Reflection
Unfortunately, it is often the reality of drama classes that time simply runs out before an opportunity to reflect upon the work achieved in the class has been realized. All dramas must be structured so that times for reflection are provided frequently as the work unfolds. Reflection must also occur as a final or summative experience for each drama, including collective creations. Reflection is included here as the final step in the preceding process, not only to emphasize that summative reflection is very important, but also to remind teachers that both formative and summative reflection play a crucial role in all drama work.
Periods of reflection enable students, in and out of role, to pause and to distance themselves from the work so that they may uncover and examine meaning and clarify their thinking about the development of the drama. Periods of reflection provide students with opportunities to examine the sources of their ideas, discover what makes the drama meaningful for them, and understand how their individual responses and choices influence the responses and choices of others and help to shape the work. Frequent opportunities to reflect critically upon their drama work facilitates the students' ability to realize the expression of their intended ideas in dramatic form.
In tapping into students' thinking about the direction of the work, their individual contributions to it and their observations about the work of the whole group, teachers should provide opportunities for both public and private responses. A variety of strategies can and should be used to encourage student reflection both within and outside of dramatic situations. Whole group discussion, one-on-one interviews with the teacher, tableaux, prepared improvisation, drawing, writing in role, journal writing that is structured so that an ongoing dialogue occurs between the teacher and each student, and other strategies are effective in motivating students' critical consideration of both the form and the content of their work.
In order to ensure that students' reflection on their drama work results with clear articulation of some of the learning that has occurred, teachers must pose well-crafted questions for student response. The nature of the questions will vary depending upon which strategies the teacher employs, whether the response will be public or personal and when the reflection occurs. For example, a question such as "When did you realize that it was more important to save the jobs than to save the forest?" might motivate personal writing in role, which may evolve into publicly spoken monologues as the work unfolds. Or, "What was the immediate effect of this decision on the lives of individual families in the community?" could prompt the development of small group improvisations that are prepared and shown to the whole group. Questions that request the expression of more personal experiences and attitudes (such as "Have you ever had to make a decision which was as difficult for you as th is one was for each of these townspeople?" or "Which part of the drama was most challenging for you? and Why?") might best be used to guide a summative personal journal entry. Teachers should also keep in mind that the meaning derived from drama work may not always be immediately realized and expressed by the students. Often, significant tacit understandings will rise to the surface following a lengthy lapse of time.
The drama work of secondary level students can and should reflect their experience and their insights. Dramas and collective creations which are carefully structured and worked through so that ownership is gradually eased over into the hands of the students can mirror and influence the community in which they are formed. Whether the audience consists of the teacher and students (within their dramas they will function simultaneously as actor and audience), a class of peers or the entire community, the links between the work and the world in which they live should be clear to everyone.
As they progress through the secondary Drama program, students' first-hand knowledge of the connections between their own drama work and their own place and time will increase their understanding of dramatic art, past and present, and the places and times in which it was created. As well, their perceptions of their own drama work as worthy artistic endeavour will be strengthened.