Virtual Script to Stage -- Additional Resources 2020-21 by Young Storytellers

Table of Contents How Should I Start My Sessions?......……………………………………………………………..…………..pg. 2 Divide a Story Worksheet…..……………………….…………………….………………………..…….………..pg. 5 Logline Worksheet………………...……………………………………………….…………………….……………...pg. 6 Outline Worksheet………………...………………………………….………………………………………….……...pg. 7 Big Show Intro Script…...………………………………….………………………………………………..………...pg. 8 Games Appendix..…………………………………………………………………………………………………………pg. 9 Alternative Warm Ups…….......…………………………………….……………………………….……..……..pg. 14 Technology Appendix....………..…………………………………….……………………………….……..…….pg. 16 Virtual Big Show Appendix....…………………………………….……………………………….……..……..pg. 18

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How should I start my Sessions?

Five or more students are missing from your session? If you need help getting students logged onto your session, call or text this number - 323.760.5423. An intern or staff member will contact parents for the first 15 minutes of the session. Please keep in mind, other schools may have a session at the same time as yours that may need the same assistance. At the end of the session, the intern will check the list of zoom attendees and make a list of missing students. - If a student(s) does not show up for the first two sessions, the School Partners Specialist will contact the liaison and discuss next steps. (Dropping the student, liaison contacting family, maybe adding another student etc. ) Stalling for students to arrive? Delegate some questions or activities to your mentors that they can lead at the top of a session while you and the liaison work on getting students online. Some suggestions: ● Mentor Talent Show - Give your mentors a chance to shine! Have each mentor prepare a special skill they can do on camera (serious or silly). Randomly pair them up and have them compete to impress the students more. You could even create a bracket and have the winners compete against each other the following week. ● Wacky Titles - Give your mentors and students a wacky film title and have them make up what that story could be about. Get them warmed up to expressing their creativity and see what wild story ideas the group can come up with. ● Simon Says - Pick a mentor to be Simon and have them play Simon Says with the group. (NOTE: This works best if all students can use video.) ● Discussion Questions - Have your students and mentors discuss “controversial” topics: Does pineapple belong on pizza? Should toilet paper fold over or under? Marvel or DC heroes? Candy or chocolate? Get students used to using chat Audio and video can be tricky and connectivity issues can make those elements even more complicated. Get the students used to using the chat to communicate early in the sessions. This can help with classroom management, AV issues, and shy students who would rather not speak out loud. Many of the activities above could be used to engage the students via chat and get them used to sharing ideas and feedback through the chat function. 2 © Young Storytellers 2021 // www.youngstorytellers.com

Incentivize the students to get online on time Do something fun at the beginning to get the students excited about the top of the session. It might be a fun activity, a silly costume / hat that you or a mentor wears at the top of a session, a chance to show off everyone’s pets...anything that will get the students excited for the start of the sessions. Do what you do best: make the YS classroom different from other classrooms. Make it fun, engaging, exciting, and something to look forward to each week. Pre-Session Meet Up with Mentors (30-40 min) A Pre-session meet up with all your mentors is helpful to foster a sense of community and belonging, especially with first time mentors! This space can also be helpful to alleviate any concerns, since Collaborative Stories is a new program. Your mentors can get familiar with the new materials and see what their expectations will look like in a virtual space. Example of Agenda for this Meet-Up: 1. Ice Breakers with mentors “Describe in 5 words or less your quarantine experience.” “If someone were to play you in a movie, who would it be?” 2. Practice Zoom technicalities Share your screen to practice hosting slides for the group Break your mentors out into rooms and give them a question to chat about: What are you most excited about for virtual programming? What are you nervous about? Tip: Practice having a mentor screenshare and run slides, since this can be helpful during sessions and especially the Big Show! 3. All mentors should be trained by this point, but take a moment to reiterate best student engagement group practices. 4. Set mentor/HM communication expectations/preferences Create “agreements” around how mentors can support classroom management. Make sure mentors keep in mind to give students the benefit of the doubt when it comes to attendance, technology issues, engagement, cameras and microphones being on, etc. Students also may not have the privilege of access to high-speed internet, consistent wi-fi, a quiet space, etc. This is a tough time for students and we never know what’s going on at home that they can’t control. Be patient and empathetic with them. 5. Address any questions and concerns - be sure to carve out time at the end for this! 3 © Young Storytellers 2021 // www.youngstorytellers.com

