Drama

The Diary of Anne Frank
Reading the award-winning play based on the novel //Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl// will enable us to accomplish and appreciate many important goals and themes: reading drama as a genre of literature; understanding and using vocabulary related to staging and performance; using voices as tools of expression; evaluating characters based on real people and events; comprehending and discussing the Holocaust and WWII through the eyes of a precocious teenage girl. Like all types of literature, drama contains many layers and elements--plot, character, conflict, climax, theme. We will discuss the elements of drama, background information about Anne Frank and her life, and gain confidence in speaking by reading this timeless and critical play aloud in class together as our classroom becomes a stage of sorts. Action!

__**Major Assignments:**__ Journal Homework Holocaust Survivor Project

__**Journal Homework:**__ Anne Frank Journal entries: answer each question in complete paragraph form (topic sentence, supporting details, concluding sentence) in a Pages document. All journal entries will be handed in together as one assignment following the conclusion of the play. You may embellish your journals in any way you wish, from using a template to making it look like a diary of your own, similar to Anne's in format, to using a font of your choice provided it is clearly legible. Be honest, sincere and expressive, just like Anne Frank in her own diary entries. Options (you may choose any other rule OR aspect of secret attic living to discuss in your response: --keeping silent during the day --staying inside all the time --refraining from using the washroom during the day --missing your friends, school, activities, etc. --worrying about being discovered Journal #2: Would you describe Miep as a hero? Explain your answer using detailed examples. Critical Thinking: 1. How are Margot and Anne different? How does the difference between them affect each of their relationships with Mrs. Frank? 2. What do Anne's Hannukah presents reveal about her? How do you think the presents affect her family? 3. Describe the feeling or mood in the attic at the end of Act One. What event causes this feeling? 1. In Act I, Anne explains to her father that she worries about the bad things she does and that she is afraid people will laugh at her if she is serious. How do we know that a year later, in Act II, she has changed? Support your answer with details you remember from both Act I and II to compare/contrast the changes in Anne. 2. In what way does Anne's friendship with Peter help her live through a difficult time? 3. What do you like best about Anne Frank? In what way was she an ordinary teenager? 1. What did the world learn from Anne Frank's diary? Does the fact that Anne Frank was a real person make this playmore meaningful for you? Explain. 2. Anne's last line in the drama are: "in spite of everything...people are reallly good at heart"? What has Anne learned from her experience in the war to help her believe this idea? 3. The final scene of the play occurs several years after the families have been discovered in the secret attic. As the only one among the two families who survived the concentration camps, Mr. Frank returns to Amsterdam broken and without hope. Explain what Mr. Frank might mean by is last nine: "She puts me to same." For your final journal assignment, you will write a diary entry from the point of view of Miep Gies, the Dutch secretary who worked downstairs of the building the families were hiding in, and who helped them survive and hide there for two years. Write a diary entry about helping to hide the people in the attic. What do you imagine she would say about helping the Franks, Van Daans and Mr. Dussel stay hidden? What might her fears be, for them and for her own safety? You may base your entry during any time between July 1942 and August 1944. Your entry should be 1-2 complete paragraphs in length, start with the line "Dear Diary," and end with Miep signing her name. Turning in your Journals... Once you have completed ALL 5 journal homework assignments, revise and print out your entire Pages document. Make sure your assignment is labeled with your heading and that each journal assignment is labeled (Journal #1, Journal #2, etc.). This assignment is due the next time your class meets: 8C 2/11; 8E, 8F, 8G 2/12.
 * Journal HW #1.** The families live by strict rules in order to prevent discovery. Which of these rules would be hardest for YOU to follow? Why?
 * Journal HW #2.** Two part assignment: Journal question AND critical thinking questions. Answer in complete sentences in the same Pages document after your response to Journal #1.
 * Journal HW #3.** Answer these three critical thinking questions in complete, thoughtful responses. Use examples from the play to better support your answers.
 * Journal HW #4.** Answer the following questions in complete sentences, using details from the play and historical discussions to supplement your responses. Be sure to answer all parts of each question.
 * Journal HW #5.** Diary Entry

__**Holocaust Survivor Project:**__ For this project you will create a multi-media documentary covering the life of a Jewish Holocaust survivor. First you will research biographical information on a Jewish teenager who was between 13-19 years old during WWII; you will be able to better relate to his/her life experiences when the person was around your age when the war took place. Then you will write a script written in first person point of view, so YOUR voice will therefore become that of your survivor's, and when you record his/her story, you will actually become the person you have researched. This will be a great way to make history come alive, to better understand the events of the Holocaust and WWII on a personal scale and to increase your awareness and knowledge of this devastating event and the impact it has and continues to have on the world. It is hoped that you will also take with you a sense of what war does to human beings, and that the message of hope in Anne Frank's diary is also the theme of the stories of survival that you will tell.

