Do the students in your classroom know what you value?  
 
In a recent professional development day, my colleagues and I heard about a science lesson on chromosomes. At the start of the lesson the teacher explicitly said, "We are going to look at this like scientists, because in this class we value scientific thinking." Out of the entire day this was the moment that stuck with me. Do I explicitly tell students what I value? 
 
I made a list of the things I know I value the most in my classroom. Risk-taking, critical and creative thinking, specific feedback and collaborative relationships. I definitely use these words in class at different times; however, I wondered if I used them consistently and linked everything we did to these terms, would I see a change in the way my students approached their work?
 
I made a poster, placed it on my classroom wall and consciously began to alter my language.
 
"Today as you move into your playbuilding groups, I want you to remember that we value risk taking in this classroom.
 
I would like you to share your work with a partner today and give them some specific feedback that can move their work forward… because in this classroom we value specific feedback as a tool for personal growth.
 
As I move around the room I am noticing that you are all working as effective collaborators because you are listening to one another and problem solving together. I think this is because you know we value collaborative relationships in this classroom.
 
I noticed that this group were trying a range of different options to move their piece forward. This is exactly what critical and creative thinking looks like in this classroom. This is what we value."
 
Have I seen a change? Without a doubt. My year 11’s are even beginning to say it themselves. One group was showing me a section of their group-devised performance last week when a student said,  "We have taken a risk here Miss, because we know that we value risk-taking in this class. Can you give us some specific feedback to help us develop it further?’"
I am not kidding.  I am not making this up.
She said, “…because we know that we value risk-taking in this class." 
 
Ron Ritchhart calls this the language of noticing and naming. I am naming the values and noticing when the students are using them. This reinforces my expectations for our classroom and places emphasis on the qualities I wish to nurture within my students. 
 
Try it. Make a list. Hang it up. Name and notice. I promise that turning this spotlight on to your core classroom values will improve student outcomes and effect the decisions your students make in regard to their learning.

​My daughter and I have a new hobby. We make terrariums. Yes, terrariums. Glass jars, vases, bowls or globes in which mini plant worlds thrive and grow.

What does this have to do with teaching you ask?
 
I am exhausted. I haven’t felt like this for a while.
Some may call it burnout. They may be right. I have spread myself thin lately, adding two large and highly stressful projects to my already busy life.
Some may call me crazy (by some I mean my husband!).
Some may say I need to say ‘no’.
Some may say that’s teaching these days, what do you expect?
I always say… “I don’t have a hobby, teaching is my hobby. I mean that is where my joy is, my passion. It’s what I love to do.” And herein lies the problem.
 
This is not the first time teacher exhaustion has hit me square in the face and it won’t be the last. I was having a conversation with a beginning teacher earlier in the year, she said, “I am just not sure how this workload is sustainable. Tell me it’s sustainable.” I felt torn in my response. I was thinking the same thing just the week before and I have been teaching for more then half of this teacher’s life. I mean I should have my shit together by now. “Of course it is,” I say. “Once you have taught it once it is easier, and you learn to manage blah, blah, blah….” I lied. I lied because I know she is and will continue to be a great teacher. I lied because I didn’t have the heart to tell her it takes over your life. Teaching is not a profession, it is a vocation and we do it because the reward far outweighs the workload.
 
Now to the terrariums. My daughter loves nature. Making a terrarium is something we have been talking about for awhile, but I had been putting it off because of this pile of marking, that set of reports and the endless meaningless tasks that I was drowning in. However, three weeks ago I realised I was wilting. I needed nourishment and I needed it immediately. It was a beautiful Saturday morning and we set upon our task. We googled ‘How to make a terrarium and keep it alive’. We got our answer, made a list of supplies and headed off to Bunnings. With enough materials to landscape half an acre, we headed to the nursery to pick our plants.

“Succulents”, I declared and as I picked up the first little guy I realised he was just like me.

Teachers are succulents. We have thick skin, adapt to storing water, and survive in arid climates. Teachers acclimatise over the years to survive the harsh working conditions of teaching. The time we can go without nourishment increases as we become more resilient and our skin thickens. We learn to store the moments of joy that keep us going, drawing on them when we need it. However, even the toughest of plants need a reprieve. They need the rain to ease the pressure, to take off the stress, even if it is just for a day.
 
“Mum, can we get all of these?”
“Yep. All of them.”

We filled our basket high with succulents and came home to begin creating. I filled a goldfish bowl, a few jars and sixteen large tumblers for my sixteen year 12’s sitting their HSC practical exam the week after. My daughter made six others of various shapes and sizes. “You just need to use your imaginary feelings when you make them mum”, she said. I was nourished. It didn’t take much, just an intermission from the harsh climate. Just for a day.
 
