I am glad Nick wrote up the Zip game in his blog because he saved me a lot of time! (Just slipped that in so you know I’ve checked out other people’s blogs…) Actually, totally agree with his comment about all the effort that went into planning our last assignment. I spent so much time on it, and even then found it hard to cut back on activities!

Speaking of Nick, I really liked the activity in his unit which involved having the students try war time food.  Involving the sense of taste in this way is a fantastic tactic and has given me inspiration to attempt to use activities which involve other senses also. I also really liked Lucinda’s bullying unit because of the snazzy slide show that is a great resource because it relates the topic to pop culture and therefore instantly appeals to the students. Everyone had great ideas though; too many to talk about here.

I have found some websites with interesting lesson plans but none of them are as good as our lessons, of course! I think these lessons are good starting points, but some probably need to be developed further, as they don’t probe as deeply as I would like…

The child drama website has stacks of lesson plans (some a bit shallow). I particularly liked www.childdrama.com/newsplays.html

because it reminded me of our newspaper lesson and the two could actually be linked together in a unit.  This lesson examines TV news reports and ‘news plays’, so it integrates well with history. I would like to try it out and compare it with our lesson. It would be interesting to see which one works better with different age groups. There seems to me to be a lot of discussion, and not enough dramatic activity, so I might like to modify it after testing it out. I can envisage me devising another lesson on magazines and gossip news (and the paparazzi!) and developing this unit much further. I think the overall theme would be “reading between the lines”, ie. should you believe everything you’re told? This links in with critical literacy.

At http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/2166/  is a lesson plan which examines Shakespearian words and phrases.  (Don’t we all love the Bard!) This whole website has some very thought provoking lesson premises. I like the way this lesson caters for visual intelligences, in a fun, game like way. The effective use of drawing and pantomime encourages students to construct their own meaning, but a limitation is that the teacher needs to closely scaffold all the groups, to make sure students are on the right track. Once again, I can see greater opportunity for using more dramatic strategies in this lesson. Perhaps students could consider how the meaning of the language has changed over time, and could demonstrate this in a “split scene”, etc. I do like the way the lesson concludes with asking students to apply their new knowledge by writing a story using Shakespearian words and phrases. This links in well with the pedagogy of Learning by Design, by exploring the new knowledge and applying it in an appropriate and creative way.

Another interesting lesson is http://www.geocities.com/Shalyndria13/emo.htm which uses drama to develop emotional intelligence, which I think is a very important life skill. I haven’t yet tried to teach any sensitive issues, so I think this would be a good topic to start with as it’s not too touchy a subject. I can’t really fault this lesson without trying it out first. There are different suggestions for different age groups and all the strategies use role protection, so that students are considering their own decision making and behaviour in the given situations, without giving away personal information. There’s also the suggestion of using Boal with older kids and, now I know who he is, I’d be completely up for that!

Wow! What a wealth of ideas. I love the net. Where would I be without it? (Erm… holed up in the library right now, I suppose!)

I have really enjoyed this class. Jo is a brilliant lecturer and the class members are pretty cool too. I love the way Jo created a supportive environment and modelled different teaching strategies and we consequently all felt free to experiment. We were supportive of each other when we succeeded but could still laugh about our mistakes. That is the best thing about drama classes, I reckon. In the words of Ren or Stimpy (?), “It’s all happy, happy, joy, joy”.

Golly gosh! I learnt so much from this prac that I don’t know where to start…. I think the biggest realisation for me was that Drama teachers in high schools really need to be confident Directors with real creative vision (this is something I need to work on)!

I was slightly intimidated by some of the stronger personalities in the drama department. I was also intimidated by the talent of some of the students. This has reinforced that I really need to get active again in theatre myself, as I haven’t done anything for ages.

At the same time, I really think I enjoy the potential of learning through drama (or the process) as opposed to theatre performance (the product). I think the reason why I have enjoyed this class so much this semester is because it has focussed on the former. I think this might be my niche….

I was quite proud of myself attempting to teach a Religious Education class through drama -and especially letting the kids hotseat my teacher-in-role. The class focussed on the downfall of the Roman empire (and the subsequent rise of Christianity) which is definitely not my forte! But I enjoyed doing all the reseach (I’m turning into a history buff!) and thinking about all the activities I could employ to design the best learning experience for the students. This takes a lot of time (but I quite enjoy it)!!!!

