I'm writing today's blog post with less than three hours left in my Monday. I've been busy with household Christmas preparation and wrapping up my various AQ teaching commitments. I thought I'd just document my current plans for my latest drama classes.
I teach drama and dance to two classes - a Grade 1 group and a Grade 1-2 group. I like teaching drama. I have my Intermediate qualifications with Drama as a teachable and it's an enjoyable subject to teach.
A resource on the TDSB Virtual Library inspired this recent focus. The TDSB Library and Learning Resources Department curated a list of resources to use with different subjects and I found a great little video in the Arts section on shadow puppets. We did some experimenting with shadows and the students were quite enthusiastic. They were quite delighted with discovering, from the video and their own investigations, how the shadows could grow and shrink depending on where you stood in relation to the light source. I wanted to ensure that the third strand of the drama curriculum, the one focused on "Exploring Forms and Cultural Contexts", was addressed more explicitly than I had been. I wrote a letter to the parents asking them for ideas for cultural stories related to the moon (an object that grows and shrinks and changes form) or about stories that involved growing and shrinking.
Two parents wrote me back and shared with me the Chinese legend of Chung-E and the Moon Festival. One even sent a video explanation.
(ETA Blogger didn't save my work past this point so I'm retyping this.)
We watched the video and then brainstormed a list of the important characters and objects from the story. Then, the students built prototype shadow puppets. We tried them out and gave each other feedback on how recognizable the puppets were to the objects and people they were supposed to represent.
I searched the school library collection for other print stories related to the moon and found an Anansi story. This was useful because we have a student originally from Ghana, where Anansi stories first appeared. I myself remember my Dad, who is culturally from the Caribbean, telling "Burra-Nancy" stories (also known as Bru-Nancy, according to Wikipedia) to my siblings and to me when we were children.
Instead of trying the shadow puppet route again, we read the story and stopped at a pivotal moment - when Anansi is trying to decide which of his six sons he should give the prize to for rescuing him. (I loved that one of the students asked, "Didn't he have any daughters?". I said we could pretend that the sons were sons or daughters.) The students chose to pretend to be one of the sons and persuade me, as Anansi, to give him/her/them the prize. To help students determine when I was "in role" and when I was "the teacher", I held a toy spider as a visual cue.
My next steps are to locate more stories about the moon from different cultures and traditions. I hope to find some Tamil/Hindu and Islamic tales. (I would love to include moon stories from different Indigenous traditions, but I've learned that oftentimes, certain stories can only be told at certain times of year and by certain individuals. I need to look into this and be culturally sensitive.) Then, after hearing the various stories, the students can vote on which moon story we will focus on and formalize for a more polished presentation for our upcoming school concert, with shadow puppets, dialogue, and songs.
The expectations that I am covering with this latest unit include:
- B1.1 = engage in dramatic play and role play, with a focus on exploring a variety of sources from diverse communities, times, and places
- B1.3 = plan and shape dramatic play by building on the ideas of others, both in and out of role
- B1.4 = communicate feelings and ideas to a familiar audience using a few simple visual or technological aids to support and enhance their drama work
- B2.3 = identify and give examples of their strengths, interests, and areas for improvement as drama participants and audience members
- B3.2 = demonstrate an awareness of a variety of roles, themes, and subjects in dramas and stories from different communities around the world
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