Week 2 19/1/12

Today we went through some very serious work on Drama education in line with our MOE visions and strategies (PETAL, SEL, TLLM, etc.) First, we did a warm up and some games.

Warm Up: A pair (A and B) has to each hold at one end of the chopstick with their index finger. First, A will lead the way while B follows, after that exchange.

Game: Four groups (Pairs). Both A and B has to think of a corner of the room that they want to go. Using the chopstick, both has to lead the way towards the corners. They either have to fight for their way or give in.

My Thoughts
It was interesting because some of us don't give in and some of us actually have the same destination. In drama, there are alot of leader and follower methods where one has to lead. The follower than just supports the leader. If we don't give in, eventually we will break down maybe in terms of communication or whatsoever. There is definitely tension when both does not want to give in. In order to get to our destination, we also have to support one another so that both doesn't drop the chopstick.

Purpose of Drama Education
We then discuss about the purpose of drama ed. Drama conventions and theatre games can help in aiding holistic education. We then discuss on how collective role, writing-in-role, tableaux and hot seating can help in language learning, personal development and pedagogical learning.
Writing-in-role: Good journal writing and reflection skills. Expressing through a media.
Hot seating: Get into character and emotions. Argumentative skills, discuss current issues. Choosing of words and listening skills.
Collective role: Explore timeline and different social contexts. Using imagination skills. Code switching in language.
Tableaux: Analyse. Inference. Conceptualise ideas. Multiple interpretation.

Through these activities, we can see how drama can instill values, moral, social, emotional and other factors. It helps us build self-awareness, see things in different perspectives and also develop confidence in public. But Drama has the potential of stereotyping, which creates dangerous grounds for the students. Thus, it is essential for us teachers to be sensitive because we might offend some of the students in class.

Drama VS Theater
Drama: Processed-driven, participation and creativity. Involves playmaking, expressing and storytelling. In education, it develops understanding, learning, problem-solving and experiencing situations and roles. Situations and roles are created without the aid of staging a play.
Theatre: Product-driven, Audience centred, viewer focused. In education, it makes use of circular materials and social problem as themes. Audience are encourage to participate after the stage. A play is staged, presenting situations and roles for the audience to participate after that.


Differentiated Teaching: Creating different opportunities for different ability students. Using drama to create a social context.