How to Approach Speaking and Listening through Drama
How to Approach Speaking and Listening through Drama
A. How to Begin with Teacher in Role?
Why use teacher in role?
The most important resource you have as a teacher when using drama is yourself. Learning demands intervention from the teacher to structure, direct and influence the learning of the pupils. One of the best ways to do that in drama work is to be inside the drama. Therefore, at the centre of the dramas that we include in this book, is the key teaching technique that is used, namely teacher in role (TiR). This chapter will set out approaches to TiR and give examples of how it works.
Teacher as storyteller
The teacher as a storyteller is something all primary school teachers will recognise. Good teachers slip easily into it and use it frequently. In its most observable guise it occurs when teaching the whole class and engaging them with a piece of fiction. The pupil’s role will be dominated by listening and this will be interlaced with questioning, responding and interpreting the meaning and sense of the fiction.
Preparation for the role
In preparing to be this kind of storyteller the teacher must have made particular decisions about this child. Begin by asking the class out of role what they want to ask the child and the order of those questions. This not only provides the teacher with some security in knowing what is going to be asked, at least initially, but also allows some minutes to refine the planning, so that the teacher can be specific in answering their questions. The questions will, to a certain extent, be predictable because they are largely generated by the circumstances of the drama so far and the role the class has taken, which will be that of anxious parents. Before the drama session, decide what attitude you are going to take when questioned by the class. You are going to be telling them a story but it will be as if they had just met you and it will not be the voice of the narrator re-telling someone else’s story but in the present tense as if it is happening now. There is no book symbolising the re-telling of someone else’s words. This is your story re-told in a specific place (coming down the mountain path) at a specific time (within minutes of a significant event) and from the child’s point of view, not a dispassionate onlooker or observer of events.
Teaching from within
Moving in and out of role- managing the drama and reflecting on it
We are describing using role as ‘teaching from within’ because the teacher enters the drama world, but it is very important to step out of the fiction often and not let it run away with itself. When using TiR, the teacher is operating as a manager as well as participant and must spend as much time stopping the drama and moving out of role (OoR) to reflect on what is happening and give the pupils a chance to think through what they know and what they want to do. This OoR working is as important as the role itself. It manages the role and therefore the drama; it manages the risk, establishes where the class is and helps pupils believe in the drama. It provides time and space for the teacher to assess and re-assess the learning possibilities. Let us look at an example to see how you as the teacher have the opportunity to negotiate how the role behaves with the class. This also shows a step from hot-seating to role-playing as a demonstration with a small group. As with all of this section of the book, we are using an example from drama based upon ‘The Pied Piper’ (see Toye and Prendiville, 2000, p. 225)
Summary of points to consider
▶ Why we use teacher in role -– pupils listen to teachers in role
▶ How we expand the possibilities of story and explore story
▶ Operating the two worlds of drama, inside and outside the fiction
▶Moving in and out of role - managing the drama and reflecting on it
▶Building the teacher role with the support of the class
▶What, when and how to give information for maximum influence and effect
▶How to dialogue with the class - teachers learning to listen well
▶How we work with the class as collaborators
▶Choosing the role -the low status roles offer more learning possibilities
▶Handling drama - structuring for control - imposing shape and constrain
Summary of points to consider
▶ How to begin a plan -–facing the problems of starting from scratch●
▶ The frame-the way the elements link together to provide viewpoint for the class.
▶ The elements of planning including: learning objectives, a stimulus to learning, roles for the teacher and for the children, how to create tension points, building context and belief in the drama, the decision-making for the class, the choice of strategies and techniques.
▶Planning with someone else
▶ Road testing the first version
A. How to Begin with Teacher in Role?
Why use teacher in role?
The most important resource you have as a teacher when using drama is yourself. Learning demands intervention from the teacher to structure, direct and influence the learning of the pupils. One of the best ways to do that in drama work is to be inside the drama. Therefore, at the centre of the dramas that we include in this book, is the key teaching technique that is used, namely teacher in role (TiR). This chapter will set out approaches to TiR and give examples of how it works.
Teacher as storyteller
The teacher as a storyteller is something all primary school teachers will recognise. Good teachers slip easily into it and use it frequently. In its most observable guise it occurs when teaching the whole class and engaging them with a piece of fiction. The pupil’s role will be dominated by listening and this will be interlaced with questioning, responding and interpreting the meaning and sense of the fiction.
Preparation for the role
In preparing to be this kind of storyteller the teacher must have made particular decisions about this child. Begin by asking the class out of role what they want to ask the child and the order of those questions. This not only provides the teacher with some security in knowing what is going to be asked, at least initially, but also allows some minutes to refine the planning, so that the teacher can be specific in answering their questions. The questions will, to a certain extent, be predictable because they are largely generated by the circumstances of the drama so far and the role the class has taken, which will be that of anxious parents. Before the drama session, decide what attitude you are going to take when questioned by the class. You are going to be telling them a story but it will be as if they had just met you and it will not be the voice of the narrator re-telling someone else’s story but in the present tense as if it is happening now. There is no book symbolising the re-telling of someone else’s words. This is your story re-told in a specific place (coming down the mountain path) at a specific time (within minutes of a significant event) and from the child’s point of view, not a dispassionate onlooker or observer of events.
Teaching from within
Moving in and out of role- managing the drama and reflecting on it
We are describing using role as ‘teaching from within’ because the teacher enters the drama world, but it is very important to step out of the fiction often and not let it run away with itself. When using TiR, the teacher is operating as a manager as well as participant and must spend as much time stopping the drama and moving out of role (OoR) to reflect on what is happening and give the pupils a chance to think through what they know and what they want to do. This OoR working is as important as the role itself. It manages the role and therefore the drama; it manages the risk, establishes where the class is and helps pupils believe in the drama. It provides time and space for the teacher to assess and re-assess the learning possibilities. Let us look at an example to see how you as the teacher have the opportunity to negotiate how the role behaves with the class. This also shows a step from hot-seating to role-playing as a demonstration with a small group. As with all of this section of the book, we are using an example from drama based upon ‘The Pied Piper’ (see Toye and Prendiville, 2000, p. 225)
Summary of points to consider
▶ Why we use teacher in role -– pupils listen to teachers in role
▶ How we expand the possibilities of story and explore story
▶ Operating the two worlds of drama, inside and outside the fiction
▶Moving in and out of role - managing the drama and reflecting on it
▶Building the teacher role with the support of the class
▶What, when and how to give information for maximum influence and effect
▶How to dialogue with the class - teachers learning to listen well
▶How we work with the class as collaborators
▶Choosing the role -the low status roles offer more learning possibilities
▶Handling drama - structuring for control - imposing shape and constrain
Summary of points to consider
▶ How to begin a plan -–facing the problems of starting from scratch●
▶ The frame-the way the elements link together to provide viewpoint for the class.
▶ The elements of planning including: learning objectives, a stimulus to learning, roles for the teacher and for the children, how to create tension points, building context and belief in the drama, the decision-making for the class, the choice of strategies and techniques.
▶Planning with someone else
▶ Road testing the first version
Komentar
Posting Komentar