Drama Tutorial One
What I gained from this tutorial:
Drama strategies
Overview & Critical Reflection
There are many benefits of drama, one is that it is an important technique used to stimulate creativity and problem solving, whilst it also allow students to challenge common concepts and themes about themselves and the world (Buchanan, No Year). There are many drama devices which can be used to enhance learning, before this tutorial I was aware of all the strategies used in the tutorial and their effectiveness, besides ‘slideshow’, this was a strategy that I had not heard of. Below are the definitions of each strategy as a reminder to myself as I will be using them once I begin teaching.
Role on the wall:
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The
teacher has provided a stimulus (e.g. Voices in the Park, by Anthony Brown) ,
the students are given a perspective to write from, for instance the
perspective of Charlie or his mother. They write an adjective to describe each
person and stick it on the whiteboard. A volunteer then reads out the ideas
the class has generated. This technique is useful for a beginning activity as
it creates a broad range of ideas to build on for later activities.
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Slide show:
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I
found it to be a really empowering technique, because as a person who likes
to take the back seat in drama due to nerves, I still like to have an input
in the tutorial and thus I found this technique useful in reducing nerves and
building confidence in drama and therefore increasing input. In groups we
made a set of three still images which represented three significant moment
in Charles life (From Voice in the Park by; Anthony Brown), here we worked as
a group to gather a broad range of ideas to put together the best set of
still images. The group then performed the still images, whilst a narrator
narrated. In my opinion as a pre-service teacher I found that this technique was useful for
students of all levels of ability, academically and in relation to
performance ability.
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Role play:
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“Students
adopt the characteristics of a particular individual” (Beyond the Script,
2004).
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Conscience alley:
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“The
role/character walks slowly between two lines of students facing each
other, who comment in role or tell the character what s/he should do” (Beyond
the Script, 2004).
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Writing in role:
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Students
write in the role of the character.
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All the above strategies are useful not only for drama,
but can link to many other KLAs such as English etc
Reference List:
Buchana, M. (NO YEAR). Why Teach Drama? A Defense of the Craft.
Retrieved June 11, 2012, from http://www.childdrama.com/why.html
Ewing, R. & Simons, J. (2004). Beyond The Script. Newtown, Australia. Primary English Teaching
Association.
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Drama
Tutorial Two
ABSENT
What I gained:
An awareness of playbuilding: Chapter seven
Overview & Critical Reflection
Playbuilding in drama is a “process which combines a
range of techniques in such a way that students can explore in depth important
issues across the curriculum” (Beyond the Script, 2012). A few techniques which
can be used in play building are; teacher in role, mantle of the expert,
improvisation and still image (Beyond the Script, 2012), the teacher would
choose the most appropriate drama devise to adapt to the theme of the lesson.
A typical drama lesson includes; making, performing and
appreciating (Creative Arts K-6 Syllabus, 2006, Pp. 14-15), generally in this
order, however, they can be manipulated to suit the sequence and requirements
of the lesson. Other components of drama lessons look at incorporating a range
of drama devises (as mentioned above) and elements, such as, time, space, focus
and dramatic tension etc (Creative Arts K-6 Syllabus, 2006, Pp. 92-93), In
Beyond the Script (2004), Ewing and
Simons look at a playbuilding lesson as follows:
- Choose the topic/theme (Making)
- Generate ideas relating to the theme; for instance through mindmaps or role on the wall (Making)
- Finding a symbol to represent the topic/theme
- Students establish their role and identities (Making)(Ewing & Simmon, 2003, Pp 59-70)
From
here the lesson would proceed into performing and then appreciating others
work.
Reference List:
Board of Studies NSW. (2006). Creative Arts K-6 Syllabus.
NSW, Australia
Ewing, R. & Simons, J. (2004). Beyond The Script. Newtown, Australia. Primary English Teaching
Association.
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Drama
Tutorial Three
What I gained from this tutorial:
Drama Strategy: Teaching and Role/ Mantle of the expert
Overview & Critical Reflection
The drama strategies teaching in role and mantle of the expert
were two new concepts that I learnt in this tutorial and find would benefit my
teaching in general (engaging students) and within a drama class. As a
pre-service teacher I find it really useful to record the strategies that I
learn in tutorials as a way to reflect and remember the important components
and strategies that I want to adopt in my classroom.
Teaching in role is defined in Beyond the Script (2004)
as the “teacher taking on a role and managing the interactions and direction
from within drama”. The benefits of this strategy are that it invites students
to be a part of the scene, through its heavy reliance on engagement of the
students. The teacher can easily create the dramatic context and tension to
continue the lesson aside from the role, or in the role. Even as an adult I
found this method quite engaging when being taught it in the tutorial. As a
teacher you need to be aware that some students may not feel confident in
engaging in such an improvised context and thus building up to such activities
may be appropriate. Mantle of the expert offers the same advantages and
disadvantages, it is defined in Beyond the Script (2004) as “ Students are given a high status roles as
experts in drama”. Edmiston states that “When teachers use the mantle of the expert
approach they create conditions in their classrooms where children can learn
most often as people do in their everyday lives from and with others in
activities that draw on and extend their existing expertise”. In our tutorial
many classmates were able to reflect on such positive experiences all the way
back to their Primary Education, reinforcing the effectiveness of this method.
Reference List:
Edmiston, B. (NO YEAR). The Mantle of the expert approach
to Education. Ohio State University, USA. Retrieved June, 8,2012, from http://www.mantleoftheexpert.com/studying/articles/BE%20-%20The%20MoE%20Approach%20to%20Education.pdf
Ewing, R. & Simons, J. (2004). Beyond The Script. Newtown, Australia. Primary English Teaching
Association.