Volume 1 Number 18


Hi Folks,

Well, my mid-year break continues and frees up some time to start on some new investigations.  I've been revisiting some writing on Derrida and have been pondering about ways of using "deconstruction" to examine the work we do in drama.   There are certainly some interesting possibilities when it comes to students creating original work.  I've also been helping Class Act Theatre, a group I helped form back in 1994, by doing some front-of-house work on their production of MacBeth.

BRICK BATS

So far, I have not had any submissions in response to my request for filmic examples of historical theatre styles.  I guess some people find the idea of sharing and adding to the value of the internet as a little alien.  I've always seen it as a communication medium and as teachers we all know that communication is a two-way process.  Philosophically and politically I also believe in the idea that we all have a responsibility to give something back to the "cyber-community".  There are many people who willingly put a lot of time and effort into freely creating and making available resources to the broader educational community via the internet; and there are those who willingly consume those materials without ever offering anything in return, in this case 4 lines of information about something that you know and might assist others.

BOOK GIVEAWAY

I've added details of the Book Giveaway to the homepage of the Drama Education website.  Still haven't received a single contribution.

WEBQUESTS

This week I've been looking at the idea of webQuests in Drama.  There are many interesting possibilities that can extend beyond the regular approaches that other learning areas bring to the notion.  Web Quests in Drama can be a way of researching, connecting ideas, analysis and can be used to shape and guide practical dramatic activities, they can be the basis of improvisation, forum theatre, play-building, process drama and more.  I hope to start building a collection of webQuests to make available via the Drama Education website.   Once again I encourage you to examine and apply the process and share your results with the rest of us.   Or you could just keep taking, and taking, and taking... selfishly, ad infinitum... ;->

DIGITAL DRAMA SURVEY

I am still running my online survey for another few weeks.  A few people have queried the meaning of "digital environments" - really this just refers to any computer-mediated communication system.   PLEASE: refer any colleagues to the survey, especially those who might not normally be browsing the web.    I would like to ask for your assistance in completing a short survey I am conducting.  It relates to my return to studies at university.  It has 12 questions and should take less than 2 minutes of your time.  Essentially it is a quick look at attitudes towards Drama and Technology.  This survey will run for another couple of weeks and then I will collect and collate the results and make them available to interested parties.

Please participate in the 
DIGITAL DRAMA
survey.

LESSON/ACTIVITY IDEA

For those unfamiliar with the idea, a web quest might be considered as a guided tour of relevant websites.  Imagine for a moment you are visiting the National Gallery in London.  You can wander around at your leisure and make all sorts of random discoveries, you can grab a map and search out specific works that interest you, or you can go to the help desk and ask for an audio tour.  In which case you follow the voice of an informed guide as they make suggestions and draw your attention to elements and connections that you might otherwise overlook, they can also provide you with useful background and supporting information that might provide added insight into the works you visit.  

A webQuest might be seen as an example of any or all of these ways of exploring, at their best webQuests provide a guided and self-paced experience for students that can be used to both learn and demonstrate learning.  To date most webQuests are focussed on fairly traditional educational models and I tend to believe that many Drama teachers have not really considered how webQuests might be used to enhance learning in Drama.  What I like about them is they are a great synthesis of student-centred and teacher-directed learning processes... so they should be able to accommodate many classrooms, teaching styles and topics.

The fundamentals of a webQuest are pretty straightforward:

  1. Work out what is that students are going to learn
  2. Decide on the assessment method/s
  3. Do your homework!
  4. Find the resources on the internet you want students to access - this is important.  Unless you are wanting students to learn how to search and locate information on the net you will want to guide them towards a basic selection of resources - of course, students should always be encouraged to extend their research. 
  5. Sequence the resources - this can be fairly arbitrary but there are times when sequencing really helps students build understanding and make connections.
  6. Create a web page that has all this information organised in a pleasing and effective manner.  A basic webQuest can be a simple text document - adding active hyperlinks obviously streamlines the process... for those with the skills it is possible to embed a webQuest in a virtual world, such as a MOO/MUD environment, a graphical world like Active Worlds Educational Universe (AWEDU), or even into a simulation or role-playing game (RPG) or a massively multi-player online role playing game (MMORPG) - a free RPG maker is available.
  7. Test everything.
  8. Offer it to the students.

