Creating a New Stage: The Technology Makeover for Drama

Picture: "Tethers of this Scene", by wetsun@Flickr

A couple of weekends ago now I presented at the Drama Queensland annual conference about the work I did last year integrating technology into my drama classrooms. The above is one of my favourite slides from the whole experience. I often find people surprised when I admit that not all my projects and (brilliant) schemes work when I present them to my students - failure isn't something embrace in educational circles in my experience. But the reality is that it's my ability to acknowledge a project's failure that gives me the ability to "tweak" it and find out what will work.

I miss my drama classes a great deal as I work in my current role. Besides the fun and sheer randomness that tends to find its way into a drama classroom, I miss the challenge of integrating ICTs in a subject traditionally anti-tech. I miss pushing at the edges of a subject that is often on the fringes of the curriculum anyway (or which is missing completely from the National Curriculum at this stage).

There's a lot of untapped potential when it comes to the drama classroom and my decent into true nerdom in my teaching has been closely tied to my drama projects. This is the quick summary of my journey with a drama focus I shared at the conference:

2007 - “Searching for Mary” (Year 10)– students interacted online to develop roles and relationships, developing narrative through real time role plays. This was my first attempt at tapping into the idea of "cyberdrama". It was pretty...meh looking back on it. The students simulated emails and text messages using discussion boards and blogs. At that point in the journey for me it was about exploring how we could use those sorts of activities to enhance character and narratives we were building in the physical space of the drama room. While I wasn't impressed with the project's ICT stuff, the use of it to explore unconventional dramatic structures worked quite well and the students performance pieces were fairly impressive.

2008 - Collaborative “Juice” (Year 10)– students from two different schools studied the same play and worked online to build character profiles. This project emerged out of a PLN moment. I was at last year's drama conference chatting with a colleague I'd connected with a couple of years ago through some workshops and we realised we'd be studying the same play the following term. We'd been trying to organise a joint project for a year or so and this gave us the perfect opportunity. This one was fun - it pushed the student's to a new level and it was interesting to see two very different groups connect the dots and realise they weren't the only drama class in the state.

2008 - A Guided Tour of European Theatre (years 7&8) – students interacted online in role and oocly as they studied and experienced different European theatre forms. We offer an elective style program for our middle school students and while the units align with the curriculum documents and the like there's room for us to have fun - and this one (while an incredibly draining way to end the year) was loads of fun. We all created characters who were on tour through time and Europe while they studied significant western theatre styles. The big focus for this one was getting students some basic drama knowledge and to have them engage in reflection - something I've always struggled to get drama students to do effectively. I found that by letting students build a Tour Group Network through in character blogs and wikis they did much better at this then I'd previously encountered.

...jeeze...2008 was a massive year for me....

2008 - Create your own…my most ambitious project to date. I gave students a space in the EQ learning environment where they were able to simulate their own cyberdrama. They explored how social media can be used to create an interactive and disjointed narrative where all the little pieces added up to one story. This one came out of one of those "failures". After 9 weeks of hitting my head on a brickwall and the rebellion mounting I admitted defeat and took it to the circle, "What would make it work?" This project was the students' idea and was AWESOME. A massive job, tiring and life consuming - but it was so worth it. Every lesson was a learning curve for us all and the students showed even the Learning Place Mentor a thing or two about the possibilities in LP Project Rooms. Remember how I said I'd always had trouble getting students to reflect before? For this project they needed to keep a creation journal tracking HOW and WHY they did what they did to build their drama. The task requirements were 500-700 words over the 7 week period. They spent HOURS collating the most amazing and astounding journals I'd ever seen in drama...and the shortest one must have been 1000 words...(the flip side, I had to mark them all..it was so hard to stay focused!)

It was a very different presentation from the QSA one I wrote about over the weekend - there was a lot more resistance from Drama QLD delegates.

