Way OT -Middle School Forensics Piece Needed

[csmommy]

Hi all - I thought I would reach out to you helpful bunch. My 7th grade daughter is taking an after-school Forensics class(ok I made her!) She is very shy but knows the person who teaches it very well so I thought that would help. She needs to choose a piece (3-4 minutes max) & I cannot find anything Middle School appropriate for 1 person to do. Any ideas?

 

[leight]

Can you clarify what you mean by a piece? Is it a clip from a show? something for her to act out? or a specific piece of forensics like looking at a microscope at carpet fibers?

Sounds like a great class. I would have loved it- my favorite show growing up was Quincy and they did nothing like CSI or NCIS etc.

 

[csmommy]

Like a poem or monologue, but 7th grade appropriate. She has a fabulous sense of humor so if it could be funny I think that would help her.

BTW - I Quincy too! That would be a great class as well, unfortunately it is not offered in our school.

 

[crashbb]

Can you clarify what you mean by a piece? Is it a clip from a show? something for her to act out? or a specific piece of forensics like looking at a microscope at carpet fibers?

Sounds like a great class. I would have loved it- my favorite show growing up was Quincy and they did nothing like CSI or NCIS etc.

I think that you and the OP are using "FORENSICS" in different ways. Based on the OP, I'm assuming that the class is a public speaking/debating class (not a class on catching criminals).

Forensics versus Forensic Sciences.

http://www.americanforensics.org/about/what-forensics/what-forensics

 

[Suz D]

Hi all - I thought I would reach out to you helpful bunch. My 7th grade daughter is taking an after-school Forensics class(ok I made her!) She is very shy but knows the person who teaches it very well so I thought that would help. She needs to choose a piece (3-4 minutes max) & I cannot find anything Middle School appropriate for 1 person to do. Any ideas?

I did a lot of this in high school. I'll do some checking to see if I can find something for you. But, don't just narrow it down to something for one person. My most successful (won a lot of awards) was one that had abour 5 characters and I did different voices for each of them. She could easily do something with two people and voice them differently. I'm excited for her and hope it works out great!

 

[Suz D]

One thing I did was to take a young adult book and go through it and select a few funny passages. For example, "How to eat Fried Worms" was a great one.

 

[csmommy]

Suz D - Thanks for your help & suggestions. As I mentioned, she is VERY shy which is why I asked her to do this. I was hoping it would help her, as public speaking is very important. Our school does not do it as a competition in MS, but rather a learning experience. While I do think 2 parts would really throw her, since this is her first time, I will look for the book How to Eat Fried Worms - humor would work with her.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

This is like a dramatic reading, right? I did Dr. Seuss' Butter Battle Book in high school forensic competitions. It was a lot of fun, and many of Dr. Seuss' books would work well.

For the length she needs, she might be able to find a Shel Silverstein poem that would work well.

 

[acpalmer]

I did "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" one year when I was in Forensics in middle school--I think you can still find that fairly easily. And it's pretty much just the one character (unless you have your "character" do different voices for when others talk to him).

 

[leight]

I think that you and the OP are using "FORENSICS" in different ways. Based on the OP, I'm assuming that the class is a public speaking/debating class (not a class on catching criminals).

Forensics versus Forensic Sciences.

http://www.americanforensics.org/about/what-forensics/what-forensics

LOL! Can see I've been watching the too much of the Casey Anthony murder trial news !

 

[DizzyFORDisney]

My boys do this too.

The older one does the Declamation category and used George Carlin's speech that compares football and baseball - it was hilarious! My other son competed in poetry and did Casey At The Bat.

"Mother Questions" is an excellent and comical speech, as is Superpowers. I also enjoyed Conan O'Brien's address to Harvard. For poetry, The Anteater (Dahl) was funny.

If she wants to do a DUO, how about Abbott and Costello or some kids did a Seinfeld routine (you know - about 'nothing').

You could google these ideas to try to find them.

I'll be watching this thread for ideas for next year!!

 

[iheartpeterpan]

I am assuming that she will be doing Dramatic Interp (one person by herself?)