How to work with your School Liaison/ Teacher in a virtual classroom Having a great working relationship with your school liaison can make your semester go smoothly! Before your session starts, schedule a zoom meeting with your liaison at least a week prior to the first session. This meeting is an opportunity to: 1. Introduce Yourself ● Establish a personal, warm relationship. Find out their preferred mode of communication (i.e., Email, call, text) ● State your commitment to this program and the students you look forward to meeting and working with 2. Discuss Program Logistics ● Review the schedule to make any necessary adjustments. Let the School Partners Specialist know about any schedule changes. ● Receive a complete list of students (legal & nicknames if applicable) from the liaison if you have not received one by then. ● Discuss how and why writers were chosen (Are there any students with special needs? Is there anything you need to know about certain students?) 3. Discuss Tech Logistics ● Make sure the recurring Zoom link is set up (either by the school or yourself) and that your mentors/ students have the link ○ If a school needs to create the recurring zoom link, make sure they make you a Co- Host. ● If a credentialed teacher needs to be present at every session, please make sure to clarify who that person is. Sometimes it’s the liaison, sometimes it’s other school admin. Whoever it may be, make sure to get their contact information and clarify their preferred mode of communication.

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Divide a Story Write down 2-3 ideas for each of the boxes below

Lesson:

Setting:

Character (Protagonist):

Goal:

Obstacle (Antagonist):

Climax / Resolution:

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Logline A one sentence summary of your story! Fill in the blanks with the ideas you brainstormed in the Divide a Story exercise or new ideas if you want to go with something different. Write at least one log line. Then, as many as you like. Practice reading one out loud to your mentor, in your best movie trailer voice!

In a ______________________________________ , ______________________ (setting) (protagonist) wants ___________________________________________________________ (goal) but _________________________________________________ stands in their (obstacle/antagonist) way, so they ______________________________________________________ (climax) learning _________________________________________________________ . (lesson)

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Outline

BEGINNING (first two pages) Opening Setting: Protagonist: Goal: (Why do they want their goal?)

MIDDLE (next two pages) Antagonist: (Why is the antagonist against them?)

Obstacle #1 to overcome: Obstacle #2 to overcome:

END (last page) Final Obstacle – THE CLIMAX: (TIP: This can be thought of the moment where we see whether the protagonist succeeds, fails, or something in between?)

Lesson: Resolution:

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Big Show Intro Script

Mentor: I really liked working with ____________________ because __________________________________________. What inspired you to write your script? Writer: What inspired me is _________________________. Mentor: The title of the script is ______________________. Writer: The tagline is _______________________________.

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Games Appendix Watermelon ● Intro: This is a warm up game called Watermelon. Watermelon is actually a form of Tai Chi they teach to schoolchildren in China. “Chi” is the spiritual energy within us. Doing Tai Chi helps focus that energy. ● You can talk through this game once, then go through it again without explanation. ○ Mime holding a watermelon in front of you. ○ As you inhale, bring your arms up above your head. ○ As you exhale, put your hands together and mime cutting the watermelon in half as you say “ cut the watermelon in half.” ○ As you inhale again, shift your weight and hands to the right side with your right hand above your left. ○ As you exhale use your right hand to push half of the watermelon to the left as you shift your weight and hands to the left side while saying “some for you.” ○ Inhale and switch the position of your hands. ○ Exhale and use your left hand to push half of the watermelon to the right as you shift your weight and hands to the right side while saying “some for you” again. ○ Inhale and bring your hands back up. ○ Exhale and bring your arms back down while saying “ you’re welcome.” I Am A Tree ● Ask for one student or mentor to volunteer to say “I am a tree” while taking on the physicality of a tree. ● Ask the next student or mentor to add on to the tree something that would be in that world (e.g. a leaf falling from the tree, an acorn under the leaves, a squirrel eating a nut, etc) and physicalize it. ● The next student or mentor adds a third element just like the one before. Each of these volunteers should state what they are and physicalize the object/animal they have become. Try not to have only mentors be playing this game and include students as much as they are comfortable. ● After the third person has added their element, ask the first two to drop their pose. Have the “third person” restate what they are and continue to add two more things to your new image each round. ● Repeat this process 2-3 times, then have everyone join in to create a picture with as many elements as writers and mentors. ○ You can use a virtual circle, cold call students, have them volunteer, or encourage the groups to share in the chat and read them out loud.

