My Understanding of Drama in Education.

University Degree Education and Teaching

My Understanding of Drama in Education

“Drama in education is a total process, internal and external, that occurs when we transform our creative imaginations into acts, when we create mental functions and express them in spontaneous play, creative drama, improvisation, and role play.”

Courtney, R

My understanding and definition of drama is grounded in Courtney's description of drama. When I experienced my very first dramatic process as a learner, I felt intrigued and engaged by what I was doing. My teacher had asked the class to imagine we were important members of the Unicef coming together for a meeting to make a decision about Anya a nine teen year old from a poor country that had the opportunity to escape to Ireland. However her father could not come with her. We had to decide if it was a good idea for Anya to come. Everybody was given a small description of what Anya was like. As members of Unicef, we varied in opinion about the Anya. While the drama progressed, I realised that I had to vocalise my thoughts on the issue at hand and that my voice actually had a place within this discussion. It was invigorating to take on a role of someone with a different perspective, and then to listen to everyone else's thoughts on the subject. My teacher of drama encouraged us to come to some sort of democratic decision and have a vote on what should be done. We did and the vote was not what I wanted: I became frustrated. This frustration lead to more reflection about what had just happened and why. At the time, I did not realise the importance of this reflection. Now, as I look back now I realise that the dramatic world that had been created by my teacher and my classmates had provided a new perspective on what the actual world outside of our classroom might be like. In role, I was able to fantasise the 'what if' scenario, recall personal experience and develop my own knowledge of the situation.

It is my belief as a student teacher that using alternative methods in any learning situation helps students learn more effectively. Drama is a very powerful tool it actively engages students in their own learning process but because it aids with personal, social, aesthetic and cognitive learning.

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Drama can also help students into independent thinkers. In one of my drama sessions I was assigned into a group and we were given five ambiguous sentences and we had to use them to make a small play. In the group that I was in we decided among us that we would take a sentence each and that we would work individually and do some independent thinking. Having completed this I felt that I had developed my skill of thinking for myself. I believe that this would be invaluable for young children in education.

Drama in education can also be used as and icebreaker. It helps so that people will come out of their shells to talk to others and get to know them. The ice- breakers create a common ground. Everybody is acting ‘silly’, being performers in their own way and expressing him or herself in order to get to know everybody else. I will never forget my first drama class. The whole college scene was new to me, I had never seen so many people my own age and I had never been away from home and I had no idea of the city. I walked into the drama class and sat down timidly. The role was called and then the teacher introduced himself as Peter (I was in another group previously). We did a drama where we sat in a circle and we had to memorise each other’s names in the form of a small drama to make the exercise fun. This relaxed me and I got to know the other students.

Throughout the drama classes, we used several techniques including hot seating, role-play and many more. Drama, in my opinion, also teaches individuals to speak in front of people more effectively. Students are made aware of their body language, how it is sometimes interpreted and that it can be used to their advantage or disadvantage, depending on what meaning they are trying to get across to their audience. In the drama class I would openly express my opinions. I feel that this is also a great boost for the self-esteem and self-confidence.

I found that drama class also develops close relations. I don’t think that I will ever forget when I was in 5th class in primary school and we staged a play. It was amazing. The sheer buzz behind the stage. While we were backstage waiting and watching others, we encouraged each other as we each took to the stage. Everybody is supportive of each other making it more like a family than anything. In that particular performance the family atmosphere provided a comfortable and light-hearted social framework.

Nowadays children really appreciate drama class it is a time for them to express themselves through bodily action. I found this very interesting poem which shows how deeply it can affect the lives of students.

You
like any other faceless, nameless teacher
standing in a row of faceless, nameless teachers
stepped forward
and screamed
dared us to be open
forced us to trust
made us take risks
put our feelings on the line
But most of all
you reached out and touched us.

In this poem I can see how doing drama can change the lives of people. Drama is so important in education.

There are three main characteristics to drama in education. These are

Learning through activity
Problem resolution in the classroom
Revealing hidden meanings through self-experience.

(Noffke, S.E. Stevenson, R.B 1995)

The most significant aims of drama are to get the students taking into consideration different viewpoints and achieve deeper understanding. Sub goals are forming groups and communities built on partnership, development of communication skills and different forms of non-verbal expression. The method helps the students (through active involvement) to build their global social knowledge from information that seemed separate before.

To conclude, drama is not at all like what I expected it to be. I originally thought that it would be primarily be concerned with production however I have since learnt that it can be an important educational tool. Through drama, teachers and students can create dynamic worlds as familiar or strange as their imaginations can muster.

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Bilbliography

Drama Curriculum Book (1999)

Bolten, Gavin (1979) Towards a theory of drama in education. Longmans

Winston, Joe and Miles Tandy (1998) Beginning Drama 4-11, Fulton.