Unfortunately, the hotseating didn’t work too well as the girls weren’t used to this technique and I was a bit nervous Jo suggested next time I could try describing the character and asking students to come up with some questions to ask the character, before getting into role myself. This is a great idea. For example, they might need a bit of prompting: “What would you like to know about living in this period? What jobs did people have? What did they eat?” etc, etc.

I didn’t get to do much with VCE students, but hopefully next semester I will get more experience in this area.

I found ‘Photographs in the Mud’ by Dianne Wolfer and Brian Harrison-Lever, a picture book about fighting on the Kokoda Track, which I think would be a great stimulus for drama. It tells the stories of two soldiers, Jack (Australian) and Hoshi (Japanese), as they leave home and go into combat. I chose this topic because I think it is still important for students to understand the true horror of war (especially with the current media focus on returned soldiers committing suicide). Also, on my prac last year, many of the students were asking why we have Remembrance Day! The ‘core of the drama’ would focus on the individual, personal stories of the soldiers, and the ‘attitudes’ and ‘tension points’ would obviously change with each group of students (Cushworth & Simons 1997).

I would work in the same way as Jennifer Simons did with ‘The Great Bear’ in that I would not initially read the whole story, but would select a few pages to show and would gradually reveal more information. I would probably work backwards by showing the final page where a group of soldiers find that one of the men involved in a shootout (Jack or Hoshi?) is still alive. I would get students to perform a re-enactment. Then would rewind to when Jack and Hoshi are walking through the jungle and would get them to vent the two characters feelings, etc. At this stage I would introduce an unfinished material (a letter?) or private property (photos), and this would introduce the family members left behind. Then I would show the opening two pages where both men leave their wives and would ask the class to perform this as a split screen, paying attention to using parallel/conflicting dramatic elements to highlight similarities/differences. Then it would be interesting to read the entire story and discuss what insights the drama revealed about the characters.

I certainly think that drama teachers have ‘professional craft knowledge’, and are almost artists in their own right (Simons 2002). I think drama teachers are particularly sensitive to their students needs; and are often the most flexible in the classroom. This is often because we have trained as actors and have therefore literally put ourselves in other peoples’ shoes. There is the whole psychological aspect of trying to understand other characters (or students!) and their motivations, and learning to improvise in different situations, which works to our advantage in the classroom.

I’ve always understood the concept of ‘role protection’ and how this is a vital tool in exploring point of view through drama; however I didn’t know it was termed ‘role protection’ until I’d read this article by Simons (2002). I find this one of the most interesting aspects of drama; the freedom it gives us to explore the darker (or lighter) side of human behaviour. I often forget I don’t have ‘role protection’ in daily life when I just spout off an opinion that I don’t necessarily believe in, just because it interests me!!! As teachers, we need to be aware of this device, and be careful that students are always protected and don’t divulge inappropriate personal information.

I was also interested in the phrase ‘a pool of distributed intelligence’ (Simons 2002) as this is a great metaphor for collaborative learning, which is a vital ingredient of drama. It also relates to a quote I recently read by Toni Collette (in Jetstar Magazine, April 2007), “It gets to the point, when you’re collaborating, that you can’t really identify what people are bringing and it feels like a very shared experience”. This nicely sums up what I’ve previously commented about our own group work in this drama class.

The unit explained in the Bunyan et al reading would be great to do as a lead up to a study of the play ‘The Crucible’. Other historical plays which could also benefit from a similar pretextual study are ‘No Sugar’, ‘Summer of the Seventeenth Doll’, ‘A Doll’s House’, and a lesser known play, ‘One Day in ’67′ (when Aborigines got the vote). I think these plays feature themes which are important to explore before a reading because often this generation don’t always understand social justice issues, such as racism and sexism, because they may not have personally been exposed to it.

I could go on and on about these FOUR (!) readings, but I am conscious of our word limit…

P.S. I hope everyone’s enjoying their prac? Mine’s sweet so far; I love teaching drama!

Week 7 

Can you think of a time when theatre you have seen has left an impression on you?  In what way did it impress you?  Did it make you think or feel differently about a topic or idea?I mentioned in class that Stolen left a big impression on me because it personalised the stolen generation debate.  I was shocked by the revelation that one mother had been declared unfit (and her children were consequently taken away) because she had an out of date can of peas in her pantry.  You read about sad stories such as this, but when you actually see them performed, you begin to feel for the characters and become more emotionally involved.  This production was all the more powerful because the stories were based on actual events. 