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○ Alternatively, only if you are comfortable, instead of having students mime what they want to add, you could have them draw it on the whiteboard, or you could narrate and describe a story involving the elements the students add. Obstacle Game ● Make sure you’ve reached out to two mentors about playing the protagonist and antagonist for this game. Have the students turn off their video or Pin the actors’ videos. ● Round 1: Ask the students and mentors for ideas for a protagonist, goal, and motivation. You can cold call, popcorn, or use the virtual circle or chat to get people to list ideas. Tell a short simple story about a protagonist that gets their goal very easily. ○

Ex: Once upon a time, there was a frog named Eliza who wanted to find a potion to make her a princess because she had heard that princesses were good at fencing. One day, she woke up and found a princess potion. The end.

● Round 2: Now, have the group come up with an antagonist and motivation for the story. Tell a little more of a complete story. ○

● Round 3: Now have the group come up with a lesson to learn, 2 obstacles that the antagonist makes the protagonist face, how the protagonist overcomes the obstacles, and what happens when and after the protagonist and antagonist face off (climax & resolution). Tell the whole story. ○

Ex: Once upon a time there was a frog named Eliza who wanted to find a potion that would make her a princess because she had heard that princesses were good at fencing. Her best friend Layla didn’t want her to find this potion because she thought that if Eliza was a princess, she’d focus on her knight friends and not her frog friends. Layla hid the phonebook with the information for the local potion maker, so Eliza went door to door until she found the potion maker’s shop. Then, Layla stole the potion maker’s ingredients so Eliza went out and had a rock paper scissors battle with the ingredients seller for more. Finally, Layla challenged Eliza to a balloon animal making competition to see who would get the potion and when they both made a crown, they realized this fight wasn’t as important as their friendship, learning that friends support each other no matter what. The end.

● Encourage writer ideas and opinions throughout the game. Try to blend ideas together or have them build on each others’ ideas. Ask them which round was the most interesting and why? T he struggle is the most interesting part. Emoji Game ● Find 3-5 photos of different Emojis and place each one on a separate slide. ○ To engage the students to participate in this activity, you can use a virtual circle, cold call students, or have them volunteer. ● Show the first Emoji, and ask students: ○ What emotion does the Emoji represent? ○ What’s a situation you might use this Emoji for? 10 © Young Storytellers 2021 // www.youngstorytellers.com

○ What is something you might say when using this Emoji? ● Repeat this process with the other Emoji photos. Emotions Game ● Ask one student or mentor to name an emotion. ● Then, ask another student to share a word, phrase, or sound they might make when they are feeling that emotion. ○ If they are stuck, you can ask them what scenario might make them feel that emotion and what words or sound they might use in that situation. ● Finally, ask a third student or mentor to say the word / phrase or make the sound, and then act out a movement that they might make to embody that word / phrase / sound. ● Repeat this process 2-3 times with different people naming an emotion, naing a word / phrase / sound, and adding a movement. Try not to have only mentors be playing this game and include students as much as they are comfortable. ○ You can use a virtual circle, cold call students, or have them volunteer. Madison Paragraph ● Screen Share Final draft and have the Madison Paragraph typed out as an action line. ● Once you’ve taught the Basic Screenplay Elements, have the writers turn it into screenplay format, line by line. ● It should look like this: ○ Paragraph version: Twelve-year-old sassy Madison dribbles her basketball in the driveway. Her dad walks outside and says, “Madison, I told you to come inside and eat your lunch!” Madison keeps dribbling and says, “But Dad, I’m practicing!” Her dad scoffs and says, “Your food is going to get cold.” Madison stops dribbling and says, “Aww Dad, you never let me have any fun!” as she storms inside the house. ○ Screenplay version: EXT. DRIVEWAY - DAY MADISON (12 years old, sassy) dribbles her basketball. Her DAD walks outside. DAD Madison, I told you to come 11 © Young Storytellers 2021 // www.youngstorytellers.com

