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High School Grade  Project 2 weeks

Write It, Say It: The Art of Dialogue

Ryan B
Updated
Effective Communication
Collaboration
Critical Thinking & Problem Solving
Self Directed Learning
Content Expertise
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Purpose

Students will investigate how dialogue can follow grammar rules while sounding like authentic conversation. Through actor-led workshops with the Greater Baltimore Theater Project, they will practice punctuation, script conventions, elocution, emotional language, and natural conversational rhythm. Students will apply peer, teacher, and self-feedback to revise a narrative and short play, then collaborate to perform their dialogue for classmates and potentially Theater Project actors. Formative practice, final written works, and the performance will demonstrate effective communication, collaboration, critical thinking, self-direction, and content expertise.

Learning goals

Students will apply dialogue grammar and formatting conventions in narratives and plays while exploring how dialogue can follow rules and still sound like real conversation. They will use word choice, rhythm, tone, elocution, and emotional expression to reveal character and create believable interactions. Through workshops with Greater Baltimore Theater Project actors, peer collaboration, formative feedback, and rubric-based self-critique, students will revise a narrative and short play. Students will perform their plays for classmates, with selected pieces presented to Theater Project actors, and reflect on how their language choices communicate emotion.

Competencies
  • Effective Communication - Students practice listening to understand, communicating with empathy, and share their learning through exhibiting, presenting and reflecting on their work.
  • Collaboration - Students co-design projects with peers, exercise shared-decision making, strengthen relational agency, resolve conflict, and assume leadership roles.
  • Critical Thinking & Problem Solving - Students consider a variety of innovative approaches to address and understand complex questions that are authentic and important to their communities.
  • Self Directed Learning - Students use teacher and peer feedback and self-reflection to monitor and direct their own learning while building self knowledge both in and out of the classroom.
  • Content Expertise - Students develop key competencies, skills, and dispositions with ample opportunities to apply knowledge and engage in work that matters to them.

Products

Students will create annotated dialogue samples and revised partner scenes that demonstrate correct punctuation, natural conversational flow, and purposeful emotional language. Each student will write and revise a narrative story containing dialogue, using self-assessment, partner critique, and teacher feedback. Collaborative teams will co-write a short play and rehearse elocution, tone, and emoting with guidance from Greater Baltimore Theater Project actors. Teams will perform their plays for classmates, with selected pieces considered for presentation to the theater actors.

Launch

Launch with “Voices on Stage Day,” featuring Greater Baltimore Theater Project actors leading improv warm-ups and quick partner scenes. Students perform identical lines using different emotions, then listen to brief dialogue samples and identify how punctuation, word choice, tone, and rhythm shape meaning. Teams complete a sentence-scramble challenge to revise awkward dialogue so it follows grammar rules while sounding natural. Close by introducing the essential question: “How can dialogue follow grammar rules and still sound like real conversation?”

Exhibition

Host a class dialogue festival where student teams perform their short plays for classmates using purposeful elocution, emotion, and natural pacing. Display polished narratives and scripts in a gallery featuring highlighted examples of correct dialogue mechanics and brief author reflections on word choice and emotion. Classmates and the teacher provide rubric-based feedback celebrating effective communication, collaboration, and believable dialogue. Invite Greater Baltimore Theater Project actors to view selected performances and offer professional feedback in a closing conversation.