Scoil: Baile Fálbhach Rang:5ú / 6ú Múinteoir: Bean Uí Dhufaigh

Drama Méan Fomhair 2018- Meitheamh 2019

Aims:

 to enable the child to become drama literate

 to enable the child to create a permanent bridge between make-believe, play and the art form of theatre
 to develop the child’s ability to enter physically, emotionally and intellectually into the drama world to promote questing, empowering and
empathetic skills
 to enable the child to develop the social skills necessary to engage openly, honestly and playfully with others
 to enable the child to co-operate and communicate with others in solving problems in the drama and through the drama
 to enable the child to understand the structures and modes of drama and how they create links between play, thought and life
 to enable the child to acquire this knowledge of drama through the active exploration of themes drawn from life (past and present),
whether they have their source in other curriculum areas or in general areas relevant to the child’s life
 to enable the child to begin the process of translating a knowledge of drama into the active exploration of life themes from drama
literature, leading to the appreciation of world drama culture
 to form the criteria with which to evaluate the drama texts, written or performed, to which he/she is continually exposed

Strand

Content:

(a) Strand and Strand Units:

 Drama to explore feelings, knowledge and ideas, leading to understanding.
 Exploring and making drama.
 Reflecting on drama.
 Co-operating and communicating in making drama.
b) Overview of the content objectives to be taught and examples of learning activities.

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Drama Méan Fomhair 2018- Meitheamh 2019

Strand: Drama to explore feelings, knowledge and ideas, leading to understanding

The child should be enabled to:
 Use the ability to play at make-believe to enter fully into participating in drama, (e.g. interviewing characters from novel.
 Use his/her emerging awareness of the differences in people to develop an understanding of the relationship between role and character.
 Experience how context is built and a drama reality created using space and objects,
 Experience how the fictional past and the desired fictional future influence the present dramatic action.
 Develop the ability to maintain the focus in the dramatic action.
 Begin to see how tension adds to drama the suspense that ensures the interest of the participants.

Strand: Reflecting on the drama

The child should be enabled to:
 Use reflection on a dramatic action to create a possible alternative course for the action.
 Experience, through drama, the relationship between story, theme and life experience.
 Share insights while experiencing the drama or insights that arise out of the drama.

Strand: Co-operating and communicating in making drama

The child should be enabled to:
 Develop, out of role, the ability to co-operate and communicate with others in helping to shape the drama (e.g. participate in “Decision
Alley” and “Conscience Alley”)
 Develop, in role, the ability to co-operate and communicate with others in helping to shape the drama.
 Develop fictional relationships through interactions with other characters in small-groups or whole-class scenes as the drama text is being
made.

c) Elements of drama

 Belief

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Drama Méan Fomhair 2018- Meitheamh 2019

 Role and Character

 Action
 Time
 Place
 Tension
 Significance
 Genre

Approaches and Methodologies:

 Make-believe play to process drama
The simplest drama text is seen in the child’s make-believe play. The children’s own response to what is happening in the drama, even as it
proceeds, is the learning activity and forms a step to other learning outcomes.

The Prerequisites for Making Drama:

1. Content.
2. The fictional lens.
3. The creation of a safe classroom environment.

1. Content
 Material experiences imagined or read about.
 Aspects of life from the past, present or possible future that will arouse the pupils’ curiosity.
 The needs, concerns or preoccupations of the children.
 Issues such as relationships that the teacher may wish to explore through drama.
 Curriculum material, whose codes drama can crack and the human aspects of which may need to be explored actively.

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Drama Méan Fomhair 2018- Meitheamh 2019

The content of drama should help to:

 Make children curious about knowledge.
 Assist with and motivate research skills and actively show the place of personal enquiry in the acquisition of knowledge.
 Show the child the relationship between wanting to know something and the ability to acquire that knowledge.
 Make the child aware of the human dimension inherent in all knowledge.
 Increase the child’s understanding of life topics and themes.
 Give the child an insight into aspects of life that are vital to his/her development.
 Relate knowledge to experience.
 Assist the child, through the involvement of all the senses and through a total body experience, to develop the memory, and particularly
the long-term memory of facts and data.

2. The Fictional Lens

In choosing the appropriate fictional lens the teacher should be concerned that it enables the children to:
•Understand, through active participation, the essential nature of fiction and the relationship between plot and theme.

3. Creating a safe environment

The creation of a safe environment will be established with a class “Drama Contract”. A safe environment will help build confidence and participate
in drama activities in a safe and secure setting.

4.Warm-up activities
Warm up games will be an integral part of the drama process.

Other drama strategies and conventions

Teacher-in-role and children-in-role.
 Mime
Still image and montage.
Hot-seating.

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Drama Méan Fomhair 2018- Meitheamh 2019

Decision Alley and Conscience Alley

Thought-tracking.
Sound-tracking.
Voices in the head.
Role on the wall.
Small group play making
Flashback/flashforward

Differentiation:
 Level – the children who have difficulty with the drama and concepts or tasks will be given extra help and I will shadow them, prompting and
supporting them to listen at the appropriate times.
 Interest – I will focus on specific areas of interest of the children and use these to incite interest and to motivate them.
 Support – I will go around to all the children individually asking them key questions, guiding them on task and encouraging higher order
thinking.

Assessment:

Teacher Led Assessment:

Teacher Observation
My observations will focus on:
 The responses the child makes when set a task.
 The responses the child makes to the teacher’s questions and suggestions.
 The participation of the child individually, in a group or as part of the class.
 The interaction of the child with others when involved in group work.
 The ability of the child to enter and take on different character roles.

Teacher-designed tasks (results will be recorded on checklists)

I will be continuously designing a variety of tasks for the pupils to engage in. Some tasks will be designed to provide opportunities to practise

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Drama Méan Fomhair 2018- Meitheamh 2019

skills, some will be designed to encourage creativity, some to gather knowledge of activities, and other tasks will be designed to promote
questioning and group discussion before carrying out the task and as the task is completed.

Pupil Led Assessment:

Pupil Learning Logs
The children will be given an opportunity to reflect and self-assess their own progress in their learning logs on a regular basis. This will highlight
their level of enjoyment in different strands and strand units, the level of difficulty experienced in different strands and strand units and their
level of participation during drama lessons.

Integration:
SPHE – Issues such as safety.
Gaeilge – Gaeilge neamh-fhoirmiúil.
History – Stories.
English – Oral language and stories