Resistance may not be the right word...negativity perhaps? A lot of "Oh you can do that in your school, we wouldn't be able to." A lot of excuses got thrown around and I find that sad - one of my personal mottos is that if there is a will there must be a way. But I can't change where they're at in their digital journeys - I can only show them the possibilities and hope that one day I won't be the only one looking for ways to utilise blogs, wikis, etherpad, chatrooms, vlogs, annotation options on YouTube, Vokis, BigHugeLabs, etc in my drama classroom.

Figuring out the Puzzle

Image: "World Spins Madly On", by emma.c @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/7262596@N08/2207748365

I've watched in awe as the work of Lucy's students has crossed my path online - the book in a day project where Year 9 students wrote collaboratively using google docs around themes drawn from the novel, "Animal Farm" was just amazing. And I'm really excited to hear more about her next project, collaboratively planned by teachers from around the world using the power of the network.

Through following Lucy's project I came across Tanuj's, a student of Lucy's, blog and have since become a regular reader - his insight into the work his teachers are doing and the observations he makes about the potential and benefits of PBL are refreshing - especially since they're from the horse's mouth so to speak.

In part, this is a shout out to both Lucy and Tanuj - thank you for sharing your experiences and helping to inspire others to stay the course when comes to pushing the boundaries of our education systems.

For some teachers the idea of PBL has sat in the "too hard" basket for a very long time, and it's something I'll admit I've struggled with many times in the past - especially in the Drama classroom (which in my opinion lends itself naturally to this style). I've tried many different projects and had mixed results.

As the cyberdrama project wraps up with students completing their formal assessments this week I feel like I've put some of the bits of the puzzle together this time.

Yesterday I collected the journals tracking my students' experiences and pulled apart their own cyberdramas (I'll talk more about why I didn't do these as eportfolios another night). I was gobsmacked when I saw them. In past drama journaling has inspired a lacklustre response from students, sort of done at the last minute, barely meeting standards. This time...the majority of the class obviously loved this activity:

There are PAGES of detailed reflections, hundreds of pictures tracing their journey through this project, incredible examples of how visually and textually these students think (feathers, glitter, jigsaw puzzles, card, colour) It's going to take me weeks to do their efforts justice, and honestly I'm loving the thought of getting lost in these, I keep picking them up and just flicking through them, they're a drama teacher's dream come true. More than that what teacher doesn't want their students to say things like:

"I think this term has been an amazing one. I have actually learnt so much and I feel as if we've all grown through producing these cyberdrama's."

The key phrase in there that makes me even prouder than I already was - "we've all grown". This project has meant more to them than class work or assessment, I couldn't ask for more.

When showing the principal the work produced by the class last week she asked what I thought had allowed them to fly so high. Honestly, I think I gave them room and I trusted them - they were ready and the "norm" would have held them back. And the success of doing so has my heart and mind bubbling with new ideas and plans for the future. Dean asked in a comment whether I'd go back to "traditional" instruction after this - my answer in short...no way, how could I?

It's with a heavy heart that I await to hear my timetable for next year, I highly doubt I'll be working with this group for drama next year. I just hope their new teacher is ready for them...

Far more powerful together

Image: "Brothers", by just.luc @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/9619972@N08/1350940605

Today I had the pleasure of reflecting on the cyberdrama project (which is sadly coming to a close) with some of the students. They're sad it's wrapping it, just like me and we got to talking about what it is we've enjoyed most about it.

For me it's been an "easy" project. I've had to facilitate (upload/download/moderate) and remember to make the bookings and bring the equipment - really that's about it. I've had next to zero behaviour management issues to deal with (apart from the minor language slip on camera which is promptly deleted). And I believe it's because of the ownership the students had over it - they had their online space, their narrative, their characters...and importantly they had my trust.

I said that to this group of students and one said, "That's what's been really good for me. We got to be in control." Honestly, trust in these guys - they really will amaze you.

