Memories and drama

This story drama is a memorable experience for me because it was during this class and after when the connection of our cohort truly shown through. At the time of the “Wilfred Gordan McDonald Partridge” story drama workshop, our cohort had only known each other for 3 weeks. In a primary classroom environment, at this point in the year, there would have been a sense of “cliquing” starting and it would be at this time whereas stress in forming friendships could be occurring. I wouldn’t say that there were feelings of this in our group, however; you could defiantly feel that we were all wondering along the lines of what was going to happen in this sense. Looking back at the experience I realize that this workshop may have been our very first time attempting group tableau work and we can probably thank tableau itself to bring us so close as a group. In drama, the tableau is a great way to create small group connectedness and is a way to create a safe and comfortable environment for students who may feel more shy or nervous about drama performance. Tableau also forces students to draw upon their own life experiences to create a visual recreation of the text linking it to their lives and the text, this is a way for students to share their own stories and be more open with the group. In this workshop tableau was also a way that we as a class got to know each other more. We were put into groups and asked to think about a time in our lives of significant, that, like Miss Nancy would be an event meaningful enough to bring back memories. Brainstorming and sharing these kinds of ideas with groups brings the people closer together as they can relate to one another and share personal stories. This is how my class and I felt as we learned the beginnings about one another and worked together to create the tableaus to bring back Miss Nancy’s memories.

In drama, the key to a successful dramatic experience is building a trusting and loving classroom. There is no lie in saying that the bond a class has impacted the overall quality of effort they bring to their work. This quote highlights the fact that to gather a group of student’s best and highest amount of effort, the group in question must already have a connectedness that is built of support, trust, and openness to all personalities and different work types. “Teaching is a community of support, a foundation of skills and dispositions that have been fostered by training and previous experiences” (Schonmann, 2011, p. 19), the community our cohort shares is one that will last for not just the years ahead but for when we meet in our reunions and share joys and sorrows through communicating onwards past our schooling experience.