inside and eat your lunch! Madison keeps dribbling. MADISON But Dad, I’m practicing! DAD (scoffs) Your food is going to get cold. Madison stops dribbling. MADISON Aww Dad, you never let me have any fun! Madison storms inside. The McDonalds Game ● Make sure you’ve reached out to two mentors about acting out the McDonalds Scene. ● Have the two mentors act out a short scene taking place at McDonalds, one person is the cashier and the other is the customer. Pick fun and expressive mentors with acting experience if possible! For the first round, make sure these mentors act w ithout any emotion or expression (make it boring). F ollow this script:

INT. MACDONALD’S / HOUSE - SPLIT SCREEN The CUSTOMER calls the CASHIER. The cashier picks up. CASHIER MacDonald’s. Delivery or pick up? CUSTOMER Delivery. CASHIER What can I get you? CUSTOMER One cheeseburger please. CASHIER That’ll be $1.50 at the door. 12 © Young Storytellers 2021 // www.youngstorytellers.com

CUSTOMER Great, thanks. The customer hangs up. ● After the scene is performed, ask the group what they thought and how they can make the scene more interesting (more details!). Do one or two more performances of the scene, each time asking the students and mentors to add more and more details / story elements. By adding details slowly, writers will be able to see how each addition enriched the scene. Make sure the mentor actors keep the interaction BRIEF to allot maximum writing time. ○ Round 2 ■ What is the customer’s motivation in the scene / why do they want the cheeseburger? How can we tell that by the way they’re speaking or moving? ■ How can the cashier impose an obstacle to the customer’s goal? How do they feel about the customer’s request? How can we tell that by the way they’re speaking or moving? Is there something they say or do to show this? ○ Round 3 ■ How can they resolve their issue? What do they say and do? ■ How can we see how their feelings have changed based on their voice and movements? Tagline Off ● Have 3 taglines prepared and two potential movies each tagline could be associated with (one correct, one incorrect). Read out the taglines and present the two movie options. Have each person type in the chat which movie they think the tagline belongs to. If a majority of the group (mentors and writers) guesses correctly, the group gets a point. The group should try to get all 3 points! ● If you are using our default slides, the answers are ○ 1) Frozen ○ 2) Incredibles 2 ○ 3) Toy Story 4

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Alternative Warm Ups Get to Know You Games Would You Rather... ● Put a “Would you rather” question on 1-3 slides and have the students share in the chat which choice they would make. ● Ask for volunteers from both sides to state why they chose the answer that they did. Show and Tell ● Have students take turns sharing something special to them. ● You can do this multiple weeks and have students of each group share a different week. ○ For example: Group 1 shares at the beginning of Session 2, Group 2 shares at the beginning of Session 3, etc. ● You could also have your mentors do a show and tell and encourage the students to ask them questions about what they share. ● If using this warm up, make sure to tell students / mentors to prepare something in advanced (at the end of the prior session). Pet Parade ● Students and mentors can bring their pet (real or stuffed) to your session and share some interesting facts about their pet when it is their turn.

Cooperative Games Five Things ● Pick a letter in the alphabet. ● Ask the group to work together to list at least one thing in each category that starts with that letter: ○ Animal ○ Celebrity ○ Color ○ Country ○ Food ● For example- ○ A: Aardvark, Anna Hathaway, Auburn, America, Apple ○ B: Bat, Babe Ruth, Blue, Bulgaria, Burger ○ C: Cat, Charlie Day, Cerulean, China, Chocolate 14 © Young Storytellers 2021 // www.youngstorytellers.com

● You can also change these categories to suit what you think the students / group would be interested in. 20 Questions ● Choose any topic that would be of interest to your students—an animal, an event, something they’re studying. ● Have each student ask only one yes-or-no question and take one guess per turn. ● Keep track of how many questions they’ve asked. Don’t let students blurt out the answer—they must wait until it’s their turn. ● Take volunteers or go around in a virtual circle.

