Option A: Collective creation (continued)

Lessons Three to Eight: Working Within the Drama

Regardless of the prior experience of the students, the teacher will need to plan his or her own participation within the students' drama work, particularly in terms of assuming roles within the dramas. Sometimes the teacher may be side-coaching or narrating while the students work, and many times the teacher will be participating as teacher-in-role. Jonothan Neelands states the following in Making Sense of Drama: A Guide to Classroom Practice: "The teacher's purpose in entering the drama may be to:

• challenge stereotype or easy answers
• pinpoint the significance of what's going on
• go against the status quo or group consensus
• probe responses and press for more considered contributions
• introduce new information
• slow down the pace of the action
• act as a catalyst for thinking and feeling by the participants
• initiate new directions in the action
• provide a model of appropriate language and behaviour" (p. 84).

• demonstrate an understanding of the processes and elements involved in creating works of dramatic art

As the work develops, the teacher will ensure that adequate time is devoted to periods of reflection, that a wide variety of strategies have been explored, and that the elements of theatre form (focus, tension, contrasts and symbol) have been incorporated.