Sarah Cooksley

Session Four: Using Drama to Teach Shakespeare

Introduction

When using Drama as a tool for learning it is important to remember to start with the Drama early on in the lesson so the pupils do not lose their confidence. It is also essential that as teachers we should always be prepared to do what we want the pupils to do. It is also a good idea to begin the lesson with an ice-breaker such as the hammer as representative of 'drama' and us positioning ourselves at the distance to the hammer that we saw our relationship with Drama.

Drama is an effective tool for learning for pupils who have learning difficulties. Also shy pupils have the opportunity to engage with issues and develop skills of empathy whilst it promotes deep thought and can be more rigorous for pupils who are further advanced.

Ways In: Teaching and Learning Techniques

Hotseating

Teacher should not be trying to show off their acting skills, but merely take on a role and engage with proposed character. Pupils should be encouraged to ask questions and teacher answers in character. When using the Hot-seating the teacher can indicate when the drama is happening and when it has stopped by physically sitting in the seat or standing up which is effective for classroom management.

Hot seating can be used as a skill for developing characters in a text, the character can be developed from scratch or for developing a character that has already been introduced. It can be used as a way into the text and to explore the storyline and gives pupils a chance to ask questions that they want to know about the text,

The pupils can also be on a Hot seat, which can provoke a discussion and encourages the children to tease out what the character is really like.

The Cambridge School Shakespeare's Teaching Shakespeare gives a popular variant of the Hot-seating called 'Meeting the Media' where students are divided into small groups. Some groups take roles as some of the plays characters while other groups are different types of reporters. The pupils then prepare their roles and then act out a press conference in character.

Freezeframes/Tableaux

There is no speech or movement and pupils can explore a whole plot and the emotions or issues involved in a frozen picture. Pupils should be encouraged to think about what comes before and after the scene in order to achieve this.

Freezeframes are a good way to explore the bare essentials of a text and it is a method that achieves quality quickly. It is also an effective way to help pupils remember a text as it is visual learning. Furthermore using freezeframes is an effective way of organising a class, as there is no speech or movement.

The pupils should present their pieces to the whole class either where they are or in the middle of the room. In doing so the class will pull out key ideas from the scene through the discussion, therefore acting as a springboard into analysis. Discussion can follow concerning how the characters are portrayed and stereotypical images, pupils can encouraged to consider different ways the characters can be portrayed.

Following the freeze-frame activity the text can begin to be built in. As we did, pupils can try to choose a specific line to be put with the tableaux.

Teaching Shakespeare extends the idea of tableaux further suggesting 'Theme Tableaux' where pupils work in groups and the teacher lists some major themes of the play and the pupils prepare a tableaux around one or more of the themes.

There are also the possibilities of a 'Relationship Tableaux' where one pupil strikes a pose as, say, Macbeth, a second pupil steps forward says the name of character, say, Duncan and strikes an appropriate pose. After a time the third character steps forward as a different character, say, a witch and so it continues. Also ' Human Emotion Tableaux' where pupils work together to depict different emotions: hate, love, jealousy, fear, happiness etc.

Reading Aloud

Pupils can read aloud in the class in numerous ways. Firstly, they can read a section each changing reader at each punctuation mark. Furthermore, they can read at the same time moving between two points, changing between the two at each punctuation mark.

This is described in Teaching Shakespeare as 'Choral Reading' and the aim of such activities is defined as enabling every pupil to contribute to a presentation of some of Shakespeare's lines. Page 195 of the above book details these activities.

Role Play

The aim of role-play activities is to take on a role, not to demonstrate great acting. Pupils should be improvising what the characters might say or do in certain situations.

Role-play can be used as another way into a text. Pupils can get themselves involved in Shakespeare before they know they're studying Shakespeare; they're not put off by it of intimidated by it before they start.

Role-play is an effective way of tapping into what children do- play; it's a way of getting them to use what they already know to learn new things.

An example of using role-play in relation to teaching Shakespeare is to use it for introducing the opening scene of Hamlet. The teacher can say something like: "Imagine you're working a night shift at a place that requires security guards (ask for ideas). The guard on duty is an experienced guard but has become a bit scared because of rumours of ghosts. Another guard is coming to take over and accidentally scares the first guard"- Get pupils to work in pairs and act out changing of the guard.

Good practice is to set the class up and get them started, don't go around and help but stand back and stay active. Half-way through the task stop them and refocus them using terms such as "don't forget to …." Or "you could try ….". If a group is struggling the teacher could ask a group who has finished to show theirs and give others ideas.

Attempting role-play activities introduces the text, makes pupils want to read on (hopefully!), arouses interest in some of the themes (ghosts) and suits children who are more active.

Curriculum

There is no National Statutory Orders Curriculum for Drama, if it's not included within the English scheme individual schools devise their own. However, Drama is included in parts of the English Curriculum within Speaking and Listening. It is used as a tool for teaching both English and Citizenship programmes.

It is important to have Drama taught from a young age as it helps overcome shyness before they realise the implications/ consequences if things go wrong.

Cambridge School Shakespeare - Teaching Shakespeare

Introduces why we should teach Shakespeare, principles of teaching Shakespeare, perspectives, language, story, character, themes and effects within Shakespeare as well as suggesting active methods to use in the classroom, those included here and many more, both drama orientated and not.