Elise and Kirsten's EMT694 Blog: Drama

CONVERSATIONS:

The drama lecture was a great introduction to defining drama, particular the use of process drama to explore new learning opportunities. Maureen’s workshop reinforced the theoretical ideas which were presented and gave me many practical ideas to use in the classroom. I particularly enjoyed the tableau or freeze frame which allowed for a dramatic interpretation of a particular moment in time.

Tableau

I can see how drama has a very constructionist approach, drawing upon the prior experiences of children. In some ways this scares me because anything could happen in the classroom. As a beginning teacher I need to create an atmosphere of trust before inviting students to take risks by introducing drama. I think the idea of creating a parallel reality really allows this to happen. I will work hard to create an environment of safety and risk taking in my classroom. Elise

How will you create an environment of safety and risk taking in your classroom? It is something we all aspire to but can we create it through the Arts? Kirsten

I think there are lots of ways - from the way you speak to children, the space you create, the way you start and finish your classes (I always use circles and a verse which indicates the beginning and end of the class), trust activities, an understanding of the group, creating opportunities for participation without forcing children.

I'll put some information in our toolkit. Elise

I thought that the workshop this week with Maureen was really inspiring and has ignited my passion for drama! I have always avoided using drama because my Dad and brother are highly skilled in the area whilst I was the shy one. Instead of being intimidated by my family’s skills in drama I am learning to use that knowledge to improve my teaching. Kirsten

I can really relate to your comments about your family - my sister went to the Center of Performing Arts in Adelaide and studied acting. She is also a great musician with two of her own CD's, so I tended to see drama and music as her areas. Elise

I have been working two days a week in a low SE school. Many of the students there have little interest or ability when it comes to written work due to a number of factors including; support at home, behaviour management issues, and lack of successful experiences in literacy. Drama would allow students with lower literacy skills to participate and experience success. As Maureen (Innes, 2012) said, drama would give children something to write about. I loathe newswriting activities (On the weekend…) and have found that many students do not have anything positive to write about. Some actually get upset when recalling the weekend. I also want to use drama to teach social skills and I am going to try an activity this week (if all goes well). I have included the activity in the resources section. Kirsten

Innes, M. (2012). Drama. Lecture presented for Introduction to arts education. Master of Teaching, University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay, TAS.

On PE3, I had the opportunity to observe Lorrain O'Malley (personal communication), a Drama specialist who introduced several new techniques to my class group. Usually this involved pairs of students responding to each other on stage but unfortunately many of the other students disengaged as audience members. I will certainly make sure students are active and drama activities are short and build upon the previous activities in a constructionist manner. Elise

I have also found that my students are not patient as audience members. We need to explicitly teach how to be an audience member. Kirsten

The FOX activities (Sinclair et. al.) in this week's reading would not work in my classroom. My Grade 4/5 Boys class would need to be taught that what happens in drama stays there. Getting the students to be foxes and circle the other students would generate some negative feelings which some children may find intimidating or increase gang behaviour. I am going to try the evolution game with the boys on Tuesday and see if they understand the game because I think they might have trouble with it. Kirsten

Sinclair, C., Jeanneret, N., O'Toole, J. (2012). Education in the arts. (2nd ed). South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press.

This weekend I worked with a group of young females about some sensitive issues. In the beginning, we sat in a circle and agree verbally that anything said in the circle remains there. You could adapt this for the situation/age group to create a similar sacred space? Elise

RESOURCE TOOLKIT:

I found a terrific drama resource which incorporates Tableau Games. Elise
http://dramaresource.com/strategies/tableaux

Ideas about reducing risk and building trust in the classroom. Elise
http://www.hotchalk.com/mydesk/index.php/editorial/109-back-to-school/422-building-student-trust-in-your-classrooms

Kirsten, you may like this article about successfully building trust in an atmosphere of gang violence in Los Angles.
http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=11644

Poston-Anderson, B. (2008). Drama: Learning connections in primary schools. South Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press.

Playback Theatre provides a fantastic improvised theatre experience, where the audiences experiences and stories are acted out on stage. Look out for performances around Hobart.

Theatre Royal has great drama productions for children.
http://www.theatreroyal.com.au/whats-on/childrenfamily

I found an excellent lesson plan about using the Big bad wolf character to explore text types through drama - Kirsten
Watson, G. Who's afrai of the big bad wolf - Unit of work, Curl Curl North Public school, NSW. Retrieved from http://www.scootle.edu.au/ec/viewing/R11580/index.html

Here are some good ideas for Drama warm ups - Kirsten
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/pshe/pdfs/dramawarmups.pdf

A website with information on including children with special needs into drama it also has some lesson plans
http://www.artsonthemove.co.uk/education/primary/primdramwkshp.php

ENGAGING IN THE MEDIA:

Circle Game (lesson plan):

I am teaching children about Heat in Science, so I am going to ask students how they felt when they were moving and relate that to the movement of atoms. I'll let you know how it goes! Kirsten

I hope you had an opportunity to try this Kirsten? Elise

Mountain of 100 (lesson plan):

This week I was asked to do some relief teaching in Grade 2 and started the maths lesson by incorporating some drama. It was a great success. Elise

I agree that using drama usually engages children through kinesthetic learning however for those children that lack appropriate skills this may mean that a large part of their cognitive capacity may be engaged in hopping or jumping with none left to consider the numbers in sequence. Kirsten

Oh, I'm not sure about that Kirsten, I think one builds the other. This activity got the students out of their heads and helped them to "embody" the concepts. That is why working with the hands is so important in Steiner schools. We "knit" ideas and "weave" new concepts together. Elise

When I work in the kindergarten, role play and dramatic improvisation occurs spontaneously. However during Christmas the morning circle is based upon the Nativity. Elise

Kindergarten Christmas play

Dramatic performances are an important part of the Steiner curriculum, however they are not 'performed' on stage until high-school. These class-room plays are based upon novels and curriculum themes that the class are exploring. Elise