18/10/16

In todays lesson we continued on with our story of the ‘lonely dragon’ and different techniques which we could use when teaching drama. This wee’s techniques were hot seating, improvisation, flashback, flashforward and forum theatre.

We began this lesson with hot seating we selected someone to be the dragon and as a class, we asked the’ dragon’ questions. This would be appropriate for children as they will always have questions to ask and will help to develop their understanding of the character/story as well as bring the character alive to be more realistic. The person in the ‘hot seat’ had to use improvisation in order to as the question appropriately, this can be quite nerve wracking as you have no idea what they will ask and you have to be a quick thinker. Next in groups, we created a still frame for which the villagers would walk through to get to the dragon’s cave. Our group created a wonky bridge. This story would be engaging for children as it is very child led and they’re are many opportunities for children to use their imagination and be creative.

Next we looked at the Frankie Miller story, we were only told that a guy named Frankie was returning to our town and it was a bad thing that he was returning. We then used improvisation in groups to create a flashback of why we thought that Frankie had left town. Our group made a scene that Frankie had stole something and left. Followed by a flashforward of a scene where Frankie returned. This could be used to highlight different themes for example knowing right and wrong and could be linked to other areas within the curriculum.

Then we were shown forum theatre this consisted of two volunteers. One acted as Frankie and one acted as his Dad. The group watching can stop the scene and make suggestions. This allows the audience to help the actors/actresses when they are stuck which is helpful especially with children as the may find it difficult to think of what to say when theyare on the spot.