Grade 7 Unit 2 Week 6 Online

Learning objectives Agenda Key vocabulary Previous knowledge

-To learn features of a playscript Reading: Titanic Opposition, to prance, anguish, - Some understanding of how to read a
Writing a playscript Adolescence, coach, impression, to script
to understand how stage direction and Screenwriting Tips encourage, frosty, desperate, amends
dialogue are used in scripts - knowledge of different elements of a
script
- to convert a novel to a play script.

Timing Activities and description Differentiation strategies

10 min Slides 1-10 - Agenda - Vocabulary Test/Task

10 min Slide 11 - Warmup: One word story Weaker classes may struggle with the
one word rule or with developing the
The teacher can either give a starting word or allow students to pick their own. The next person must say one
grammar structures. In this case the
word that continues the story, until the story stops making sense and then you can start again. Enforce a 5
second time limit for each student to come up with a new word. Each word should be typed in the chat box for teacher can change to one sentence at
everyone to see. a time or support them with some of
the harder words.
The point of this activity is to get the students thinking about language and teamwork, both things that will
come up later in the lesson.

20 Slides 12-24 - Reading: Titanic Play script For stronger classes, the teacher can
mins encourage them to act a bit - adding
Read the play extract as a class. It would be a good idea to allocate roles, including someone to read the stage
emotion and feeling to the lines.
directions as this will help students to understand how the script works. Stop frequently to clarify what is being
said.

MAKE SURE THAT STRONG READERS IN THE CLASS ARE ASKED TO READ OUT THE ROLES FOR JACK AND ROSE.
YOU CAN ROTATE THROUGH SEVERAL STUDENTS TO READ OUT THE ROLES FROM TIME TO TIME.

This is a rather long text, so periodically pause to check for understanding or clarify when necessary. Occasional
CCQ’s about stage directions, setting, character emotions, and setting descriptions will help keep other students
engaged during the lengthy text. The full text should be read through twice for full
 understanding/comprehension.

30 Slides 25-42 - Comprehension Questions: Titanic Weaker students will need to be

mins guided through some of the questions,
The questions in the slides are designed to draw attention to the role of stage direction and how emotion is
particularly the later questions
used in text, as well as getting students to think about how scripts translate on stage. This is important to go
through thoroughly as when it comes to writing scripts, students often try to write stories. This should help regarding how to convert the story
them to understand how scripts work. Answers should be written in notebooks and then shared in the chat box from script to stage.
for the teacher to check and assist.

30 Slides 43-56 - Scriptwriting consolidation Students may not be able to do the

mins whole thing or may struggle with some
Go through the slides further explaining the aspects of a script and clarifying any questions with the students.
of the text. If they attempt to create
Show them the extract from Harry Potter and ask them to try and turn it into a script. The activity will be done some stage directions and some
in three chunks for three bits of text: opening stage directions, dialogue, and a mix of stage directions and dialogue, that should be enough.
dialogue. Separating it into chunks will make it much more manageable for students. Allow them appropriate
time to attempt to convert each text chunk to play script form, and elicit answers in the chat box.

It is important to emphasise to them that not all the text needs to be included - some of it will not work as a
stage direction and can be cut.

Allow some time for students to attempt this on their own before showing the example on the next slide. Read
through it, highlighting for students what has been done to change the text.

30 Slides 57-68 - Video: Hollywood Screenwriting Tips - Tell students they will watch some famous Hollywood Weaker students may have trouble
mins screenwriters giving tips for writing screenplays (or any kind of creative writing.) Tell them to write down the paraphrasing for a couple of the
questions first, then play the video twice. explain questions. Check to make sure
Go through and answer the comprehension questions with the students. they’ve at least answered the easier
ones.
This video is meant to be informative and inspirational, as the writers in the video are both successful in
Hollywood, AND unafraid to be blunt and display their vulnerabilities when writing. Hopefully students will
be feeling better about their creative abilities after watching this.
20 Slides 69-76 - NOT MANDATORY: ONLY FOR EXTRA TIME: Descriptive Writing: Screenplay to Novel - Tell Weaker classes/students may not have
mins students that they have converted a novel into a screenplay, and now they will do the process in reverse: they time to finish or accomplish this task
will convert a screenplay into the beginning of a novel. Emphasise that novels must include much more detail with a large amount of detail or
and colourful language in order to transport readers into the setting, as they are not brought to life on stage
originality. They can be walked
through props and lighting.
through the examples if they are really
Have students read the opening stage directions for a scene in The Lord of the Rings, and convert the text into struggling.
the opening of a novel. DO NOT EXPECT YOUR STUDENTS TO WRITE LIKE TOLKEIN. Be patient with them and
take it slow if necessary. Students always need practice writing with description and colourful language, and this
activity is great practice. Show examples with the students, elicit writing in the chat box, and do not worry if
some students find this challenging. As long as they are writing descriptively and writing something accurate to
the original text, that should be sufficient.

ONLY DO THIS ACTIVITY IF YOU HAVE EXTRA TIME AT THE END.

5 min Slides 77-78 - Plenary

Check for understanding Homework/marked work Resources

The Harry Potter exercise should be a good marker - Vocabulary Task ● Textbook, Workbook, Notebook
of how well students understand the format of the
● PowerPoint
script.
● Video: Hollywood Screenwriting Tips