Identify and evaluate two or three teaching/learning strategies which could be used to teach the same topic, to the same specified cohort, but in classes of distinctly different sizes (e.g. 6 students and 20 to 30 students).

The second strategy that I feel would benefit from a small class is that of role-play. I feel that this would work in this scenario as all the students could be involved in one group, by adopting roles of a theatre design team. They would then be able to work together, discuss, plan and design as a proper team would, and that is a central part to the outcome of the subject. In a smaller class I could remain in control and be able to observe and intervene quickly if the need arose, where with a larger group difficulties might surface and I would not be able to attend quite as quickly. Issues that may occur are time management and possibly analysing learning outcomes.  I would be very aware of the need to include dissociation from the role afterwards, and to have carefully planned questions in order that I can assess what has been learnt.  The time management problem could be countered by having a set time constraint or a stop watch that when the alarm went off, signalled the end. That process might also assist in the dissociation aspect too.

The larger class was also studying Technical Theatre, and the outcomes and aims were exactly the same. However, with a larger class many different problems present themselves. My class had 20 students, which therefore offered a greater range of personalities, attainment and learning levels and discipline levels. The first problem I found with larger numbers was the problem of the students getting to know one another, and also getting to know them and remembering their names. I decided my first strategy would be to use ice breakers. I would use these in a smaller group as well, but I would choose a specific type that adheres itself to a larger group.  I gave each of the students 3 questions, e.g. What is your favourite film? Where did you last go on holiday? What is your ambition in life? They then had to go round and gain answers from everyone for each of the set questions. This would allow them the opportunity to interact with each other, and find fellow students with the same interests. I did not include myself in this process this time, but it could possibly be a good way of building rapport with students from the outset. Careful time planning would be needed so the exercise does not over run and the impetus is lost. Another possible difficulty could be if students are shy and nervous. One way of overcoming that is to work in pairs around the room so they have support and this would also help cut down the time spent on this exercise.

The next technique I have employed is that of group discussion. Where as with a small group it is easier to manage students and they have opportunities to be involved, with a large group there is a very high chance there may be dominant students, withdrawn students and it is very difficult to involve everyone. So instead of a large discussion I put them into smaller groups, so they could have internal discussion and hopefully feel more comfortable. To begin with I allowed them to work with one other person they knew, to create a comfort feeling, and then when they begin to feel at ease, I could select more random groups otherwise there is a tendency to divert off the subject when in groups with just friends. I made a point of circulating and demonstrating an awareness of what the groups were doing and working on, and I evened my time out for each group I observed. An issue that was apparent was how I would assess what learning had taken place. By getting each group to feed back on the same subject via a spokesperson or flipchart, I thought it would be too similar and may loose the interest of the other members of the class. Therefore, I got them to record their discussion by making posters and hanging them on the wall. Afterwards the class could look round and view what their fellow students had done, and it would hopefully spark further thought and discussion. Another way to avoid this problem would be to give each group a different angle of the subject to look at. If we were discussing the merits of a play we had seen I could ask one group to think about the set design, another group the lighting design and so forth. That way when they come to feedback as a whole each group would have something different to say.  Another problem that I found when working with group discussion in a large class was the time it took to organise into groups. To avoid using up precious time, I set the chairs out into groups prior to the start of the lesson, so that as the students filtered in, they automatically set themselves into groups ready.