Drama is something I was terrified to teach out in schools. However since having the workshops it has raised my confidence and now I feel I can teach it to primary pupils. There is so much to drama and so much you can do with the children. One of her TDT’s was to research various conventions. By doing this it has made me more aware of the skills the children can learn. It has also given me ideas of lessons I could plan for dram. The three I chose to focus on are: thought tracking, hot-seating and sculpting.

Thought tracking in drama helps inform the audience of a character. For example a character will step forward from a still image and say what there feeling. This convention can be used in class by getting the children to form a still image of a particular event. The teacher would then tap a child on the shoulder or ask them to step forward and ask how they are feeling or what they are thinking.

Hot-seating is another drama convention. Hot-seating is when you develop a character. If you are the hot-seat then you answer the questions from the people in your group while reaming in character. This could include the background, behaviour or feelings of the character. This works best if you really know the character you are playing. The hot-seat could be given to an individual or groups of children. This convention can be used by using characters out of a novel that is being read in class. A child/children will be asked to sit on the hot-seat(s) and the other children will ask them questions. The child/children on the hot-seat(s) will reply to the questions while remaining in character. Questions might be prepared early. All the children will get a chance to be on the hot-seat. This activity would be more suitable for primary 5 upwards.

Sculpting is a bit like creating a still image, however a sculpture is made by either individuals or groups of people to convey meaning of something. This convention can be used in class by creating human statues. The children will be put into pairs and they will decide who is going to be the statue and who will be the sculptor. The statue will start as a curled up ball. The sculptor will gradually build up the ball into an interesting statue. The sculptor does not have to physically touch the statue. Once all the statues are made the sculptors will walk round and see everyone’s work. Then the children will swap over and repeat.