PlayWrite The Talking Puppets manual

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Teacher's Guide
PlayWrite
The Talking Puppets
Apple IIgs
SUISBLRST
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the following permission:
1. You have permission to reproduce any student worksheets in this guide for your
classroom use. You should not, however, copy the whole guide.
2. You have permission to use Lab Packs within one site. You should not, however,
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3. You have permission to allow students to take the product home for use with their
personal computers.
PlayWrite
DESIGNERS
Steve Ocko
Steve majored in architecture at Yale and has designed museum exhibits, directed
documentary films, developed electronic toys, and worked as a research associate
at MIT's Media Laboratory. He is currently a designer with the lego Group.
Mitchel Resnick
Mitchel holds a degree in physics from Princeton. He has written about computer
and technology for Business Week magazine and is currently developing a new
parallel-processing version of Logo as a doctoral student in computer science at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Steve and Mitchel previously developed LEGO-Logo, a system that lets children write
computer programs to control their lego creations.
PROGRAMMER GRAPHIC CHARACTERS
Lars Travers Information Technology Design Associates
©1989,1990 Electronic Arts
TEACHERS GUIDE
Mitchel Resnick SAMPLE SCRIPTS
Margaret Carpenter Natalie Rusk
FIELD TESTING SPEECH SYNTHESIS
Louisa Birch Smooth Talker® by First Byte
EDITORS GUIDE PRODUCTION
Beverly Nelson Sarah Lueder
Donna Stanger
COPYRIGHT 1990
SUNBURST COMMUNICATIONS
PLEASANTVILLE, NY 10570
Apple is a registered trademark
of Apple Computer, Inc., Cupertino, CA
For information or free microcomputer courseware catalog, write:
SUNBURST COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
101 Castleton Street
PLEASANTVILLE, NY 10570
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( ^ T a b l e o f C o n t e n t s
Page
I n t r o d u c t i o n 1
O v e r v i e w 2
Q u i c k S t a r t f o r Te a c h e r s 3
B e g i n P l a y W r i t e 3
C h a n g e C o s t u m e s , E x p r e s s i o n s , a n d S c e n e r y 3
W r i t e a N e w S c r i p t 4
L i s t e n t o a P r e p a r e d S c r i p t 6
P r o g r a m D e s c r i p t i o n 8
S t a g e 9
Changing puppet costumes, expressions, and scenery 9
S c r i p t 1 0
E d i t i n g F e a t u r e s 1 0
B o t t o m M e n u 1
S a y 1
S a y - A l l 1
E r a s e - A l l 1
E f f e c t s 1
v To p M e n u 1 2
F i l e 1 2
S e t u p 1 3
W o r d s 1 4
S u g g e s t i o n s f o r C r e a t i n g P h o n e t i c S p e l l i n g s 1 5
F o c u s o n W r i t i n g 1 6
L e t S t u d e n t s L e a d t h e W a y 1 6
P r e w r i t i n g 1 6
To p i c s t o W r i t e A b o u t 1 6
C h a r a c t e r D e v e l o p m e n t 1 7
C h a r a c t e r D e v e l o p m e n t W o r k s h e e t 1 9
S t o r y D e v e l o p m e n t 2 0
S p e l l i n g 2 0
W o r k i n g a t t h e C o m p u t e r 2 1
S h a r i n g S c r i p t s 2 1
T h e a t e r I d e a s 2 1
E x p l o r i n g F e e l i n g s 2 2
S t a r t e r S c r i p t s 2 3
S t a r t e r . 1 2 3
S t a r t e r . 2 2 4
( ^ S t a r t e r . 3 2 4
Page
( P r e p a r e d S c r i p t s
D o g t o r 2 6
G r e e t i n g s 2 7
D e m o n s t r a t i n g P l a y W r i t e X o S t u d e n t s 2 8
L e s s o n 1 : W r i t i n g a N e w S c r i p t 2 8
S t a r t i n g t h e s o f t w a r e 2 8
D e s c r i b i n g P l a y W r i t e 2 8
Changing costumes, expressions, and scenery 28
W r i t i n g d i a l o g u e 2 9
A d d i n g s p e c i a l e f f e c t s 2 9
E d i t i n g a s c r i p t 3 0
S a v i n g a s c r i p t 3 0
Q u i t t i n g a s c r i p t 3 0
L e s s o n 2 : L o a d i n g a n d L i s t e n i n g t o a S c r i p t 3 1
S a v i n g Yo u r W o r k 3 2
A t a G l a n c e 3 3
/ ^ « K A p p l e I I G S : W o r k i n g W i t h Yo u r C o m p u t e r 3 5
(
A p p l e I I G S : C o n t r o l P a n e l S e t t i n g s 3 6
"What Happens If.. .r—SUNBURST Courseware and Warranty 37
Introduction
A growing number of educators agree that one of the best ways to help children learn to
read is to let them express themselves in writing. PlayWrite was developed with this
approach in mind. In PlayWrite, children create puppet characters, write scripts for them,
and then listen to the characters talk. But PlayWrite goes beyond other reading-through-
writing projects in several important ways.
