‘Adopting techniques and strategies from the field of drama can be a very powerful way not only of deepening children’s understanding of texts, but also of enlivening and adding variety to the daily approaches.’ P.75
Word level work can be enriched by drama:
‘Children engage with rich and varied language; engagement which is vital if they are to make the most of the vocabulary set out in the word level strand of the Framework.’ Winston and Tandy, P.76/7
Drama makes this aspect of literacy, which has the potential to be tedious, an enjoyable activity as it has the ability to disguise the objective.
Sentence level work can also be developed through drama:
‘The ways in which writers use grammar will be influenced by their intended audiences and purposes. There are a number of ways in which drama can help children to understand how this is influenced by the context of a particular piece of writing.’ Winston and Tandy, p.77
I shall later discuss strategies that facilitate this aspect of literacy through drama.
Group and independent work during the literacy hour can also be carried out and enhanced by using drama as the means by which to learn:
‘Actively dramatising text can provide powerful ways of deepening children’s understanding either in response to their reading, or as support for their writing.’ Winston and Tandy, p.77
We have explored many activities drama that that could be used during this part of literacy, throughout the module. These will be looked at further later.
It is not just English that benefits from drama, all subjects can benefit from its use. The strategies that drama encompasses can be applied to all subjects as away of enhancing learning opportunities.
‘The value of drama here lies in its potential to set facts, skills and concepts into situations where they are meaningful.’ Clipson-Boyes in Ashcroft and Palacio, p.215.
I think that it is the interactive nature of drama that makes it so important at primary level. Children are enabled to experience situations rather that be told the facts. This is undeniably a more enjoyable way to learn, as the emphasis is no longer on the learning but the experiencing. Using drama then becomes a logical mode through which to create learning.
Reading around the question of what to consider when planning drama, I have found that there seem to be seven elements to the process. The seven stages that I am going to talk about are based on the ideas from Clipson-Boyes in Ashcroft and Palacio, p.210, Needlands, pgs 83-5 and Toye and Prendville, pgs119-120.
The first element that needs consideration is the Purpose. Needlands writes that is in order to answer the question; ‘Why choose drama as a way of working?’ p.86. The purpose should take into account previous learning and future learning.
Context refers to what the children are focusing on in relation to the National Curriculum. For example, literacy work on non-fiction genres might be looked at through a debate in role. Needlands writes:
‘(Contexts) are to do with establishing a clearly defined starting point…’ P.86.
Content establishes form of drama will take place. For example, taking roles from a story and being hot-seated. Toye and Prendville write that:
‘(The content) engages the children’s interest and stimulates their desire to unravel the problem and resolve the issues.’ p.120.
The next element is Organization, which refers to how the drama will be carried out. For example, using a strategy like ‘interviews’ could be pair, group or whole-class activities. I think that it is important to consider the mode in which children because unorganized grouping can waste time and become confusing for both teacher and child. The roles that the teacher and children will adopt also need to be considered beforehand. For example, not all roles will appropriate for all children. Emotional and behavioral needs should be taken into account, along with individual ability levels.
The location where the drama is to take place and the time space that is being allowed for it to happen, need to be planned for. I feel that these two elements are have significant impact in determining the outcome of the drama. Toye and Prendville write:
‘The place and time of events will generate questions, tensions and interest.’ P.120.
Finally, the last mode that needs to be considered is the role of the teacher. The teacher is integral to the structuring of a drama lesson as it is she who knows the purpose. The role that the teacher may have in the drama will inevitably depend on many factors. Drama allows for a lot of flexibility and, I believe gives the opportunity to step out of the traditional role of the teacher. No matter which strategy the teacher uses, there is an underlying objective:
‘The roles for the teacher will challenge the children’s ideas and stimulate them to want to know more.’ Toye and Prendville, P.120.
Throughout the module and during teaching practices, I have become familiar with several strategies that are used to facilitate learning through drama. Teacher in Role (TiR) is regarded as a potentially powerful strategy:
‘Teacher in role is the key to developing the educational potential of drama.’ Toye and Prendville, p.51.
‘Teacher in Role is an extremely valuable technique which is particularly appropriate for younger pupils because it can make the drama more real, deepen the work, provide challenges to pupils’ thinking and set an appropriate tone.’ Fleming, p.27.
It involves the teacher going into a role at appropriate times, with the ability to change back to teacher mode when needed. I like this strategy because it allows children to respond to the teacher in a way, which they would not feel comfortable about, in a normal classroom situation.
Hot seating is a strategy that I became very familiar with during the module. It the process whereby the class ask a character questions (the character is played by a member of the class – or even the teacher). As we carried out this activity I realised how much your questioning and listening skills are developed. It also draws you into the issue that character raises and gives you the chance to empathize, hypothesize and resolve.
Freeze frame also known as Still Image or Tableaux, is another strategy that I became quite familiar with during the module. It involves the class either individually, paired or grouped, to create an image. Ackroyd writes:
‘A still image may depict an idea, a photo, a dream a hope or fear, a moment of the past, a picture, or much more.’ P.133.
When I participated in Freeze framing during the module, I realised that it wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be. It involves a lot of concentration. Not just to create the image, but to hold it as well. As I did this activity with other members of the group, it also involved a lot of discussion and negotiation of ideas. Needlands writes that this strategy is not without its flaws:
‘No opportunity for role development. Avoids interaction, particularly dialogue. Short-term specific goals. Lacks tension of an ongoing drama situation.’ P.61.
I think that we overcame some of these issues during the module. We linked a series of frames into a sequence to develop the plot. We stepped out of the frame to interact with the audience and we extended the moment by going back and forward in time. My experiences of this strategy make me inclined to believe that this need not be as limited as Needlands suggests. It is a strategy that I believe brings with it a lot of scope for variation. All of the above three startegies that I have discussed lend themselves particularly well to literacy.*********
Mime is a strategy that I think is particularly useful to use with younger children. It allows the articulation of understanding visually rather than verbally, which could prove useful for the very young as well as the unconfident speakers of a class. Needlands highlights some of its functions:
‘Helps younger children fell drama is ‘real’..encourages economy of expression…requires precision and children have some autonomy…satisfies children’s desire to be physically active in the drama.’ P.60.
This strategy could be used during literacy, e.g. to look more closely at a story or to explore cross-curricular issues, e.g. look at emotions through facial expressions.
Thought tracking is a strategy that we investigated during the module.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ackroyd, J. (2000) Literacy Alive! Drama projects for literacy learning.
Hodder and Stoughton.
Ashcroft, K. and Palacio, D. (1997) Implementing the Primary Curriculum. Falmer Press.
Clipson-Boyes, S. (1998) Drama in Primary English Teaching. David Fulton.
Fleming, M. (1997) The Art of Drama Teaching. David Fulton.
Fleming, M. (1996) Starting Drama Teaching. David Fulton.
Needlands, J. (1984) Making Sense of Drama. Heinemann.
Toye, N. and Prendville, F. (2000) Drama and traditional story for the early years. Routledge/Falmer.
Winston, J. and Tandy, M. (2001) Beginning Drama 4-11. David Fulton.
Stephanie Howard
EDEN 203
