As I had not done drama since 2nd year of secondary school, drama was another subject that I felt I would be more  nervous to teach. However after learning about various drama techniques in our first workshop, I now feel more confident about teaching a drama lesson.

Before this weeks input I had always just seen drama lessons where you simply read lines from a script and acted out scenes, but the techniques we learned about today were much more interesting. We focused on ‘teacher in role’ which allows a teacher to transform into a certain character for the class to ask them questions about their thought/feelings as the character. This can give children a deeper understanding of the story they are learning about and can be more engaging for them than just  reading the lines.

“Teacher in Role does not require great acting skills. A role can be adopted quite simply to communicate the key attitudes and emotions of a particular character.” (Farmer, 2016)

We also discussed that it is a good idea to use a prop such as a scarf or hat, so that children can tell when you are stepping in and out of character.

One thing I realised that could be tricky when teaching this is that some children may laugh and not take it seriously if one of their friends is in role. However it is important that as teachers we emphasise the importance of staying in character, because if a child was to laugh at one of their classmates it could seriously knock their confidence and deter them from performing in the future.

“Working in role provides a possible distance and a safety net that enables participants to attach and detach themselves at will, to step in or out of role and disassociate themselves personally from what they said or did as a character.”  (Baldwin, 2008)

References

Farmer, D. (2016) Teacher in role. Drama Resource. [online] Available: http://dramaresource.com/teacher-in-role/ [Accessed 15 December 2016]

Baldwin, P. (2008) The Practical Primary Drama Handbook. Sage publications LTD