Three weeks later and I am feeling better. My year 12’s have sat their practical exams and I have completed one of the large extra-projects I had weighing on my shoulders. I still have the pile of marking to do and reports around the corner, but I am also making time for my new hobby.
 
I made a teacher terrarium today. It will live in my classroom. A mini world reminding me to nourish myself, to step outside and soak in the sun, to refuel my joy as regularly as possible. I used my ‘imaginary feelings’ to build it into a joy-fueled classroom. A rainbow to acknowledge the diversity of my students. A chalkboard for inspiring collaboration. A glass container acknowledging that my class is always open and welcoming of other teachers. A string of work acknowledging critical thinking and creativity. And a reminder that children grow into the intellectual life around them.

What would your teacher terrarium look like?

How To Make a Terrarium

1. Find a container of any description! K-Mart is great for cheap fish bowls or glass vases like the one I have used above. Alternatively raid the op-shop for old teacups, bowls or other interesting pieces. 
2. Begin your terrarium with a layer of pebbles or stones to assist in storing water.
3.  Add a layer of horticultural charcoal (available from Bunnings).
4.  Place a layer of soil, deep enough to cover the roots of your plant. You can get succulent specific potting mix from Bunnings.
5.  Plant your succulent.
6.  Decorate it using pebbles, stones, sand, moss and your ‘imaginary feelings’.
7.  Give it a drink of water and you are done. Depending on the size it may only need watering once a fortnight. Maybe when you water your terrarium it can be a conscious reminder that it is time to nourish yourself!

When studying threshold concepts for my Theology studies last semester I stumbled across a substantial body of research around the importance of silence in the classroom. As I was reading this material I immediately thought of my year 9 class. This mixed ability class of 27 students is my most challenging class, difficult to settle at times and often unfocussed, (or they were, before the silence project!). I made a decision in that moment to introduce silence as a daily practice into my classroom.
 
This is what I did. Try it, you can thank me later. :)
 
The Research
An excerpt from my essay on threshold concepts summarising the research around silence in the classroom:
Meyer and Land (2013) adopt the imagery of a portal to illustrate threshold concepts opening up “a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something” (p.3). This imagery aligns directly with Berryman’s (2006) description of silence. He writes, “Silence is present as an opening and as a waiting for knowledge” (Berryman, 1999, p.258).  The journey from noise to silence in the classroom is profoundly transformative, troublesome, irreversible and integrated, particularly in the current climate. Berryman (1999), Haskins (2010), Kessler (2000), and Stanley (2011) all highlight the ‘noise, speed and unceasing interaction’ of modern culture resulting in a loss of silence. The introduction of silence into the classroom can therefore prove challenging as it can be disorientating and uncomfortable for students. Kessler (2000) reveals this troublesome element noting that, “Students are so underexposed to silence that some have come to be afraid of any experience of emptiness” (p.38).  However, it is in this emptiness that students become transformed as their connection with ‘God, others, their deep self, or nature’ is heightened and their creative energies are ‘refreshed’ (Berryman, 1999). Furthermore, Kessler (2000) describes silence as a ‘gateway’ that leads to “…deep connection to the self, transcendence, creative expression or the search for meaning and purpose” (p.36).
 
Anthony of Egypt advocated for an authentic spiritual life; a “life lived in an intense awareness of the present moment” (Bright, 2008, p.172). Silence places students in that present moment allowing them to open the doorway inward (to self) and outward (to others) by processing the constant external stimulus that they are bombarded with.  However, the challenge for teachers lies in the culture of the school. Haskins (2010) argues that, “Teachers who are persistently pressured to improve test scores will find it difficult to honour slowness, stillness, and silence” (p. 16).  Teachers have a responsibility to make time for silence even if they feel they are crossing a dangerous boundary. Building moments of silence into the day to day running of a classroom is not impossible. Teachers could introduce the Examin to the daily classroom ritual, build opportunities for reflective journaling or artistic expression into lesson plans, allow students to ‘go solo’ mid-class, or provide reflective spaces for quiet meditation in the physical classroom (Bright, 2008; Haskins, 2010; Kessler, 2000; Mudge, 2007). These moments of silence should be seen as opportunities rather then wasted time. Mudge (2007) argues that priority should be place on ‘slow, meditative thinking’ in order to complement ‘fast, linear thinking’ and cultivate wisdom, for it is in these moments of silence that students are truly transformed (p.25).
 