Miscellaneous Games First Letter, Last Letter ● Pick a category. ● The first player will name something in that category. ○ For example, if the category was “animals,” the player could say “dog.” ● The next player must name something in that category that starts with the last letter of the word player 1 listed. Continue until everyone (who wants to) has listed something. ○ For example, with the animal “dog,” the next person must list an animal starting with “g” - like giraffe. The next player must name an animal that begins with the last letter of giraffe and so on. ● You can ask for volunteers or use a virtual circle to determine the order. Freeze Dance ● Play some music, encourage students to get up and dance, then students must freeze when the music stops. Pictionary ● Pull up a blank white slide and have one of your mentors draw something with the Zoom whiteboard function. ● Have students guess what it is in the chat. ● You can also have the students draw, or instruct your mentor on what to draw. Taboo ● Give one of your mentors a Taboo word to describe, as well as 2-3 other related words. ● The mentor will try to have the students guess what the Taboo word is without using the Taboo word itself, any words that make up the Taboo word, the related words, or saying what it rhymes with. ○ For example - Taboo word: B aseball; Related words: Field, home run; Description: It’s America’s pastime, you hit something with a bat, people run to different bases 15 © Young Storytellers 2021 // www.youngstorytellers.com

Technology Appendix

How to make a virtual whiteboard in Zoom

The Annotate function can be used to draw, insert shapes, or type text out onto your shared screen. Click under more in order to disable this function for participants (e.g. students) so they don’t misuse this. Use the clear function in the toolbar to clear any annotations from you or the participants.

How to make Breakout Rooms in Zoom

You must have breakout rooms enabled on your account before you start your session! 1.

2. 3.

Select the number of rooms you would like to create, and how you would like to assign your participants to those rooms: ○ Automatically: Let Zoom split your participants up evenly into each of the rooms. ○ Manually: Choose which participants you would like in each room. Click Create Breakout Rooms. Your rooms will be created, but will not start automatically. You can manage the rooms prior to starting them by following the instructions below.

Check any options that you would like to use for your breakout rooms. ●

●

Move all participants into breakout rooms automatically: M ove all participants into the breakout rooms automatically. If unchecked, the participants will need to click Join to be added to the breakout room. Allow participants to return to the main session at any time: The participants can move back to the main session from their meeting controls. If disabled, they need to wait for the host to end the breakout rooms. 16 © Young Storytellers 2021 // www.youngstorytellers.com

● ● ●

Breakout rooms close automatically after x minutes: Breakout rooms will automatically end after the configured time. Notify me when the time is up: The host will be notified when the breakout room time is up. Countdown after closing breakout rooms: The participants will be given a countdown of how much time they have left before being returned to the main room.

After manually or automatically assigning participants to rooms, you can r earrange the participants. Participants who are not assigned to breakout sessions will remain in the main meeting w hen the rooms are started. Open All Rooms: S tart the rooms. All participants will be moved to their respective rooms after confirming the prompt to join the breakout room (or automatically). The host will be left in the main meeting until manually joining one of the rooms.

To send a message to all breakout sessions, c hoose ‘Breakout Rooms’ in your control center, then ‘Broadcast a message to all’. The message will appear above.

Virtual Big Show Appendix

Webinar Links: Attendee vs Panelist Panelist Link: For anyone performing or who needs to be a part of the practice session (students, actors, mentors, and School Liaison). Attendee Link: For anyone who just wants to watch (friends, classmates, family members, ect.). Panelist Links

Go to ‘Webinars’ from the Home Page. Click on your upcoming webinar and scroll all the way down to ‘Invitations’.

Click ‘Edit’ next to Invite Panelists and this screen will pop up! Input all of your Actors and Mentors information into here. Input your ‘School Liaison’ information into here. STUDENTS GETTING PANELIST LINKS Some schools are uncomfortable giving out personal student emails (totally understandable!). The 18 © Young Storytellers 2021 // www.youngstorytellers.com

students do need to get the specific panelist link in order for them to attend the ‘Warm Up’. ● Option 1: s end your School Liaison the panelist link and have them forward it to the participating students. ● Option 2: a sk your School Liaison to give you the student emails and you can set up the invitations yourself! WHEN TO SEND PANELIST LINKS ● It must be clear which link is for the Big Show. It may be best to send it out the day before and let everyone know to look out for it. Same goes for Student Panelists. Make it clear with the School Liaison which day/ time the students need to get on! Attendee Links

This link is specifically for just ATTENDEES. Send this to your School Liaison with language/ invite provided (on the HM Resources page). Make it clear this is for the community to watch the show and they should email it out!