OK - so let's break those down in terms of Drama.

Step 1. - Work out what is that students are going to learn

Let's say you want students to learn some breathing exercises.  Is it enough that they simply copy a set that you show them?  I would generally hope not!  It might be useful for them to have some knowledge of the physiology of breathing; how breathing can affect voice, posture, energy, etc; how breathing is a way of pacing in human communication; how to take charge of their own breathing issues; how to devise a breathing exercise and develop a set of exercises that can be used in preparation (warm-up) for performance and other presentation situations.

Step 2. - Decide on the assessment method/s

OK - once e know what students are going to learn - how are they able to demonstrate that learning and how will you determine the level of learning?  It might be that students compile a set of useful information, some diagrams, images, movies, text that explains the anatomy of breathing.  They might be asked to put that information into a presentation folder.  They might better be asked to present the information to the class and apply the learning to their own presentation - that is they actively demonstrate what they have learned in the process of teaching someone else (This is my preferred approach whenever it is feasible to do so).  They might also have to create and apply a personal breathing regime that is utilised for warm-ups and pre-performance activities.  I will not go into the standards to apply as each educational authority frames these in a slightly different way and it is your professional responsibility to keep abreast of those frameworks.

Step 3 -  Do your homework!

The task of creating a webQuest is a challenging one at the best of times, if you are not a regularly and competent user of the internet then it becomes more difficult and the process is likely to be compromised.  You need to know how to source information - you should have a good collection of bookmarks - at the very least you should have a few good links directories that you can start with.  The Drama Education website has a Links Directory and even has a directory of other Directories.

Step 4 - Locate useful resources.

In the case of breath you would need to find one or two good pages on each of the following topics - and probably a few others:

A site like Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA) might be a useful starting point for this example.  A quick Google search identified several useful sites - but you need to assess them for suitability - you know your students - the VASTA site will be less useful to Primary students than it will to University students.  So make a note of useful websites - and specific pages within the sites. 

Step 5 - Sequence the material

Now is another stage where knowledge of your students is important.  You need to organise the pathway through the material.  Which site will it be most useful to visit first - one that gives a broad overview, one that serves as an advanced organiser, one that is very nuts and bolts?  Students need to be aware that each site is of some importance and in beginners should be scaffolded through the significance of particular sites.   Focus questions are useful - mini tasks and information gathering are also useful activities.  You need to remember this process is your teaching strategy for this topic!

Step 6 - Create a way of presenting the webQuest

This is a section I will not go into great detail about.  You know the level of skill you have in web design and programming - and the time you have available to create this project - use what you know - find impetus to learn as you get more and more adventurous with webQuests.   Look at the examples I've listed below in the Recommended Websites section.  If you are really a beginner in this field - use this guide as a simple webQuest.  You can find instructions to build a basic web page all over the net.  You can start at this site for programming (Digging) a MOO

Step 7 - Test everything!

I can't stress how important it is that you seriously tackle this step.   Especially if there are times when you have left the webQuest sitting idle - you don't want any nasty surprises when students are suddenly dropped into an unpleasant site because cyber-squatters have taken over what once once a very useful resource, or a misspelling takes them to a web nasty.  

But more than this - you need to be able to trust that this webQuest will stand in your stead.  It needs to function properly - get some colleagues to run through it before you set students to questing - make sure that it works the way you expect it to - get your colleagues to give you feedback on sections that work and those that perhaps confuse...  a webQuest should have an inherent logic.

Step 8 - Let the students learn!