First of all, PlayWrite creates an environment in which children care about the things they
read and write. Young children learn spoken language rather easily because they want to
communicate with other people in the world. Similarly, with PlayWrite, children write
because they want to make the puppets perform. In this way, P/ay Write fits into the spirit of
the whole language approach to reading and writing—it provides children with a
meaningful and motivating medium for expressing their ideas and feelings. With
PlayWrite, reading and writing are part of a natural, and enjoyable activity.
While using PlayWrite, children continually experiment with letters and words. They sound
out words, type them in, and listen to how the puppets say them. If they don't like the way
certain words sound, they change the spellings and try again. In this way, children gain a
firm foundation in practical phonics—that is, an understanding of how letters (and
combinations of letters) translate into sounds. Consequently, PlayWrite helps children
( make the transition from the familiar world of spoken language to an exciting new world of
written language.
"We believe that children do most of their learning while they are playing, building, and
exploring. That's what PlayWrite is all about: Children learn about language by building
and playing with words."
Mitchel Resnick and Steve Ocko
r
Overview
/ • ^
ACTIVITIES: • choosing costumes, expressions, and scenery for the scripts
• writing scripts for the puppets
• editing scripts written for the puppets
• listening and watching the puppets perform scripts
SKILLS: • to provide students with a motivating medium for
developing characters and dialogue
• to provide students with the opportunity and enjoyment of
listening to their own writing
• to provide students with an understanding of phonics and
phonetic spelling of words
• to provide an environment for students to use combined
skills of reading, writing, and listening
Grade Level: 1-6
^
Quick Start
for Teachers
Begin 1. Insert the 3.5 PlayWrite disk into the Apple IIGS 3.5 disk drive.
Playwrite
2. Turn on the computer and monitor.
3. The screen below appears with the puppets Bravo and Encore.
Change 1. Click on these areas to change puppets' costumes, expressions,
Costumes, and scenery:
Expressions,
and Scenery • puppets' hats and clothes (tops and bottoms—many possible
combinations)
• puppets' mouths (happy/sad)
• stage floor (three choices)
• background (seven choices)
Quick Start for Teachers
Write a 1. Notice that Bravo's name is listed as a puppet in the script.
r
New Script
(Encore is the name of the other puppet.) For now, do not
change the puppets' names. To later change a puppet's
name, voice speed and pitch, see Setup (page 13).
2. Type in these lines for Bravo:
"We're top-notch actors you'll agree
Our lines we'll say so perfectly."
3. Click on Say (or press the Enter Key) to listen to Bravo speak.
Bravo's lines are pronounced correctly, but sometimes words
have to be spelled phonetically for correct pronunciation.
To later change pronunciation of words, see Words (page 14).
4. Click on the large "f between the puppets (or press Ta b Key) to
change performers. (Encore's name is automatically inserted into
the script and the cursor is placed after the name.)
5. Type in these lines for Encore:
"Comedy, tragedy, poems, and more,
Just write our lines, and we'll perform."
(If you make a mistake when typing, press the Delete Key
to move backwards erasing one letter at a time.)
6. Click on Say-All to hear the entire script.
7. Move line by line through
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the script by clicking on the
Scroll Bar (at the right side
of the script area). You can Scroll Bar
also use the Arrow Keys to
S3
move through the script.
8. Move quickly all the way to the beginning or end of the script,
by holding down the (5 Key and pressing the j or X Keys.
For more editing details, see Editing Features (page 10).
Quick Start for Teachers
9. Add a special effect(s) to the script:
• place the cursor at the end of the script
• click on Effects to see the Effects Menu
Open
Close
Noise
Claps
Laugh
Drums
Happy
Sad
Cancel
• click on Claps. (It will be demonstrated and automatically
inserted into the script.)
10. Erase-All erases the text currently being written. (Do not erase
this time.)
11. Place the cursor at the end of your script and then click on
Effects and then on Close. Close will be inserted into the script
and the curtain will close.