For our final week in drama we were given the task of working in groups to come up with a drama lesson to teach our peers that we felt we could use in the classroom. Our group chose to base our drama around the book ‘The Gruffalo’ by Julia Donaldson. We chose this as we all loved the book and felt that it was appropriate for the first level age group. we had to include three drama conventions and so we decided on:

• Thought Tunnel – A double line of children who speak the thoughts and feelings of the character who is walking between the double lines.
• Role on the Wall – A simple outline of a character is drawn on a large sheet of paper. Around the outside of the body the children write words and phrases that others think of the character.  On the inside of the body children write what the character is thinking and feeling.
• Hot Seating – A child or adult sits in the ‘Hot Seat’ becoming a character who is related to the drama. The rest of the class ask that character questions.   (Killen, n.d.).

We first read some of the story to the class, each of us took a character and read out their lines. We made sure to read the description of the Gruffalo and then stopped just before he appeared. Next, we split the class in two and had Samantha pretend to be the Gruffalo and walk between the two sets – Thought Tunnel – to give the class a chance to shout out some words describing their first impression of the Gruffalo. We then asked the class to draw a quick picture of what they though the Gruffalo looked like with some words describing him and their thoughts towards him on the outside – Role on the Wall. We then had Samantha Hot Seat as the Gruffalo and the class had the chance to ask questions to get to know the Gruffalo better. Finally, we had them return to their pictures and then write their revised opinions of the Gruffalo on the inside of the drawing.

Some photos of the Role on the Wall:

I found the micro-teaching to be a bit of a challenge as I was nervous at the prospect of talking in front of so many of my peers. When practicing with my group beforehand they said that I was fidgeting with my ring when talking, making me seem nervous. I took this feedback on board and so when we were presenting to the rest of the cohort I took my ring off. The feedback from the rest of the cohort was generally very positive. They said that we had clearly researched our topic and that they thought our ideas for activities with the children were very good. I feel that confidence is something I lack, but I also think that this task increased my confidence when presenting. Once I started speaking I felt less nervous and started to enjoy teaching my peers some new information. In my opinion I think that presenting to an audience of my peers is more daunting than teaching a class of children, and so because I managed to complete the micro-teaching without feeling too anxious, it has made me feel more prepared to teach my first class as I know I can do it.

In our penultimate dance input, we were mainly practicing our routines as we were to have them filmed the following week. At the beginning of the session we played a few warm up games of tig and stretched. We were then given ten minutes to practice our dances before the lecturer asked us each to draw a picture of something that made us think of Christmas and then make up a dance move based on it. Once this was completed we re-joined as a whole group and showed our dance moves. We then stood in a semi-circle and were shown some group dance moves to start off with, then we ran together as though we were reindeer into four rows and practiced the new Christmas dance moves. Once we were back in the semi-circle each individual group had their turn to come into the centre and perform their routine that we came up with back at the start. Although it was good fun, it was very tiring, and I was not looking forward to the following week when it would be filmed.

Below is a video I took of two member of my group practicing our dance routine.

 

References

Killen, A. (n.d.). Drama Conventions and Tools for Teaching. [Moodle Resource]. Available: Integrated Arts Module. [Accessed: 13 November 2018].