Drama
Today was the first session of drama. I have never participated in drama before as the school I attended did not offer this subject to the pupils and I have never gone to a drama club. I was nervous before the workshop as I didn’t not know what to expect and did not feel I had a lot of confidence in the subject. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the class as I gained valuable skills and knowledge that I can take into the classroom environment.
I learned just how important drama is and can positively impact on the children’s mental wellbeing. My lecturer Andrew emphasised that it is crucial to make children aware that we do not judge others during drama and everything that happens within the lesson with regards to peers acting, does not get passed on and spoken about- this allows pupils to relax and feel comfortable.
During the class, we learned the drama technique of ‘getting in role’. Andrew acted as the teacher and we were the class. We had a story to work from, which we then completed several drama activities from.
The story consisted of a dragon who lived on the mountains, and we- the class- lived in a village nearby. Andrews role in the story was the dragon expert, and he put on different voices to show a change in character. This activity allowed us to participate in creating freeze frames, and as a class, we could create our own part of the story. It is often the greatest time when pupils will find their own identity from their ow means of understanding and communicating discovered through creativity (Cox et al, 2007). Andrew ended the drama session on a cliff-hanger and planned to carry on the activity the next session. This would allow pupils within the class to look forward to drama and allow them to think and analysis what may happen next.
Dance
I had been looking forward to dance after the last session. We started the session with a class lead warm up, supervised by the lecturer before creating our own dance moves in groups from ten basic skills. These skills included: balance; gesture; hop; jump; kick; reach; roll; slide; turn and twist. It is important as a teacher to have faith in all pupils and let them be creative and take hold of their own learning (Cone, 2009)
After we had practiced each unique dance move that we had created, we wrote down phone numbers which allowed for the dance moves to be flow in a different order. We were then able to make the dance cross- curricular, as we got a sheet of maths questions which enabled us to use the answers to form a new sequence from the dance skills.
This session was extremely enjoyable as we could come up with the skills with our friends and not just be told what to do from the teacher. I believe this activity would be extremely successful within a physical education lesson.
References
Cone, Purcell, T. (2009). Following Their Lead Supporting Children’s Ideas for creating Dances. London: Routledge.
Cox, S.; Watts, R.; Grahame, J.; Herne, S. and McAuliffe, D. (2007). Teaching Art and Design 3-11. (Edited) London: Continuum.
