|
The
launch of Tulika’s latest book – The World of Indian
Stories: a teaching resource
of folktales from every state
by Cathy Spagnoli by Maya Rao followed by Maya's
presentation
of the Theatre in Education workshop
Theatre
is closest to life, flesh and blood depiction. Where do we
learn life’s lessons from?
From life – maybe something
from some teacher, but certainly not from textbooks.
Something
about movement coming naturally to children….
The word ‘play’ as used for theatre –
significant
– what we’re doing is ‘playing’. ‘Theatre’ –
the word originated from describing a
hunt – enacting it
all. Adults enact a play, children do the same thing but
they don’t need
an audience. Children take to the arts
naturally. So if theatre is closest to life, no excuse for
not using it in the classroom. Don’t need to be actors
or playwrights, but need to be sensitive.
Teacher too
needs to be a ‘learner’, like the children – needs
to be curious. Learning and
teaching is an ongoing organic
process.
How
to set up something for discovery? Give them a set of
circumstances so exciting
that they sense a thrill and
want to discover. You want to take them on a journey,
simply
be a catalyst, so how to make the vehicle on which
the journey is to take place – don’t give
the
destination.
Example
of Inuits. What is life when you have only 2 or 3 things
to fall back upon – only ice,
whale and polar bear.
Challenge kids to feel the (??) of stress, experience
single things of nature. Whale – has oil, etc. If we go
on killing it, how will I as an Inuit survive? So come out
taking
things in life more preciously.
Theatre
in classroom is living through experience.
Story
can come from anywhere. Picks up her watch and says can
make theatre out of a watch. ‘Needles were at the same
time they were 23 years ago when she left the
house….’. Can
become any story about anything. In
classroom context can teach history – a girl in the
freedom movement – anything. Drawn an emotional
situation – if the emotional reservoir is stirred,
mental, physical, cognitive, all faculties activated. (Can
actually get a child to go and pick up the watch
and take
on from there). Can be historically/factually incorrect,
doesn’t matter, that can be filled
up in a later class.
But she has used/drawn all her faculties together into
that experience.
Cerebral input can be added later.
If
this is started at a very early age, they perform much
better because they learn to bring all
faculties together.
TIE provides a ground for all subjects – connecting one
with the other.
For example, if it’s something to do
with maths, will see maths and numbers everywhere,
in
everything they do, and isn’t that what a maths teacher
wants.
How
to move from the particular/private to the universal? –
zero in on people’s lives.
Good
idea for the teacher (in such a play situation) to take on
role of authority – like a judge
in the trial of Bhagat
Singh, for example – can steer and direct.
Plant
a situation of dilemma. We learn major lessons in life
from moments of crisis.
Children have to make so many
choices all the time – whom to like, whom not to, which
favourite actor, etc. Lay circumstances, give choices and
options, give dilemma and then
leave it open – teacher
can’t be judgmental, say what’s right and wrong.
TIE
is about adults creating a programme and taking it to the
classroom to open out
experiences. Drama in education is
teachers who use drama as tool in the classroom –
not to
make actors out of the children.
Different
stimuli to start a lesson – could be a diary, a
photograph….
FILM
How do perfectly acceptable people end up doing the
unacceptable? – focus of film.
‘The Garage Project’ (???)
Workshop
with teachers – various people boarding a ship, going to
different land, for
different reasons. Raises various
issues – why they’re leaving, citizenship, concept of
‘foreigner’, belonging, etc. People from different
genders, classes have to live together
on ship. What are
the problems they have? What feelings while leaving home?
Maya does
role of journalist, so can go around asking
questions to passengers, friend is ship’s captain.
Situation
for children in workshop – two children are friends.
Grow up and one is murdered –
implied that the other is
responsible because ghost comes to haunt. Why would he/she
do
that? Children completely absorbed, in tears because
one died and other could possibly have something to do
with it – distressed. Lots of involvement.
QUESTIONS
Do the children make a noise?
Total
silence during enactment, then volley of questions, which
is what we want. Write
down all the questions – they
have to validate them.
Role
as teachers is to help them know what they know. Complex
situations – can write
down positives and negatives on
the board – sometimes same things figure on both lists,
so obviously complex. ‘Authority figure’ of teacher
– doesn’t have to be authority of knowledge,
it’s
okay to be open-ended.
How
to assess how much the child learnt?
A
lot of this works if you are continuously dissatisfied
with yourself – keep searching, not
on their behalf, but
for yourself.
Imagining
the negative puts too much pressure on the child – e.g.
imagine you’re seeing
a train for the first time… Take
them to a point they know and take off from there.
Children
have a lot of fantasy – we can’t match them. So take
for example Spiderman and
put him in a social situation
– Spiderman’s eighth string has snapped, how will he
get it fixed…?
Use
of body – in a classroom – a sense of body – have to
compose it.
|
