Prior to beginning our new drama lesson we were reminded that every lesson should link back to previous learning. For example our last drama input involved using different drama techniques to convey the story of “The Dragon”. To recap, we had discovered that the dragon was flying too low over our village and we as villagers felt terrified by this. An idea that we felt could follow our initial encounter with the dragon could be through the style of a literacy lesson, as we could write a letter to the dragon. However I feel this would be an excellent way to incorporate other expressive arts programmes into this lesson as the children could use music to compose a song to welcome the dragon to their village. As well as this, other subjects such as art could be used throughout this lesson as the children could use different materials to design the dragons cave.
As we began our drama lesson it became apparent to me that most drama lessons come from story books. For instance, we were learning new drama techniques today using the story “The tunnel”.
I feel this lesson would achieve the following experiences and outcomes:
I have developed confidence and skills in creating and presenting drama which explores real and imaginary situations, using improvisation and script. EXA 1-14a
The first technique we learned was Role on the Wall: This involved drawing a character on a piece of paper. We then had to write what we thought of the character around the outskirts of the character, followed by writing what the character thinks of themselves inside the character. For this task we read to a certain point in the story and was then asked to draw the characters of the brother and sister. Initially we wrote that that the brother was tormenting and a bully and the sister felt intimidated and scared. However after reading the rest of the story we returned to this task and were asked to write what we thought of the character now. Through discussion with our groups we had all agreed that our views had changed. It was then apparent by the end of the story that the sister was in fact quite courageous and that the brother was appreciative of his younger sister.
The second technique we learned was Flashback and Flash forward: Which is a technique used in drama to show what has lead up to a particular moment, how it could be resolved or how it could lead up to other challenges (Farmer, 2014). For instance we used flashback to convey why the brother and sister did not get on and used flash forward to show how their relationship had changed by the end of the story.
The third technique we learned was Mime: This involves displaying an action or emotion without words, using only gesture, expression and movement. It was also highlighted to us that in drama it is very common for people to switch gender roles. I think this would useful to interpret into a drama lesson as it would allow the children to think differently about themselves as that character and could possibly enable them to empathise with each other. We used mime to create a scene of what we thought would happen next in the story. It was very interesting to see how differently people interpreted the book but yet how they all still seemed to tie into the story. We then had a person from the group explain what was happening in our mime.
The fourth technique we used was Thought Tracking: This is usually performed as a still frame where a character steps forward and says how they feel. As well as this, the other character can say an opposing argument. We used this technique to convey the brothers thoughts on his sister whilst another group performed this task from the sisters perspective.
The final drama technique we were introduced to was Vox Pop: This is where the teacher usually plays the role of the interviewer and asks the pupils how they feel while they’re in role.
Our second input involved us going over our dance routine that we had been creating over a series of inputs. Prior to this we were reminded of the importance to stretch our muscles, especially when doing these types of activities with primary school children. To warm up we played games such as highland tig, which is a fun way for children to warm up their bodies without putting too much strain on them. This week involved finding ways to incorporate each groups dance routine into the finalised piece.
I feel drama is an excellent way to introduce dance to pupils as dance can tell as story in the same way that drama can. For example in the story we covered in drama, the brother is turned to stone by witches. Dance could be incorporated in this scene as we could get the pupils to create a dance to follow the incantation of the spell. I could ask the pupils to consider their arm movements and their body stance whilst casting the spell. Finally once the spell is complete and the boy is turned to stone, the witches could perform a victory dance as their spell has worked. This would also allow the children to build on their understanding of the ten basic skills of creative dance.
References
Farmer, D. (2014). Flashbacks and Flash Forwards. [online] Drama Resource. Available at: https://dramaresource.com/flashbacks-and-flash-forwards/ [Accessed 15 Nov. 2017].
