Drama Teachers: Stuck on what to do with your next class?

I follow this brilliant blog called Drama online. It gives great ideas and support for drama teachers. just saw this brilliant blog and had to shout about it. It gives a long list of drama scenarios for improvisation. Let's be honest, it friday, your tired and you have run out of steam. You look at you lesson plan and you just can't feel inspired. This blog will give us something to lean on when we need an impulse of creativity...

LINK: http://dramaonlineci.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/improvisation-scenarios.html

Summary of Module 2, Part 6.

Well the 3 parts in Module 2 have been an eventful journey and I haven't even began to think about my inquiry plan yet. Jam-packed with Theories, Researcher tools and Ethics, my final summary of module 2 brings me to a place definite learning and my journal informs me of, " a change in reaction to my studies... Sensing the notion of being brave, getting up and getting on with it" (Ahmet, A. 2012), which makes a change from the anxious feeling of under confidence from the last module (Ahmet, A. 2012).

As if following an old tradition of studies, I began the part yet again with a Critical Reflection of Reader 6. Shining the spotlight on Mason, Fox et al and Bell enabled me to not only satisfy my critical curiosity of the theories in the reader, but provided me with the knowledge and guidance I will need in the planning of my inquiry. An important find, they give me the 'know how' to the research process I am so new to. Critical Reflections are something I decided to take into this module, as a way to challenge the ideas of others and broaden my understanding. It is great to notice that I, "found some habits of study... Continue to be useful beyond the first module where I started them" (Akineye, A. 2012)

The tasks in Part 6 allowed me to try, test and fail my tools of research. Using reflective practice, I was able to know what is working in these tools and what I needed to develop further. My journal tells me, "we only get one shot at this inquiry and I've got to get it right" (Ahmet, A. 2012). I began the part feeling a little apprehensive as I never claimed to be a strong researcher. Not that I'm claiming to be an expert with the inquiry process now. But I do feel, planning, piloting and reflecting on the tools of inquiry, has aided me to sense a feeling of command over my inquiry. Having explored the ethical issues within my practice and most importantly within my inquiry, I can continue with the respect and verification of the outside world. Learning that ethics within my inquiry will be ever presence and my awareness of it is key to the respect and validation of my research project.

The Next Step: I feel having established my line of inquiry; Explored the ethical issues within my research and finally playing with the ideas of tools for inquiry. I now have the knowledge to compose a research project that points towards the direction of my inquiry. I can see the holes of knowledge within my practice and I hope that my work in Parts 4, 5 and 6 provide the sealant I'm looking for.

TASK 6b: My Developed Interview and Focus Group.

The development of my interview and focus group did begin to happen on TASK 4c. I sat down with a fellow practitioner and in a safe environment I began to discuss a set of questions, Improving their approach and wording.  It was this task that I based the design of my Pilot Observation and Focus Group. Again working with the same practitioner we looked at the design, however the main aspect of the interview and focus group that changed wasn't the questions themselves, but the very approach and method of delivery of them. I went from a place of asking questions to raising themes for discussion. These themes take the shape of what the topic is based on and then a serious of questions would follow. This style allowed room for discussion and by being flexible and loose to where the conversion could go, left room for the practitioner in question to express their opinion without any manipulation. By stimulating the conversation with my topics for discussion, my interviews and focus groups can become less ridged in style and more like, "conversations with purpose" Mason, 2007.

I'm still with the idea that my focus group and interview take similar shape, in terms of the topics. I feel it would be interesting to structure them the same and then this will make for interesting analysis, observing what happened when practitioners were alone and in a group.

This tool will be the backbone of my inquiry, giving me the ultimate qualitative data I crave as a researcher.  I had a great idea and have already arrange this for next year, I wanted to spend the day at one of my schools. Observing 4-5 teachers and then holding a focus group. This allows me to watch what they do and then find out what they think. Thus leading to an broader analysis.

