So many (drama) strategies, so little time!

Teachers Teaching Teachers

At the beginning of term we were provided with a list of about 30 different drama strategies that we could incorporate into our weekly presentations. It was the responsibility of each group to pick 4 to 5 strategies to demonstrate to the class. As our group was the second last group, we decided we wanted to attempt a few of the strategies we had not seen before (accompanied by a couple we had experienced).

Our lesson this week was designed for grade 4's and was cross-curricular with social studies (feudal societies) and language arts (writing). It was centred around the distribution of wealth in societies and provided the students with an opportunity to assume the role of villagers and peasants.

 During a warm up activity the students were able to choose the role of someone they believed would exist in a feudal society. They were invited to demonstrate their characters actions in a large group activity in which the students roamed the room and (silently) interacted with one another whilst in role. While the 'villagers' were wandering around some of them received tokens and others did not. The villagers with tokens were invited to sit in the shade and enjoy some snacks while the others began digging a community well. After a few minutes a town meeting was called in which more tokens were distributed but discussion was not welcome. Finally, the villagers had an opportunity to join with others within their financial allotment and discuss how the wealth had been distributed. After which they were asked to write a letter to the village leader explaining whether they believed the system was fair or unfair and whether they believe it should change or remain the same. The warm up and beginning activities were utilized familiar drama strategies to help the students ease into the activity. They involved miming, student in role and teacher in role. However, writing in role was a new strategy we chose to demonstrate. We added that it would be a great opportunity to add onto a language unit on formal letter writing for the grade 4's and address the specific expectations on form and voice in the writing strand of the curriculum.

Following this activity the students were invited to use their letters and feelings about the society to participate in another drama strategy called the corridor of voices. They were tasked with picking one sentence from their letter that they felt best represented their feelings on the matter. Then they were asked to create two parallel lines that faced each other. As the village leader walked down the line, opposing sides would individually say their sentence. This is done to emulate the inner feelings or subconscious of the individual and to provide conflicting views about an issue. 

This is where you would encourage your students to step out of role and reflect on their experiences within the village. They would be asked to make connections to what they had learned about feudal societies as well as what they know about the distribution of wealth in their own society. 

The concept for this lesson was originally from CODE and was adapted to suit the guidelines for our class. You can link to our lesson plan by clicking here!

Teachers as Students

The second part of our class this week was, as usual, facilitated by our wonderful drama guide, Susan. This week our lesson was focussed on applying a variety of drama strategies to the analysis of a poem. For this week's blog I'm only going to focus on the strategy that was ENTIRELY new to me: Role on the Wall. 

For this strategy we, as students, were given a very brief description of a character (and by brief I mean BRIEF). We were given a name and the context of the poem. On large chart paper we had to draw a silhouette and decide on the internal appearance of the character (thoughts, feelings, behaviours, etc.), the external appearance of the character (hair, eyes, height, etc.) and their outer circle (the people who influenced them). We also had to hypothesize how we believed the character would be feeling about the situation they were in (based on our very brief introduction to it) and then after reading the poem had the opportunity to adjust how we believed they were feeling. This activity allowed us to gradually experience character development without ever stepping into a role. It also allowed us to be as creative as we would like without the fear of putting on a performance. Furthermore, it provided an opportunity for poem analysis without the formal pressure of a language arts lesson. Once again I was blown away by the magic of drama! Bravo!