Performance Guide
This choral reading is simply another way to teach newspaper.
There are enough solos for each student in the class to simply read a part. Directions within the script, however, make performance an option. Parts should be memorized for performance, but memorization comes easily with daily practice. For a select group, twenty students is a workable number.
Performance time: 8 - 10 minutes.
Staging Place chairs in a shallow semi-circle. Narrator stands to the side (microphone and podium are optional.) Students sit on edges of their chairs, both feet on floor, one foot slightly in front on the other. The position allows for quick standing and sitting as a script directs. Besides, the kids look alive and alert. Performance In assigning solo parts, experiment with students' Suggestions interpretations of parts. Facial or bodily gestures are appropriate for some solos. Director can also demonstrate how parts should be said.
Excellent diction and proper speed are the keys to effective performance. During practice, accept nothing less than precise diction, particularly with syllabication, word endings and entrances to phrases. Students should recite with the same voice inflection and interpretive emphasis. The last word and consonant of every phrase should be just as intense as the first.
A slow, steady speed is imperative. Always slower rather than faster. Students tend to race during the chant. Establish a comfortable beat and stick with it. Since students must be standing up and sitting down during the chant, a slow beat allows for these movements comfortably.
If you choose to perform the reading, study vocabulary before performance practice begins.
Whether it is read or performed, a choral reading allows each person to participate actively. It's a most pleasant form to use in the teaching/learning process.
Joy Lindner, longtime NIE consultant, former Teacher of the Year in Oregon and author of Rah! Rah! For Newspapers!, has been an inspiration to me for many years. Thanks to Joy, I have shared this popular choral reading with NIE teachers, students and newspaper personnel throughout the United States, South Africa, Malaysia and in other nations. You may contact Joy Lindner via e-mail at: lindner@teleport.com
Dr. Betty L. Sullivan
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Rah! Rah! For Newspapers!
A Choral Reading by Joy LindnerSolo #1: Ro----ll the presses!
Solo #2: Read all about it!
Narrator: The newspaper gives you information and enjoyment at the exact time and place you choose to read it.
All: You choose. Yes, you do! You choose what to read, where to read, when to read, how to read and who to read.
(Soloists #3 and #4 stand.)
Solo #3: And why you read the newspaper is your choice, too. (Sit.)
Solo #4: So why do people read the newspaper? (Sit.)
Narrator: The answer to that question is simple. People read the newspaper to become informed.
(Soloists #5, #6, #7, #8 stand.)
All: THAT'S RIGHT, ALL RIGHT!
Solo #5: I've got to check the market report. (Sit.)
Solo #6: And I want the details on the city council meeting last night. (Sit.)
Solo #7: Hand me the grocery ads! (Sit.)
Solo #8: Say, what time does that movie start? (Sit.)
Narrator: Yes, read the newspaper and you'll be informed.
Girls: You can find the answers.
All: IN THE NEWSPAPER.
Boys: You can look at pictures.
All: IN THE NEWSPAPER.
Girls: You can see what good ol' Charlie Brown is up to.
All: IN THE NEWSPAPER.
(#9 stand.)
Narrator: There are maps, charts, diagrams, drawings, schedules, puzzles, games, directions . . .
All: IN THE NEWSPAPER.
Solo #9: There are stories, reports, ads, advice, features, opinions . . . (Sit.)
All: IN THE NEWSPAPER.
Narrator: You can read about the famous, the infamous, the common man. Mr. Nobody-in-Particular. You can read of his triumphs, his tragedies, his past, his present, his future. It's all there . . .
Boys: IN THE NEWSPAPER.
All: THIS FANTASTIC FORM OF COMMUNICATION, THIS MARVELOUS COLLECTION OF INFORMATION IS A PART OF OUR DAILY LIVES . . . IN THE MORNING OR IN THE EVENING. YOU CHOOSE.
(#10, #11, #12 stand.)
Narrator: Millions of people all over this great nation can have a whole new text -- every day -- right in their own homes.
Solo #10: Now that's good news! (Sit.)
Solo #11: Tell me more. (Sit.)
Solo #12: I want to know. (Sit.)
Narrator: All right then, listen. HERE WE GO!
(Boys stand.)
(Start CHANT. Piano vamp -- no melody -- or drums with brushes set the rhythm pace. Or whole group can snap fingers to set the pace.)
