Drama
Keep Learning and Keep Exploring
April 2018
As my journey in
Teacher College comes to an end, it does so with grace and a very happy and excited
self! It’s crazy to think how much knowledge has been gained in the last two
years of this program and Drama was no exception to that. Each class Suzanne introduced
us to drama strategies, warm up drama games and activities that had us enjoying
learning Drama, as opposed to being scared to break out of our comfort zones. When
incorporating our differentiated learners in the classroom, I believe Drama to
be a class not for modifying the curriculum for students but adjusting the
class with the different strategies being taught and the time management put
into the different parts of a lesson. For example, when we think of the most
recent class The Creation of Sam McGee the reading of the story, the hot seat
interview, soundscape or tableaux’s that were created and the character development
this all was done in one class. We most certainly would break this up in
different periods for our different learners. We did it in a short period of
time as adults, we would adjust accordingly to the needs of our students. This
all comes back to knowing you students and the types of learned they are, their
strengths and weaknesses and their collaboration with peers.
The benefits of Drama in the classroom can
help boost a child’s confidence and allow them to explore their imagination
with creative characters and settings that is acceptable with a judgment free
zone. I will as a teacher foster the safe and open environment I envision my
classroom of being and foster the development of my students in the world of
Drama.
Created by myself, with Wordle
Drama Strategies
April 2018
Reflecting back
on this course we must have covered over half of this list of drama strategies alone,
and we only had 6 classes! Strategies interchange with one another and can be
used in collaboration to produce a fun and engaging lesson. I appreciate the
value of these classes because we learned how to integrate these strategies
into different lessons that included different subject areas. Suzanne taught us
every week how to create lessons with the different strategies into the lesson
that related to other subjects such as science, social studies and language. I
really appreciate these engaging lessons because they are practical and can be applied
in our future classrooms and resources that can be added in our toolkit.
Provided by Suzanne, Drama Instructor Brock University
Returning Back April 2 with Casey at Bat
April 2018
I loved this
lesson! This lesson when ranking the drama classes has thus far come top to my
list. It might have something to do with my connection to the sports aspect of
the game of baseball but really it was all the teaching strategies that Suzanne
tied together to make an exceptional lesson. Within this lesson just alone we
covered the following drama strategies:
Role-on-the-Wall: We created the different characters physical attributes, personalities
and influences we believed they had in the story. Create way to incorporate student’s
imagination with this strategy, really allowing an open forum and for anything
to be recorded. Depending on the classroom and your students you as the
educator would engage the restrictions with this activity depending on your
learners. Keep in mind the more open the activity the more the students will be
engaging in dep conversations, and creation of the characters they are envisioning
in the story. Preparing for the Poem,
Chant and Character Work were all strategies that were a part of the lesson.
Those came incorporated in the first two strategies mentioned. We created more
to the poem by each group introducing the characters they have created.
Hot-Seat
Interview: I enjoyed participating in this activity
as the character we created. I created responses to interview questions that
Suzanne had prepared as did all of us playing these different characters. This
is an activity that can help build students self-confidence and communication skills
when allowing them to be someone else in a character role.
We ended with
the hot seat interview, leaving someone like myself at a cliff hanger not figuring
out what happened in the ninth inning as all of this was created up and until
the end of the 8th inning in the poem. Great opportunity to have students
now create their own ninth inning in writing. This is certainly a lesson I envision
myself incorporating into my classroom in either drama or language as well!
Who says games are only played in the gymnasium!
April 2018
Each week as we stepped into drama class we
began with a warm -up game or activity to get us engaged and energized. This is
something I had the opportunity to personally explore in my third placement. I
had the opportunity to teach Drama, with limited freedom under the direction of
my associate teacher, however I was able to implement different drama games. Through
games some of the different benefits gained were cooperation, fun, emotional
outlet, imagination and self-confidence were all seen through most of the
students. The games I played in class were:
- Who, What, Where- A game that helps students
learn the three key elements of improvisation by acting out a short scene.
- Count to 20- A game focused on concentration
and cooperation with a group
- Adverb Game- An amusing miming game which
also helps with learning grammar.
- Random Sound Stories- A game that encourages
creativity, developing storytelling and performance skills and cooperate in a
group setting.
- Experts- This game is with partners that
allow imagination and improvisation between to people. Tests the listening and
speaking skills of the students.
I really enjoyed playing these games
personally as it is a subject that I am still adjusting to myself and getting comfortable
with, playing games is something I have always been comfortable with my
physical education background and I learned to transfer that enthusiasm into
the drama classroom for this specific lesson.
When exploring what games are appropriate
to play with my students I came across a great resource that has been added to
my toolbox of resources that will provide me the resource to find games that
match the need of my different students as I hope to begin my journey as an Occasional
teacher. These games do not only have to be used in Drama class particularly
but the element of Drama can be played through these games in any part of the
day.
Games Resource: Drama Resource
Keep Learning and Keep Exploring
As my journey in
Teacher College comes to an end, it does so with grace and a very happy and excited
self! It’s crazy to think how much knowledge has been gained in the last two
years of this program and Drama was no exception to that. Each class Suzanne introduced
us to drama strategies, warm up drama games and activities that had us enjoying
learning Drama, as opposed to being scared to break out of our comfort zones.
