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| From racing car drivers... |
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| to a ballerina and a firefighter! |
Drama is a powerful tool that should be used in everyday pedagogy and to
enhance socio-cultural experiences (Bird, Donelan, Freebody, O'Toole and
Sinclair, 2012, p. 67).
The importance of the element time in drama resonated
with me this week. On the surface this seems like an element that may not be as
critical as focus, mood and contrast. Time includes time spent ensuring
students feel trust, confidence and mutual regard for each other, time for
skills, techniques and understanding to develop, time spent establishing a safe
environment for the activity to take place in, and time for the activity to
take place without being rushed or sacrificing reflection (Bird et al., 2012.
p. 49). Time is critical in drama for success!
Some of strategies I would like to use with King Pig include:
- conscience alley used to explore the
dilemma for little sheep to remain loyal to King Pig,
- role play where the teacher and
students could all 'step in to the role' to explore the moral issue of how
King Pig treats the sheep,
- role on wall where the students
write key words and phrases on to a large outline of a pig and sheep
describing them, and
- hot seating where King Pig is
questioned by the sheep about his behaviour towards them.
Drama strategies seem to lend themselves to literacy concepts and I can
see a clear connection and relationship between them. Though I have been
surprised (and delighted!) to also find some fantastic examples of how drama could
be incorporated in other curriculum topics such as numeracy:
In reading more about drama strategies I came across the Drama Resource website
by David Farmer. I think this a really valuable resource for implementing drama
strategies.
References:
Bird, J., Donelan, K., Freebody, K., O'Toole, J. & Sinclair, C. (2012). Drama: Social dreaming in the 21st Century. In C. Sinclair, N. Jeannert & J. O'Toole (Eds), Education in the arts. Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press.
Bland, N. (2013). King Pig. Lindfield, NSW: Scholastic Press.
Farmer, D (n.d.). Drama Resource. Retrieved 22 July 2015 from http://dramaresource.com
Hi Rachael,
ReplyDeleteI really relate to your point about the 'investment' of time within the class context as a prelude to using drama in teaching and learning rather than simply 'launching in'. I think this would help ameliorate nerves and discomfort particularly for students not accultured or accustomed to that kind of format.The use of masks and puppets also makes sense. Though I was intrigued by maths and drama I think I am most looking forward to exploring it through literature: thanks for your insights regarding King Pig.
Vikki
P.S. By the way, it doesn't seem that our children have any issues with role play!