Similarly to apophatic knowing it is difficult to formally measure and assess the extent to which students have crossed the threshold from noise to silence. However, informal assessment is not impossible. Teachers can use direct observation to monitor the effects of silence in their classroom. Students may demonstrate increased connectedness, joy, calm, wholeness, sense of self, wonder, defined purpose, confidence, creativity, attention and a shift towards the ‘second naiveté’ (Berryman, 1999; Bright, 2008; Haskins, 2010; Kessler, 2000; Miller, 2006; Mudge, 2007). There may also be a decrease in anti-social behaviour, depression, lethargy and anxiety amongst students. Student journaling or artwork can capture some of the transformational benefits of silence and the individual growth of students. However, due the immensely personal and liminal nature of silence the full extent of the transformation and irreversible effects it has had may prove too expansive to fully measure. 
 
The Experiment
I decided to introduce a minute of silence to the beginning of each of my lessons with my challenging year 9 class. They were told that I was experimenting with an idea. If they were keen to embark on this journey with me we would trial it for 5 weeks and they could then decide whether or not we kept it as part of our classroom practice.  They agreed and so we added a minute silence to the beginning of our lessons.
 
​I told them,
“You may use this time to clear your mind, or to notice what you are feeling and thinking right now, or to digest what happened in your last class. You might use this quiet time to pray, list what you are grateful for or to set a goal for our time together… or, if you need to, to rest.”
 
Lesson 1 –
Excerpt from Teacher Reflection: To be honest I didn’t really expect what came next. They were silent, but I could honestly say I could see them thinking. One of my most academic students decided to take a large walk around the room (which is why I will now insist on stillness) as it was very distracting and she became a focal point for some. I also realised I didn’t encourage them to close their eyes if they wanted to. It was like they were performing. They had to do something. They didn’t know how to do nothing. The minute went very quickly, which was odd as I had timed a minute before the lesson and felt like it went forever. I wonder if I have to make it 2 minutes to give them a chance to really stop. I have also asked five students to reflect on the process and will use their reflections to help inform my practice as we move forward.
 
Student Reflections – I chose five students with differing needs, abilities and personalities across the classroom to reflect on the process.
 
Student 1 - Ms Gill, I’m not really sure what brought this on, but personally, I don’t think the pause was useful. For me at least. Drama is already a break from all the busy stuff we do (that’s not to say that Drama is a super-easy subject that I think of as a break, because it’s not!).
 
Student 2 - I think the idea of the exercise was good because it gave me time to just not have to worry about everyone else but instead do what I want to do not what anyone has to do. It gave me time to be contained in myself and do what I felt I needed to do. I think that it does need to be longer though because by the time I decided what I wanted to do it was already over. For me I am not a sentimental person and didn’t want to pray or anything so instead I had a staring competition with the timer.
 
Student 3 - When Mrs Gill told us we were going to have to do this I was a bit worried because I talk A LOT but when we did it, it wasn’t that bad. I actually enjoyed doing this exercise as I get quite stressed and then to come into drama and be able to just have some time to think. I think it needs to be longer then one minute.
 
Student 4 - This is a good way to start the lesson. I used this time to listen to my breathing and relax. However, I think there should be more time, maybe 5 minutes because 1 minute was to quick.
 
Student 5 - I liked that. I liked watching what people do when they’re given free range and a basic guideline. Some people take it as a challenge and they try to out do something out of the box that they overthink it a bit, some people flick a switch and shut themselves off to the world like that. I liked feeling other peoples presence, then taking some time for myself. Today I didn’t want to think, so I was just there, being.
 
Lesson 2 –
Excerpt from teacher reflection-  So today was ok. I set it up a bit better and asked the kids not to over think it this time. I also asked them to stay where they were. Some of them told me they would prefer to sit or lie down. I let them do this as it is their experiment too. About 10 students sat or lay and the rest remained standing. The time seemed to go slowly today but I wonder if that was because they were more settled and hence so was I. I felt like we were stiller and silent. I am going to increase it to 2 minutes when we do it next though, as it does feel short. A teacher walked past our classroom as we were doing it and I am sure she was thinking what the hell is happening in there! Wonder what our third lesson will be like…
 
Student Reflections – ​
Student 1 - Ahhh… Once again, I don’t feel any different from this exercise. Talking to other students, however, I think it may be because I don’t need ‘time’ to ‘prepare’ for a lesson. I’m already calm and relaxed, and therefore, for me, the one minute is just a time-passing exercise
 
Student 2 - I don’t think it is long enough still, I didn’t have enough time to settle down. Today I decided to lie down and I thought about the air conditioner. I felt different and more calm, but I think it is only good for a small percentage of us. Those who are more creative then others and it’s a bit hard to think about what to think about, I am still unsure how I would like it to be.  See how it goes.
 
Student 5 - I really needed that. It feels like this whole week has been non-stop and that I’ve just accumulated tension in my body for 7 days straight. Taking two minutes to stretch and reflect was amazing. My body felt loose and light afterwards and I was the most relaxed I had been all week. I felt like I had been weighed down by an anchor before, but now I am floating.
 
