Phillip SarsonsPhil worked intensely with students from L.V. Rogers to enhance and free their writing. Students had this to say about the program: “My piece of text felt more powerful and more influential … I was able to have a deeper understanding of the text. I found myself running out of breath when I whispered my piece and so I noticed that it was helpful to engage my breath and take moments to pause. I discovered that the movements helped me to focus on the meter as well. The words come to life when I spoke them and they contained power!” - Amelia “Speaking from importance… helps me to further understand the characters feelings. Not only the character but also what the writing is actually telling you. It brings everything to life and makes it almost something you can see. I discovered that acting out the punctuation makes it easier to memorize the whole quote. It helps everything become clearer in my head and something you can count on then you don’t remember the words.” - Isobel “To speak with importance makes it feel the message you’re conveying is more important than you are. What I mean is that it’s more important to convey the meaning and to connect with the words than worry if you look/feel like a fool(!) I discovered that some lines that seemed unimportant actually brought more depth and understanding from my entire piece of text.” - Noelle “I found that putting emphasis on the punctuation, using the various actions/the chair, allowed me to get across the importance of my point to the listener… Whispering helped with finding the intensity of the piece.” - Tucker “I can actually slip into my part and forget the world around me. I’ve never been able to do this before. I’m beginning to loosen up and become more lively… The movements are actually helping me remember. The movements help concrete my part in some odd way. I enjoy having multiple ways to remember things… it tends to stick better.” - Caitlynn “… this exercise was even more beneficial to the taking in of the meaning… because there were times when you specifically had to stop and take a breath before you moved on. I discovered how pausing for a second even if it is not necessarily for dramatic purposes is beneficial for the audience member to understand what you are saying.” - Roxanne |
Push, Pull, ReachStudents in Ms. Kroker’s English 11 Honours class brought the language of Dickens’ Great Expectations to life through a full body recitation of lines from the novel.
Working in groups, students were asked to push out, pull back and reach for the words of different characters in order to discover and uncover the intent of the characters. Phil has been working with these students for four classes and will return after spring break when he will use the same physical work to engage with the words of another famous author – William Shakespeare – as students work with lines from Macbeth. Famous Quotations from Dickens' Great ExpectationsHere are examples of some of the most famous quotes fromDickens' Great Expectations (1861). These will help you gain a deeper understanding of this complex and sophisticated story by one of Britain's greatest writers.
"I was always treated as if I had insisted on being born in opposition to the dictates of reason, religion, and morality, and against the arguments of my best friends." Chapter 4 "We were equals afterwards, as we had been before; but, afterwards at quiet times when I sat looking at Joe and thinking about him, I had a new sensation of feeling conscious that I was looking up to Joe in my heart." Chapter 7 "In the little world in which children have their existence, whosoever brings them up, there is nothing so finely perceived and so finely felt, as injustice." Chapter 8 "If you can't get to be oncommon through going straight, you'll never get to do it through going crooked." Chapter 9 |