A WONDERFUL one person piece for a girl is called Schmaltz by Deborah Karczewski.

Ask her forensics teacher about it. They should have a big box of pieces to choose. It is commonly done in middle school forensics competitions. If they don't have the pieces you can usually find them in a library or here:

http://www.brookpub.com/default.aspx?pg=ab&afn=Deborah&aln=Karczewski

She has a lot of great pieces appropriate for middle school.

Another suggestion is to get a book by Shel Silverstein (like Where the Sidewalk Ends) and choose one of those pieces. They are all funny.

 

[Disney_1derland]

In high school we loved using Dr. Seuss in creative ways! I adore Green Eggs and Ham done as a Dramatic Interpretation

Shel Silverstein's longer poems can be fun....Backwards Bill comes to mind.

good luck!

 

[LorlovesStitch]

I am a middle school forensics coach. We use a web site called teenreads.com This site has book reviews by teenagers and many of them include short excerpts from the book. It is a huge site to comb through and not all the reviews include excerpts, and of course, they are not all appropriate, but we have found some great pieces there. One of my team won a competition award in poetry doing "Television" by Roald Dahl.

I also agree with the PP that mentioned that the coach should have a "library" of pieces and should guide your daughter into something that is suitable for her.

Good luck to her, Forensics is an awesome way to improve public speaking skills and poise!

 

[lovehoney]

Thirty years ago we did I Cannot Go To School Today by shel silverstein, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst, and erma bombeck selections. Probably super dated now. LOL

 

[msmama]

Back in the dark ages when I did MS Forensics (competition) I always got beaten by the kid that did Dr. Suess.

I remember another one that was a kid giving a book report about The Wizrd of Oz only she watched the movie instead of reading the book. I remember it being hilarious (20+ years later. Ouch).

 

[csharpwv]

The MOST - THE MOST Important thing to remember is to find a character that your daughter can relate to.

I did speech and debate in college and LOVED it!

If your daughter is shy, she should be debating! HAHA

But really, the best pieces for a budding orator are ones that aren't so much a part of a bigger story, but tell a story themselves.

It's oftentimes hard for a young person to make the connections necessary to bring out the theatrics in a piece that is only 'part' of a story.

I think it's best for a first piece to choose something that is just one character, so the reader learns to develop a character fully - and really give that character all of the personality and nuances that are part of the bigger story.

Think of a very highly developed character in a very distinctive story. It's all about the character!

 

[JayhawkMomma]

You might have her check out the cat poems (what the musical Cats are based on) by TS Eliot. Some of them are fairly entertaining. I believe the collection is called Old Possums Book of Pratical Cats or something like that.

 

[Bkk40in2011]

I have several. I teach drama and speech and these were ones I used for middle school and high school students. I guess you could pm me with your email and I could send it to you.

1. One is an actress who is auditioning for a play and is VERY prideful. Doesn't have an idea of what the part is, what it entails, anything. Spends her whole time talking about how amazing she is and then before she knows it the audition is up. Very funny.

2. The other is a ragdoll. She is talking about her owner and how she put her on a shelf.

3. The last one is a lady who is obviously not into sports. She is sitting at a ball game and gets EVERYTHING wrong.

Also Soujourner Truth did amazing speeches that are online. Just do a search. Because of her rural Black upbringing in the slave South and the amazing truths she spoke, she is a fantastic choice to do one of her speeches. Very moving and she was funny.

I also have speeches about Christ and his death. They are VERY powerful. They are taken from the viewpoint of people at his crucifixion. I don't know if this would work or not for your program but these ended up being the favorites of my students.

Good luck. PM me if you want more of these. I actually don't know some of the sources as I just saved them on my computer, so I wouldn't feel comfortable putting them here. Good luck!

 

[csmommy]

Hi all - I just wanted to update you. She had her Forensics Performace last night & she nailed it! I knew humor would be good for her & she did this piece & was very funny. http://www.legendsmagazine.net/75/oromeo.htm

Thanks to all who helped. Now I am going to try & find a Middle School competition for the kids to go to next year.