Mister Lincoln Lesson Plan

Students in grades 6 – 12 will investigate the power of monologues to express a character’s inner thoughts, beliefs, and feelings. They will then consider an important moment in their own life and how it has impacted their beliefs or behavior, and will create a monologue to tell this story. Selected students will share their work in class. An optional extension is provided at the end of this lesson plan.

Length: 2 – 3 days of 45 – 60 minutes periods. (The third day is optional.)

Objectives and Goals

What will the participants know and understand as a result of the workshop?

• Everyone can make art – no special training is needed!
• Everyone can explore their lives and identify the people and moments that have influenced their thoughts and beliefs or taught them an important lesson and use their findings to inspire their art.
• Monologues are a powerful art form that exists in both theatre and film to give an audience a deeper understanding of a character’s inner thoughts, feelings, and beliefs.
• We can make bold, expressive choices to convey meaning to our audiences.

Outcomes

What will the participants be able to do as a result of the workshop?

• Investigate and reflect on their own lives as a source of inspiration for creating art.
• Consider word choice and create a picture with words to convey setting and meaning.
• Construct a monologue based on their own lives. All students should be given the opportunity to share their words out loud with a partner or group. Students can be selected to share their monologues in front of the class.
• Reflect on the process of creating a monologue.
• Analyze and articulate their response to another artist’s creative output.

Workshop Elements

Day 1

• Introduction (10 minutes)
  • Share:
    • In the Ford’s Theatre production Mister Lincoln, an actor portraying Abraham Lincoln performs a series of monologues that relate events from his life. The audience gets to know the inner thoughts, feelings, and beliefs of Lincoln through the words he wrote and spoke during his life words and the words crafted by the playwright.
    • In this case, the actor talks directly to the audience, which is called “direct address” but sometimes in film and TV, we hear voiceovers instead.
    • In this play, the actor also portrays other figures in Lincoln’s life, simply by adjusting aspects of his voice and body. In other plays, an actor may signify a change in character by adding in a costume or prop piece.
    • Ask:
      • What examples of monologues can you think of from films, TV shows, or other theatre you’ve seen where a character is revealing their true thoughts and feelings? (e.g. “The World Was Wide Enough” from Hamilton; The Office – direct address “interviews”; A Christmas Story – adult version of Ralphie in voiceover, reflecting on the past, Shakespeare’s Hamlet “To be or not to be?” etc.)
      • Why might an artist choose to create a solo performance with one actor portraying multiple roles rather than having multiple actors performing?
    • Discuss:
      • What other types of performances feature a single speaker or performer addressing an audience? 
      • Do you think monologues are a powerful tool? Why/why not?
      • How do they help the audience connect with a character and the story?
• Transition (5 minutes)
  • Share: Many of the monologues in Mister Lincoln depict a moment in Lincoln’s life that had some impact on him, taught him an important lesson, or helped him develop into the man who would become the 16^th president. Some of the monologues are humorous, some are serious or poignant; all of them let the audience gain insight about Lincoln’s thoughts, beliefs, or feelings.
  • Share: “Now you’re going to imagine that you are the main character in a biographical show about your life. Your job today is to create a monologue in which you share a story or a moment in your life that had some impact on you.”
• Activity 1 – Life Outline (25-30 minutes)
  • Distribute handout and tell students you’re going to guide them through the process of brainstorming and creating this monologue. Each student will reflect on their life so far and then select a specific moment to focus their monologue on.
  • Guide them using these prompts:
    • If you’re the star in your life, who are the other main characters? These should be the people in your life that play a big role. It could be your parents or guardians, other family members, close friends, neighbors, sports coaches, or teachers or leaders in activities you do outside of school like church, gymnastics, or music lessons.
    • Who might be in supporting roles? These could be people you spent less time with but with whom you had a meaningful relationship or interaction, for example, a friend from a dance class you took when you were younger or a teacher you had in elementary school. They also could be people that are not particularly important to your overall life but are important to this moment or story.
    • Did any of these people teach you something important or were they involved in a period of your life when you accomplished something or grew in some way? Write down three moments in your life where you learned a lesson, changed a belief, or were challenged to try something new and make sure to list the person or people who were present for those moments.
    • Now I want you to select one of those three moments. This is the one you’ll use to create your monologue.
• Reflect (5 minutes)
  • Ask:
    • What was surprising or interesting as you thought back on important moments and people in your own life?
    • Some monologues are humorous, dramatic, reflective, have a lesson or moral to the story. What is a monologue from a TV show, film, play, or musical that you enjoy and why?
  • Have students fill out and hand in the exit ticket answering at least one of the above reflection questions.
• Exit Ticket – Students can offer a verbal or written responses at least one of the two questions below.
  • What was surprising or interesting as you thought back on important moments and people in your own life?
  • What is a monologue from a TV show, film, play, or musical that you enjoy and why?