Can you think of any examples of theatre specifically designed to educate/influence adults?Most theatre productions convey a message and thus aim to get people thinking about different themes.  In my opinion, whether or not a show influences the audience’s way of thinking depends on how successful it is.  Productions educate about central topics to varying degrees also (depending on how much the audience already knows about a topic/theme).  I can’t think of a particular didactic show targeted at adults, so I will do some searching online. 

What examples can you think of where drama is used to educate/train adults?Most professional trainers use role-play in training, but this can often be utilised and performed at a superficial level.  Drama is experiencing resurgence as a popular medium to explore issues at a community level, particularly in developing countries (O’Toole 2000).  I have previously listed a Welsh website that uses drama to resolve community issues with adults and children alike.  O’Toole (2000) writes that theatre provides ‘vital conditions for community learning; it is a social and public forum, where people meet together, and statements can be made, questions raised, that are shared by all’.  

What are the factors that inhibit the use of drama as a pedagogy for adults?In class we discussed how adults often feel they know all they need to know, and often bring this unhelpful attitude to training sessions.  Society still accepts that children can play, but adults should not; and because drama is seen as a form of play, it is sometimes considered ineffectual for adults. 

Are there any ways of ameliorating these factors to make drama more palatable for adult learners?Do adults learn differently from children and do they therefore need a different pedagogy? (O’Toole 2002).  I would answer yes and no and no and yes, because it is a very complex question.  Surely knowledge is constructed in the same way, but perhaps the attitudes adults bring to learning affects their ability to make new connections and thus needs to be countered by an innovative approach.  I think the more that drama is used in an educational way in adult settings; the more the public will be swayed about its potential as a learning tool.  I studied theatre performance for three years and it is only recently in this class that I have begun to realise the true educational value of drama! 

Suggest some further ways that drama may be used or applied in the teaching of adults.I think role play is often used too superficially in training environments.  The role play may only last 30 seconds or so and magic fixes are quickly found.  Instead, I think adults should be involved in more complex “learning through drama” scenarios like the type we have trialled in class, but which relate to their job/profession.  For instance, I can see great potential for training student teachers in classroom management through indepth “learning through drama” scenarios.  This is an area which is greatly neglected in our training, and one we all wish we had more experience in.  A scenario could begin with a child and their recurring problem behaviour; then you could introduce other staff members and possibly parents, etc.

I had to leave this session early but I did catch up on the readings and check out the websites!  Looking back on my school days I can see that I was quite awful to other children at times, so when Jo asked us to sketch a bully I drew myself.  I believe that my own behaviour was a direct reaction to having been bullied by another girl (not that this is an excuse but it is a factor).  Bullying wasn’t as talked about as it is now, so I never saw myself in this light.  If I had participated in a workshop such as this, and been made aware of my negative effect upon others, perhaps I would have modified my behaviour.  

I think it is easy for me to acknowledge that I was a bully now because it is a long time past; however it may not be the same for current primary/high school students.  The good thing about the workshop format is that the activities allow you to explore different viewpoints, without actually giving your personal opinion or saying, “This happened to me”.  In this way students have a certain amount of anonymity and safety in voicing an opinion; and this is one of the great advantages in using drama for enhancing social learning. 

The beauty of drama is that you can actually FEEL what it is like to be in another person’s shoes.  I think this is an important part of developing social awareness: to treat others as you would wish to be treated or to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.  They’re such worn out clichés, but they are obviously so often forgotten when people interact in society. 

I really enjoy the practical suggestions as to how these units can be developed in the classroom (ie. the MindMatters website).  The Response Ability website, however, seems to be purely background information for teachers and is therefore not as interesting for me. 

I feel that teachers can play an important role in social activism and can see so much potential to do this within the dramatic realm.  I personally still see a need to educate students about basic human rights issues and how these can contribute to a culture of peace.  I think that racism, resilience and family conflict can all be examined under this banner, and workshops could be devised which follow the some format as the bullying workshop.  Obviously some activities would work better than others or some may need to be changed to suit the specific issue.  It all depends on the outcome the teacher wants to achieve. 