Remember this approach means stepping back and allowing students to discover and learn.  It doesn't mean that you can leave the students totally to their own devices.  Some will not understand your logic, some will make simple errors, some will deliberately make the journey a challenge - all the time you should be evaluating the effectiveness of the webQuest.  

Please take a few moments to compile a couple of ideas and send them me so they can be shared with other Drama educators.  Remember this newsletter is designed to build community, and you are a part of that community - don't be the strange old person who lives in the spooky house on the corner and never talks to anyone.

I just need the following information:

Film Title:
Year of Production:
Internet Movie Database Reference:
STYLE/S represented:

Then go to the Contact page on the Drama Education website and use the form there to send me that information, which I will compile and make available via this newsletter in the future.

RECOMMENDED WEBSITES

This site is designed to serve as a resource to those who are using the WebQuest model to teach with the web. By pointing to excellent examples and collecting materials developed to communicate the idea, all of us experimenting with WebQuests will be able to learn from each other.

This page provides a really useful framework for creating webquests.   The ideas will need to be adapted if you want to create practical Drama  

PROFESSIONAL NEWS

http://www.idea2004.ca/

Download the necessary paperwork at the website.

The next world congress will take place 2-8 July, 2004 in Ottawa, Canada.   Hosted by Theatre Canada, this congress will follow a theme of:  "The Universal Mosaic of Drama: walking diverse pathways together; finding new directions".

For further information about this event, please contact the organizing committee at the following address.
Wayne Fairhead wfairhead@oise.utoronto.ca

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

eBOOKS - Can be downloaded immediately - A full listing of available eBooks.

Drama 7-11: Developing Primary Teaching Skills

This book is a practical guide to teaching drama and provides a clear and coherent framework together with a theoretical underpinning which will allow teachers to create their own drama lessons from an informed standpoint and maximize the learning potential. The authors propose a curriculum for drama which combines the diverse references in the various documents of the National Curriculum whilst at the same time identifying the unique qualities specific to the subject which can form a coherent framework for teachers to adopt.
Early Childhood Units for Drama Early Childhood Units for Drama

Early Childhood Units for Drama provides cross-curricular activities and a multitude of Learning Center ideas. Reproducible little books for emergent readers provide a connection between school and home, promoting family literacy.
 

High Wired: On the Design, Use, and Theory of Educational Moos
by Cynthia Ann Haynes (Editor), Jan Rune Holmevik (Editor), Sherry Turkle

"High Wired is a collection of essays designed to integrate all aspects of the use and administration of the virtual educational communities known as MOOs (Multiple-user, Object-Oriented environments). MOOs were originally designed as a space for online social interaction. While MOOs bear a resemblance to the "chat rooms" with which many people are familiar, they differ in several important respects: participants can not only communicate in actual time from great distances, but they can also add to this virtual world by building new rooms and other objects, and writing programs that alter their particular MOO universe in profound ways. LambdaMOO, developed in 1990 by Pavel Curtis at the Xerox Corporation's Palo Alto Research Center, quickly became a popular hangout on the Internet, and has run continuously since then, with thousands of players from around the world. Today, MOOs are increasingly recognized for their value as an educational tool. In MOOs teachers and students can meet on line at scheduled times and exchange ideas, even calling up online reference materials as they participate in discussions. Educators are currently exploring the potential of this technology for such applications as online writing centers, electronic classrooms, netbased collaborative environments, and even complete cyberspace campuses."  from  University of Michigan Press.

Internet Quests: Web Activities Across the Curriculum
by Betsey Burgess, Laurie Swiryn, Betsy Burgess, Patricia Robertson

Now you can add the excitement of Web-based activities to your classroom--with or without an Internet connection! Choose from dozens of activities, most of which are based on Internet sites that have been copied onto the CD. The CD is formatted for Mac/Win and works with either Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer. The Web sites are automatically updated, so the activities will never be out of date!

 

Kim Flintoff

Copyright © September, 2004