Day 2

• Warm-up/Review (5 minutes)
  Have students open their guided life outline and review the life moment they’ve chosen and why they’ve chosen it.
• Model (10 minutes)
  • Tell students you’re going to share a monologue as a model for them. Do so.
    • You can use one you’ve crafted from your own life as a model for them.
    • Alternatively, you can use a monologue from a published play, tv show or film. Here is a link to an online resource where you can find a wide selection on texts.
  • Distribute the “Create Your Monologue” handout.
    • Introduce these elements and discuss how they showed up in the story you shared. Note not all of these elements are reflected in all monologues:
      • Setting the scene – what do we need to understand about the time and location?
      • People – what details do we need to know about the people in this moment?
      • What’s the moment before?
      • What’s the main action? The main action is often what the speaker wants the audience to know or do.
      • What’s going through your head and heart?
      • What’s the moment after / the takeaway?
      • What’s the tone? How do you want the audience to feel?
      • Do you need to play any of the people in the story besides yourself? If so, how can you adjust your voice, body, and movements to make them different than you?
      • How can you keep the monologue short (approximately 250 words) while still incorporating the above?
• Crafting the Monologue (20 minutes)
  • Tell students you’re giving them 20 minutes to craft their monologues using the “Creating Your Monologue” handout.
  • Circulate: As students work, answer questions, offer encouragement, and give time reminders. Reassure them that this is just a draft. The most important thing is the fill in out the sheet as much as possible.
• Read through (5 minutes)
  • Have students read their monologues aloud at the same time.
  • Gently remind students that everyone will be talking all at once so no one should worry about anyone listening to or judging them.
  • Give students 2 minutes to make any desired edits to the script after they’ve had a chance to hear it aloud.
• Reflect (5 minutes)
  • Ask:
    • What about writing your story was surprising or interesting to you?
    • What do you hope the audience will feel or what lesson do you want them to take away from hearing your story?
  • Have students fill out and hand in the exit ticket answering at least one of the above reflection questions.
• Exit Ticket – Students can offer a verbal or written responses at least one of the two questions below.
  • What about the process of writing your story was challenging, interesting, or surprising to you?
  • What do you hope the audience will know or feel from hearing your story?

Suggestion: Assign monologue revision as a homework assignment or, if your class periods are longer, allow students 5-10 minutes for revision on day 3.

Day 3 (Optional)

• Warm-up (5 minutes)
  • Have students stand next to their desks and lead them in stretching their bodies and shaking out their limbs (sitting modifications are OK for students who need that).
  • Lead students in doing several tongue twisters from this list.
• Rehearse (5-8 minutes)
  • Give students time to rehearse their monologues.
    • Keep students up on their feet (unless sitting modifications are needed) to rehearse their monologue. Let them spread out in the room and face the wall, if desired.
    • Gently remind students that everyone will be talking all at once so no one should worry about anyone listening to or judging them.
    • Encourage students to speak at full voice and practice any movement or gestures needed to tell the story. Visit the Video Resource – How To section of our Teaching Oratory web page for additional tips and instructions to support students performances.
    • Remind students to think about where their audience is in relation to them and make sure they don’t have their back to the audience when speaking.
  • As students rehearse, circulate and reinforce big, bold choices and full voices, especially if students seem shy or self-conscious.
• Share Out (25-30 minutes)
  • Set expectations:
    • Distribute Ford’s Warm & Cool Feedback protocol
    • Read the warm feedback sentence starters.
    • Discuss how these sentence starters differ from just saying “good job” to someone (e.g. they allow for specific, kind, and helpful feedback that encourages the receiver to maintain or go further with those choices).
    • Remind students to be a supportive, kind, and present audience (e.g. give full attention to the person sharing; be mindful of vulnerability of presenters; we are all learning and growing; and this is a work in progress not a polished script or performance).
  • Volunteers share.
    • Give all participants a round of applause.
    • Using the warm feedback sentence starters, have the class give positive (warm) feedback on performance elements, personal emotional reactions, understanding of meaning, etc. as time permits.
    • (Depending on your students’ receptiveness and maturity level, you may allow students to give each other cool feedback as well. This is recommended only if you are giving additional time for another round of text revisions.)
• Reflect (5 minutes)
  • Ask:
    • What was challenging OR exciting about the process of bringing your story to life in rehearsal?
    • What did you take away from the stories that your classmates shared?
  • Have students fill out and hand in the exit ticket answering at least one of the above reflection questions.
• Exit Ticket – Students can offer a verbal or written responses at least one of the two questions below.
  • What was challenging OR exciting about bringing your story to life in rehearsal?
  • What did you take away from the stories that your classmates shared?

To further extend the lesson:

• Have students refine their writing. Consider using small groups to offer peer feedback on elements of the writing (e.g. story clarity, word choice, suggestions on ways to be more concise or add detail as needed, etc.)
• Students should then either rehearse and perform monologues as theatrical direct address OR record and edit a video as direct address or voiceover. If voiceover is the selected format, the student must create images or video(s) to be shown on screen. The rehearsal or editing process can also include peer feedback, if desired.

How will you assess that participants achieve the goals and outcomes?

• Completion of worksheet and exit ticket with answers that reveal critical thinking and deep reflection.
• Willingness to share out or behavior as an audience member for those who do.
• Participation in discussion and reflection questions.

Curriculum Standards Alignment:

NATIONAL CORE ARTS STANDARDS ANCHOR 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.

NATIONAL CORE ARTS STANDARDS ANCHOR 6: Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.

NATIONAL CORE ARTS STANDARDS ANCHOR 11: Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art.

Materials needed

• Teacher will either use the provided monologue from Mister Lincoln OR will need to have prepared a short (2 minutes or under) monologue to use as a model.
• Students will need
  • guided life outline handout,
  • crafting your monologue handout,
  • warm and cool feedback handout,
  • exit tickets for days 1, 2, and 3,
  • and a writing utensil or tablet/laptop
• Blank paper or laptop/tablet if students need more space to write.

Space and technology requirements

• Students can be in their regular seating arrangements in their classroom.
• There are no technology requirements unless the teacher wants to use tablets/laptops instead of paper.