Cutting+and+Introducing+an+Oral+Interpretation


 * CUTTING AND INTRODUCING SELECTIONS**

//Choosing/Cutting your selection// 1. Is it universal, individual, and suggestive? 2. Do you understand the text? Get to know it. Look up words, annotate…etc. 3. Emotional impact? What is the character feeling? How does it make you feel? 4. Are you willing and ready to truly portray the character? All or nothing. 5. Is it worth sharing?


 * Questions while preparing**: //Who is speaking? To whom? About what? Where? When? How? Why?//

__**Introductions**__: An introduction is essential to a speech because it arouses interest about the subject and provides information. As it is what the audience hears or listens to first, it should be interesting, engaging, and transport the audience from their own lives into your selection. You should give your readers the tools they need to get into your topic and care about what you are saying. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Your introduction is an important road map for your speech: let them know what your topic is, why it is important, and how you plan to proceed with your discussion. Your introduction should make your audience want to hear what you have to say

-Get their attention, otherwise known as "The Hook”: Relate to your listeners and your Perhaps an anecdote to hook their attention, shocking statistics, asking direct questions of the audience, or enlisting audience participation. -Establish context and/or motive: Explain why your topic is important. Consider your overall purpose. Consider connecting the material to related/larger issues as well, especially those that may be important to your audience. -Get to the point and keep it clean: Tell your listeners your thesis right away and explain how you will support it.
 * Creating an effective introduction** (Also see below--"Some Tips")

//Ethos (//The disposition, character, or fundamental values peculiar to a specific person, people, culture, or movement) establish your authenticity/trustworthiness as a speaker. //Pathos//, (quality that arouses pity or sorrow), you appeal to your audience's emotions. //Logos// (the rational principle that governs and develops the universe.) includes the support of hard facts, statistics, and logical argumentation. Use a combination these rhetorical strategies.
 * Keeping ‘em engaged**

Be straightforward and confident. Assert your main argument confidently. After all, you can't expect your reader to believe it if it doesn't sound like you believe it!


 * How to Evaluate Your Introduction Draft**: Ask a peer to read it and tell you what they expect will follow, and why. What will the passage address? Theme? Characters? Do they want to know more? Why? Focused? Direct?

1. The Place Holder Introduction Essentially, this kind of weaker introduction contains several sentences that are vague and don't really say much. They exist just to waste time. 2. The Restated Question Introduction. Restating the question can be an effective strategy, but it can be easy to stop at JUST restating the question instead of offering a more effective, interesting introduction. 3. The Webster's Dictionary Introduction. Overused. Try to find a more creative way to define your terms, or perhaps you could weave a definition into a more attention-grabbing introductory paragraph. 4. Clichéd Statements. This kind of introduction generally makes broad sweeping statements about the relevance of this topic since the beginning of time. Vague space filler that fails to connect to the thesis. 5. The Book Report Introduction. Though you need to give vital information, name and author of the book, and what the selection is about, try to incorporate it in a creative manner.
 * Spot the Weakness:**

1)Title, Author 2) Give us the basic theme of your piece without excessive summarizing. 3) Personal Connection
 * ALWAYS INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:**

** Oral Interpretation Tips ** **Sample Intro** (From Gail Schroers):
= = //Sometimes things happen for a reason that, at the time, makes you question your faith in God or whatever your religious beliefs are. A few years ago, my younger sister was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She battled that and was fine for awhile, but then it came back again two years later which resulted in her passing. She left behind four children and a family that was brokenhearted. In __Cold Sassy Tree__ by Olive Burns, Wil Tweety questions God about his grandmother's death. .// . . (continue providing CONTEXT of the situation and who the main characters are that you will portray in your reading). . . Other ways to start an intro (pique their interest, attention getter) 1. personal anecdote (Gail Schroers) 2. hypothetical question ("Have you ever had . . .") 3. Statistics ( use numbers only if it applies -- don't force it) 4. Quote or saying Your last sentence should be a natural TRANSITION into the piece: THEN, drop your head, collect yourself and become your character, and begin your interpretation.

**CUTTING:** Cut out sections of a passage as long as the beginning and end BLEND. This may be a paragraph or parts that seem to drag. Never cut out dialogue just because you don't want to do the dialect. If that's the case, choose a whole new section where there isn't the dialogue at all. Dialect/dialogue needs to stay true to the character and the author. Never "adjust the words or change" anything said since the author meant it to be said that way. **PRACTICING:** **YOUR “SCRIPT”** · Glue your typed (16 pt. font, triple spaced) "script" to a more rigid backing such as a manila folder · If two or more speakers: Color code so you know how to switch back and forth between voices/dialect · Use director cues in parentheses with italics (such as turn body, or point to left) · Bold any words that need to be shouted · Get rid of speaker tags or descriptions that will be re-enacted through nonverbal cues (such as "she squinted far into the distance.")
 * 1) ALWAYS Practice READING YOUR SECTION ALOUD!!! (when you read in your head, the pacing, the expressions, etc., are not authentic and certainly not preparation for the real thing.)
 * 2) PERFECT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT PERFORMANCE
 * 3) Practice standing
 * 4) Look up as much as possible. Practice in front of a large mirror so you are aware how much you are looking up. If you can easily count the # of times you looked up, YOU ARE NOT LOOKING UP ENOUGH!!!.
 * To see a sample of the cutting process click here**: [[file:cuttingapassage.doc]]