Democracy in the Classroom

One of the biggest challenges in my first week at Runnymede, was the fact that the grade 7s and 8s needed to create a "Theatrical Piece for the Drama Showcase - student written and acted - linked with Social Justice and/or History. Uses Dialogue as well as Movement."

My question was "How do you create polished student written/acted material in a class of 35 students with the following challenges?"

- The piece can be no longer than 3-4 minutes
- Must have a Social Justice/History theme
- Incorporate: Dance, Movement, Choral, Poetry, Song, Tableau
- Must incorporate the WHOLE CLASS

I'm very proud to say that using a completely democratic voting method, each class has come up with a theme/idea for their piece in the drama showcase. We accomplished this in a 3 class method:

1) In the 1st class students made groups of 4-5. In their groups they used chart paper and markers to brainstorm ideas for the drama showcase. They had to make sure to stick to the above Drama Showcase Guidelines.
2) In this lesson, students learned about the  Elements of a Dramatic Performance. I gave each group a handout that they had to fill out with their group's idea and what Elements of a Dramatic Performance were included in their idea. Each group had to have a Title, a Theme (Social Justice/History theme), a Plot (Beginning, Middle, End) and one other Element (Character, Language, Song, Spectacle)
3) In this class, each group presented their idea to the class. We then had a democratic voting process, whereby each student was given an anonymous ballot and voted for their 1st and 2nd choices in a voting booth.

This method has worked extremely well and the votes have been tallied. I am very excited for the next lesson where we will let the classes know the outcome of their votes and we will begin the process of casting/blocking/staging the piece... Drama is exciting stuff!

A list of comments on my first week at Runnymede

1) Grades 1 students are adorable, but they cry a lot. Fairness is also a big issue for them. They notice everything. I like singing with them. I am currently learning the song "Inch Worm" on piano so that I can teach it to them this week.

2) It is very difficult to control the grade 5s. In my last class with these students, they found out that "Miss Thomas means business". I punished two boys by sending them to two different corners of the classroom (I've never sent a child to a "corner" before, this was a first for Miss Thomas - Mr. Latter would have preferred I sent them out into the hallways, but I wanted them to be able to see/hear the lesson). After I did this, the class was much easier to control. I had long talks with both boys and I hope to see progress in their behaviour. We shall see.

3) Grade 6 dance is coming along quite well - I am doing the Hieroglyphics Dance unit with them - the intention is is that this will create a polished dance piece for the Drama Showcase in April. My fingers are crossed.

4) Grade 7s ... What to say about them? Some of the most intimidating moments of my entire teaching life have taken place with these students - luckily this happened during my step days (Mr. Latter had me teach close to 100% during my step days at Runnymede). However, I get the impression that they do like me and respect me. I can get their attention and they create good work in my classes. The problem is they never stop talking, they give me silence when I wait for it, but sometimes it takes a long time. I think this just seems to be the way that Grade 7s are, especially if there are 35 of them and they are sitting on "risers" in a drama classroom.

8) Serge has suggested that I try a new method for classroom management with my grade 7 and 8 drama classes: He's suggested something called "pods". I will try this next week. I will take pictures and report back on this blog with progress.

Serge's Observation Letter

Dear Serge,

All Drama students at Runnymede are beginning their work on their class production for the Drama Showcase. The Showcase will be taking place on April 12^th 2012 in the Western Commercial-Technical School auditorium. My entire practicum at Runnymede will be in preparation for this performance.

The Grade 8 students are to create a theatrical piece for the Drama Showcase that is student written and acted – this piece must be linked with a social justice or history theme. This lesson is the 2^nd lesson in a series of 3 lessons that will decide what the overall theme/idea will be for this performance.

Drama Showcase Guidelines (As given to the grade 8 students):

1)   Your class’ piece can be no longer than 3-4 minutes long

2)   Must have a theme of History and/or Social Justice that is relevant to you

3)   Can incorporate dance, movement, choral reading, poetry, song, tableau

4)   The piece MUST incorporate the whole class

5)   Must have a Beginning, Middle and End. Who, What, Where must be clear.

In their last lesson (Feb 28), this class began brainstorming their ideas in groups. In this lesson we will review the Guidelines as well as introduce the Elements of a Dramatic Performance. In their groups, students will boil down their ideas to one main idea and then develop that idea further.

In the next lesson (next steps), the groups will present their idea to the class and answer any questions that students may have. They will then complete a democratic voting process in which each student can make a 1^st and 2^nd vote choice. The idea with the most votes will be chosen for development as this class’ Drama Showcase Performance.

Hope you enjoy the lesson!

Sincerely,

Vivian Thomas

Week 1 - Let the Adventures Begin!

Runnymede - Rotary Drama and Vocal Music, this is the J/I Drama teachable dream ... However, sometimes it feels like more of a nightmare.

Imagine this scenario:

a) You are teaching in a room without desks
b) You are teaching grades 1 (5 different classes of 20 kids), 4 (one class of 31), 5 (one class of 30, extremely misbehaving students), 6 (class of 30), 7 (one class of 31, other 35), 8 (one class of 34, other class 26)
c)You are trying to remember 317 names
d) You have 4 weeks to put together a "Drama Showcase" polished piece by each class from grades 4-8
e) There's a couple observations, a unit plan and a learning wall that need to fit in there somewhere too...

Let the adventures begin!