Thesis Statement Improv Theater

Goals of Activity: By the end of the activity, students should be able to: Construct a working thesis statement Understand how to determine the effectiveness of athesis statement

Materials: Overhead projector

Ideal Audience & Timing within the Quarter: Students who have limited experience with academic writing Works well early in the quarter while students are drafting an initial writing project

Suggested Activity Length:60 minutesActivity DescriptionProject the CSC Thesis Statement Triangle, and discuss its parts and purpose. Briefly describe the conventions of Improv Theater and the purpose of using this format in a thesis statement workshop.Divide students into groups of 3-4 (groups of 4 are strongly encouraged) and have each group designate one student as the Script Writer for the first round. Round #1: The student at the Script Writers left will improvise aloud theContextfor a thesis statement. Moving clockwise, the next student will improvise aSubjectthat both relates to and narrows the context. The last student will improvise aClaimthat can be supported and debated (students in groups of 3 should take turns improvising each part) While this is occurring, the Script Writer will take notes of the thesis statements that result (effectively writing a script of the performance). Students may improvise thesis statements about any topic, but each Context, Subject, and Claimmustmake up a complete and cohesive thesis statement that could be used within a paper. After 10 minutes, Round #2 will begin and all roles will shift clockwise. Repeat until each student has played each role within his or her Improv group.

Have each group take 5 minutes to look over the scripts they created and select one strong thesis statement. Once they have done so, ask for a group to volunteer to share their selection. As a large group, discuss whether it meets the criteria for a strong thesis statement. Does it pass the "So What", How, and Why tests? Does it make a debatable claim? Is any component (Context, Subject, Claim) too narrow or too broad?Ask additional groups to volunteer their selections as time permits.