Week 9, Drama.

Drama Workshop

Storytelling was the focus point in our final drama workshop. As a warm-up activity, we did 'vocal-tennis'. This is where students 'throw' words to each other by experimenting with volume, pitch and tone. We did this activity using fruit and vegetables. Once we spoke out the common ones, I found that thinking on my feet was actually quite difficult! But it creates a great atmosphere for the following drama activities. Funny enough, during my professional experience at Homebush West Public School, I was given the opportunity to observe a kindergarten mathematics class. In this class, students participated in an activity called 'vocal-tennis' as well! But, the pairs had to count up in 2s (ie: Two! Four! Six! Eight!). At the time, I thought it was a useful activity to engage the students and get them to learn to skip count. What I didn't know, was that this idea was 'sneaked' out of drama!

My favourite part of this workshop was when we were put into pairs and asked to tell each other a personal (but appropriate) story from our past. Then as a pair, we would decide who's story we would deliver to the class. To deliver the story to the class, both individuals of the pair had to 'pretend' that the story was their own and the story's lines would be shared. We would add and expand on the details and it was quite fun. Children love telling stories, and I think this would be an excellent activity to use in the classroom, especially at the beginning of the year for the students to get to know their class members better.