Flat

Tonight I'm going to go lay on the lounge and vegetate. The heat and humidity combined with a full day, a staff meeting (or two) and taekwondo training have left me flat.

I've set up the last of the Project Rooms and sent out emails about the upcoming launch - that's enough for tonight.

Have to say though... am loving the engaged class I have with this project. Sometimes the holidays breaks the momentum of things like this - today it was as though they hadn't stopped. Fantastic!

On your marks...

I may have underestimated my students (again..must remember to be less over protective that way).

Before the end of last term I wrote about my concerns and reservations regarding the rather ambitious (aka stupidly new) project I'm launching with my Drama students next week (Leaping into the deep end..).

A couple of things have happened during the last two weeks to have me peeking my head out from behind the storm shelter door with a little bit of hope in my eyes.

First of all I was checking all the Project Rooms and came across this:

A few things made this find exciting:

For starters, MY Project Rooms look like the rather boring example to your right. Which means I have no idea how to do what they've done...and I'm jealous...and so, so proud. This is what teachers need to learn to accept - we don't know more/better some times and in fact there's a heck of a lot we could learn from our students.

Continuing in this theme of pleasant surprises I logged in to do a daily check of school email (hey, I limit it to once over the hols...that's a break :)...isn't it?) and had an email from a student in a different cyberdrama group. I've asked them to carbon copy me any organisational emails between group members so I can assist/guide them as they need and keep a finger on the pulse, so I was pleased first of all that this group remembered. But more than that this student had emailed his group with a reminder of the things they discussed and organised in our last Drama lesson of the term and what each of them is responsible for next week when we're back at achool. So many things about this impressed me:

• How often do teachers dismiss students as disorganised/unmotivated/slack/forgetful? Here I have a student taking the initiative and being RESPONSIBLE enough to PLAN AHEAD...he got ahead of me this time...I'm not sending out reminders till the end of the week.
• In his email he has also accoutned for our access issues when it comes to technology - over the hols he's purchased his own webcam for the group to use to get a particular "feel" for certain aspects of their cyberdramas. Again, this is so much more than I ever expected.
• Finally - we're still on HOLIDAYS! A similar thing happened last year with the cyberdrama unit I tried then too, students logged in and engaged over the hols - a sign that elearning spaces and projects have potential to remove the borders of our classrooms? I think so!

My only concern now...will I have the energy to keep up when I let them loose next week?

Give them credit

Sometimes we don't give our students enough credit.

I've been reading over the last assignment for Year 10 (14-15 yr olds) Drama. It was a responding task where they were asked to evaluate cyberdrama as a a "real" form of drama and present their (supported) opinion in an ezine article (which I'm going to spend a few days putting together into a webpage for us within the network.

This has been their second responding task this year and admittedly I was a little nervous - as I've spoken about before the cyberdrama unit has been a rather tumultous one with varying degrees of success (often on a lesson by lesson basis), plus they'd shown resistance to responding tasks earlier in the year (afterall all Drama is is standing on a stage reading lines, isn't it....that opinion has now been changed - thank goodness).

I've been really impressed with the standard of these articles and some of the observations they've made. This one, I just had to share:

As years go by, and we head further into the 21st century, our need for knowledge is greater and the time we spend to seek answers has become less. With the creation of the World Wide Web, and numerous search engines, we are able to find a world of information just with the click of a button. There are endless possibilities to what the Internet can be used for… - Student K, 2008

Leaping into the deep end...

There is something exhilarting about giving your students the trust and belief to try something completely new. Especially when they're so excited they have to be hunted out of the classroom after every lesson.


At the same time it's incredibly terrifying....there's so many things to be fearful of:

• What will I look like to my colleagues if this fails?


• What will the back up be if this doesn't work?


• How will I explain this to my superiors?


• How will I support the students if they fail?
  

I look at that list of fears and concerns and not a single one of them justifies putting this project on hold.

So...what is the project that's consuming me excitement at the moment?

