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A Case She Would Not Choose

Compare a debate-team story with a stage adaptation, analyzing how sound, lighting, movement, and props shape meaning.

Grade 7ELAInteractive · Printable

Aligned toRL.7.7

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What’s included

Single worksheet
Auto-graded online
1 Common Core standard
Printable answer key
13 questions
Classroom-ready

Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 7
Subject: ELA
Question types: Multiple choice, Matching, Circle the answer, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students compare how prose and a stage adaptation present a character's conflicting feelings.
Students analyze how sound, lighting, movement, and props affect an audience's interpretation.

How to use

Read both versions before answering. The stage script supplies all production details needed; no recording or performance is required.

Curriculum

Common Core standard covered

RL.7.7

Compare a text with its audio, film, stage, or multimedia version, analyzing effects like lighting, sound, color, or camera focus.

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A Case She Would Not Choose

Compare an original story with its stage adaptation.

Read Both Versions

Read the story and the proposed stage adaptation. Bracketed directions describe what an audience would see and hear.

The Other Card

1Zehra turned over her assignment card. Tomorrow's practice debate asked whether school clubs should replace live morning announcements with recorded messages. She had been assigned to defend recordings. Around her, teammates traded opening lines, snapped folders shut, and argued about examples. Zehra liked live announcements precisely because they could go wrong: a forgotten name, a sudden laugh, a voice discovering what it wanted to say. Recordings seemed to her like fruit sealed in plastic.

2At home, she wrote, “Recordings are efficient,” then drew a line through it. Her older sister, Sumi, was rehearsing a live announcement for the climbing club. After stumbling over the meeting location, Sumi started again. On the fourth attempt, she asked Zehra to listen. Zehra almost suggested recording it, then bit her lip. She wanted to win tomorrow without borrowing a reason that felt disloyal to her own opinion. Still, she wrote down how many times Sumi had restarted.

3The next afternoon, Zehra unfolded her notes at the practice lectern. Across the room, Sumi waited to collect her after debate. Zehra began with her polished claim about saving time. Then she reached the example about speakers who needed another attempt. She had written, “Some students freeze when everyone is listening.” She folded that corner underneath the page. Sumi had trusted her with an unfinished performance, not supplied her with a convenient weakness to display.

4Zehra paused. She could hear someone turning a pen between their fingers. Instead of describing Sumi, she said, “A recording gives a speaker a choice about which attempt becomes public.” Her opponent stopped arranging his cards. Zehra had expected the sentence to feel borrowed, like a jacket with the wrong name inside. It did not. She could recognize a useful argument without wanting recordings to replace every live voice.

5After practice, her coach asked whether she had changed her mind. “About replacing everything? No,” Zehra said. She placed the assignment card beside her own opinion card, keeping their edges separate. Sumi tapped the folded corner of the notes but did not open it. Zehra left it folded as they walked out together.

The Other Card: Stage Adaptation

1[A lectern stands at center stage. Four teammates stand around Zehra, each holding a folder. As she turns over her assignment card, they speak fragments of arguments at once: “A clear message—” “But a live voice—” “What about mistakes?” Their overlapping voices grow louder while Zehra remains still. When she raises the card, the others stop together.] ZEHRA: Recordings. That's my side? [She slips the card behind her folder and moves toward a small desk at stage left.]

2[At the desk, Zehra writes while Sumi rehearses nearby. Sumi repeats the climbing-club announcement four times, beginning confidently and slowing at the meeting location. A small click sounds whenever Zehra presses her pen. The fourth time Sumi stops, Zehra lifts the pen as though about to speak, then writes instead. Sumi pulls up a second chair.] SUMI: Listen once? [Zehra turns her chair toward Sumi. The assignment card remains visible beneath the desk lamp, separate from the sisters.]

3[The desk lamp goes out; a plain white light reveals the lectern. Sumi sits at the edge of the stage. Zehra opens her notes.] ZEHRA: Recordings can save time. And some speakers— [She looks toward Sumi, then down at the page. She folds one corner underneath it. A teammate shifts a folder from one hand to the other.] [Zehra smooths the remaining page twice before looking up. Sumi sits forward, but neither sister speaks. There is no music beneath the pause.]

4ZEHRA: A recording gives a speaker a choice about which attempt becomes public. [Her opponent lowers his cards. For the first time, Zehra moves out from behind the lectern. She speaks the rest of her argument facing the audience rather than reading from her notes. Her voice becomes steadier, not louder. At the end, the teammates gather their folders without applauding. The coach approaches while Sumi waits beside the small desk.] COACH: Have you changed your mind?

5ZEHRA: About replacing everything? No. [She places the assignment card beside a second card marked “My opinion.” The cards do not overlap. The light on Zehra fades until only her hands and the two cards remain clearly visible. Sumi enters that narrow light and taps the folded corner of the notes. Zehra rests her hand over the corner without opening it. The sisters leave the cards on the desk. The light remains there briefly after they exit.]

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