cjwainwr writes his response to the Drama/activity - week 2/'Fox' drama workshop example.
"Can you identify when students are making, presenting and responding in this sequence of activities?"
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The objectives of this workshop are to develop knowledge, skills and values within a learner population. The workshop applies the generating-realising-responding (GRR) strategy to the teacher-learner relationship in arts educations. In this two hour drama workshop the strategy is expressed via the structure and practices of 'process drama'.
GRR is a reflexive and reiterative process. Because drama requires embodiment of the subject we would expect to see learners generating, realising and, less formally, responding simultaneously: this would especially be the case in improvised dramatic production, as illustrated throughout this workshop.
We may know if, when and how the GRR process is occurring by looking and listening within the teacher-learner relationship: to teacher interventions and to learner responses.
Since the workshop is structured around 13 sequenced activities we may consider each and all activity for guaging if, when and how a GRR process is being used. A list of verbs providing a convenient guide for categoric description of each of the three aspects of GRR are found in the ACARA: draft shape of the Australian Curriculum - the arts, p9. Using these verbs we may evaluate each of the activities of the workshop in the following way:
Evolution game: learners are generating (art education) when they pretend their hands/fingers represent paper/scissors/stone and when they make-believe (by physicalising, embody) various life forms. When they "share these images" they are realising (art educating) because they are acting/showing to others (an 'audience'). Learners are also responding because they are 'willi-nilly' apprehending one or more of their own (and perhaps others') sensory, kinesthetic, cognitive and affective responses to generating and realising.
Dog, bird & fox game: learners are generating throughout this game. They have been stimulated to engage in make-belief by viewing illustrations of animals they are invited, by the teacher, to embody or act or realise - they show their own imaginative rendition of particular book illustrations.
For each learner, throughout the workshop the audience is - at least - herself/himself. Thus, responding also occurs at the level of individual apprehension/ consciousness of one or more of one's own sensory, kinesthetic, cognitive and affective embodiments.
Law of nature game: is a continuation of generating, realising and responding, with the addition that participants are given opportunity to "practise responses" ie. to realise via rehearsing.
Offering & rejecting help: again a continuation of the GRR process. In generating by pretending or make-believe is added generating via role-playing in a specified context which requires an improvised response. Responses are performed or shown to others (in a whole group circle); thus realising also occurs.
Forum theatre: is the first structured opportunity learners' responding. After a period of generating and realising learners are invited to "Discuss the social implications..." of offering and rejecting help. Responding occurs when learners think and talk about what they have generated and realised, using vocabulary including gestures, to comprehend their prior enactments in settings beyond the workshop: it is an opportunity to relate their prior apprehesion of generating and realising to, particularly, cognitive forms and to relate what they have apprehended to a social context beyond the workshop activities.
It is an opportunity for self-reflection linking with the social realities of the world beyond the learning location.
The workshop continues in this fashion of generating-realising-responding for the remainder of the activities.
References
Australian Curriculum,Assessment & Reporting Authority (ACARA):
Sinclair, C., Jeanneret, N., & O'Toole. (2009). Education in the arts: teaching and learning in the contemprary curriculum. London: Oxford University Press.
