Post-Show Classroom Activity
Invite students to create campaign slogans for each character in Radio Golf.
As always, please note that some steps of the activity may be condensed, eliminated, or extended based on the needs of your classroom.
Character Campaigns
Activity Preparaion
- Supplies
- Video and transcript of Barack Obama’s “Yes We Can” speech
- Background information video on the “Yes We Can” speech
- Sample Character Slogan handout (Harmond Wilks)
- Character Slogan documents
This activity will take approximately 45 minutes
Learning Sequence
- Ask students to share what they know about Barack Obama’s campaign slogan “Yes We Can.” Distribute the transcript of the speech. Before showing the video, provide the context that Obama had lost the New Hampshire primary to Hilary Clinton during the 2008 presidential campaign, and this speech launched a new slogan that he used throughout his campaign and eventual term as president. (As needed, use the background information video above for testimony from his speech writers and 2008 campaign staff.) Invite students to underline or highlight key phrases from the speech on their transcript documents and identify the core belief, or platform, that the “Yes We Can” speech embodies. Invite students to share. Possible answers include perseverance or believing in positive outcomes. (~10 minutes)
- Explain that characters in plays also have platforms, core beliefs that guide their words and actions. Using the Harmond Wilks Example Character Brief handout, invite a student to read the character’s speech aloud, and invite the class to identify the character’s platform. (~7 minutes)
- An example response: Harmond’s speech indicates that he values honesty and consistency, two factors that are missing from the political and social landscape he witnesses. He believes that it is easy to miss the bigotry and hypocrisy in American politics because we follow the changing rules, and that prominent Black figureheads are often used to mask the injustices still present in our government.
- Next, share that August Wilson has given Harmond a slogan in the play, “Hold Me to It.” Based on Harmond’s platform, why is that an effective slogan for his character? (~3 minutes)
- An example response: “Hold Me to It.” as a campaign slogan fits Harmond’s belief that strong politicians are true to their word, reliable, and have solid morals that they don’t stray from.
- Break students into groups of three to five. Assign one of the other characters in Radio Golf to each group and provide their corresponding Character Slogan document, which includes a key speech the character delivers in the play. Students should read the speech aloud and work together to determine the character’s platform (or core belief). Then, students will create a campaign slogan for their character and provide their reasoning as to why their slogan fits the character’s platform. (~15 minutes)
- Have each group share their campaign slogan with the class. If time allows, you may have students vote on which character’s slogan is the most effective, design a campaign poster for the character using their slogan, or have students create a personal campaign slogan for themselves based on their own core beliefs. (~10 minutes)
- This activity aligns with the following standards:
- Illinois Arts Learning Standards
- Anchor Standard 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
- Anchor Standard 7: Perceive and analyze artistic work.
- Anchor Standard 8: Construct meaningful interpretations of artistic work.
- Common Core State Standards
- CCSS.ELA.R.R.2 Key Ideas and Details: Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
- CCSS.ELA.R.R.3 Key Ideas and Details: Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.
- CCSS.ELA.W4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
- Illinois Arts Learning Standards