I found a Welsh website that uses drama as a tool for developing social awareness in the community http://www.valleyandvale.co.uk/drama/drama_index.htmHere’s a lesson plan for increasing landmine awareness through role-play http://jalt.org/global/30Exp.htm

Our workshop was really successful and so much fun! The students obviously didn’t have a lot of experience with drama as they were initially very silly during the warm-ups. As time went on and the scenario was effectively developed by us, the students were carried along by the unfolding drama and became more focussed. They really seemed to be “in the moment”, which was demonstrated by their strong desire to find out “whodunit”. It was interesting to see how it became almost like a detective game for them, and although this was not necessarily our intention, it worked quite well.I had been a little worried about my improvisation skills but I found that it all came back to me when I was in character (especially Jemima Goode). I forgot to include some important bits of information in my Newsroom Supervisor speech, but Jo interjected and reminded me to talk about headlines (for which I was grateful!).

As the “suspects”, we didn’t have too many inconsistencies in our stories (even though the students tried to very hard to find them!). My first rotational group didn’t seem to really grasp what they were supposed to do, so I led them, in character, in the direction of how to begin their questioning. Once they figured out what they were supposed to do, they became much more confident. The last group leapt at me with questions and accusations, and I almost felt like I really was at a press conference! They’d listened carefully to the other characters and had obviously decided to believe some stories over others. In this way, they weren’t acting objectively as a true journalist should (perhaps a follow up class could further examine the journalistic code of ethics?).

I’ve always been aware that a vital skill for teaching is the ability to be able to improvise and think on your feet, and our workshop really proved this point. You just never know which way students are going to go; especially in a class discussion, an inquiry-based unit of work, or in a learning through drama scenario. It is important for teachers to be well-informed about a topic, to be prepared with re-focussing questions and activities and to be able to run with students ideas.

It was fantastic to see how engaged the students were throughout the workshop; even when it came time to write up their stories. The class teacher suggested quietly to us that certain children might have trouble with the writing aspect and wouldn’t produce much work, but to everyone’s delight, those very students proved her wrong! There was a great deal of collaborative learning taking place, with students helping each other to complete the task.

I was a little disappointed with the final discussion as the students became quite shy and didn’t offer much in the way of feedback. Perhaps it was too formal a setting for them to voice ideas? Perhaps they don’t work in this way normally? It would also have been helpful for us to know more about their prior learning in this area, as we could then have delved further with our questioning, so as to ascertain the learning that occurred.

All in all, a great first class! I think we all benefited from it.

P.S. I’ve found a Canadian website titled Learning Through the Arts which has lesson plans in a similar format www.ltta.ca/lesson_plans.html. There are not a lot of drama lesson plans (there are more dance ones) but I did find one on medieval life which could be useful. There is an International Lesson Plans icon and not much on offer - maybe we should email them ours?

The task for this week was to develop a “learning through drama” experience based on the topic of print media. I thoroughly enjoyed this class because it really got my creative juices flowing. We began by brainstorming the topic and pretty much covered the past, history and future of this text type. We decided that even though it now includes magazines and web sites (etc), we would construct an activity around the traditional text of a newspaper.

(Even as I write this now I am aware that I have to work on my listening and note taking skills! I can’t remember what year level we are working with – whoops! I think it is Year 5 or 6?)

I just love brainstorming in groups! I enjoy the banter and the jokes that are exchanged, and find that I really bounce well off other peoples’ ideas (and vice versa). Even though I much prefer to work individually on written assignments, I always find it rewarding to work in groups in this type of situation.

We should have filmed our class for an ad on the joys of collaborative learning. It was an almost perfect session! I was initially a bit scared we weren’t going to get anywhere, because after an hour we still hadn’t settled on a scenario. We were thinking we’d go with some type of animal escape story (spurred on by a circus newspaper story that Jo showed us) but nothing grabbed us. However, gradually we just kept building upon each others ideas, until we weren’t even sure who had suggested what in the end. We solved the set task within the time frame, came up with a great scenario and were all still talking to each other at the end of the process.

Wow! What an achievement! (I must say a lot of the credit goes to Jo and her ability to direct and channel our ideas.)

So here it is:
(I think we’re all quite proud of it…)

Jo will initially do some warm-ups with photo freeze frames of news headlines (“Lion eats boy” etc).

