“Eeeek!! The
thought of drama….”
“Oh man, how can
I skip out of this class?”
“If I just sit
at the back the teacher won’t notice me right?”
When
anticipating the switch from Music to Dramatic Arts in the Arts course of my
Bachelor of Education I was thinking... ‘My future is bleak’. Above are some of
my contemplations before entering the class. I think that by focusing on my
incapabilities, my insecurities were guiding my thought processes. Not that I lacked
the confidence to contribute to class discussions, however, this process of
creating pieces to perform for the class was outside of my comfort zone. I had
always pictured drama to be the anti-traditional method. Although the elements
and teaching techniques for student success such as student leadership,
creating a safe and inclusive environment and actively building knowledge
together have been preached throughout my courses in university, the professors
seldom integrated these techniques into their lecture-style formats. I had been
conditioned to behave a certain way within university classes; and this was
outside of that conditioning.
On the very
first day, we jumped right into participating in drama strategies. The first
strategy used was position mapping; it was designed as a diagnostic assessment
of our comfort level with dramatic arts. We were to position our selves in
relation to a chair in the center of the classroom with the chair representing
100% comfortability with dramatic arts. I was glad to see that I was not alone
in my immediate reaction to run in the opposite direction. I positioned myself far
against the back wall, on a shelf, with my face hiding behind my tucked up
knees. I chose this position because while I was not familiar with any drama
strategies, seeing as how I had not taken a drama course since 10th
grade, I did not mind watching others participate in drama.
Although at the
beginning I positioned myself as far from the chair as I could, by the end of
the day I could feel myself becoming more relaxed and eager to participate.
And that was just the beginning...
Join me in reading
my journey through this course as I learned the importance of foundational
learning theories, various drama
strategies and the importance of integrating drama across the curriculum. To
see how far I’ve come since the first day in only 6 short weeks is
extraordinary.