Other feedback on the lessons that followed:
“I love having the two minutes to reflect on things on my mind, then prepare for the lesson. I like to stretch, because it feels I am physically getting rid of the pressure in my body. I feel relaxed and ready afterwards.”
 
“I liked the two minutes of time because I was able to reflect and wind down about the day. I think it is important and helps me throw everything out the window. “
 
“I liked it today as we are getting our exams back and finding out some results and I took some time to reflect. I am very negative. To take time out of talking is good.”
 
“It makes me look forward to Drama even more (if that’s possible)”
 
Students were also asked what they did with the time:

 Decisions Made By The Class After The Five Week Experiment:

• One minute was too short and two minutes was too long, One and a half minutes was just right.
• Some students preferred standing, others sitting, some lying down. The choice was theirs but it was decided they must stay in a circle and remain relatively still.
• 95% of students wanted to keep the ‘dramatic pause’ as we now term it!
• Student 1 (from the reflections above) now uses the time to set specific learning goals for our lesson or for the week. She is highly academic and needed an additional challenge.
• 80% of the students would like to see this practice used in their other classes.

 
The Conclusion
I noticed, after just one week of the experiment, that my students were more settled, focused, calm and creative as a result of the silent time at the beginning of the lesson. Instead of taking close to ten minutes of my lesson to really settle them, it was taking me one and a half! The research was right - I witnessed increased connectedness, joy, calm, wholeness, sense of self, wonder, defined purpose, confidence, creativity, and attention. I also noticed a decrease in anti-social behaviour, depression, lethargy and anxiety amongst students. My anxious kids were less anxious, my extroverted kids were quieter, my ADHD kids more focused and my academic kids more determined. 

There were also many added benefits I didn’t expect.

• Students who are late to class do not disturb the lesson… they notice it is silent time and just quietly join the circle.
• I have an opportunity to guide their thinking as they enter into a lesson. For example, we are currently studying playbuilding at the moment in year 9 and I have asked them to use part of their silent time to think about what they are going to contribute to the group in the lesson to follow.
• Furthermore, they are more comfortable being silent on stage and this has influenced their performance work greatly.  We have spoken about the importance of silence for playwrights and practitioners in their work. For example, Pinter -  “Pinter’s pauses and silences are often the climaxes of his plays, the still centres of the storm, the nuclei of tension around which the whole action is structured” (Esslin, in Ganz, p.56 1972). Additionally it has given my year 12’s a greater understanding of Lecoq who writes, “We begin, with silence, for the spoken word often forgets the roots from which it grew, and it is a good thing for students to begin by placing themselves in the position of primal naivety, a state of innocent curiosity. In any human relationship two major zones of silence emerge: before and after speech. Before, when no words have been spoken, one is in a state of modesty which allows words to be born out of silence; in this state strength comes from avoiding explanatory discourse. By taking these silent situations, and working on human nature, we can rediscover those moments when the words do not yet exist. The other kind of silence comes afterwards.” – Lecoq, The Moving Body
• In a crazy five period day, with rehearsals before school and lunch, with meetings and everything else that goes with teaching, I have a moment to catch my breath. Well actually a minute and a half every lesson! I force myself to stop with my students and take the time to process what happened the lesson before. I am much more present at the start of my lessons and more relaxed by the time we begin. 

​This is now my practice in everyone of my classes. You should make it yours too. I promise you will see the effects immediately and I am 99.9% sure it will increase educational outcomes. As Mudge (2007) argues priority should be placed on ‘slow, meditative thinking’ in order to complement ‘fast, linear thinking’ and cultivate wisdom, for it is in these moments of silence that students are truly transformed (p.25).

References
​Berryman, J. W. (1999). Silence is stranger than it used to be: Teaching silence and the future of humankind. Religious Education, 94(3), 256-272.
 
Bright, P. (2008). Ascending to wisdom: A Christian pedagogy. In M. Ferrari and G. Potworowski. (Eds.). Teaching for wisdom. (pp. 163-176). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.
 
Haskins, C. (2010). Integrating silence practices inside the classroom. Encounter: Education for meaning and social justice, 23(3), 15-20.
 
Kessler, R. (2000). The Soul of Education: Helping students find connection, compassion and character at school. Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
 
Meyer, J. H. F., & Land, R. (2013). Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge: An introduction. In J. H. F. Meyer & R. Land (Eds.). Overcoming barriers to student understanding: Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge, (pp. 3-18). London & New York: Routledge.
 
