29/11/16 – Week 11

In week eleven of drama, we continued with out micro-teaching tasks. I had completed my micro-teaching task the previous drama session (found in week 8’s blog), so this week I was very much a learner. We listened to various groups using different drama conventions to suit a range of children’s novels. Here is one of the role on the wall activities which my group completed as part of the session:

All of the groups had similar ideas, but were all very good nonetheless.

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08/11/16 – Week 8

In drama this week we completed our micro-teaching tasks. We did this in groups using a children’s book as our stimulus. The book that my group chose is a classic children’s novel called, ‘The Gingerbread Man’. We came to the conclusion that this book was a good choice as there are a few characters within the storyline of which various different thoughts, feelings and emotions can be taken from. ‘It is argued effective teachers are also creative, reflective and affectively involved teachers of literacy’ (Grainger, 2007).

The micro teaching activities which our group came up with consisted of both partner and whole class activities, making use of various drama conventions. We began by using a thought tunnel, in which we involved the whole class by getting them to make two lines and one of our group members walked up the middle and took on the roll of the wolf in the story. Then each person had to say what they thought the wolf’s character was like for example, to which some replied sly or sneaky etc. We repeated this with the Gingerbread man and considered the differences between the two opposing characters.

Then our group went on to use roll on the wall. We divided the class into groups and each group received two pieces of paper, on which they had to draw an outline on one of the Gingerbread Man and the Wolf on the other. On each sheet they had to write what they thought the character thought of themselves and what they may be feeling on the onside of the outline and on the outside write what others thought of them.

Lastly, our partnered activity was to take on the role of each character (characterisation) within pairs and say what they were feeling. This went on for around 2/3 minutes.

After our groups micro-teaching activities, we took part in other groups’ activities whose stimulus was varied and whose activities took the form of a varied range of drama conventions. This activity was interesting to be able to see things both from a learner’s point of view and as a student teacher, as it allows you to see what planning is required and what it feels like to be at both ends of the spectrum.

Below is a picture taken from another groups role on the wall activity.

References

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01/11/16 – Week 7

This week we looked at literacy within drama. Specifically, we looked at a story called, ‘The Tunnel’ by Anthony Browne (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps2E5yoRsMk). The story is about a boy who is scornful of his younger sister’s fears. He then decides to explore a tunnel forcing his sister to go after him when he doesn’t return. The story creates many possibilities for drama with regards to various themes, issues and conventions.

Above are just a few of the drama conventions which were discussed and linked to the story which may, in turn, be used in schools. The picture above is slightly blurry, however, some of the conventions mentioned here are improvisation, still image, thought tunnel, thought tracking and freeze frame. One convention which we used this week was ‘role on the wall’, which involves drawing the outline if the character which you will be focussing on in the middle of a large piece of paper and writing the thoughts or feelings which that character has about themselves in the centre and the thoughts or feelings which others may have about that character outside of the outline. Allowing us to consider the way the character thinks and feels about themselves, in contrast to what others think that about them. This would be an excellent convention and lesson to use within the classroom to lead into lessons discussing the prevention of bullying etc. This lesson may be more engaging for the children and one which I would definitely consider using in the future. As the lesson went on and found out more about the main characters, we were able to come to a more holistic decision about what each character was truly like and made the appropriate adjustments to our outlines. We also used the story to create freeze-frames, thought tunnels and other drama conventions to reflect the chracters’ thoughts and feelings. Below is our groups attempt at role on the wall focussing on the sister in ‘The Tunnel’.

 

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18/10/16 – Week 5

This weeks drama input was a continuation from week threes class. We continued with ‘The Dragon Story’ and had to discuss within our groups the reasons why we thought the dragon was sad. Everyone had varying opinions throughout the class and it was interesting to see how different each persons conclusion to the story was.

Also, in this weeks session we discussed various ways to use drama in the classroom. These are the different teaching styles:

• Process drama
• Teacher in Role
• Tableaux (Freeze/still image)

 

Andrew went through some of the activities that could be used for each one of these teaching methods. I think that this lesson was beneficial for me as it allowed me to see the various teaching method terms which I had not been familiar with previously. I will most definitely find these helpful for all future drama lessons as it allows for all children to be included, from having the role of the main character to pupils that would prefer to be the audience interacting, there is something for everyone (even the teacher). ‘As children become more and more involved, the degree of inclusion increases’ (Craft, 2007). I also think that children may be able to convey their thoughts/ emotions more easily through some of these styles of drama.

References

Craft, A. (2007) Creativity and possibility in the early years. [Online] Available: http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/715675/mod_resource/content/2/Creativity%20and%20Possibility%20in%20the%20Early%20Years.pdf [Accessed: 5 January 2017].

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04/10/16 – Week 3

During this input, we looked at different types of drama that can be used within the classroom environment. These include teacher in role, freeze frames and process drama. As a drama teacher within a primary school it is essential that we make use of all of these methods as “drama teachers will draw on whatever means necessary; they cannot, and will not, restrict themselves to a single restrictive method of working.” (Neelands, J. (1990). By using these different methods it may encourage children that would be less likely to participate in one type of drama to get involved as they will enjoy the others. Also, it is a good idea to implement class rules in drama to ensure children do not laugh at their peers, allowing everyone to be more at ease, take part and have fun during the subject. This emphasizes that children do not need to be particularly skilled in drama to take part and learn from it.

Also, during this class our lecturer told us ‘The Dragon Story’. Our lecturer played the role of the  Town Leader (teacher in role) and the students took on the role of the villagers. We then got into groups and the class discussed how they would react to a dragon invading their village and then each group acted their reaction out to the rest of the class. Each group then created a freeze frame to show one another how we would celebrate the capture. This exercise uses all three types of drama and allows children more variety within subject.

References

Needlands, J. (2000) In the Hands of Living People.[Online] Available: http://moodle.uws.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/855811/mod_resource/content/2/T2%20Neelands.pdf [Accessed: 6 October 2016].