Drama drama drama... and a bit of Poetry

Eekkk... Today is the first session of my English Specialism- an introduction for Year 2. Waking up this morning I felt nervous, anxious even. The truth is that English is a subject that I feel less confident teaching. BUT I'm excited!

3 hours later....

The session was fantastic!

We had an introduction to Poetry and Drama- not my strongest points but I really enjoyed myself.

Firstly we read a poem by Alfred Noyes, The Highwayman. I was shocked to find that this poem was included within the primary curriculum and taught in years 5 and 6 but after further reflecting I can see how this will appeal to children and their interests. The poem evidences strong themes of love, death, desperation, good and evil.

The tutor started the session with an image of The Highwayman, we were asked to discus:

Who do you think the character is?

What makes you think that?

What do you think he is up too?

We shared our ideas and preceded to read the poem. As we read, I made notes on various word choices that children might not understand and any inferences I made from these. Then we considered the many features included in the poem.

If the children don't know what a highwayman is... then I suggest watching this video!!

The Highwayman poem is perfect or children as it contains-

Powerful imagery

Rhythmic cadence

Mystery

Vocabulary extension

Alliteration, Simile, Metaphor

Repetition and onomatopoeia

Great website for The Highwayman-

Next, we were split into 4 groups, we were given 20 minutes to prepare a section of the narrative poem. Each group were given 4 verses each.

I consider this an effective pedagogy as the 'children' are given the opportunity to fully immerse themselves with the narrative poem and understand what the poet is trying to convey. This way children are able to formulate opinions and ask questions therefore I would use this pedagogical strategy with my own class or during professional practice phase 1B.

Other drama techniques-

*Freeze frame- Take a photograph of the scene

*Thought tracking- What does the character feel in this situation?

*Conscience alley- Children to over an opinion about the characters actions- to Do or Not.

*Zone of relevance- Children to position the 'actors' in setting. Interview each actor.

*Hot seating- Ask the children to present a character questions.

Using this techniques it clearly provides children to peer and self assess their performances, providing constructive criticisms and of course highlighting the good/successful aspects!!

Peer and self assessment-

*Volume

*Pace

*Pauses

*Expression

*Use of different voices

*Use of backgound sounds

*Use of body positioning

Here is video taken from Youtube:

Personally I think that despite its length, it is a good visual demonstration of the poem and will interest the children. In the long term it will inspire them, helping children generate ideas for writing. In addition it can help build a child's confidence with their knowledge of the poem as it becomes memorable!

Comprehension questions/ Guided reading:

From Twinkl!

My target:

To use develop my creative pedagogy by using some of the techniques mentioned above in order to inspire children to become involved with poetry.

Performance poetry-

Performance poetry checklist-

*Volume

*Pace

*Pauses

*Expression

*Use of different voices

*Use of background sounds

*Body Positions

Poetry Archive- ​

What skills would children develop?

Speaking and listening is a section of the national curriculum that is often less emphasised therefore preforming poetry provides a way to focus and assess speaking and listening skills and capabilities. I personally feel this is a good pedagogy to use as preforming poetry can be inclusive as every child's voice needs to be heard. Through this children can gain confidence and performance skills that can be used in other lessons such as drama.

#TS3 #TS4 #Literacy