Miller, J. P. (2006). Timeless learning. In Educating for wisdom and compassion, creating conditions for timeless learning. (pp. 3-14). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
 
Mudge, P. (2007). Meditative thinking and ‘dwelling upon’ – A perennial challenge for the religious educator. Journal of Religious Education, 55(2), p.20-27.
 
Mudge, P. (2009). Towards a reclaiming framework of ‘knowing’ in spirituality and education for the promotion of holistic learning and well-being - kataphatic and apophatic ways of knowing. In M. de Souza, L. Francis, J.O’Higgins-Norman, and D. Scott (Eds.). International handbook of education and spirituality, care and wellbeing. (Chapter 32, pp. 611-629). Two Volumes. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer Academic Publishers.
 
Mudge, P. (2013). ‘Crossing frontiers without a map’ – the role of threshold concepts and problematic knowledge in religious education and spirituality. Waikato Journal of Education, 19(2), 51-67.

A major work can be challenging for both students and their parents. Parents may feel that they do not have the content knowledge or skill to fully understand the project or support their child. However, parents can play an important role in the development of the major work and are vital to a child’s success. Parents can support their child in the following ways:

Understand what is being asked of them - Each major work has set requirements and a marking criteria. Ask your child to share this information with you. Alternatively, you can access the criteria from the Board of Studies Website. This information is generally available in the Assessment and Reporting documentation. (See links provided below.) Speak to your child about what is required and help them develop a written plan of attack or a to-do checklist.

Provide them with opportunities for creative inspiration - Each major work challenges students to think creatively and critically. However, creative inspiration and ideas are not easy to come by and can be difficult to muster particularly in times of stress. Take your child to the theatre, an art gallery, a concert, museum or even on a simple bush walk. This will trigger new ideas and refresh the brain for creative inspiration.

Help them create a project work area - Ideally it would be great if your child had a designated space in which they could work and leave their project. If the work is consistently laid out students will be more inclined to stop and ponder as they walk by. A designated space can also save time particularly in the design process. You could even encourage your child to create a vision board full of visual ideas and inspiration to hang in this space.

Speak to them about their work - Show an interest and encourage them to share their ideas with you. Ask them questions about their work to stimulate their thought process. If you see a problem with their plan provide them with critical feedback…. but approach it gently!!! Using the phrases “I like” and “I wonder” can be a subtle way to affirm their work and give suggestions. Eg. I like how you have used texture in this design. However, I wonder if the colours you have chosen could be more vibrant. Many major works include a portfolio or logbook. If they are willing, ask them to share it with you. Reading their portfolio or logbook could give you some great starting points for discussion

Encourage them to set time aside during the week to work on their project without interruptions - Help them find a set time where they can work uninterrupted each week for an hour or two on their project. Having a large block of time to really immerse themselves in the process is important if they are to make adequate progress. If possible, ensure this time is uninterrupted by occupying siblings or reducing noise in the house. 

Love them - Most importantly they need you to love them through the process. They will get stressed, they will get tired and they will want to give up. In these moments reassure them that you love them no matter what. Make them a cup of tea, bake them brownies, give them a pep talk, generate laughter in the house, watch a movie together and most importantly forgive them when they take their stress out on you
                                        …because in the end their mark doesn’t matter, they do.

Links
Design and Technology
- https://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/design-technology-assessment-reporting.pdf 
Drama
- http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/drama-assessment-reporting.pdf 
Music 1
- https://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/music-1-assessment-reporting.pdf 
Music 2
- https://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/music-2-assessment-reporting.pdf
Society and Culture
-http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/society-culture-assessment-reporting-2014.pdf
Visual Art
​- http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/visual-arts-assessment-reporting.pdf

Image by Tim Arterbury, Sourced from Unsplash.

To the mother who says their daughter is ‘too smart’ to study Drama,
 
First of all, congratulations on being the mother a beautiful, talented young lady. I am a mother too and I can feel the pride you have for your little girl. You tell me you want her to succeed in life and reach her full potential. I want the same for her too and that is why she should study Drama.
 
You see your daughter loves Drama. When you let her take it for Year 9 and 10 she fell in love with the subject. It became her outlet. Her opportunity to express herself in ways she had never experienced before. It was a chance for her to get to know her peers and let them see her in a different light. She was given a break from sitting behind a desk for hours, she was given freedom to move, she was taught life and she loved it.
 
Yes, she was taught life. Drama is about the world and it’s people. In Drama my students are explicitly taught how to relate to others. They learn the importance of trust. They learn how to respectfully work together to reach a creative goal. They learn empathy as they step into characters from worlds beyond that of a teenage girl. They learn compassion, sensitivity and acceptance. My students refer to their classmates as their ‘drama family’. They leave the social constraints of the playground behind as they step into the drama space listening and responding to students different to those they usually associate with… and that’s before we even touch the curriculum they are learning.
 