TASK 6b: My Developed Observation

Very pleased with the design of my Pilot Observation, I organised to carry out the task within a school I practice at. I spoke the teacher through it and explained that it was designed around the same schools assessment framework, we sat and discussed what I was doing as a way to address any ethical concerns.

At first what I was looking for seemed to be suffice, as the lesson continued I found it a great tool for watching and noticing things that happen in my practice. I feel excited by this tool, by watching fellow practitioners with the organised method of my observation, I am positive I will extract the data I feel vital to my inquiry.

Upon reflection after however, there was a technical aspect to the observation I needed to improve on. The category boxes worked, but the headings above them were in full sentences. This made it hard to follow. Getting myself flustered and struggling to follow which box was where, my note taking became a slow and i was missing important happenings within the class. In order for my observation to become as efficient as possible I needed to make it user friendly. I have condensed the headings of each category down to two words. This will help me identify the category boxes easier and react faster to what I'm seeing. The important thing here is to allow the time after the observation to reflect on what I saw. As after time, my notes would make no sense. It's about planning ahead and being efficient.

Here is the new observation design...

Pilot Observation

Intro

Who am I?

I am a student at Middlesex University, studying on the BAPP programme.

What’s my research?

I wish to inquire about the transitional journey from actor or performer to teacher. Exploring the change in approach and concept to the practitioner's practice, the steps that need to be taken to get there and the transferable skills a practitioner already has. The questions and research will guide my steps as I make changes from actor to teacher and act as preparation for teacher training. The inquiry will not only inform myself along this transitional journey, but will become a useful guide to future practitioners wishing to learn about becoming a teacher, both on the BAPP programme and beyond.

Ethics.

Any information is confidential. Please state if you prefer to remain anonymous. Please carry on as you would in a normal classroom situation. It is important that I capture what happens without any influence of being observed.

Teacher Relationship with Students

Teacher Presence…

Student Response…

Atmosphere….

Control…

The lesson and learning

Teacher task communication…

Adaptability…

Creativity…

Engaged in different student levels…

The Teacher

Approach to teaching…

Method of demonstration…

Energy and passion…

Student feedback…

TASK 6b: My Developed Survey

In my Pilot Survey, I really didn't see this tool as useful I found it's quantitative data collection something that didn't fit in with my research. I was looking at peoples opinions and ideas and therefore needed an qualitative approach to my research. Still, I carried out the survey and as I thought I did stumble upon some issues. The first was getting people interested in it. I targeted the BAPP programme, including an email to my SIG and then a select group of outside practitioners that I knew were safe enough to send it to. But getting people excited and passionate about a survey proved difficult. Is it a sign of the times? Are we bombarded with marketing surveys? Is there a negative stigma attached to it?

After some reflections in my journal an interesting idea emerged. It became apparent that in order to validate the qualitative data within my observations and discussions, "I needed to record the details and background of the person" (Ahmet, A 2012). What I was looking for was quantitative data to gather up the statistics of the age the teachers taught, the amount of practitioner experience and their teaching status etc. "I have found a place for the survey within my inquiry" (Ahmet, A. 2012), I discover in my journal. The survey is a fantastic tool for recording the background to the qualitative data being collected. This would help the in-depth analysis and comparison of my findings and validate the research I'm doing as accurate as possible.

Here is the new design of my survey...

Link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XDCND7X

Any thoughts?

Task 6d: My Delicious Resources Tags

From useful blogs on the BAPP Programme to helpful practitioner guidelines. I have been working on my collection of SIG tags since summer 2012 and I am excited to share these resources with you. Some I think will be obvious, but some I hope will be a light bulb moment in terms of discovering new ideas.

Delicious Link: http://www.delicious.com/ahmet1981

Please let me know if you have found anything useful here!

Literature Review 4

Literature Review: Dorothy Heathcote Obituary, The Guardian – Sandra Hesten.