The scene will then be set as a newsroom. I am going to be the Newsroom Supervisor and the students will be informed by me that as Cadet Journalists their task will be to cover any breaking news stories. I will introduce them to two very different types of Editors (Herald Sun vs The Age) and they must choose for which paper they wish to aim their story. Kathryn and Jacinta are playing the roles of the “dramatise the story” and “stick to the facts” Editors. They will each give a little speech and one will present students with an abridged version of the Journalistic Code of Ethics (does it exist?). Then my phone will ring and I will take down the details of the breaking story: a snake was found in the grounds of Hunter Valley Primary School by a naughty boy (which seems a bit suspicious). The groundsman caught the snake with the help of a smarty pants girl. A greenie teacher then kept the snake in her classroom so that her students could learn from it. But then at lunch time the snake escaped (or was it set free/stolen by someone?) There’s also a parent who’s wanting to talk to the media.

I will remind the Cadets about the 6 W’s (who, what, when, where, why and how). I will tell them to take their notebooks and pens and get down to the school and write me a story.

We will then set up the five characters (each with an item of costume) at separate stations and the students can move around and interview us. I will be Jemima Goode - the smarty pants student who knows an awful lot about snakes. I will wear a red bow in my hair and will carry a school folder. I will tell the Cadets, “I know a lot about everything, so you can ask me whatever you want.”

The other characters are:
Just Jase (Kathryn) – the naughty boy who found (and teased) the snake.
Mrs Green (Nicole) – the teacher who is fascinated by environmental studies.
Concerned Parent (Jacinta) – posh lady who asks “How Safe Are Our Schools?”
The Groundsman (Jo) – who caught the snake and stored it in a box with the lid ajar.

I think it will be interesting to see if our stories all correlate on the day because we haven’t had much practise and may not be straight on all the details… I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a lot of fun and I’m especially looking forward to my first acting gig in ages. I can’t wait to see what questions the students ask and which directions they decide to go with their stories!

Kathryn and I had Jo all to ourselves for this lesson due to a mysterious public holiday virus outbreak!  Kathryn filled us in on all her current experience which made me feel like a bit of a dud because I haven’t done any acting in years.  This lead into a discussion about the pros and cons of musical theatre (Kathryn vs us)! 

Jo explained previous lessons that have been designed by her students (the lighthouse keeper conundrum/alien scenario/creek development proposal).  They all sounded really original and fun (I hope we can match the standard that has been set).  I was especially impressed with the detail that went into researching and making the props for the creek development proposal.  It reaffirmed how exciting it can be to use authentic props for stimulus in these types of exercises.  I suspect that the better the stimulus, the better the quality of learning will be.  I know this was the case when Jo held the immigration workshop last year because I took a lot from that experience.  I really got to “feel” what it might have been like to live back in the 1800’s and the pressures associated with making such a huge decision.  The amount of detail that was discovered by myself and others during that workshop was amazing and aptly demonstrated the true potential of co-learning.  I certainly think it is true that rich tasks lead to metacognition. 

The first reading for this week (Morgan & Saxton 1987) suggested some interesting activities but I know as a kinaesthetic learner I would have benefited further from actually running through these in class.  If I don’t “see” or “do” activities like the ones mentioned I often find it hard to imagine how they will work.  It seems to me that it would be difficult to begin my “Dramathinking” without first attempting the “thematic networking” to brainstorm ideas and possible directions, so I am going to begin with this exercise. 

My source/theme is some lyrics in the song Our Velocity by

Maximo
Park. 

I’ve got no one to call
In the middle of the night anymore

I’m just alone
With my thoughts 

I think this could begin an exploration of loneliness and aloneness with Year 9-10’s and would be integrated with health and civics and citizenship.  I’m thinking this may lead onto an examination of depression (and drug links) which often becomes an issue in teenage years (a boy at our school committed suicide).  I’m going to draw this exercise by hand because it will take so much longer to work out how to do it on the computer! 

(10 mins later) I’ve never been particularly good at brainstorming.  I only came up with four starting arms of thought (and connected ideas).  I think I need to go away and come back to it later because I am a bit stuck now.  As the reading suggests, it would be helpful for the teacher to brainstorm ideas from the class as then she will be made aware of their areas of interest in the topic.  I definitely need some input here so I think I will take my beginning to show Jo in class next week and check that I’m on the right track. 

LONELINESS

Aloneness, dependance on  other people, marriage/partnership (mating for life?), happily ever after (questioning fairytales)

Sadness (emotions)

Finding direction

Monks/nuns, devotion to a higher cause, the meaning of life? (Monty Python!)

