 Steve Snead here, acting teacher, and I'm located at South Lake High School in Seattle, Washington. Okay, so today I'm going to give you an assignment. If you've watched the other, the previous videos of mine, they've given you some preparation for doing your own piece, whether it's a poem or a monologue or something you've written. And I like this approach because it gives you the opportunity to write about something that's meaningful to you. So here's the assignment. It goes like this. I want you to think of something or a topic or something in your life that is, that you really, really stand for, that you would advocate for in some form. Okay, something that's meaningful that you're passionate about. Or it could be something that you really, really despise. Something that you just don't like, a topic or an issue. Preferably an issue as it gives you something to research and learn about. And I find when it's something that you're passionate about, whether for or against, it's easier for you to come up with something. Okay, so here's the assignment. Something you really stand for or something you don't agree with. And you're passionate either way. Now, the first phase of this project is to gather information. So you want to do your research on the topic if it requires that. You want to just interview people, right? You can interview others who know something about this. So it's just the gathering of information and you collect all that. You can write notes, whatever it takes to gather. Then you start to frame the position you're going to take. You start to frame, right? This is the creative process. You start to frame, who do you want to be telling this story? Are you yourself? Are you someone else? Are you a character of some kind? Develop that. Make those decisions. And this is something that should be fun. So, you know, imagine anything you'd like. Don't hold back. Don't be reserved about your ideas. Then the second phase is to write your first and your second draft, okay? Write a draft of what this is going to be. Like I say, poem, monologue, whatever you call it, okay? But it's a way to advocate. It may be a speech as well. And do two drafts. Do the first one, read through it. But the first one should just be you get those ideas down. The second one is you take time to really construct it well. And have someone else look it over. Have someone else read it. Have someone else take a look at it and then give you feedback. It's always good to get others feedback. In the classroom, we'd call that observation, right? The classroom would hear you read your piece and then they'd give you feedback. That's observation. That's what a director does. A director is observing and then giving feedback. Constructing the piece, constructing the drama, whatever it is. Okay, third phase. Now you want to deliver the piece and record it. And I'm going to imagine that you are high school students. You must have a phone of some kind. Or you know someone who has a phone. Use your phone to record yourself. And you want to do two recordings. Do the first one as a first draft recording. Observe it, look at it. And this is how I want you to grade yourself or critique. Let's not call it grade. You're not going to give yourself a grade, are you? Critique it. So you want to look at voice. Score it anywhere from five being the lowest score to a ten being it was wonderful. Okay, voice. Just voice. Were you loud enough? Were you clear? Did you enunciate your words? Okay, those kinds of things. Then the writing itself. Again, the same score. Anywhere from a five to a ten. With five being the lowest, ten being the highest. The writing. Was it well written? Did it make sense? Was it interesting? Okay. Next, facial expression. Right? What were the facial expressions like? Did they work? Were you convincing? Were they overdone? But you score yourself. Five to ten. And then body language. How did you do your body language? What was your body language like? Did you have what I call aimless wandering? You know, movement that didn't make sense. That didn't fit in with the piece. You know, a lot of times I use my hand, right? I'm emphasizing. I feel like I have to punctuate the word with my hand. So that kind of thing, right? How was your body language? And then believability. Did you believe yourself? That's a critical question in my mind. That's what I like to see. I like to look in the mirror and recite or present or work on my lines. And I get it to the point where I'm almost believable to myself. Because I'm myself. And as I look in the mirror, it's hard to really write it should be. More difficult to convince yourself. I find that out. That when I do it for someone else, oh, that was great. Oh, that was beautiful. Oh, I totally believed you. And I look at it and I go, hmm, I'm not convinced. So look at yourselves and convince yourself. But score yourself there. And then give yourself a rating. And total up your score. Now, you can also, once you record it, of course, you can share it with other people. And give them the same score sheet, right? Let them score it as well and see what they come up with. And then compare the scores. And I would even do three people. Do three different individuals. Have them all score you and then see what your scoring is. Now, that's on your second draft, right? So just to sum it up real quickly, what you stand for, what you advocate for, what's really important to you, like my example I'll give you, is for me, it's I stand for the truth. I think being honest and truthful is very important, right? It is so important in life in general. And you can't imagine. But I could advocate for why truth is important. Or something you are really against, right? Something you don't stand for and you're against and you think is wrong. Something you're against that, like, I don't know, it might be parking meters. It might be against why they have parking meters and why they have to charge me, right? So be free with your examples of what you're for or what you're against. But just make sure it's something you're committed to. Next, the three phases of development. Research, get your material, the second, first and second draft. Then deliver, record it, two of them, and judge yourself. A score of five to ten on voice, writing, facial expressions, body language, and believability. Okay, Steve Snead, acting instructor at Southlake High School in Seattle, Washington. Thank you so much.