For our first drama input we were set a task to watch a short video clip and think about this in relation to our own practice along with a set of questions.

Throughout this clip the lesson structure was made evident. Agreement – warm up – provide stimulus – development of ideas – visualisation – soundscape – bodyscape – performance – evaluation.

Each section of the structure is of equal importance for a successful lesson:

• Agreement: allows children to understand the rules and what is expected of them. 3 key factors to always consider are communication, cooperation and concentration. (If something goes wrong in a lesson usually it is due to a downfall in one of these areas).
• Warm – up: this is important as it differentiates between a regular class activity and drama itself, also it allows children to focus their mind before being set to a task. There are a variety of warm up techniques for voice, concentration, teamwork and to get “warmed up”.
• Provide Stimulus: decides a focus for the learning.
• Development: This allows all ideas to be linked together and become something more interesting than a still image by itself for example.
• Visualisation: Allows children to think creatively about the topic being discussed. Throughout visualisation you could use the thought-tracking convention to establish what the children are thinking.
• Soundscape: Allows children to think about learning in different ways. How can they create the sounds they are thinking of with their body/the floor/objects around them? Soundscape can be used for cross-curricular learning for example in reading – what noises do you think the character can hear, use soundscape to show me these noises.
• Bodyscape: allows the children to create a visual picture of the place we are creating. Can also be used for cross-curricular learning as class can recreate scenes from reading books or could help them to imagine what places might have been like in the past (history).
• Performance: Allows children drive and motivation to do everything else in the lesson.
• Evaluation: As a teacher this allows you to understand what the class has learned and what we need to look at in the next lesson. It is a calming experience to end an active lesson and allows the children to see that they have had a learning experience not just play.

Drama Conventions Used:

• still images
• thought-tracking
• frozen scenes

CfE Es and Os Addressed:

• The children have experienced the energy and excitement of presenting/performing for audiences and being part of an audience. (EXA0-01a, EXA1-01a, EXA2-01a)
• Thought-tracking has allowed the children to communicate thoughts and feelings through drama. (EXA0-13a, EXA1-13a, EXA2-13a)
• Soundscape allows the children to experiment with voice. (EXA2-12a)
• Bpdyscape allows the children to experiment with movement and sustain different roles. (EXA2-12a)
• Performance allows children to present drama – asking the children about levels and audience seating while they are creating their performance allows children to take account of audience and atmosphere.