But that is not all.
 
Your daughter is learning about herself in Drama. She is learning how to use her most important communication tools – her voice and her body. Just like you taught her how to say her first words and helped her balance on the soles of her little feet, Drama can help her refine and control each element of her voice and body manipulating it expertly to express her deepest thoughts and feelings. She will have the confidence to step in front of that courtroom and bring home that closing statement. She will move listeners as she reports from the front lines about the atrocities she has laid witness too.  She will convincingly assure the grant review panel that her research deserves funding. She will be able to engage a nation as she shares her newest policy.
 
Yet that is not all.
 
She will learn to feel. She will develop self-esteem, tenacity, grit, courage and heart. She will overcome nerves or at the very least learn how to use them. She will learn resilience. Taking creative risks will become second nature because when we take creative risks we discover new and wonderful and ever so exciting things. She will learn to improvise, to think on her feet and isn’t that handy given that life is improvised?
 
Yes, in drama social-emotional learning comes in bucket fulls. In fact, I can’t name another subject that does it better which means I am preparing her best for the workplace of the future. Don’t believe me? The World Economic Forum has found that children must explicitly learn social and emotional skills if they are to thrive in the 21st Century landscape (WEF, 2016).  According to the WEF there are sixteen skills required for survival in the 21st Century including foundational literacies (which I will address in the moment), critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration, curiosity, initiative, persistence, adaptability, leadership and social/cultural awareness. That list is my curriculum.
Critical thinking = improvisation/directing.
Creativity = everything in my class.
Communication = body and voice.
Collaboration = explicitly working together.
And I could go on, but I don’t want to sing the song of ‘I told you so’.
 
But as for literacy….
 
Did you know that students who experience drama increase their reading comprehension? Maybe it is because we live and breathe a text as though it were life and therefore comprehension is a non-negotiable consequence. As we examine the power of words, the power of movement, the power of stillness we stumble upon and express the social, cultural, political, historical and personal issues of life. It is not only reading literacy, it is world literacy.
 
Still this is not all.
 
Did you know that students who study drama maintain better attendance records? Stay generally more engaged in school than their non-arts counterparts? That schools which embrace art-centred programs even in low economic areas report high academic achievement? Did you know that students who study arts subjects have higher standardised test scores then their peers who do not experience the arts? (AATE, 2014)
 
I guess you didn’t because if you did we wouldn’t be having this conversation. There would be no doubt that your child is taking drama. Yet here we are and I know why we are.
 
We are here because you daughter comes home and says, “We had so much fun in drama today”. We are here because she told you of that game we played. I want you to know that she was telling the truth. We did have fun. We did play a game… maybe even more then one. We did dress up and laugh until tears ran down our face. We did pretend we were garden gnomes and witches and crocodile hunters. We may have even danced.
 
But that does not mean we were not learning.
 
Tell me, at what point did learning become so mundane and lifeless? Think about it. When did you learn the most? When you had someone breathing down your neck as you sat in rows of desks or when you were out experiencing life – the highs and the lows? Do you learn better when you are having fun and love the content you are studying or do you learn better when you are forced to memorise something you hate? Do you learn better when you are given the freedom to take risks and fail or when you are told that the mark as the end is the be all and end all? Having fun, feeling, playing means that we are not only learning, but we are doing it the best way possible.
 
You daughter is not ‘too smart’ to study Drama. Like every other child in my class, she is just where she needs to be. In a place where she is valued, lifted up, challenged, encouraged and loved. A place where she experiences freedom to explore and express who she is and what she believes. A place where she can learn and have fun at the very same time.
 
So please, reconsider. Drama will give you daughter every opportunity to reach her full potential. Will you?
 
Warm regards,
A Drama Teacher

Nothing gives me more professional joy then directing the school production. After moving schools recently I took a break from productions to establish my classroom practice, get to know my new students and become accustomed culture of the school. However I missed the creative outlet massively and was glad to finally get back to directing.

We entered the glass double doors of the theatre.
“Miss?”, piped up one of my year 11 students, “What exactly is this play about?”. 
I pretended not to hear.
“Aboriginal history…”, said the overly enthusiastic drama student who had googled the play the night before. 
​There was a collective groan.
 
Now I am going to stop here. I was with a group of  sixteen-year-old girls from suburban Sydney. They are not ignorant or self-centred...ok, maybe a little sheltered…but generally an awesome bunch of kids. However, I knew deep down this would be their response.
 
