Volume 2 Number 11
Hi Folks,
Kim's Drama Blog
Some good news to begin - I've had my trip to Canada for the IDEA
World Congress approved by the D-G of Education.... so I'm definitely on
my way! Although its expected that I sacrifice salary and benefits
for the time I'm away - apparently the commitment to Professional
Development of staff extends only so far.
This week our school has been look at the new Curriculum Improvement
guidelines handed down by the department. I personally think this
is a great document and the potential is that if we get it right we will
enter into a phase of education that will be incredibly exciting and
engaging for all concerned - students and teachers alike. I've
been a bit discouraged by the mentality we have probably all encountered
at some stage - that this is just another imposition on teachers.
As I said I think it the exact opposite. If we actually look at
what's required we find that teachers will be able to innovate and
develop rich, integrated programs that actually reflect the
connectedness across the curriculum. The steely looks I was given
when I suggested we look at dismantling the faculty structures for a
more encompassing model of curriculum organisation demonstrated that we
still have a lot of closed mindedness and empire protection to overcome
before this can be fully realised. What many teachers seem to
overlook is that simply giving lip service to the guidelines and
superficial repackaging is not going to carry much sway when the OFSTED
style monitoring proposed by both major political parties is
introduced. Our British subscribers will have some interesting
tales to tell about the impact of OFSTED. Potentially beneficial,
but for some teachers, who found themselves in schools where the
standards were not properly addressed, the reality was they became
sacrificial lambs to the slaughter.
I've started supervising some pre-service teachers in their school
based practicum. It's interesting to see the variety of situations
and to realise that my little classroom is vastly under-resourced
compared to, well, every other context I've witnessed to
date.
I've been trying to generate some interest in doing some cross
curricula work - using Drama and Technology as the focus for exploration
in other learning areas - to date I'm struggling to find anyone within
my school who's willing to try something new.
JOB WANTED
I'm
genuinely looking for a new context in 2005, so if anyone
knows of any Drama positions in the Perth Metropolitan area -
I'm open to anything from 0.5FTE to fulltime - classroom
teacher to Arts leadership... Prefer something will be
able to accommodate University lecturing - please let me
know.
(My CV is available online)
On the subject of jobs - a good colleague of mine has been in touch
looking for a Drama teacher in the Pilbara region of Western
Australia. I would consider myself for the job, but I realised
long ago I'm no country boy! Here are the details:
"The
drama teacher position here at Newman includes Yr 12 Drama as well
as Yr 11 Drama/Drama Studies. Small class sizes. Lower School
drama in Yr 8,9 and 10. School has a Theatre and green room/class
room facilities for our exclusive use during school hours.
Good
school, the kids are easy to work with, not 'hard-core', young,
energetic staff, great weather from now until December!
Unsurpassed scenic beauty of the Karijini on our doorstep."
For
more information and expressions of interest contact
Deputy Principal
Newman SHS
LESSON/ACTIVITY IDEA
This is another warm-up game you may not be familiar with - it was
demonstrated to me by one of my students at university. I've
used it a couple of times in class and with some other students at
uni. It is a useful focus activity, energiser and can also act
an an advance organiser for such topics as Focus and Commitment to
Role, Movement, Suspension of Disbelief, etc... it is very
simple and works like this:
2 students are selected to take on the functions of CAT and MOUSE -
as in all such relationships the role of CAT is to chase and catch
MOUSE. Everyone else in the room stands shoulder-to-shoulder in
groups of 3 - distributed around the space to provide good
obstacles/cover to challenge the chase. Now - here's the
difference from standard Tag games... Mouse can join the end of
one of the groups of three and this forces the person on the other end
to detach and become the Mouse.
Its very simple but becomes really intriguing when the students
commit to it. If Cat tags Mouse the roles are reversed until
such time as someone else is forced into action.
- Moose, Baby Seal, Elephant
This one is a little more difficult to explain. Each of
the three animals is formed by three people - Moose is a central body
that bellows with a person either side creating the antlers, Baby Seal
is a pitiful whimpering creature flanked by two people signifying
flippers, and Elephant is a roaring trunk and body flanked by two
ears. The actual formation is not important, as long as it is consistent.
Now, the game is played in a circle. One player is selected
to start and the teacher says "BABY SEAL" the student
selected and the two either side must create the animal as decided at
the beginning. Once they form the animal they continue until the
central person stops and points around the circle to another player
saying one of the animal choices - again the adjacent players must
leap into action to form the beast.
The game continues - players can get out by the following means
- wrong action
- too long a reaction time
- calling a consecutive repetition of an animal
- forgetting a sound
If they get out they sit in the middle and the circle remains - as
more players get out the players in the circle have further and
further to travel around the circle as they leap into action forming
the animals.
RECOMMENDED WEBSITES
This is an online course delivery system I'm working on at school.
I'm finding it a very useful adjunct to the theoretical, historical,
and social components of the senior school courses I'm teaching.
MOODLE (http://moodle.org) is freely
available and a very versatile - I recommend you get your ICT folk at
school to set it up and start exploring the possibilities.
PROFESSIONAL NEWS
PLEASE ADVISE OF ANY UPCOMING
PROFESSIONAL EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES AND I WILL LIST THEM HERE
From Michael Anderson: " let you know about
a symposium to be held at the University of Sydney on the 21st and
22nd of May 2004. The symposium called Dialogues and
Differences in Arts Education will feature workshops and papers on
the connections and linkages between art forms and discuss notions of
integration in arts education research and practice. We are excited to
announce that Associate Professor Judith McLean has agreed to
be one of the keynote presenters. If you are able we would love you to
attend and present a workshop or a paper. The call for papers and
registration information is contained in the attached flyer which is
in PDF format. If you cannot access this attachment please refer to
the website www.edfac.usyd.edu.au/profdev
."
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
Kim Flintoff
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IDEA
5th World Congress in Ottawa, Canada 2004 TIME
TO START BOOKING!!
