Drama Reflection 1

Drama in Education Part 1

Agenda - Lessons to Improve our Understanding of Drama: 

• Connecting to our drama space
• Story Drama 
• Learners theory 

Getting Started: 

• In our first class, we learned how to 'Circle Up' and find our 'Home Base'. 
• I thought this was a great way to start up the class. 
• It shows students that they have their own place in the classroom setting
• This is a powerful tool for teachers to assist students who might not feel comfortable (as I admittedly did not) in your drama classroom.
• We played drama games such as Zip-Zap-Bop, maintaining our structure in the circle.
• This game allowed for students to act one of the three acts in front of the other students (as we were in a circle). 
• This is a great way to begin a drama class in the Junior/Intermediate stage, as students become comfortable acting the three acts without feeling embarrassed. 
• This game would also be a great way to demonstrate movement if students followed through with an action, (for example: a switch from the person across the circle)

Ready, Set, Introducing Story Time!

• We began the action portion of our lesson with discussing story drama; our shared story from our own life experiences. 
• As educators, this is a great tool to utilize for our drama students. 
• I have seen in my own classroom in practicum the necessity for teachers to know our students: their interests, their experiences, etc., and apply these to concepts discussed in the classroom. 
• Through Story Drama, we can enhance these experiences to one shared experience.

Role Play: Brigg is in Trouble!

• We took the role of characters in the story that was read to us in class, looking at our audience, format in which we wanted to write in, and our topic. 
• This was a creative aspect in that integrates literacy with drama curriculum expectations.
• After this written portion, we acted in role!
• This was an important piece to the role play, as I saw the benefit from the teacher standpoint of students becoming invested in their characters from the written portion of the role play.
• As students know the particular role they were acting, it made it easier to perform this and follow through with the role. 
• This is important because in drama, some students might not be as comfortable. With other students in the class acting out that exact same role, those students who are not comfortable are afforded the opportunity of learning from their peers in a non-judgmental environment.

Thoughts: 

• This was a great beginner drama class that allows for both inclusive learning, and has the potential to attach itself to other cross-curricular subjects. 
• It is important to meet the needs of all learners, so I liked how we discussed how we can communicate this lesson to students with exceptionalities.