Virtual Big Show Email Templates

School Liaison Email Hello (insert school liaison name), We are so excited to bring this virtual Big Show to your community! Because this will be a live webinar, there are some detail pieces I want to iron out with you. The writers need to be online for the show at (insert time - 30 min before show start time). They need a specific p anelist link t hat will allow them to attend our pre-show warmup with the actors. This should NOT be shared w ith anyone other than the specific writers in the program. Option 1: I will be sending you a specific panelist link. Can you please send this panelist email to the students instructing them to use it on (date+time)? Option 2: If you can send me the student emails, I will directly send the writers the panelist invitation to use for (insert date+time). Or if you feel more comfortable giving the Young Storytellers staff the student emails, we can have Esmeralda get the student emails from you. Whatever you feel most comfortable with! We hope you can i nvite the (insert school name) community to also join in and watch! The a ttendee link listed below is f or you to send out for viewers. 19 © Young Storytellers 2021 // www.youngstorytellers.com

OPTIONAL: I also have attached an image for you to use to send out! We hope to get as many viewers from your community as possible. We are requesting that you can attend the pre-show warm up at (insert time) as well in case any student does not arrive. If you cannot attend, then we would like to potentially have another teacher/ administrator assist if needed. Since we want the students to be able to see their script come to life, we want to make sure they all arrive. Please use the p anelist link I will be sending you to log in at (insert time). Thank you so much for facilitating this Big Show. We appreciate all of your extra work going into this! Please respond letting me know you received this email. Thanks! Actor Email Hello amazing actors! Thank you for taking the time to be a part of this virtual Big Show! This is an amazing opportunity to connect and bring joy to some wonderful writers! I have attached in this email an actor's best practices. Please take a look at it since this Big Show will be a little different not in real life. Make sure you have Zoom downloaded before the day of the show! You will be receiving a special p anelist link to arrive at the Big Show warm up at (insert time+date). Please do NOT s hare this link with anyone else as it is specifically for our panelists. Want to invite your friends and family? Please share this a ttendee link b elow to invite your community at large! (insert attendee link) OPTIONAL: I will also be including an invitation for you to send around that has the Big Show details. Thank you again. Please let me know if you have any questions!

How to Send Panelist Links It can be a little difficult sending students Panelist links. Below are instructions on sending Panelist Links if you want to personalize the language to send to students. This may help make sure directions are clear when to log in and what to expect at the Big Show. This will allow all writers to use the same login Panelist link. Go to your Invitation settings for your webinar: choose edit.

At the bottom make sure the box is unclicked in ‘Send invitation to all newly added panelists immediately’.

Put in your School Liaison’s name and email, and choose ‘COPY’.

This will open up language to use! Copy the part that says ‘Please click this URL to join. (insert link).

Copy that link and put it in an email message to send to your writers. You can choose ‘Back’ once you have copied that link and click ‘Save’. You are basically just getting the Panelist link out of the message so you can send it to the writers to use. Multiple people can use the same panelist link! Because of that, you will need to rename the students manually. They may know how to do it themselves. If they don’t, go to the Panelist control area and choose ‘More’ next to them and choose ‘Rename’.

Some language to use in both English and Spanish Hi amazing writers! Please come online by using the link below at [time]+[date]. You MUST use this specific link to be a part of the warmup at [time]! See you then! Hola escritores increíbles! Estamos muy emocionados para nuestro Big Show el WEEKDAY, NUMERICAL DATE. Por favor asegúrense de estar en línea y listos para el espectáculo haciendo clic en el enlace abajo a la(s) TIME. Es muy importante usar este enlace para poder participar en las actividades antes del show. Nos vemos entonces!