We applied our knowledge
of the content with the creation of a lesson plan in groups. Our group had multiple
conversations on where to start for our lesson and how we can use the
strategies as effective as Suzanne did, but with Suzanne’s guidance we were
able to create the concept “Night at the Museum” tying in the social studies curriculum
along with the teaching strategies of tableaux, soundscape, teacher in role,
and mimed activity. I enjoyed having the
opportunity to create a lesson with my peers to help me understand not only how
a lesson can be delivered but finding the inspiration and preparation behind a
drama lesson.
The benefits of Drama in the classroom can
help boost a child’s confidence and allow them to explore their imagination
with creative characters and settings that is acceptable with a judgment free
zone. I will as a teacher foster the safe and open environment I envision my
classroom of being and foster the development of my students in the world of
Drama.
 |
| Created by myself, with Wordle |
Reflecting back
on this course we must have covered over half of this list of drama strategies alone,
and we only had 6 classes! Strategies interchange with one another and can be
used in collaboration to produce a fun and engaging lesson. I appreciate the
value of these classes because we learned how to integrate these strategies
into different lessons that included different subject areas. Suzanne taught us
every week how to create lessons with the different strategies into the lesson
that related to other subjects such as science, social studies and language. I
really appreciate these engaging lessons because they are practical and can be applied
in our future classrooms and resources that can be added in our toolkit.
As a teacher, I believe
it is important to continue learning and growing myself with subject areas that
I am not familiar and strong with, especially if I have to teach these subjects
to my students. I also had this idea that teachers have to know everything and
be experts in everything. But fortunately, I was introduced to this new philosophy
at the beginning of my journey in Teacher’s College were having a growth mindset
will help one grow and accept their mistakes made in teaching and learn to grow
and rebound with a killer next lesson. I’m excited to use my grown appreciation
of the growing mindset in my Drama classroom and look forward to reflecting
more each and every day with my students and colleagues.
 |
| Provided by Suzanne, Drama Instructor Brock University |
April 2018
I loved this
lesson! This lesson when ranking the drama classes has thus far come top to my
list. It might have something to do with my connection to the sports aspect of
the game of baseball but really it was all the teaching strategies that Suzanne
tied together to make an exceptional lesson. Within this lesson just alone we
covered the following drama strategies:
Soundscape: Starting with creating the sounds with our bodies and voices (no
words) of what we hear in a baseball stadium. As a group, we connected to
create the environment we envision ourselves in. This was a great starter for
the class. Had me engaged and ready for the remainder of the lesson
Role-on-the-Wall: We created the different characters physical attributes, personalities
and influences we believed they had in the story. Create way to incorporate student’s
imagination with this strategy, really allowing an open forum and for anything
to be recorded. Depending on the classroom and your students you as the
educator would engage the restrictions with this activity depending on your
learners. Keep in mind the more open the activity the more the students will be
engaging in dep conversations, and creation of the characters they are envisioning
in the story. Preparing for the Poem,
Chant and Character Work were all strategies that were a part of the lesson.
Those came incorporated in the first two strategies mentioned. We created more
to the poem by each group introducing the characters they have created.
Hot-Seat
Interview: I enjoyed participating in this activity
as the character we created. I created responses to interview questions that
Suzanne had prepared as did all of us playing these different characters. This
is an activity that can help build students self-confidence and communication skills
when allowing them to be someone else in a character role.
We ended with
the hot seat interview, leaving someone like myself at a cliff hanger not figuring
out what happened in the ninth inning as all of this was created up and until
the end of the 8th inning in the poem. Great opportunity to have students
now create their own ninth inning in writing. This is certainly a lesson I envision
myself incorporating into my classroom in either drama or language as well!
When exploring what games are appropriate
to play with my students I came across a great resource that has been added to
my toolbox of resources that will provide me the resource to find games that
match the need of my different students as I hope to begin my journey as an Occasional
teacher. These games do not only have to be used in Drama class particularly
but the element of Drama can be played through these games in any part of the
day.
Games Resource: Drama Resource
Bridging the Connection in the Curriculum to the Classroom
April 2018
As a beginning educator,
there won’t be anything we can say we have mastered or come close to and we all
know that in the world of teaching there is learning to be done every day. But
when we think of teaching there is always somewhere to start and that is the Ontario
curriculum, the document that outlines what needs to be covered from overall to
specific expectations. The curriculum is an excellent tool that has provided me
with the foundation of my lessons in all teaching areas. As students’ progress
through their education careers they will learn more about the arts and the techniques
and strategies drama teachers use to bring out student’s confidence in the
drama classroom. I specifically like this mention on page 15 of the curriculum where
it highlights how “students will expand their thinking, solve problems, and develop
their ability to express ideas and feelings through aspects as the art from
such as contextual or process drama.”
Through the
weeks of Drama, I have explored a number of those techniques in the different classes
that Suzanne has lead for us. She provided the opportunity for us to step out
of our shoes and into roles that were created with different drama strategies that
will be reviewed in a later post. Each class was a different cross-curricular
lesson with a different subject area that allowed us to open our minds even
more to the possibility of presenting similar lesson plans in our classroom. We
also had the opportunity to create a lesson tied into another subject, one that
will be reflected on in a later post as well. In short, the curriculum being
the very clear, cut, and simple document that it is provides us educators
somewhere to begin and the different directions we can take our drama
classroom.
 |
| -Ralph Ellison
Explore the rest of my blog posts as I continue
to bridge the connection of Drama and other subject areas in classroom to one
another.
|
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