My final review isn’t so much focussed on what is already known about my area of inquiry. Rather I wanted to use it as a vehicle to get to know a key practitioner within my practice area better. As I look at the bibliographies of my last three literature reviews (Review 1, Review 2, Review 3), I notice Dorothy Heathcote makes an appearance and creates a kind of cross over in the under-pinning of the ideas within the three sources. This review is more of a way to find out who Heathcote was, so as to inform my future practice and my work in training to get there. Having established a hole of knowledge in my practice, I turn to a short digital article, in a bid fill any gaps. Hesten’s ‘Dorothy Heathcote Obituary’ provides a condensed informative explanation of who this ‘Guru of Drama in Education’ was.

Using, “drama as a tool to promote holistic learning in schools, problem-solving lay at the heart of her methodology”, she encouraged teachers to put themselves in the shoes of the students.  Famous for the concept of ‘Mantle of the Expert’, Heathcote would create an issue that the drama must deal with and then gave the students the expertise to solve the issue.  Her methodogy is infused with responsibly, commitment and ownership.

Interestingly, despite her method of creating real dramatic issues and disposing of an audience, she trained as an actor at the Northern Theatre School in Bradford. It was from here that her art became about exploring life skills students take from the creativity of the process within drama. This was a potent finding for me. The very person behind the crafting of the idea of ‘process drama’ actually came from a background of ‘product drama’. This may suggest a link between the two ideas and the unification I have been looking for.

Dorothy Hetahcote’s methodology lives on in the work of many practitioners of drama education and undeniably has an ever-standing presence in the drama classroom of today.

Hesten, S. 2011. Dorothy Heathcote Obituary: The Guardian. Available from:  [online] http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/nov/17/dorothy-heathcote [Accessed 13/11/2012].

Literature Review 3

Literature Review: Starting Drama Teaching – Mike Flemming

My next selection is Mike Fleming’s Starting Drama Teaching. With Process and Product drama still my focus of inquiry, I seek to gain an insight into the classroom. I’ve been considering the ideas of various practitioners and pioneers, but it was time to look at the day-to-day approach to the drama class. Lesson plans; classroom management guidelines and techniques can all be found in Flemming's literature. He opens by comparing process and product drama. Categorising it as drama/theatre Fleming advises that the,

Descriptions given above is what most people might describe as successful versions of both approaches… It is temping in drama to compare a successful account of one’s own preferred methodology… leading to the distortion when it comes to theorising… It might be helpful to foster an open mind.

Fleming makes an important statement here, within the world of an arts capacity. Such over-theorising can lead to the distortion of the results, suggesting an open-minded approach to the idea of process and product drama.  Fleming wraps this argument up by simplifying it as, “to every process is a product”.

Fleming then affirms the different forms of the dramatic arts, begining with the differentiation of ‘spontaneous’ and planned improvisation.  Claiming that spontaneity is at the heart of what it means to improvise. Giving an opportunity of, “experiencing the drama at life’s pace”, can potentially enrich a student’s work. However ‘planned improvisation’ does allow for the preplanning of the conceptual aspect of the drama.  Next he exposes a text technique that enables students to look deeper and further into the meaning of the text. Explaining that by deleting the character names, and asking them to identify who is saying what, the students dissect what is being said and marry up the meaning to the character. Fleming continues to suggest lesson ideas and gives great guidance for teaching drama. Constructivism is at the root of my learning here, where I lack in the experience of that of which I don’t know. I look to the experience of Fleming to inform me of the every idea of working within a drama capacity of an educational environment.

Fleming remains nonpartisan in his conclusion, explaining that tension is at the heart of teaching drama. In the centre of this notion it’s process, ever changing and evolving, claiming it unwise to look for easy solutions to all the theoretical and practical problems it presents.

Fleming, M.  2003. Staring Drama Teaching; Second Edition. David Fulton Publishers, London.

Literature Review 2

Literature review: Drama to Inspire; A London Drama Guide to Excellent Practice in Drama for Young People – ed. John Coventon.

