Volume 1 Number 9
Hi Folks,
OK, quite busy this week so I have chosen to give more of an overview of a Drama activity. This is by no means exhaustive but designed to get you thinking about how and where you might be able to utilise the strategy of writing in role.
LESSON/ACTIVITY IDEA
There are many reasons for exploring the process of writing in role and I tend to think it is an often overlooked practice in Drama classes, except as my online investigations reveal, in Canada.
Writing in role is useful in all types of Drama activity. It works best when there is clear guidance about what to write. By this I'm suggesting that you have a clear understanding of the purpose of the writing task. This will help you settle on some focus questions or guidelines. Without a clear focus writing in role can become meandering and aimless. You might just want kids to write so they have an experience of writing, you want them to better understand a particular nuance of an issue, you might want them to demonstrate knowledge, you might want them to analyse or evaluate a situation... make sure you, as teacher, know why they have a pen in hand!
Learning through Drama
When you are using Drama as a teaching strategy - for instance using Drama to explore social conditions in the 1600's in London, it is possible to set a range of writing tasks whereby students not only need to connect with the work in an affective way (empathise) but also need to ensure that they are drawing on a knowledge of the situation. In the example cited it will draw on many aspects of social understanding...
These questions have the effect of eliciting what a student knows about the topic, but draws on their emotional connection with the work. It is one thing to know a collection of facts and figures about London 1600, but it brings a degree of understanding when the students start to imagine themselves living as a part of those facts and figures. Its one thing to know about the disease and unsanitary conditions but what is it like to actually live amongst the filth?
Equally, this type of approach can be applied to more contemporary issues. Imagine doing some drama to explore the conditions that allow the AIDS crisis to continue in Africa. Writing in role about what it is like to watch someone die of AIDS related illness can be done from a variety of perspectives:
Each perspective will generate new information and a different level of understanding. The writing can be done in a variety of forms...
Each piece of writing can be used to develop not only an understanding of the topic but also to advance the story, enhance dramatic engagement, etc. There is also the literacy aspect - the students need to understand the formal conventions of various types of writing, as well as the purpose of the writing.
Learning in Drama
When doing production work, i.e. producing a performance of a scripted play, then writing in role can be used to enhance understanding of character or situation.
Imagine studying Ibsen's "A Doll's House", as my students have been doing recently. There are many ways writing in role can be used to better understand the text, or for character development, role score, etc. Nora, for example, could be asked to write a letter to a good friend or family member explaining the situation she is in and how she plans to deal with it. Alternatively, you could imagine that an old Nora is writing a memoir about those days and she could articulate, with the benefit of hindsight, what she was feeling at various moments. Nora, could have gone on in her career to become a writer for a magazine; she could write a feature article on the changing attitudes in society (or Norwegian society) towards family and relationships.
When doing devised work, eg group devised drama, improvisation, forum theatre, etc, it is possible to use writing in role as a tool to find how the situation/topic affects at a personal level.
Imagine doing work around a bullying theme. Students have improvised the beginnings of a performance piece. Students can use writing in role to further develop their characters, or to discover aspects of the performance that could be expanded. An example, might be that in looking at a victim of bullying some writing in role might reveal that the character finds his/her parents dismiss the issue as trivial, the feelings and thought s that the character have might indicate how this apparent lack of support could reinforce the perceived helplessness of the character... of course it might also reveal in another piece of writing that the "victim" decides they have to change their own thinking an develop creative solutions and resilience as a result. This type of discovery about "personal agency" can challenge the "victim mentality" that so many approaches seem to validate.
I am well aware that this only touches the surface of the possibilities of writing in role. I hope that it prompts some thinking and discussion on the mailing list, and at the very least prompts you to think about how and when you might be able to utilise the strategy.
RECOMMENDED WEBSITES
From Canada, this is an exemplar of some student writing. The pages also provide some analysis of the work presented. Useful if the concept is new to you or you are trying to come to terms with identifying evidence of learning.
Another Canadian example. This one is a lesson description looking at students using writing in role to understand aspects of law and community. It has limited dramatic activity, but I believe that it could easily be expanded to be a more complete and wholistic drama exploration.
An overview from UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL
ENGLAND, BIRMINGHAM summer school drama in education, module 2
DR 02, key concerns in drama II. Pages compiled by Nicole Küpfer.
An example of a larger learning unit that contextualises the writing-in-role strategy along with another called reflecting-in-role.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Coming Home hosted by Drama QueenslandThe
2003 conference steering committee invites you to join us at the Gardens
Point campus of QUT in Brisbane’s CBD for the annual Drama Australia
Conference. The conference will provide an opportunity for drama
educators from pre-schools and schools, universities, the arts industry,
theatres and government agencies to take part in workshops, master
classes, papers and forums that celebrate our work as teacher artists
and offer us ways to enrich and extend our work.
After
Continuing
the Odyssey in
Melbourne 2001 and Escaping
in
Fremantle 2002, Drama Queensland is proud to host the conference for
2003 titled we are calling for interested contributors to explore that
theme and its following sub-themes:
HOMELAND
- ethnic,
cultural and linguistic diversity
FOUNDATIONS
- choosing
the home ground
PLAYING
HOUSE - stories,
roles and representations
HOME
PAGE - interactivity,
platforms and technology.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
Strategies
That Work: Teaching Comprehension to Enhance Understanding
Guiding
the Reading Process: Techniques and Strategies for Successful
Instruction in K-8 Classrooms by David Booth
also..
Reading and Writing in the Middle Years by David Booth
Writing in Role: Classroom Projects
Connecting Writing and Drama
Edited by David Booth &
Jonothan Neelands
This title appears to be out-of-print
but you might be able to locate it via Abebooks
as it really is an essential text.
Beginning
Drama 11-14Also look for other materials by
Kim Flintoff