Viv says:
Last time we talked, we looked at a possible sequence for the opening few sessions. I'll share this outline here but I bet things changed in practice, right Miguel?
Yes they did :) We also had much shorter lessons than anticipated and fewer lessons due to school closures and meetings. That's ok though as I am enjoying the challenge of fitting in the MOTE whenever we can, and I have been excitedly saying things like "hopefully we will have time to do some drama later?" Yay!
Suggested sequence was:
1. A warm up on preparing to play / imagine through the "Scarf game" (kind of like the object transformation in this link)
This went swimmingly. The kids first co-constructed the requirements for a safe drama environment and then agreed to honour them for their classmates. They enjoyed the scarf game and they were pumped to get started.
2. A trading game activity on the question "what is identity?" (Trading game described here by Brian Edmiston)
3. Further deepening on the idea of identity through asking students to create freeze frames in groups. To add dramatic tension - invite students to think of what might THREATEN their identity and present this in a freeze frame.
These activities were designed as a way of building on work the students had already done with identity in the first few classes. Each student had created a coat of arms but Miguel noted that mostly children had focussed on activities (such as playing X box) or people or items of importance (such as family members or pets). While these are part of identity, Miguel hoped to encourage deeper thinking - asking: what's the difference between what you DO and who you are?
They did their freeze frames (FF's) to represent their identity, very difficult of course. So I pointed to their coat of arms and asked them to take inspiration from them. They FF'd basketball, friends etc. This led to a great discussion on 'Are we what we do?'. We surmised that basketball players have qualities like being competitive or determined , 'X-boxers' are social and good problem solvers etc. We then broke down our identities into Qualities, Beliefs, Values, Belonging and wrote these down on the WB as a reference. Finally, in pairs, they created a second FF on identity, this time with the WB as an inspiration. As per usual, we shared those FF's who wanted to be shared, the children pointing out the pertinent facial expressions, embodiments and general characteristics. We lacked the time to introduce the tension as we had hoped but the end result was very successful and the children's deeper understanding of identity was apparent by their FF's, descriptions of their FF's and their input during the discussions.
I also remember us talking at some length about the importance of ensuring each activity connects to the wider purpose - avoiding the temptation to 'preteach' conventions or use random drama warm ups for their own sake.
4. For the 'Hook' into the imagined world of the Mantle, we suggested Miguel could go into role as using as a builder (signalled with a high viz vest and hard hat) and enact the moment this builder discovers an ancient Adze as he's carrying out excavations in a local park. Miguel would need to explain to children that they couldn't talk to the person - just watch. He wouldn't reveal too much information about what the object was, just conveying through body language and facial expression the uncertain feelings about what to do with it - before placing it in his pocket. Students would be encouraged to interrogate the scene and discuss what they can figure out and what more they need to know.
After a short discussion about being in role, I went into role for 90 seconds, acting from a memorised script. Learning from experience, I made sure that they got all of the details they needed. They clapped! Haha Very funny. When I returned, they were dying to tell me what had happened and I had a million questions: So what’s happening here? What were some of the words you heard? What is an ADZE? What is a MUSEUM CURATOR?... I wrote everything on the WB and we googled what a museum curator was. Lastly we discussed what it was like having a teacher in role.
Script:
Last time we talked, we looked at a possible sequence for the opening few sessions. I'll share this outline here but I bet things changed in practice, right Miguel?
Yes they did :) We also had much shorter lessons than anticipated and fewer lessons due to school closures and meetings. That's ok though as I am enjoying the challenge of fitting in the MOTE whenever we can, and I have been excitedly saying things like "hopefully we will have time to do some drama later?" Yay!
Suggested sequence was:
1. A warm up on preparing to play / imagine through the "Scarf game" (kind of like the object transformation in this link)
This went swimmingly. The kids first co-constructed the requirements for a safe drama environment and then agreed to honour them for their classmates. They enjoyed the scarf game and they were pumped to get started.
2. A trading game activity on the question "what is identity?" (Trading game described here by Brian Edmiston)
3. Further deepening on the idea of identity through asking students to create freeze frames in groups. To add dramatic tension - invite students to think of what might THREATEN their identity and present this in a freeze frame.
These activities were designed as a way of building on work the students had already done with identity in the first few classes. Each student had created a coat of arms but Miguel noted that mostly children had focussed on activities (such as playing X box) or people or items of importance (such as family members or pets). While these are part of identity, Miguel hoped to encourage deeper thinking - asking: what's the difference between what you DO and who you are?
