An Introduction to Drama Class - (wk 1)

Welcome to my Drama Toolkit! A blog about all different theories, applications, lesson plans and ideas on how to teach Drama to students.

I won't lie, drama has never really been my forté, so I was very nervous coming into the course. 

My lack of knowledge for this subject area was really what made me the most scared! This was definitely reflected in my spot for the Position Mapping Activity that we did in class. What is Position Mapping?  Essentially, there is a chair or an object in the middle of the room. The closer you are to the object, the more comfortable and confident you are about the topic. The further you are, the more hesitant and nervous you are about that topic. 

So, in the first week we were to place ourselves around a chair based on how excited and confident we were to teach Drama. Needless to say, I was VERY far away from the chair. In the image above, you can see a chair that is in the middle of the class. Some of my classmates felt comfortable with the subject and they are standing on the chair, whereas I was the furthest possible position away from it. This symbolized my fear and anxiety towards the subject area. 

This would be a great activity to use in the classroom as an Assessment FOR or AS learning. In assessment FOR learning, the teacher could ask specific questions to introduce or consolidate a topic. The teacher could ask a list of questions and the students would place themselves based on how well they think they grasped the concepts. Then the areas where students felt least comfortable, the teacher could review. This is a great way for teachers to receive feedback from their students! This activity could also be used as an assessment AS learning activity where the students reflect on their learning skills and work habits in the classroom. This gives students a chance to think about their actions and behaviours in the classroom! 
Another activity that we did was Voice Alley & Corridor of Voices where we each made a bridge or an alley with our arms and we shouted words as people went through the tunnel. In the activity that we did, we first shouted negative emotions or comments to symbolize how someone might feel if they were bullied. Then, we re-did the activity but saying positive compliments to the person to see what it feels like when we are embraced within a community. I think that this is a great activity to the person to see what it feels like when we are embraced within a community. I think that this is a great activity to incorporate into the classroom especially to teach students about bullying. It allows each individual to feel the emotions and reflect to themselves. 
      Another strategy that could be used in the classroom is Teacher in Role where the teacher plays a character and asks for volunteers to play secondary characters. This would be a great activity to do in Language Arts when doing a read-aloud or guided reading activity. Research has shown that when students are learning through doing, and learning through experiences, they are able to better retain information. Therefore, this is definitely a strategy to consider when doing novel studies!

The theory that really stood out to me this week was Dwyer's Learner's Theory (1996), which essentially states that students learn best through doing and expressing themselves to others. I strongly believe this to be true! Quite honestly, if I were to sit in an hour long lecture I would probably zone out and not really remember what was being discussed. But when I am actively participating and discussing with my peers or experiencing an activity, I am able to remain focused on the task at hand! Transferring this into a classroom setting, it is important to recognize that children CANNOT and SHOULD NOT be staying in their seats for long periods of time. Students should be given the opportunity to create, reflect, perform and explore within the Arts curriculum. Through all of these activities, students should be given feedback from the teacher. 

Thank you for reading about this week's Drama class. Having been to a class already, I now feel a bit more comfortable around the subject area. I believe that I will learn about a lot of different drama games and activities that I can integrate into other subject areas. In the next few weeks, I will be adding different theories, games, reflections and activities to create my own Drama Toolkit!