The Group Project

The Group Project is a major element of the HSC Drama syllabus and probably the area that causes the most angst for both teachers and students. So how can we as drama teachers relieve some of the pressure or angst related to Group Projects? 

• Teach students to work COLLABORATIVELY from the moment they enter the drama classroom on the first day of Year 9. This is not a skill that can be learnt over night. It takes practice and constant commitment.
• Create a 'Yes and...' culture in your classroom. Teach students to yield to each other and extend on each other's ideas rather then blocking or resisting others suggestions. This is the basic principal of improvisation. Check Dave Morris's TED talk on impro here to see how these basic skills can impact on our day to day interactions. 

• Provide them with ongoing critical feedback on their collaboration skills in the junior years. This will assist them in developing sophisticated collaboration techniques which they can then apply to their group work. I love this Collaboration Rubric devised by the Buck Institute for Education. It can easily be adapted to playbuilding or other group tasks in the Drama classroom. 
• Abolish competitiveness in your classroom. Sounds easy right? It actually is not that difficult, but it needs to be an ongoing goal. Use The Up Jar; consistently embolden your students to share work with each other, provide verbal feedback and affirm each other; ask students to write individual goals and encourage them to achieve their personal best; reward improvement not just top marks; set class goals which students can only achieve together. It can happen!
• Select groups for your students. This can be done in a number of ways and I vary it for each class. However, I explicitly say to the class that my goal is to help every student achieve the best result and I ask them to trust that I have enough knowledge and experience to inform this choice. 
• Provide them with as much stimulus as you possibly can. I have sentence starters, writing prompts, creative challenges, art works, poetry, music, photographs, pictures and practical exercises to throw at them when they are stuck. This is one way I can actively assist as a facilitator for the project.
• Establish a Group Contract guided by the students input. The scaffold I present my groups is provided in the document below. 
• Take time at the start of the project to acknowledge each group members strengths and publicly affirm them. I then ask the students in each group to use these strengths as a guide to establishing their piece.
• Provide them with a tool kit of skills, styles, conventions and techniques. In the Preliminary Course I try to touch on as many styles of theatre as I can; expose them to as many practitioners as I can; and explicitly teach them as many performance skills and techniques as I can.  Every time we touch on something new we add it to our tool kit. Prior to starting the GP we make a list as a class of all the tools we have to draw on. We then refer to this list for inspiration as we build our piece.
• Have fun! If they are not having fun they will not be motivated to keep going. As a facilitator I try to keep GP lessons and workshops fun and invigorating. If the group needs a dance break.... do it!

This is the introduction booklet I  provide for my students at the beginning of the project. The students need to know from day one the expectations and purpose of the GP. Most of it is straight from the syllabus and course prescriptors, but it may be of use to you and save you some leg work. I would also love to hear your tips and tricks for the GP, so please feel free to comment below.