Student Engagement in process Drama in primary classrooms – Literature Review By Vandy Advani EDUC 451A
INTRODUCTION The Bear Hunt Dilemma
a picture book by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
Did you feel the deep, cold river
Did you stumble in the forest...
and shiver in the snowstorm
Did you see the bear?
Do I have to? It’s just pretend!
No
may be Yes
Of course
The Big Question.. Why do some students remain standing with their arms crossed over, while others spread out their wings and take off?
Or..
I wonder what comes in between children and their urge to participate in a drama act.
A
more
What is it that aesthetically engages a child’s mind allowing her or him to participate in distilled question..
In search of the horizon on aesthetic engagement....
Student engagement
Examples: time-on-task, homework in learning, effort
learning
completion, responses to challenges
directed towards learning, cognition and strategic
focused, strategic, and self regulating way
participation in academic, social, and extracurricular activities positive attitudes and reactions towards school, teachers, learning, and peers high involvement in classrooms interest, and enjoyment
Is process drama
Engaging? ????
Do you know about Lulu...
Can Process Drama be engaging? Were you engaged? Were there any behaviour issues? Did you comprehend the situation? Were you emotionally engaged? Could you cognitively analyze the situation? Did you temporarily remove yourself from the now?
Were you with Lulu, thinking about Lulu and wondering about Lulu? Do you know where Lulu is? “Drama appeals to a wide range of learners as it invites them to access, understand, develop
and
creatively, curriculum,
communicate in
and verbally,
their
across
learning
the
whole
visually
and
kinesthetically using and developing a wider range
of
intelligences
than
many
other
subjects.” (Fleming and Baldwin 2003, p. 14) In story drama, there is the story we begin with – our
shared story; the story of the drama – our created story; and the stories triggered by the drama from student’s life experiences – our own life stories. As teachers, we work with students through drama, based on and integrating pieces of the stories we have met and the stories we have lived. As a community, we build slowly putting each piece of our work together until we have our story told and shown “in action.”
Story drama is a process whereby those involved create a new story that all of us own.” (2005, p. 13) Kathleen
Gallagher’s
Research
on
Student
Engagement in School and Learning due to Drama
Drama allowed them to experience a better and more comfortable world.. ..those who were not as engaged as the others, substance addiction played a significant role. found four main reasons of disengagement namely, “financial, social, political and ecological.” (p. 23)
beauty of her research.....
...is that out of the reasons of disengagement arose some opportunities that engage the young minds in North America and Asia.
Process Drama is engaging because.... •
•
No audience
Embodied participation •
Longer retention •
•
Creative
Collaborative pedagogy •
Leadership skills
•
Peer teaching
Teacher – sage to stage
•
•
•
•
Personal experience Increased motivation •
•
Active
Meaningful work
Performative Literacy (Fels & Belliveau, 2008, p. 43)
Why is process drama engaging? What is in that pixie dust that transports us from one reality to another?
Idea is a potent means by which perception and expression may be heightened.” (Bundy, 2005, p. 60) “pregnant moments of learning within a curricular context (Belliveau, 2008, p. 12) (Kieran Egar, 2001, p. 5) -what is imagined is through our mind and not our senses In the cave you are having to move forward, and are feeling your way with the stick.... Penny Bundy’s research on aesthetic engagement ...connection, animation and heightened awareness. It is “connection” that must take place between the actor and the ‘idea’ of the act, which will bring in the animation, engagement and lead the actor to a “heightened awareness”. (p. 176)
Kieran Egar’s sketch on cognitive and imaginative ability of children a.
Children are abstract as well as concrete thinkers;
b.
Children’s thinking is powerfully affective;
c.
Children readily understand content organized into story forms;
d.
Children are readily engaged by forming images form words;
e.
Children are prodigal producers and consumers of metaphors’
f.
Children’s learning is stimulated by rhyme and rhythm;
g.
Children’s learning can proceed by forming binary oppositions
and mediating them
“Grown-ups love figures... When you tell them you've made a new friend they never ask you any
questions
about
essential
matters.
They
never say to you "What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies? "Instead they demand "How old is he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make? "Only from these figures
do
they
think
anything about him.”
they
have
learned
(Saint-Exupér y, 1943)
Did I find my pixie dust?
“Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.”