You will have 10 class periods to work on this project; be aware of this timeline, use class time wisely and productively and be responsible for your work (preparation, fully charged macbooks each day, USB to save work in progress, etc.) at all times. There will be absolutely no excuses for late projects.
 * Requirements and Procedure:**

--before the Holocaust: childhood information, family, school, friends, etc. Where did this person live? What did he/she like to do? --during the Holocaust: describe your survivor's experience; where he/she was sent, if separated from family, what was life like in the ghetto and/or concentration camp, how they survived and were liberated --after the Holocaust: what did your survivor do after being freed? Did he/she return home or leave for another country? Was he/she reunited with other family members or faced to go on alone? Find and list facts from their adult life, what they did to start life over again following the events of the war. Has he/she gone on to educate or inform others about the Holocaust, or chosen instead to lead a quiet life away from those memories?
 * Day 1-3:** find, research and collect information on a Holocaust survivor. Your survivor must be the same gender as yourself and have been born in the 1920s in order for him/her to have been a teenager during WWII (1939-1945). Find out anything and everything you can about the person's life, as you will be recording his/her story in first person point of view so that it sounds like an autobiography. In many cases you will be able to find transcripts of interviews already conducted by your survivor, diary or journal entries written by him/her, even video footage. Collect any information you gather in note form as well as save the websites you use for your future bibliography.


 * Day 4-6:** write your podcast/iMovie script, practice and then record your voice reading your script about your survivor's full life. Re-record as necessary so that you end up with a recording that sounds smooth, clear and easy to understand and follow. Your podcast must be recorded at home as homework in order to eliminate any background noises and to give yourself full focus and comfort so as to make your voice sound natural and coherent.

--for citing songs used in your bibliography, (created using either www.bibme.org OR www.easybib.org), follow these steps: > Last Name of the Artist/Composer/Songwriter, First Name. "The Song Name." Name of the Album/Recording. Manufacturer, Year Issued.

Every group member must be involved equally to: --write and record an introduction --insert transitions in between survivor stories --write and record a conclusion
 * Day 7-9:** in a group (which Ms. B. will select for you), you will put together all of your individual podcasts/iMovies into one long Holocaust documentary. Using one group member's macbook you will copy and paste your individual podcasts into a new Garage Band/iMovie project (it is highly recommended that you also back up your group project EVERY DAY onto at least one, if not two, USB memory sticks). It is imperative that when working as a group, each member comes to class prepared with fully charged macbooks, power cords, USB/external hard drive, and anything else your group determines is needed for the project to succeed). The purpose of any group project is to reach a common goal or end result/product; be responsible for yourself so that your group can meet its goal.

**Steps to Import an iMovie file into GarageBand:** from http://www.apple.com/support/ilife/tutorials/garageband/gb4-1.html
1. Export the podcast in .m4a format to the desktop and then drag it into the iMovie. 2. Alternative way (a little more complex): Export in .m4a format and then Import into iMovie.
 * 1) Open GarageBand and click the New Video Project button in the window that appears.
 * 2) Click the Media Browser button, and then click the Movies button.
 * 3) Find a movie by typing its name in the search field, or scrolling through the available movies.
 * 4) Click a movie to select it, and then click the Play button to preview it.
 * 5) Drag the movie you want to score to the timeline. (You can also import a movie by dragging a video file from the Finder to the Timeline.)
 * 6) Choose New Track from the Track menu to create a new Real or Software Instrument Track to add audio to your movie.
 * Steps to Export a GarageBand podcast into iMovie:**

Bring to class your individual podcast's bibliography along with your group's documentary saved on a USB. We will watch each project in class over the next two days. Your score will have both an individual and group mark. Good luck! I look forward to seeing you develop your skills in research, writing, collaboration and presentation with this project.
 * Day 10: due date 8E, 8F 3/18; 8G, 8C 3/19**