Alternate Activity 3: Challenge Question
Part of Riddle and Mystery, 6th Grade
Activity time: 5 minutes
Materials for Activity
- Microphone(s), video camera(s) and tripod(s), real or simulated
- For studio set
- Backdrop made in Session 1
- Painter’s tape or masking tape
- Leader Resource 2, WCUU Script – Brain Art
- Handout 2, Three-Course Meal
- Color pencils or fine-point markers; masking tape or push-pins
- Paper for On-Air People’s name cards, markers and string or tape
- Timepiece
- Optional: Music player for theme song (see Session 1)
- Optional: Studio lights (flashlights will do)
- A copy of the Unitarian Universalist Principles and Sources (Session 1, Leader Resource 1, or a poster in your meeting space)
Preparation for Activity
- Plan how you will time this two-part WCUU activity. Part 1 involves a discussion and a drawing activity. Make sure you reserve at least ten minutes for Part 2, the WCUU broadcast.
- Retrieve real or simulated television studio equipment, backdrop made in Session 1 and other WCUU materials.
- If necessary, arrange furniture, set up and test equipment and post backdrop. Identify an area, within “reach” of the video camera, where youth can hold up their Brain Art or a wall where you can display their work as a gallery. If you plan to record WCUU:
- Make sure electrical outlets are nearby if you will need them.
- Pay attention to lighting. Do not set On-Air People in front of a sunlit window.
- If you are using on-camera microphones, direct On-Air People to speak toward the camera. Invite the Director or Floor Director to use the phrase “Quiet on the Set…Rolling…” followed by a silent countdown from five, using the fingers of one hand, ending with pointing to the On-Air Person to cue them to begin speaking.
- Copy Leader Resource 2 for everyone who will need a script for the broadcast. This script has three On-Air people-two Co-Anchors and a NUUs (pronounced “News”) Analyst-who can interview any number of other youth about their art work. If the group is small, co-leaders can be Studio Crew; if the group is large, the Studio Crew might include a director, a floor director, a camera operator, a sound engineer, a lighting director, a script supervisor and multiple production assistants.
- Copy Handout 2, Three-Course Meal, for all participants.
Description of Activity
Challenge questions guide a deeper inquiry for especially thoughtful individuals and groups. For this session, ask:
What is the best way to teach a five-year-old not to do wrong things?
Spark discussion with these questions:
- Is discipline helpful? What kind should it be?
- Does the meaning of "right" things versus "wrong" things change as we get older? How?
- How old do kids have to be before they know enough to evaluate what is right or wrong for themselves?