Boys: Facts about people,
Facts about places,
Glad facts, sad facts,
Facts about land,
Facts about snow,
Facts about heat,
Facts about a town,
Or a big brass band!
(Boys sit; girls stand.)
Girls: Words, words,
Vocabulary, nouns,
Meanings, spellings,
And even compounds,
Words alone and
Words in bunches,
Synonyms and antonyms,
All around!
(Boys stand.)
All: Read the front page news.
It's current information.
Things are happening'
Around the nation!
(Boys remain standing. Girls sit. #13, #14 stand.)
Solo #13: Read all about the latest celebration.
All: (4 beats here, clap hands each beat)
Solo #14: Oh, Dear Abby
Boys: Tell us what to do.
Got a real big problem,
And we need your advice.
(Boys sit; girls stand.)
Girls: Gotta rise with the sun
Do my work, see a friend,
Crack a joke, grab a bite,
Play a game.
Solo #15: I'm the same!
(Boys stand.)
All: So read your paper
Through and through.
Read it daily
It's there for you.
Pictures, opinion
Comments, suggestions,
Advertising, theorizing,
Humor, too!
(Girls sit.)
Boys: Winners, losers,
The sciences, the arts.
Read it in the paper, day by day.
Columnists, captions,
Classified ads,
A report on the sports -- play by play.
(Girls stand. #16, #17, #18, #19 stand.)
All: Write a letter to the editor.
State your case.
Check on the latest political race.
Solo #16: Economy.
Solo #17: Community.
Solo #18: Fraternity.
Solo #19: Philosophy.
All: THE STORIES NEVER END.
THE PAPER'S THE PLACE!
(Chant ends here. All sit. #20 stand.)
Narrator: (Change of mood here.) There is also sadness in the newspaper: a fire, an earthquake, death, disease.
Solo #20: Why should we know? What good can come of it? (Sit.)
Narrator: We must know because we care.
(#21, #22 stand.)
All: IF WE KNOW . . . IF WE CARE . . . WE CAN HELP.
Solo #21: DATELINE -- WASHINGTON, DC (Sit.)
Solo #22: The Congress has passed a new energy law. (Sit.)
Boys: I'm glad I read about that!
(#23, #24 stand.)
Narrator: You are informed.
(Change these next lines to fit a news event in your newspaper.)
Solo #23: DATELINE -- HOMETOWN, USA (Sit.)
Solo #24: The service club sent 25 kids to camp! (Sit.)
Girls: That's TERRIFIC news!
(#25, #26 stand.)
Narrator: You are informed.
Solo #25: DATELINE -- SARASOTA, FLORIDA! (Sit.)
Solo #26: The CIRCUS is starting a nationwide tour, and they're coming here! (Sit.)
Boys: That's for me! Where can I buy a ticket?
(#27, #28, #29, #30, #31 stand.)
Narrator: You are informed.
Solo #27: Headline: Nobel Prize Winners Selected! (Sit.)
All: HEY, THAT'S NEWS!
Solo #28: Headline: Dog Bites Man! (Sit.)
All: HEY, THAT'S NEWS!
Solo #29: Headline: Man Bites Dog! (Sit.)
All: HEY, THAT'S NEWS!
Solo #30: What about the ads? That's news, too. (Sit.)
All: YOU BET THAT'S NEWS!
Solo #31: COUNTDOWN!
(Everyone stand on ONE!!!)
All: FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!!! ...der ...ful!
Narrator: Yes, it is wonderful. In this beautiful democracy, we are guaranteed freedom of the press by the Constitution. Ours is the freedom to question, the freedom to investigate, the freedom to gather, the freedom to read, and the freedom to speak. People have fought and died for our freedoms. And we have the freedom of choice. CHOOSE to be informed.
Boys: If you are informed, you are a better citizen.
Girls: A better citizen builds a better world.
Narrator: Now think about that!
All: READ YOUR NEWSPAPER . . . EVERYDAY!
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For information on how to order a copy of Joy Lindner's NIE activities guide, Ideas! Ideas!, please contact Evonne Agnello at the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association:Phone: 253-272-3611
Fax: 253-272-9081Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association
P.O. Box 11128
Tacoma, WA 98441
EvonnePNNA@aol.com
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