One of the most joyful elements of my primary school experience was drama as my school took great pride in putting on a pantomine every two years. I still remember today how amazing it felt to be a narrator for ‘Snow White’ in Primary 7 and from my experience I absolutely agree that drama is more than just the final show – it is also the process that counts. I have always been enthusiastic about putting on plays myself as a teacher and children feeling the same pride I felt, however I did have reservations about how I was going to successfully go about this.
Nikki’s first drama tutorial and the ‘Teacher’s TV’ Drama video have both helped me understand how to structure drama lessons and ensure children get the most out of them. The first key aspect of a drama lesson is to establish a ‘drama contract’, which establishes the rules and expectations that children must ahere to. I think that highlighting the 3 C’s – Communication, Co-operation and Concentration – will convey to children how drama means that no one is judged or ridiculed and everyone remains focused on the allocated task to maximise learning.
After this it is important for children to warm-up and get the mind and body ready for drama – this can be done through a fun game that works on vocal and physical warm-up and also teamwork, since drama is a good opportunity to be social and expressive also.
As for the main learning objective, children react well to visual stimuli so providing them with this will help even the less confident minds to engage in the activity. The ‘development’ process of the lesson allows the children to express their creativity by using their imagination to understand the topic. ‘Soundscape’ and ‘Bodyscape’ are two terms used in the ‘Teacher’s TV’ video to express how children should use sound and their bodies, without props, to tell the story to their peers. This is an engaging way for children to learn about a topic by being proactive and interpreting things for themselves, two key skills in drama.
This can then be followed by Performance if it is appropriate, as children’s motivation to participate is often driven by the opportunity to show off how far they have come. However in some ways, I think that performance is a form of evaluation so it should not always be the aim of a drama lesson. Evaluation is important as it allows children to consolidate what they have learned and think how to move forward with their new skills. Evaluation is also a key to building confidence and allowing children to evaluate their own progress.
Cooling-down is an important conclusion to a drama lesson so that children can settle down from the excitement and be ready to return to the classroom, until their next escape into the drama world.
My own pleasant experience of drama in primary school means that I am eager to promote participation in a subject where no one is judged according to ability or ridiculed for their out-of-the-box thinking. When I was a narrator sitting at the side of the stage anxiously for my cue, I had no idea that my brain was picking up so many useful transferrable skills as to me, all that mattered was that I made my classmates and audience proud. I also never fully appreciated the process before the end product – only the smile of success on my face as the curtains closed.