We were about to see The Secret River by Andrew Bovell. It is a play about William Thornhill, a convict who has the opportunity to purchase his own piece of land on the Hawkesbury River. The play explores the challenges of life in Australia at the time of early settlement for both settlers and Indigenous Australians. This play is set in a world my students have read endlessly about it history books; addresses issues they have debated at length in humanity subjects; contains people whose spirituality they have examined in depth in religion... yet they weren’t interested.
 
“Why do we have to do this in EVERY subject?”, moans a student loudly.
“Because this is our story and story is important”, I reply.
“We know the story. We have learnt about it every year since kindy. What more is there to learn?”
I decided not to respond.

I led the girls through the door to the auditorium. They stopped suddenly.
“Whoa.”
“That's so beautiful.”
“Amazing.”
The trunk engulfed the entire back wall of the stage, spanning from the floor beyond the reaches of the visible ceiling. Cathedral like. Billowing. Breath-taking. This gumtree provoked an emotional response from my students and immediately they were hooked. We took our seats. Coals of a small campfire glowed downstage.
 
“Is the fire real Miss?”
“Just enjoy the magic of the theatre”, I say. “Try not to analyse it.”
 
They sat in silence absorbing all there was to see, hear and smell. Their senses were enlivened and it was at this moment the learning began. 

As they watched the play, I saw them smiling.
I saw them gaping.
I saw them moved to tears.
I saw their fear.
I saw their anguish.
But most importantly I saw connection.
Theatre is personal.
 
At the end they didn’t move. For the first time ever my class was speechless. I didn’t rush them out. I just sat with them waiting for them to process all they had witnessed. Eventually one spoke.
“It is so sad.”
“I feel sad too.”
“I never knew it was that bad…”
“That hard…”
“That horrific.”
“For all of them.”
“I get it now.”
"I didn't know theatre was so beautiful."
 
As they began to process what they have witnessed the discussion came thick and fast. All the way home they asked questions, posed answers and made connections with their learning in other subjects. Their history books just came alive and they were highly engaged. My students were connected emotionally to the content.
 
Recent neuroscience studies have begun to uncover the importance of emotional connection in learning.  As Immordino-Yang (2016) writes, it makes sense that we think deeply about things we care about, which in turn has an implication for teaching and learning.  She says “…we need to find ways to leverage the emotional aspects of learning in education”.
 
Connection has to be at the core of our teaching. Emotion fuels curiosity. Students must find personal meaning and purpose in their studies.  Drama is one way that an emotional connection can be fused effectively. Students are encouraged to walk in another’s shoes or have an emotional response as an audience to the stories of others. For me it is the way into learning.
 
By taking students to the theatre, or on an excursion into the real world where their senses are stimulated we are leveraging the emotional aspects of learning. By sharing personal stories of our lives or the lives of others we are leveraging the emotional aspects of learning. By asking students to view the world from another perspective through reading, writing, watching, debating, research or any other means we are leveraging the emotional aspects of learning. By asking our students what they want to learn about or what matters to them we are leveraging the emotional aspects of learning. By making the content relevant to their lives and experiences we are leveraging the emotional aspects of learning.
 
Like the tall reaching gumtree of The Secret River the possibilities are endless, breathtaking. We as teachers need to plant the seed and continue to nurture the emotional connections of the students in our care....
and take our students to the theatre more often!

Reference
Bovell, A. (2013). The Secret River. 
Immordino-Yang, M. H. (2016). ​Why Emotions Are Integral to Learning. Retrieved from Mindshift.

Image by Wayne Robinson. Sourced from Unsplash.

To articulate how exhausting this week has been would be impossible.
I sometimes wonder how we get by in this profession...

but then you are standing side stage at 9pm at night, blisters on your feet, watching from the curtains as 150 students stand on stage in front of a loving community made up of their peers, families and teachers;
the words of Beyonce's 'I Was Here' ring out across the crowd as each student lights a candle
​and lifts it joyously above their head...

and I no longer wonder.

This week I don't have forty pieces of joy, I have a 150.
1​50 beams of light shining as bright as they possibly can.

We all long to be seen. Truly seen.
 
As adults we crave the stare of our partners, the acknowledgement of our employers the acceptance of our peers. This parallels with the world of a child, a teenager. Replace the word partner with parent, employer with teacher.
 
I often have colleagues say to me, “I can’t believe little Johnny does Drama. He doesn’t say boo in my classroom.” Meanwhile, ‘little Johnny’ is never quiet in Drama because for the first time he feels visible. Teachers also say, “Oh little Annie is a ‘drama queen’. I bet she does Drama.” I want to let those teachers know that little Annie is never a ‘drama queen’ in Drama because she doesn’t have to fight to be seen or heard.
 
As teachers we are spirit builders.  We have the power to build the spirit of a child and we have the power to knock it down. The most significant way we can be builders is by quenching the thirst of our students to be seen.  We must let them know that we see them and provide them with opportunities to become visible.
 
