Discussion upon (30/8/12) lesson
People present: Miss Angela, Mr Chen (who came in only the last 20 min of the lesson), 7 facilitators and Cheryl
Facilitator of the day: Harvinder
We played 'Grandmother's footsteps' for the game to warm up the kids. The kids were more involved and open to us. We could really feel that they wanted to play games. The game warmed them up and sort of 'wake' them up because it was early in the morning and they just came from a routined national pledge taking. I noticed that these kids did not play this game before because after they tapped the grandmother on her shoulder, they were suppose to run away from her but they did not. I feel that many of them have not played this during their childhood which was saddening because these games help to build bonding, friendship, cognitive senses, muscles and alertness. They must have missed out alot of things during their childhood days. In this game, they build intimate friendship and closeness with one another.
Incident: While Suhaila was catching Khairul, Khairul tripped and fell. We went over to help them up, emphasizing again on safety. Though our hearts just stopped for a moment, the kids just laughed it off. I guess they are really having fun but we have to take note. =)
Initially in the first activity, a few boys thought our activity were lame but we encouraged them to play and their mindset changed because we, as facilitators were participating as well. We were modelling for the students and they too participated. I feel that we must be able to heighten their enthusiasm and change their mindset of being child-like again in these activities. To relive one's childhood days is what makes us authentic and open, which allows us to have fun.
During the main activity of being still images, I could see how the kids were so committed in their movements and work (changing of their images and being creative on their images). They really freeze and stayed 'true' to their still image. They tried their best not to be caught by changing it slowly, or quickly, little by little, etc. Even for the catchers, they really look out for changes intently. But one weakness is that the music room has a mirror, which allows them to cheat because they could see the reflection.
Group discussion was awesome. I worked with Ahmad and Joanne with the script on Nian. Our script was simple, in the standard of English and length of the script. Words were not complicated except one or two to give face to the audience during 'Speak Good English' campaign. What we feel is that we do not need any complicated words to impress the audience, but just simple english speaking and good grammar skills would be good. We could see that our students were excited about this play because they were volunteering for their roles and trying to act it out. Even Tang Ming, who is weak in her english because she is from China, volunteered herself to be the narrator. When two of them wanted the same role, they discussed and sorted it out well. It was good teamwork and everyone was happy with their roles.
Overall
The activities were good as layers were added to make it more competitive. They focus on developing spatial awareness as well as tapping on their creativity in forming still images. They were amazingly creative! Harvinder, on the other hand, was unclear with his instructions which caused confusion among the students. He did not give specific instructions, for example, instead of saying think of an animal, he said think of something. It was rather vague which the students might not have any idea to work with. Perhaps giving them a category might help in providing a framework for students to work on.
Strengths:
- Allowing them to have 10 min at the end of the lesson for group discussion was a good way of building rapport.
- Students were enjoying themselves that they didn't want to leave the class when bell rang.
- Students were creative though it might be their first time playing it.
- Giving them time limit to form a circle or fill up the spaces is a useful tool to get them to be quick and alert.
What we could have done:
- Needed to re-emphasize rules at the beginning of each class, because they still speak in their mother tongue language. Speaking in their mother tongue language may cause bullying and outcasting.
- Recap previous lessons so that we can add more layers to it, and help them to remember better.
- Help them with their English language whenever possible.
- One voice, one facilitator. If two facilitators speaking at a time, the kids will be confused. Side note if one of the facilitators felt to need to remind. If one of the facilitators interrupts the main facilitator, the train of thought is lost.
- Use keywords such as 'Fill up the space EVENLY', etc.
- No favouritism.
What I learnt
This module allows each one of us to go through experiential learning through experimentation on real-life situations. We were given the space, the kids, the resources and time to experiment teaching drama in schools. And through this learning experience, I believe we are sharpened and refined as Educators in reflective practice. It is a difficult process, where head meets head, Iron meets fire and is sharpened, for us but we become stronger and polished. Through hands on work, we experiment and gather information about our work by recording it through video taping, capturing photos, taking down notes, etc. Then through this information that we gather, we analyse it, reflect by asking questions and renew or refine our strategies.
I like the way that we are in groups because I feel that I learn most in group work. Solo work is good but being in a group is different as it helps us to bond, be reliant about one another on information, able to research for more things and to learn about ourselves through others. We adapt to others and others adapt to us. We learn to give and receive. Osterman & Kottkamp (1993) stated that 'analysis occurring in a collaborative and cooperative environment is likely to lead to greater learning' (Pg 6), which I strongly agree because I may not see the downside or other weaknesses of myself.
Alot of planing is needed, Macro and Micro. Kempe & Nicholson (2001) talks about having a micro-teaching plan, which is very focused, that would help for us trainees. Kempe & Nicholson goes on to talk about there will be a 'diversity of approaches of learning' (pg 64), where students learn differently (Auditory, Verbal, Visual and Kinesthetic learners). 'Their different responses are supposed to illustrate their different levels of ability and achievement.' (Kempe & Nicholson, 2001, Pg 66)We have to come up with different approaches, which leads to differentiation by outcome, task and organization. In differentiation by outcome, some activities may find students realising their potentials but to others, they may be failing because the task is too difficult for them to complete. Then as facilitators, we need to ask to what extent and when will we come in to help them gain more learning and understanding?
More to be covered next reflection journal...
Bibliography
Osterman, K. & Kottkamp, R. (1993) Reflective Practice for Educators: Improving Schooling Through Professional Development. California: Corwin Press.
Kempe, A & Nicholson (2001) Learning to Teach Drama. London: Continuum.
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