Drama is currently being taught within the Curriculum for English within Speaking and Listening process.
‘There is no prescription as to exactly how the curriculum should be taught, or by whom. In the case of drama, therefore, schools would be wise to address these requirements by co-ordinating the work of their English and Drama departments…This will ensure that students do not repeat elements of the curriculum unnecessarily.’
(Kempe ,2000, p.15)
Therefore a scheme or whole unit of work needs to be implemented for the Drama department to use for KS3 by which the content is clear for other subject teachers.
It is important to address that studying literacy and the development of literacy through performance is needed to allow the students to develop their understanding of written play texts. Within English it is important to study texts, poetry, and other literatures. However drama offers the students to develop understanding of play texts and how an author wishes the text to be performed.
‘Drama texts have to be read which extended pupils’ ‘moral and emotional understanding’ as well as their understanding of drama in performance. Pupils’ writing at both key stages is expected to include dialogue, play scripts, screenplays, using their experience of reading, performing and watching plays.’
(Fleming, 2003, p29)
Therefore Drama meets the Writing strand of the National Curriculum. In order to introduce the evaluation of the text using drama I would suggest this could be useful when studying Shakespeare. This will allow the students to develop and engage with the text as it was originally written i.e. Theatre.
To develop my rationale a useful recourse for the early development of Drama is the use of games. This allows the students to begin the subject with creativity and establishes the focus of the lesson. ‘…allows the teacher to assess the response and social cohesion of the group and may be helpful in allowing teacher and to move away from normal routines in a secure fashion.’ (Fleming, 2003, p67)
Through using games this helps build the relationship of Teacher/ Pupil. However this should be used at the beginning of KS3 only to encourage pupils to begin to develop their dramatic skills using dramatic devises, the study of play text and through exploration of a given content.
A major part of teaching KS3 drama is how to approach the form and content of the scheme of work. I believe a mixture of both monitoring the progress of manipulating drama as an art form and using the art form to explore a given content. By mixing both form and content gives a broad range of learning. However I must consider the practicalities of the student’s previous experience in order to create an effective balance. For example, in context with my school the students are introduced to Drama as a subject from year 9. Therefore in this context I would suggest the form of study would be that of drama as an art form, focusing on explorative strategy techniques and dramatic skills as a unit.
I believe drama as subjects needs to encounter an understanding of the drama as an Art form and the purpose of Theatre today. For students to be able to recognise and understand drama as a subject it is important that this is developed within KS3 to allow the students to prepare to specialise in the subject, for example, ‘…For this reason, and because all pupils at KS3 are, potentially, working towards the levels of achievement in drama expected at GCSE level, it makes sense to consider the aims and objectives for GCSE within a model KS3 curriculum.’ (Neelands, 2004, p9)
Drama should include opportunities for creativity, diversity, cultural and social contexts of theatre practitioners, theorists and writers. The Arts Council follow the English framework which forms a guide as to the progression students should have made up to year 9 at KS3. It is important to assess the student’s progress in order for your unit to become more engaging and into a much more broad and in depth study of drama. Kempe (2000, p50) writes, ‘What performance indicators are there to suggest that the students are progressing? What can I see, hear or read that tells me what the student know, understand and can do?’ Therefore I need to formatively assess the students and focus on their ‘Creating, Performing and Responding’. In order to assess their CPR I will use formative assessment strategies such as questioning, sharing the assessment criteria, and introduce how the students will peer assess and self assess. This can include reflecting other student’s performance and discussing what was effective.
Neelands (2004, p.6) writes, ' What is being taught may be left to the whim of an individual teacher and may reflect personal prejudices and interests rather than the breadth and depth of study which is a pupils entitlement'. It is therefore important to focus the units of work which demonstrate various practitioners, theorists and play texts whilst offering the opportunity to devise performance using stimuli and introducing the theatre as whole spectrum i.e. The use of sound, light, costume and make up. It is also important to make the units challenging which will form a basis of my own subject knowledge in which will be implemented within the framework, to allow students to engage with drama as a subject.
Reference List and Bibliography
Books
Fleming, M (2003) Starting Drama Teaching, 2nd Ed. London: David Fulton Publishers Ltd.
O’toole, J. (1992) The Process of Drama, London: Routledge
Kempe, A & Ashwell, M (2000) Progression in Secondary Drama, Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers.
Neelands, J (2004) Beginning Drama 11-14, 2nd Ed. London: David Fulton Publishers Ltd.
Websites
National Curriculum
National Strategies
The Arts Council
Teachers TV
[Accessed 22.11.10]
by
damowarren (student)