My next literature review takes me to the now. My previous review looked at the historical path of Drama and education, so it made sense for my next literature to inform me of the current knowledge within my inquiry. What do people already know about my research? I was drawn to this next book, because rather than the ideas of one person, it is complied of the voices and ideas of a number of drama practitioners. All of which are currently practicing and some I have even met. I found it important to look within my community of practice and see if there are any ideas that could compliment my area of inquiry.  Almost instantly, what I find interesting is that the references and bibliographies of all my literature I am reviewing, have some point of cross over.  It pinpointed that all practitioners know what they know because they also have researched the ideas of others. Acting as like a recipe book, the bibliography tells the story of how people gather their methods of practice.

The book begins with Practitioner and teacher trainer Cecily O’Neill. She opens the book with some sound advice, “An effective teacher in any classroom and perhaps especially the arts, is always an agent of change… The teachers in this book are unlikely to turn their classrooms into a graveyard of the imagination… Instead they place participation and collaboration at the heart of their work”. Then exposing Andy Kemp’s theory of the link between ethics and drama, explaining that, “drama may be used to represent both how we live and by what standards”.  This opening brings could suggest a change in concept of the drama practitioner that I have been trying to explore. While the actor’s primordial focus is to entertain, here these practitioners state that the drama teacher, through collaboration can effect the very shaping of students ethical principals. Taking me from entertain to life trainer. Daniel Shindler then shares a workshop he calls, who am I? It’s something I have since tried. It’s about mind mapping and breaking down the student to realise the emotional memory they have access to. Again Shindler’s ideas support the notion of this isn’t the practice of an n entertainment anymore, it’s an art that reaches and draws out who you are. However, can I say that an actor is purely for entertainment? Many would argue that the theatre arts in the spectator’s sense could be therapeutic and educational. What I do learn here, that there is a definite link between the subject of drama and the student’s interpretation of the world.

Drama to Inspire then brings me to the work of Lucy Cutherson. On my journey of research there have been many ‘buzz names’ that I have heard and Cuthertson’s method is something I have explored in many workshops over London. Her revolutionary approach to text is to put it down and improvise the themes within it. The key being that as the actor, “plays around freely and unselfconsciously… The best casting tends to emerge”.  I found Cuthbertson’s ideas current and contemporaneous, rather than seeing her student’s in East London as naughtily little school children. She refers to them as actors, giving them room to grow and explore and ultimately produces award winning children’s theatre productions.  She seems to be paving the way for a new approach to teaching drama and this approach is important to my inquiry. Is it about treating students less like students and more like actors? There is a definite line for inquiry here.

The book next shines the spotlight on Amanda Kipling. Somebody I have met and observed, Kipling runs the drama PGCE course at Goldsmith’s University. As it is my next ambition as a student, it was interesting to read the ideas of the person about to interview me. This excites me, as not only is the literature review process informing my inquiry within this course, but also supports my next direction as a student.  Kipling exposes the theory of drama as play, claiming that philologists have categorised the idea of learning through pretend. This idea highlights the importance of drama in education; linking drama to something that embraces a child’s primordial learning pattern gives me a sense of the creative benefits the subject can bring. It supports this idea of drama games, universally played by actors and school students, using play to embrace what the human being does naturally.

In conclusion, drama to Inspire is a book supported by an organisation called, London Drama. Dedicated to training, supports and collaborating drama teachers, its primary focus is to continue spreading the dramatic arts as a creative school subject.  There seems to be a sense of enhancement for drama as a process here, not leaving much room for the product of drama it could create the argument of Bolton’s idea (my last review) that it’s about the balance. The book tends to lean on the side of the creative dramatic process and even when a production is discussed, the script and the casting all point towards an on-going development approach as appose to a final product. 

References:

Coverton et al, 2011. Drama to Inspire: A London Drama Guide to Excellent Practice in Drama for Young People. Trentham Books Ltd, London.