Volume 1 Number 38
Hi Folks,
Kim's Drama Blog
Well this will be my last offering for 2003. I'm going to take a bit o a break and regroup for the coming year. I'll still be accessible via the website and will still be reading emails and contributing to the list but I won't be doing Drama Ed Weekly until sometime in Jan 2004.
It's been a very challenging year for me personally and professionally. School has brought with it a variety of rewards and burdens. I've attempted to face everything head on and tried to share my vision of an ideal learning environment. By the same token there have been times when I've allowed tiredness, stress and anxiety to undermine my efforts. I've managed to develop a better range of resources at school and provide some extended opportunities for my students. In my drive to achieve and overcome problems I'm sure I've also stepped on some peoples toes (and egos) and at times upset and alienated people. I do learn from all my experiences and the coming months will be for me a time of reflection, re-energising, refocussing and generally preparing to start anew in 2004. I'm looking forward to my changing roles in 2004, the move into teacher education is exciting, as is the handing over of my lower school classes to a colleague I respect. I'm eagerly anticipating the completion of my Master of Education study and beginning the planning for the next phase where I move towards a Ph.D. I'm also hoping that some of the amazing opportunities that have presented themselves as possibilities for 2004 will come to fruition and that I'll be able to extend my work in the area of Drama and Virtual Environments.
In case you've not noticed I am a hopeless idealist and would-be perfectionist... I guess that also explains why sometimes I feel that my efforts are never enough. One major hope for 2004 is that my view that we all need to give back to the world that supports us. My attempts to do that have seen me taking on committee and executive responsibilities (with varying measures of effectiveness), producing my website and this newsletter, mentoring pre-service service, promoting the various professional bodies and their activities... and generally trying to foster an air of collegiality, professionalism and drive for excellence within the Drama teaching community. I hope that in some small way I can make a difference, and that in turn may make a bigger difference somewhere down the line. I would invite you all to think about what you can offer as well.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support of the website, the mailing list and this newsletter. I've received some wonderful feedback and have learned a lot as a result of producing it. The discipline of weekly reflection on your own practice alone is worth the effort, not to mention the expanded collegiality and occasional recognition and acknowledgement from people who have found it useful.
I hope everyone has a wonderful break. And whether you observe Christmas, Hannukah, Kwaanza, Ramadan or any other festive season - I wish you well. Lets keep hope that 2004 will be amazing and that the world starts to come to its senses. We as Drama teachers are in a position to help foster international understanding and acceptance. If we don't take on the challenge of making the world a better place, who will?
I hope that in 2004 more of you will have the opportunity to share with the list. Take care, be well, be safe and be positive.
LESSONS/ACTIVITIES
My offering this week is a download of my planning documents for the Year 11 and 12 courses I'll be teaching in 2004. The download is the complete plan and students handout that I'll distribute to students at the start of next year. It is mapped out according to the calendar and priority of my school but may offer teachers new to the following courses some guidance. I don't claim that its perfect. It is a new model for 2004 - I've reformatted everything I used to use and created an integrated package. If you'd like the Word Document as a template to create your own feel free to drop me a line via the Contact page.
Download 2004 Course Overviews for D634/D647(Year 11 Drama/Drama Studies) and E634/E647 (Year 12 Drama/Drama Studies)
RECOMMENDED WEBSITES
This has been a huge year for me and in closing the newsletter for the year I'd like to revisit some of the websites that have really stood out for me. I hope they can be of use to you as well.
The Mask Studio is a place where masks are designed and made for theatrical productions and carnivals. David Riley is a regular correspondent. He is currently offering masks for sale and has extended the possibilities of the basic mask making technique offered at DramaWest by Kim Flintoff. David's contributions are available from this site - he also has an interesting tale to tell about his connection with Louis Nowra's "Cosi"...
The Federal Theatre Project (Library of Congress Collection)
This online presentation includes over 13,000 images of items selected from the Federal Theatre Project Collection at the Library of Congress. Featured here are stage and costume designs, still photographs, posters, and scripts for productions of Macbeth and The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus as staged by Orson Welles, and for Power, a topical drama of the period (over 3,000 images). Also included are 68 other playscripts (6,500 images) and 168 documents selected from the Federal Theatre Project Administrative Records (3,700 images). The Federal Theatre Project was one of five arts-related projects established during the first term of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt under the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
The Federal Theatre Project (FTP) was a division of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which was established to provide work for unemployed citizens during the Great Depression (1929-39). The FTP began in August 1935 and flourished as the first and only federally-sponsored and subsidized theater program in the United States until its closing in 1939. In order to advertise FTP productions, the Federal Art Project (FAP), a section of the WPA, developed a poster division. Using then-new silk-screening techniques, the FAP Poster Division created the posters which graced theater lobbies from New York to San Francisco and hundreds of other towns and cities in between. The FTP also utilized professional set and costume designers, who, along with the FTP workers who sewed the costumes and constructed the sets, added some dramatic realism to the productions.
A very savvy, stylish and intelligent magazine
This Western Australian festival now enters its 7th year and has gone from strength to strength. One of the major points of appeal is that it has not succumbed to the Rock Eisteddfod syndrome of getting so big and slick that many schools feel unable to meet the basic entry requirements, let alone standing a chance of having their work noticed
This is a comprehensive site that offer an amazing resource to anyone interested in improvisation....games, handles, concentration exercises, drama techniques, character exercises, warm-ups, long form formats, improvised show formats, tips for workshops and much more.
The biggest resource is the downloadable PDF version of the encyclopaedia - I recommend this to all my students.
This site contains a wonderful resource. The National Theatre in London has made available all its teaching packs in PDF. While they are most useful if the students have seen the particular production they also offer a tremendous resource to us all. The packs contain Director's notes, activities, text analysis, actor interviews and much more. You might like to download the lot and burn a CDROM so you can use them in years to come. (This suggestion assumes the materials are freely usable for educational purposes)
PROFESSIONAL NEWS
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.caCan I suggest that you look at what was on offer in Norway http://www.idea2001.no/ as it will give you an idea of what to expect in Ottawa. Browse through the site... there is even the full handbook with all the sessions offered ... and if that doesn't sound like "fun", then you can take me out on the town in Ottawa and we'll see what we can do to find some "fun" for you!! KF
13th - 17th April 2004
University of Canterbury
This innovative, international Conference sets out to provide an important forum for drama educators, researchers and practitioners to come together and consider drama practice in relation to recent brain research and thinking for learning. This Conference will be of interest to not only drama educators but to all educators with an interest in actively developing a pedagogical and aesthetic understanding of drama.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
Hey,
its that time of year when you should be buying gifts!
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eBOOKS - Can be downloaded immediately - A full listing of available eBooks.
Kim Flintoff
Copyright © September, 2004