They did their freeze frames (FF's) to represent their identity, very difficult of course. So I pointed to their coat of arms and asked them to take inspiration from them. They FF'd basketball, friends etc. This led to a great discussion on 'Are we what we do?'. We surmised that basketball players have qualities like being competitive or determined , 'X-boxers' are social and good problem solvers etc. We then broke down our identities into Qualities, Beliefs, Values, Belonging and wrote these down on the WB as a reference. Finally, in pairs, they created a second FF on identity, this time with the WB as an inspiration. As per usual, we shared those FF's who wanted to be shared, the children pointing out the pertinent facial expressions, embodiments and general characteristics. We lacked the time to introduce the tension as we had hoped but the end result was very successful and the children's deeper understanding of identity was apparent by their FF's, descriptions of their FF's and their input during the discussions.
I also remember us talking at some length about the importance of ensuring each activity connects to the wider purpose - avoiding the temptation to 'preteach' conventions or use random drama warm ups for their own sake.
4. For the 'Hook' into the imagined world of the Mantle, we suggested Miguel could go into role as using as a builder (signalled with a high viz vest and hard hat) and enact the moment this builder discovers an ancient Adze as he's carrying out excavations in a local park. Miguel would need to explain to children that they couldn't talk to the person - just watch. He wouldn't reveal too much information about what the object was, just conveying through body language and facial expression the uncertain feelings about what to do with it - before placing it in his pocket. Students would be encouraged to interrogate the scene and discuss what they can figure out and what more they need to know.
After a short discussion about being in role, I went into role for 90 seconds, acting from a memorised script. Learning from experience, I made sure that they got all of the details they needed. They clapped! Haha Very funny. When I returned, they were dying to tell me what had happened and I had a million questions: So what’s happening here? What were some of the words you heard? What is an ADZE? What is a MUSEUM CURATOR?... I wrote everything on the WB and we googled what a museum curator was. Lastly we discussed what it was like having a teacher in role.
Script:
“…yeah
it’s nice to meet you too, it’s Athyn right? Yeah my name’s Jake Kite. See ya
tomorrow, bye. Right back to work, this playground isn’t going to build
itself!” (Start digging and sweating) You hit something hard. Get on your
knees and dig with your hands and pull up the adze. ”Wow, this is
old! Looks like really intricate carving…coooool!
It’s an ADZE! I’ve seen these at Te Papa”. (Holding it up to the light) “That
is a stunning piece of Pounamu! How did it get here?...(running hands and
fingers along it)…the carvings are beautiful, don’t think it was used much,
it’s in such good condition…looks like it must be Maori. This is crazy!”
Looks around suspiciously…”What do I do with it now? Should I keep it? Who
should I tell? Maybe I’ll take it down to uncle Sven at the Museum, he’ll
know what to do…”
I’m coming out of role now...
5. The next step proposed was to reveal more information about the object - perhaps by projecting an image of an Adze on a big screen. This could then lead to research into the origins and uses of Adzes as a lead into building the idea for a 'responsible team' of museum curators who care for it.
In pairs they researched the who, what, where, when, and why of adzes. We shared their findings and then asked is this what a museum curator would have done? What are their qualities? They then FF'd a museum curator at work and discussed their contributions. I then told them that for the next few weeks we were all going to be museum curators! They were very excited (Thank God!). To finish, they had to break into groups of four and create a FF to show me how they think the adze got to be buried. AND to show me how good their FFing is! I moved around the room and listened to their stories and tried to guide them to the actual moment it was lost rather than the story surrounding it. One member of each group was chosen to share 'spoken thoughts' when I touched their shoulders. With 32 kids that's 8 groups. (We only had time for 3 to share...so they made me promise to see the rest the following lesson. A good sign I think). We tried to work out what was happening before we heard the spoken thoughts and then the kids pointed out the most effective member of each team, and why. Lots of clapping happening too. The following lesson went just as well and we really learnt a lot about telling stories with our faces and bodies. Not to mention how an object or symbol can store/represent an identity...and why people might die for it.
I look forward to hearing from Miguel what actually happened when this plan was put into operation - I love how even as a beginner teacher, Miguel is so open to the twists and turns and teachable' moments that arise in practice - so I'm sure he didn't stick rigidly to this plan!
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