDERSTOOD THE COMPONENTS OF A GOOD STORY,
HAVE SELECTED A SCRIPT THAT WILL APPEAL TO A VARRIED AUDIENCE, AND HAVE BEGUN TO THINK ABOUT THE PARTS OF
THE STORY THEY WANT TO EMPHASIS (WHICH WILL HELP THEM WRITE AN INTRODUCTION).
 HOW TO CHOOSE A

Dramatic Script
What’s a story that you’ll never forget?
What’s a story that made you so uncomfortable that you wanted to put it down,
but you didn’t because you had to know what happened?
“Mother can beat me all she wants, but I haven’t let her take away my will to somehow survive.”
“Mother enjoys using food as her weapon.”
“Usually I’m a very good student, but for the past few months I gave up on everything in my life,
including escaping my misery through my school-work.”
“I felt special when he winked at me and called me ‘Tiger.’” -A Child Called It

What’s a story that made you cry?

“Old Dan must have known he was dying. Just before he drew his last breath, he opened his
eyes and looked at me. Then with one last sigh, and a feeble thump of his tail, his friendly gray
eyes closed forever.” -Where the Red Fern Grows

What’s an issue you feel very strongly about?

Child abuse, suicide, bullying, war, domestic violence, etc.

What’s a story that hits upon that issue?

Can you turn that story into a monolog or a dialog, or is it too hard to edit?
Can you condense it? (Does it have an obvious climax with rising action and
resolution that can fit in your time limit?)
Can you act it out? Will it be visually engaging?
Ask your friends how they feel when they read it. If your friends and family hate
it, it might be hard for you to win. Make sure it’s not too gory or upsetting as
people will immediately shut down.

Ex: stories about serial killers, stories with too much blood or gore, stories that never
let up but are terribly upsetting the entire time.

Remember: There should always be a point to what you’re saying. What moral
are you trying to get across?
The difference between a good interp and a GREAT interp is which one makes
you feel something.
 HOW TO CHOOSE A

Humorous Script
What stories made you laugh as a kid?

The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig, A Long Way From Chicago, Junie B. Jones, Three Billy Goats Gruff, etc.

Does it still make you laugh out loud?

Joey: You wouldn’t think we’d have to leave Chicago to see a dead body. I was nine
Mary Alice: I was seven! We had yet to see a stiff. We guessed that most of them were where you couldn’t see them.
Joey: Like at the bottom of Lake Michigan, wearing concrete overshoes. But no, we had to travel all the way down to our
Grandma Dowdel’s before we ever set eyes on a corpse.
Mary Alice: Mother and dad were just dumping us on her. Gram lived somewhere between Chicago and St. Louis, just a little
town that the Rail Road cut in two.
Joey: One day when we were walkin by the Coffey Café, we heard the news of the death of Shotgun Cheatham and brought it
home to grandma Dowdel. There had been a reporter who’d come down from some uppity town.
Mary Alice: Ya, when we started askin if all the stories were true she asked who was doin all the talkin. Remember what she said
when we told her it was a real humped-over lady with buck teeth?
Joey: She said “That’d be Effie Wilcox you think she’s ugly now, you shoulda seen her as a girl. Never trust an ugly woman. She’s
got a grudge against the world.”
Mary Alice: (laughs) So of course grandma had to out do Effie so when the reporter showed up to the house she couldn’t help
but twist a whirly gig of a story!
-A Long Way From Chicago

Make sure it has a few good lines in it.

Do you think you can act it out?

HIs usually have lots of characters. DIs usually have just a few.
Is it going to be visually interesting?
Will people know what you’re acting out, or will it take a lot of explanation (try playing charades with your actions- can people
guess without you telling them?)

Ask your friends if it’s something they’d like to see-if it’s only funny to you, you’re probably not going to
win.

Remember: There should always be a point to what you’re saying. What moral are you trying to get
across?
The difference between a good interp and a GREAT interp is which one makes you feel something.
Thinking Through Your Script
What point are you trying to make?
This will become the main theme of your
introduction

What line best illustrates that point?

If your audience only remembers one line
from your interp, what line do you want to
ring in their heads when you finish? (ex:
“after all, what’s a life anyway? We’re born,
we live a little, we die.”)

How are you going to make your point?

What is the climax of your piece?

What is the most intense part and why?
Where does the change in trajectory take
place? (my character was doing this, but
now they’re doing that)

What background needs to be laid

first?
What does your audience need to know in
order for your climax to be impactful?
This is your rising action.

What is the impact of that climax?

This is the resolution- the fallout of the
character’s big choice or change.