Roughly every month, students will be tasked with memorizing and performing a poem/speech/monologue/scene in front of the class or at time using the flipgrid video platform. While the practice of memorization is important, the true purpose is to learn the art of public speaking and expression. I look forward to taking you all on a journey towards becoming the best performers/public speaking you can be!
Why Recitations?
Why will we be memorizing and performing a poem, speech, monologue or scene on a monthly basis in 6th Grade Challenge ELA. Contrary to popular belief, it is not because Mr. Shatzman loves to drive his students crazy, but instead to reclaim the ability to memorize and help each student find their own impassioned voice for public speaking.
The ability to memorize information is becoming a lost art in the Digital Age.
Has the Internet dumbed down society or simply become an external storage unit that enhances the human brain's memory capacity? With Google, Internet Movie Database and Wikipedia at our beck and call via smartphones, tablets and laptops, the once essential function of committing facts to memory has become little more than a flashback to flash cards. –Excerpt from Scientific American - July 14, 2011
Memorization, however, is only a small piece of the recitation process. Throughout the year, we will explore a variety of texts conveying a range of emotions and discuss/practice how to build such key public speaking elements such as facial expression, enthusiasm, pitch, pausing, and selective volume. This goal is for students to not just be able to recite notable works, but to find their own personal approach to each piece. This will be a guided process, but one that will require students to put forth a lot of effort themselves outside of the classroom. We will be working in class on the expressive nature of the recitations, but below is a list of suggested steps to take in order to aid the memorization process.
How to memorize a poem/speech/play in a few simple steps (really!):
1. Read through the text carefully and slowly and out loud. It’s okay if you don’t get it all right away. Just read it, letting the language flow out of your mouth.
2. Copy the text over in your own handwriting, writing on every other line. Try to keep the lines and stanzas on your paper the same as in the original text.
3. Read the text out loud again.
4. Using an index card or a piece of paper, cover up all of the text except the first line. Say that line over to yourself three times. Now, gaze off into space for a moment and try to say the line from memory.
5. Repeat this with the rest of the lines in the stanza, saying the lines you have already
worked on, too. If the text is not divided into stanzas, divide it yourself into groups of three or four lines.
6. Once you have one stanza down, go to the next one, again working line by line.
7. Put those two stanzas together, and then move on. Repeat this until you reach the end of the
text.
8. You will think you have it down pat, and you will be wrong. It will take practice to move this information from your short-term memory to your long-term memory. To practice, follow the ideas below:
-write the first letter of each word on an index card and practice with the card, using the letters to prompt you
- record yourself reading the text and listen to it (if you can load it on an iPad or smartphone)
- say the text aloud when you are walking by yourself
- recite to your parents (serious brownie points)
- write it out over and over
- think it to yourself when you are bored in class
Using these simple steps and techniques, you will be able to learn the piece without too much difficulty. You already know the lyrics to about a bazillion songs. All songs are is poetry. You can do it. Take the time to practice it. Really try to learn it