There are many ways we can do this as teachers. The first step is by identifying the students that possess the invisibility cloak.
Which students were invisible in your class today?
Which students kept their head down?
Remained silent?
Didn’t smile?
Which students misbehaved?
Called out?
Played the class clown?
Which students fought for your attention or completely avoided it?
At the end of each day as I drive home from work I run through these questions in my mind and I begin identifying those students that lack visibility.
 
The second step is letting them know you see them. I purposely go out of my way to have a conversation with them as they enter my classroom, during the lesson or as I pass them in the corridors. I call on them in class when I know they are able to contribute. I say things like, “I think the class really needs to hear what you think about this topic….”, “I know you spent a lot of time on this task can you share your awesome work with everyone…”. Common sense huh? It may be, but it is so easy to pass them by or only call on the keen hand risers in the class.
 
Let’s take it one step further. How can we make these students visible to others?
 
I started making this my personal mission. The kid with no confidence but all the potential in the world would get the lead role in whatever production I was working on. The boy who every other teacher had written off as ‘trouble’ or ‘a waste of time’ would just about be guaranteed to play Jesus in the Easter Liturgy. Shakespeare was my ally. Every kid that was known as ‘stupid’ or ‘dumb’ would smash out soliloquies in front of large audiences changing others perceptions almost immediately. I make kids that can’t perform for whatever reason film directors, assistant directors on the school production, team leaders, stage managers, designers or writers. I work to find their strengths and give them an opportunity to remove their invisibility cloak and shine.
 
Regardless of which subject or age group you teach, there are always opportunities to move the spotlight onto each and every student. You just have to seek them out and be willing to take a risk on these kids.  
 
We, as teachers, can make the invisible visible.
We can turn ‘no confidence’ into ‘flowing with confidence’.
We can take E’s and turn them into A’s.
We can transform the bad egg into a 5 star dish.
We are spirit builders.
 
And we begin building the spirits of our students by really, truly seeing them.

My students gather around a piece of butcher’s paper. We have been studying a text and I want them to engage with it on a deeper level. 

“On this piece of paper, I would like you to all draw in silence a series of symbols that fully embody the themes and issues presented through the text.” 

They begin drawing. One girl jumps right in and draws a love heart - (The title of the play has ‘love’ in it). One girl writes some numbers - (The title of the play has the word ‘information’ in it.) Slowly another draws a puzzle with pieces missing; one draws a persons head with the tongue rolled out like a sheet of paper and numbers, symbols dripping out of the mouth; one draws a human being using binary code. More images flow and then they stop. We discuss.

“What images attract your attention? Engage you? Evoke emotion or cause you to question?”

Immediately students speak of the paper-tongued lady, the missing puzzle pieces and the human made up solely of information. When they were done, I asked,

“And who drew the heart?”

The kid that drew the heart (a bright and intelligent young lady I might add) begins to apologise, make excuses, explaining she can’t draw. She realises the superficiality of her work from our discussion. I interrupt her apology with the following,

“Thank you for failing.”

“MISSSSS!!!”, she declares. 

“Thank you for drawing what everyone else was first thinking. If you didn’t draw it someone else would have and now we can have a rich discussion because you pushed them to think further. We can also discuss why the play isn’t just this (pointed to heart) or this (pointed to the symbols). Thank you for failing, because if you didn’t then I have no purpose in this room.” 

She looked at me confused as my thanks was both heart-felt and genuine. It was not sarcastic or trite. It was warm and comforting. We then began to dissect why it wasn’t just about love or just about information and by the end of the lesson all the students in my class could see the rich layers within the text. 

This is one example of my new strategy - ‘Thank you for failing.’ I have been using it a lot over the last few weeks. At first there is the initial declaration of my name in horror, “MISSSSSS!!!” but when my students realise I am truly grateful for their error they begin to own their mistakes. This is the culture I want in my classroom.

My year 11’s already know my mantra - “If we aren’t failing, we aren’t learning.” They will heartedly joke that it is ok to ‘Fail in Drama’. They twist my words, but they do truly understand my intention. By creating a space where failing is valued, students become more open to taking risks, more likely to have a go answering a question and lastly become more resilient.

We need to change the language around failure to reverse the negative. When a student gives an incorrect answer to a question or makes an error in a practical task, harness it as a valuable learning experience rather than sighing and moving onto the next student. 

“Why did you think this was the answer?”
“This isn’t the answer so what do you think you may have missed?”
“Why didn’t this work out for you today?”
“What could we do better next time?”

And thank them. Thank them explicitly and whole-heartedly for their mistakes because if they were perfect all the time, there would be no need for teachers.