Depression/mental health, drugs, addictions

Suicide, how this affects others (the Virgin Suicides novel and film).

* This doesn’t really translate but I hope you get the picture. 

 

The A-Z of drama conventions and techniques (Neelands 1998) is a fabulous resource that I’m sure I will return to again and again. I found this second reading much easier to digest because the activities were concisely explained (plus I have done many of them at some stage and so it served as a reminder of techniques I could employ as a teacher).  I could apply just about all of the listed techniques but the ones I found most interesting were “unfinished materials”, “private property” and “mantle of the expert”.  I haven’t seen any of these done before, but I think they hold a lot of potential for learning through the drama. 

With a class (after the brainstorming session), I would like to try “teacher in role” (possibly mother talking about her child’s depression).  Then I would use the “private property” activity to develop the main character of the child (a school bag with diary, cigarettes, letter, clothes, etc).  Then next I would employ a circular drama to see what ideas students come up with about how the main character acts in different situations.  These scenes could be analysed and a central story could be constructed as a group.  Then I would ask the students to go away and research different themes that have emerged (possibly depression, drugs, suicide etc) and ask them to present their group findings as “mantle of the expert”.  After this the “gestus” exercise could focus on what is loneliness/aloneness?  Finally, I would like to finish with a “documentary” or “come on down” exercise to thread the entire story together.  This unit could run for at least four lessons.

In terms of Multiple Intelligences I’m a bit of an all rounder really (I had a small range in scores: 9, 8, 7, 7, 6, 6, 5). This probably gives me an advantage as a teacher because I can relate to all intelligences and thus I am conscious of the importance of devising learning experiences which cater for different learning styles. I would have guessed that my highest score would be for word smart as I have always enjoyed reading and writing and have therefore had an advantage in the traditional school setting. However, I am also aware that I learn by doing and seeing, and am therefore quite self and body smart also. My spatial awareness is not very finely tuned, so I’m not surprised that I scored lowest in this department. I think it is important that all teachers are aware of their strengths and weaknesses (so to speak) so that if they strongly favour or disfavour a particular intelligence they are consciously aware how this may influence their teaching style and strategies. It would be helpful to set up some type of checklist to confirm that you are catering equally for all intelligences.

Kathryn (http://tubs80@vineblogs.net) made the point that even though schools may be taking the MI theory into consideration; universities aren’t quite up to scratch yet. In this course we have been encouraged on a few occasions to present assignments in different formats (films, performances, etc) but there has always been a large written component involved as well. The real world situation for which we have to prepare our students is that society still revolves around written texts. Even though the world is becoming an increasingly multi-modal place, to be literate (in the traditional sense) is still highly important.

I am also a middle-brainer and I’m wondering if this is why I have always been an all-rounder who has never excelled at one thing in particular? I’m fascinated by these types of study into neurochemistry and hope to learn more about this area. I think it explains much more about a person and the way they think and act than, say, star signs which have never interested me.

I have never been overly interested in science, so when the explanation of matter was given in class I was left mumbling, “Huh?” However, when we acted out the different states of matter I could easily understand and remember this explanation. I think the main reason why I actually enjoyed our science maths/class last year was because we were encouraged to present ideas in schools via various teaching strategies and this aided not only my students, but also my own construction of knowledge. I don’t think I utilised drama enough in my science teaching sequences last year, but now I am learning new ways to do this, which is very exciting.

The reading (Campbell, Campbell & Dickson 1996) suggested lots of different ways to involve drama, movement and dance to enhance interdisciplinary learning. I also liked reading about the different suggested zones within a primary classroom as I have been wondering how I would like to set up my own room. Most of all I enjoyed reading the example of how using a preferred learning style to initially motivate a student can eventually lead them towards learning in other areas (ie. how Paula learnt to write through dance). I think it is important to help foster positive neurological associations between learning and enjoyment in children and an awareness of MI can help a teacher to do this.

