Language Arts Course Number 1123-2-11 ACTING Levels 9-12 I ...

I. Course Title: Acting
Language Arts
Course Number 1123-2-11
ACTING
Levels 9-12
II. Entrance Requirements:
Sophomore standing or 9th graders with the high school acting teacher’s
permission
III. Intended Student Grouping:
Phases 3-5
IV. Course Description:
The acting course involves the presentation of several one-act plays and
scenes from plays. Emphasis will be directed towards the art of
movement in relation to an acting situation. Students will learn the
development of the character through body movements, vocal
quality, and facial expression. The course helps the students
learn that all elements of the production as separate components work
together for a total artistic effect.
V. Essential Questions:
- How does the director use theatre terminology to instruct the actor?
- How does an actor prepare physically, mentally, and academically
(script analysis) for any role?
- How has the history of western theatre evolved to its present form?
- What physical and mental exercises does an actor practice in order
to hone his/her craft?
- What are the actor’s responsibilities to not only his/her self, but to
the entire production?
VI. Course Objectives:
Students will understand and demonstrate qualities in an actor, including
personal, vocal, physical, emotional and mental attributes. They will also
experience various interpretive qualities involving acting, including
breathing, resonance, articulation, pronunciation, volume, and rate.
Student actors will also learn analysis of a play, and blocking. They will
read, analyze, and evaluate several plays, including the school
play, one of their choice, and several in-class titles. Throughout the

semester, students will perform satisfactorily various acting assignments,
including the final performance. Lastly, they will also listen to and evaluate
peer performances as well as other live performances attended for written
critiques.
VII. Standards and Benchmarks addressed in this course
Students will:
A. 12.1 Use effective reading strategies to achieve their purposes in
reading
- Explain and evaluate the influence of format on the
readability and meaning of a text “POETRY/DRAMA”
A. 12.2 Read, interpret, and critically analyze literature
- Develop, explain, and defend interpretations of complex
literary works
- Explain how details of language, setting, plot, character,
conflict, point of view, and voice in a work of literature
combine to produce a dominant tone, effect, or theme
- Develop and apply criteria to evaluate the literary merit of
unfamiliar works
A.12.3 Read and discuss literary and nonliterary texts in order to
understand human experience
B.12.1 Create or produce writing to communicate with different
audiences, or a variety of purposes.
- Compose and publish analytic and reflective writing that
conveys knowledge, experience, insights, and opinions to an
intended audience
- Use rhetorical structures that divide complex thoughts into
simpler ones, logical transitions from one thought to another,
and language appropriate to the intended audience.
- Write a creative fiction that includes an authentic setting,
discernible tone, coherent plot, distinct characters, effective
detail, believable dialogue, and reasonable resolution of
conflict.
- Write summaries of complex information (such as
information in a lengthy text or a sequence of events),
expand or reduce the summaries by adding or deleting
detail, and integrate appropriately summarized information
into reviews, reports, or essays, with correct citations.

B.12.2 Plan, revise, edit, and publish clear and effective writing
- Write essays demonstrating the capacity to communicate
knowledge, opinions, and insights to an intended audience
through a clear thesis and effective organization of
supporting ideas
- Develop a composition through a series of drafts, using a
revision strategy based on purpose and audience, personal
style, self-awareness of strengths and weaknesses as a
writer, feedback from peers regarding their written work
C 12.1 Prepare and deliver formal oral presentations appropriate to
specific purposes and audiences.
- Develop and deliver a speech that conveys information and
ideas in logical fashion for a selected audience, using
language that clarifies and reinforces meaning.
- Demonstrates confidence and poise during presentations.
Interacting effectively with the audience, and selecting
language and gestures mindful of their effect.
- Speak fluently with varied inflection and effective eye
contact, enunciating clearly at appropriate rate and volume.
C12.2 Listen to, discuss, and comprehend oral communications.
- Evaluate a speaker’s use of diction, tone, syntax, rhetorical
structure, and conventions of language considering the
purpose and context of the communication.
C12.3 Participate effectively in discussion.
- Convey criticism in a respectful and supportive way.
D.12.2 Recognize and interpret various uses and adaptations of
language in social, cultural, regional, and professional situations, and learn
to be flexible and responsive in their use of English.
- Draw inferences about values, attitudes, and points of view
by analyzing a writer’s or speaker’s use of English.
VIII. Materials, Including Text
- Exploring Theatre by Nancy Price and Heannie Jackson
West Publishing Company, 1997, 2000,
- Acting is Believing: A Basic Method/ 5 th edition by Charles
McGraw and Larry D. Clark. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, incl.
1987 (supplemental)
- Theater: Preparation and Performance by Charlotte Lee and
David Grott, Scott, Foresman and Company, 1982

- Various scripts/plays for student analysis – individual
teachers’ discretion
IX. Units addressed in this course:
A. Getting Started in Theatre
1. Developing Personal Resources
2. Creative Drama
B. Building Acting Skills
1. Developing Voice
2. Improvisation
3. Characterization
4. The Play and the Part
5. Taking the Stage
C. Producing and Appreciating Plays
1. The Production Process
2. Behind the Scenes
3. Theatre Appreciation
4. Your Future in Theatre
D. Special Topics in Theatre
1. Mime, Pantomime and Clowning
2. Interpreting Literature
3. Storytelling
4. Readers Theatre and Radio Theatre
5. Puppetry, Shadow Play and Masks
E. Performance
1. Class Exercises
2. Various Scenes
3. Final Performance
X. Sample Class Activities
A. Reading Activities
1. Silent reading of textbook, exercises, scenes, and plays
2. Oral reading of textbook, exercises, scenes, and plays
B. Writing Activities
1. Journal Writing
2. Play Critiques/Reviews
3. Creating Student Scenes/Plays
C. Oral Activities
1. Classroom discussion
2. Peer Assessment of Activities
3. Various Theatrical Performances

XI. Sample Assessments:
A. Journal Rubric Assessment
B. Six-Trait Writing Rubric Assessment for Essays
C. Tests
D. Quizzes
E. Participation
F. Question Checks
G. Participation/Performances