Performing poetry

I'm counting on Shel Silverstein's poetry to make tomorrow fun for the kids, while I put them through the torture of cold readings. In order to get a baseline starting point for voice work, I will give them each a different short Silverstein poem to read on stage before the rest of the class and the digital camcorder.

I'd like to get through the class twice. The first time, I hand them the poem as they go up to the stage. The second time, they will have had the poem in hand for the duration of the class, so we will see if going over it in the mind leads to improvement.

I picked some slightly longer/more difficult poems to give to the 7 drama students in this class. The way they approach their poems may very well provide modeling for the rest of the class -- we shall see what happens.

On Friday, we'll do the same thing with a group poem, recording the first read through, then work it for the period and record it after one session. Eventually, the students will be working out actions to their solo poems and the group poems with a goal of performing them before the entire school during our morning auditorium time.