Student managed cyberdramas.

Now the first question is going to be (as it always is eventually) - "What on earth in cyberdrama?"


Cyberdrama is the sharing of stories about people through various internet spaces. It's a lot more like a jigsaw than a 'traditional' drama performance, there's multiple sources of information to help the audience piece together the narrative. The fragmented nature of it lets the producers take advantage of all sorts of tools online - YouTube, Ning, MySpace/Facebook, Wikipedia/blogs/forums. It also lets the audience take on a different role from usual. In traditional drama the audience is quite passive - in cyberdrama the audience is lot more participatory - they rate videos, they share their theories through forums and wikis, they interact with the characters through MySpace.


I first got introduced to the concept of cyberdrama two years ago when I attended a conference workshop run by Sue Davis. For me, as an avid online gamer something about this concept just "clicked" and I knew straight away it was something I wanted to explore the potential of in my classroom. And over the past couple of years I've experimented to two class based cyberdramas.

The first one was run and managed by me within my small class of rural students - called "Searching for Mary". The students developed roles which were somehow connected to a missing character, Mary, and tried to piece together what had happened to her. It was largely a text based cyberdrama (not ideal) and led into the students developing a non-realistic piece exploring the concept of identity as it was revealed that all the characters had different aspects of their personality that they shared with different people.

The second one has been "The Secret Society of Shapeshifters", run and managed by Sue Davis. This one was far more ambitious with three schools participating, developing characters around the pre-text "The Seal Wife" and explore the story of the selkie kept from the sea by her human husband. They were to share their explorations through in-character (ic) video logs, wikis, blogs and forums. The project wasn't as successful as I hhad hoped it would be, there's many reasons behind that and the reflection I've gone through in order to come to terms with it has been very helpful to me as a teacher.

Anyway...because my students' participation in the Society wasn't as engaging for them as I'd hoped I took it to them and asked them for their thoughts. I didn't get it - they were really enjoying the concept of cyberdrama (many are now avid watchers of LonelyGirl15 and have been eagerly awaiting the release of The Resistance), but they were just switching off when it came to the Society. Turns out the things they've been itching to do is try and create their own cyberdramas.

So, I took that information away with me and thought about it - why not? Could it work? How can I work it to make it managable? Was a good week of thinking it over and testing theories before I went back to them and laid it all out...

"Guys, this has NEVER been done this way before that I know of. I don't even know how to write your assessment based on this, but I don't want you to do a heap of work that doesn't count for something. How can we make it work?"

I don't think the class has looked back since...

So, in three weeks time we're launching our very own cyberdramas - their designed to be short, a six week season only. And to be honest the ideas behind them are really sweet - I can't wait to see how it all comes together. There will be:

• The Room - a psycological thrillar where the audience is asked to help solve the mystery of a kidnapped man locked in a dark room.
• Liars Anonymous - were everyone knows everyone's a liar, but in that case, what's the truth amongst the lies? Can the audience figure it out?
• Just Wait - Watch as an anonymous vlogger sets out to destroy an old friend, but can the audience figure out who she is before it's to late?
• Secret Suffering - a tragic story of two sisters recently orphaned and their struggle to come to terms with the loss of their parents and the sacrifices that will need to be made to stay together.
• NewGirl - a school yard's abuzz when a new girl starts at the school, shaking up friendships and the staus quo.
• State of Mind - actually...I need more details about this one :(

Unfortunately we haven't been allowed to make them available to the general public. Our department has a very strict line when it comes to using the open web. So, for now we're limited to the department's online learning platform. Which is pretty good in a lot of ways, but it is going to limit us in a lot of ways too. And trust me, that's led to me sending out some very detailed emails about it...

So, tomorrow the class and I are bomb diving into the deep end of this project - setting up their Cyberdrama spaces and developing their first week's digital offers...let the fun begin!

Oh god...this is eitehr going to be awesome or devasting...