Drama and Writing

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We have been using some drama techniques to help us in reading, and last week we tried one to help us in our writing.

We had to write about a strange looking picture – it was dark and hard to work out what it was so we all discussed what we could see, and what it could mean. There were lots of different ideas and thoughts; some people thought it looked like a statue, or a monument, or a memorial or a chimney from the brick pits, or a mine, or even a statue from Easter Island.

Next we were grouped into groups of 4 and were asked to talk about the ideas we had about a story based on the photograph. We talked about the characters and the situation; what is happening and why is it happening?

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Then we worked together to make a “photograph” or a still-life tableau showing the moment of conflict in our story.

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Lastly people from other groups  had to “tap in” to individuals in the photograph and find out what a character from the photo was doing/thinking/feeling.

It was interesting to see and hear the different ideas each group had about the same picture. We think that the talking, thinking, doing and acting out helped some of us to write much better this week.

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Conscience Alley

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Today we tried a great thinking activity during reading.

MrsP was reading us “Rowan of Rin” and the villagers were trying to decide whether or not to climb the mountain to see if they could find out what was blocking the stream.

We stopped reading and got into two groups:

  • one group discussed why the villagers should go to find out why the stream had stopped;
  • the second group discussed why the villagers shouldn’t go.

Then the two groups stood face to face and made an alley-way up the middle. Then we chose a student to be a villager and walk up the alley.

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As the villager walked up the alley, everyone (one person at a time) said their a reason to either go up/ or not go up the mountain. DSC09857DSC09858

At the end of the alley the villager had to make a decision about what she would do. Today the villager decided to go up the mountain!

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This was just as well, because the villagers in the story also decided they had to climb the mountain too 🙂

  • Do you believe that this activity helped you to think more deeply about the decision that the villagers had to make?
  • Did you feel more involved in the story after thinking about the story in this way?