This first class was great! It was so much fun to act out the “Fertifree” drama (it’s been a long time since I’ve done any acting improvisation.) I must say I initially had trouble staying in character and kept giggling, but this was mostly because I was enjoying myself so much! I think I just need a little more practice to fully get back into the swing of things. It was also good to compare notes with the reading and to see how the same scenario was played out by a different group. The main fault with our drama was that nobody wanted to take on the “boss” role. It was difficult because everyone put in their two cents worth but when we disagreed about the solution there was no one to make a final decision. In a real life situation, this would not be the case – ultimately someone would call the shots - and therefore our drama was not realistic (perhaps it doesn’t need to be though?). Other than this though, I personally found the experience very worthwhile. It was interesting to see the different characters and ideas that people invented – things that I would never have dreamt up on my own! Even though I don’t feel like we achieved a proper solution to the problem (quite a few of us opted for the unrealistic “magic fix” of deciding to ignore the pollution), this task helped me to see the potential benefits of the collaborative problem-solving process.

In the reading for this week, the main reason why Chris’ session was more successful than Derek’s seems to be because Chris is able to keep her students on task by taking on a main guiding role within the drama. She also effectively directs the course of the drama by injecting different props and focussing the children with thought-provoking questions. Although Derek had also created an interesting scenario, he hadn’t adequately catered for the possibility of the children diverging away from the real problem at hand. If he had some back-up props or re-focussing questions ready, he may have been able to more successfully influence the course of the drama, without taking the control away from the students. Obviously different groups work in different ways also, and perhaps Derek’s students were less practised at learning through drama, or did not have enough prior knowledge about the issues at hand. Chris’ students, on the other hand, had been studying conservation for a number of weeks before the scenario was introduced, and this prior learning obviously aided their problem solving within the drama.

The areas of learning covered in the drama include:

Knowledge-based
- How a factory may operate (the types of jobs and machines that may be found there) (incidental)
- That chemicals can potentially have good and bad effects on the environment (focus)
- That this may affect different people in different ways (focus)

Skills-based
- Practise at miming, staying in character, improvising (and other associated acting skills) (focus)
- Listening skills (incidental)
- Working as a team (focus)

Cognitive development
- The ability to examine all sides of a story (focus)
- Problem-solving (focus)
- Decision making (focus)
- Metacognition (incidental)

(Obviously I didn’t plan this learning experience so it is difficult for me to say exactly which ones were a focus for the teacher and which ones were incidental – I can only guess…)

It’s quite scary but until now I don’t think I have really realised the deeper educational value inherent in imaginative play and how valuable it can be as a teaching strategy (especially when it is structured and well developed like the “Fertifree” exercise we did in class). To tell you the truth, after years of nannying I have become a little bored of playing tea parties/doctors and nurses, and have neglected to consider the important lessons (be it social, cultural, skills-based, or otherwise) that children are learning in socio-dramatic play. More importantly I am now starting to consider what information I can introduce when playing these games so that the children involved have a more fully rounded learning experience. The possibilities are endless! From the discussions in class, it is obvious I’m not the only one who has failed to see the full potential of imaginative play. We’re all aware of the games we played as children, but I don’t think we’ve all analysed “why” we needed to play them or “what” we were learning through the experience. The games that featured highly in my repertoire were post office, shops, perfume factories, soldiers, and ones involving special powers (such as talking to animals). I remember thoroughly enjoying making realistic props (stamps, envelopes, etc) and setting up a life-like stage, but most of all, I think the benefit to me was the social/cultural learning that occurs when taking part in this type of play. Growing up on a farm I didn’t have a lot of interaction with other people before kindergarten, so I think these types of games helped me to try to understand how people relate to each other in different situations.

The reading raises five main points about successful collaborative learning:
- Improved pupil self-esteem and motivation
- The benefit of working in groups of mixed ability
- The different ways of working regarding action and abstract tasks
- Group problem solving generates higher order learning, and
- The importance of clear instructions and feedback from the teacher (Galton & Williamson 1992).

Personally, I think task description and expectation of outcomes is of vital importance. I remember times when a group I’ve been working in have failed terribly in a task because we were unsure about the exact requirements. I also think for some tasks it is helpful if you have similar learning styles to other people in the group, as you may share common ideas and goals (although in the same way it is often beneficial to work with people of varying abilities and ways of working as this stretches your development in the long term). The skill of listening to others and being able to compromise is also a huge advantage in group work, and this is something that often needs to be practiced and modelled in the classroom. It is important to try to remain objective and to give everyone a fair chance to contribute to the drama. This type of behaviour will generally bring about a better learning experience for everyone involved.

Whoops, I think I may have written too much (sorry)…