My year 10's are a quirky bunch - spirited, curious and sensitive. I had initially planned to finish the year with a unit on comedy, but after an inspirational discussion with my 6 year old I decided to through the unit out and try something different. I have called this new unit of work The Genius Project and I will blog about it in detail once I have completed the unit with my quirky, spirited, curious and sensitive year 10's, but in essence it stems from the concept of Genius Hour . 

As a lead into this unit (and out of my own spirited, curious nature), I posed a question. I told my students that there were no wrong answers only right ones and that they should put no limitations on what they wrote. I was so intrigued by there answers that I asked them if I could publish them here. They said, 'Spread the word Miss. This is where education should be at!' (or something along those lines). So here is their answers to the question we all should be asking. I haven't changed or adapted the list in anyway. This is verbatim. What will I do with their answers now that I have them? I will listen. 

The Question We Should Be Asking
What do YOU wish you could learn in school?

The Answers
I want to learn:

• To take amazing photos
• Self Defence
• How to do ‘grown-up’ things
• I want to learn to make nuggets crispy without burning them
• To fix the wifi
• Body health
• How to make candles
• How our mind works
• How to live our lives to the fullest
• About the lifestyles of different cultures
• To draw
• How to make movies
• Magic
• How to buy and sell a house
• How to do taxes
• How to start a life
• About mythology
• How to be smart
• To be a wizard
• What it is like to do each subject in university
• The reality of what it is like after school
• Psychology
• How to be successful
• How to be disease free and healthy
• How to scuba-dive
• Mind reading
• How to look good
• About how other people live
• How can we travel to the places no one else knows
• How can we become amazing humans
• How to drive
• How to make clothes
• About time travel
• What it is like to walk in another persons shoes
• How to make fireworks
• Robotics
• More experiments
• History (Middle Ages, Kings and Queens)
• How to be philosopher
• Conventions of society – How we are supposed to act and why
• How to be a mermaid (I told you they were spirited)

Additional notes they added to their list:

• Make a school based on creativity
• I want my classes to be outside

Image by Greg Rakozy via Unsplash.

Yes, I know what you are thinking - “Um, really? Drama teachers?” Drama teachers generally sit at the bottom of the educational food chain. “I mean, how hard can a puppet show really be to pull together? It’s just dressing up, playing games, having fun right? This is not what good teaching and learning looks like.”

You are wrong. 

Today I sat in a wonderful PD session run by some amazing colleagues of mine. They were discussing ways to ensure that our students became life long learners. Teachers were asked "What do we want the students we teach to be like when they are adults?" The answers included risk-takers, curious, creative thinkers, reflective, listeners, confident, creative, open to ideas, empathetic and adventurous amongst others. I sat there thinking, “This is what drama teachers do and do well.”

So here are six things I believe all teachers can learn from Drama teachers.

1. Play - There is one maths teacher that walks past my classroom on a daily basis and every time she looks through the door of my classroom she cringes. What she sees makes absolutely no sense to her. You can guarantee that whenever she is walking past she may be blasted by a strange noise, confronted by two students sword fighting in the corridor, witness a masked greek townsperson crying out in disgust or be greeted by a student bursting out the door only to turn directly around and burst straight back in making the grandest of entrances. In this moment she sees chaos; I see students playing, imagining, exploring the world, empathising with it’s people, taking risks, developing confidence in front of their peers, collaborating, trusting and most significantly learning.

Charles Schaefer wrote, “We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing.” All teachers should build play into their daily practice. Play with numbers in maths. Play with words in English. Play with materials in DT. Play with elements in Science. When we play we are engaged. We are exploring our world. We are learning about ourselves and we are learning to work with those playing with us. 

2. Teach The Whole Student - In Drama we are not teaching facts, we are not teaching equations -  we are teaching people. We are teaching people how to feel, how to interact with others, how to respond to the world and express ideas and feelings about what they see and experience. This can make Drama teaching exhausting some days, but it is also the most rewarding element. 

When students are giving an answer in Drama they are giving of themselves. They must be completely present; they must show up; they must participate. Drama teaches students about themselves and by learning about themselves they become more confident, more self-assured and more empathetic to others. 

Aristotle said, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” So let’s give students the opportunity to know themselves. Teach them how maths is relevant to their life and experience. Teach them the science of emotions. Teach them about their cultures, their world, their lives and explicitly connect it to who they are. They will be engaged, reflective and curious in their learning.

3. Collaborate Daily - I don’t think I have ever taught a lesson in my class where students were expected to work through the entire period on their own. We are constantly collaborating. If we aren’t working in groups, we are working in pairs. Even if a student is working on an individual project they are sharing the work with their classmates, constantly seeking feedback and suggestions. In order for this to work I explicitly teach collaboration and team work skills at the start of the year. I teach trust and listening as core skills. I assess their ability to collaborate and provide them with ongoing suggestions on ways to improve in this area. All Drama teachers do.

Yes, Drama lends itself to collaboration, but doesn’t every subject? Build a culture of collaboration in your classroom. Start each lessons with a problem that must be solved in pairs. Use google docs to write a group essay (one paragraph each). Embrace group discussion. Encourage peer assessment and feedback. Set team challenges on a weekly basis. Mix up groups and partners every lesson to allow students to develop new relationships amongst their peers. If this collaborative environment is nurtured correctly and taught explicitly, students will become open to new ideas, empathetic towards others, and fantastic listeners.

4. Change The Physical Environment - I have one highly intelligent student who enters my classroom and either commando rolls or spins or leaps or runs through the door every Drama lesson. Why? She has told me that she feels free. Free to move, free to explore, free to be herself instead of sitting contained at a desk every other lesson. 

What does my classroom look like? Basically an open space. I have two desks for quiet writing and work if needed. We generally work on the floor in a circle, even when we are writing or I am giving direct instruction. I don’t have a whiteboard. Instead we collaborate on the mirrors and windows in my classroom with liquid chalk or butcher’s paper. The students work-in-progress is plastered on my walls making thinking visible. I currently have an entire script of a play on one wall so we can all stand around discussing different points of interest rather then all hiding in separate books behind desks. I have chairs in a cupboard that I can pull out if needed. I have cushions against a window. Boxes that can be converted into makeshift collaborative tables. I expand into the corridors if I require separate group space and if I still need more room to move I take them outside. My classroom allows them to work comfortably, freely and collaboratively. This encourages students to become creative in their thinking, adventurous and confident in themselves. 

Teachers of the world listen up. Remove your furniture. Replace it with various work areas that allow freedom of choice for your students. Create a flexible space that encourages collaboration and open discussion. Build an environment that allows freedom and creative expression. 

5. Assess The Process - In Drama we asses three areas - Performing, Making and Critically Analysing. The most interesting and difficult part of this is assessing the making. We mark the creative process. This encourages students to really focus on the decisions they are making, examine how they are collaborating and authentically establish and refine the thinking process as they work towards the final product. The whole method allows us as teachers to concentrate on the learning taking place and the individual growth of the students throughout the process.

There are various ways we do this - observational records, logbooks, self and peer assessment, questioning, progress assessments throughout the unit and reflective essays documenting how they approached a task. These could all be strategies used in each and every classroom. Throughout the last term we worked on a large group project. At the end of each lesson all groups had to show the class what they had achieved that lesson and received feedback from their peers. Each individual student needed to document the process and reflect on their learning in their logbook during and after each lesson. I also collected observational records on how each group was collaborating and the contributions of each individual student. Two-thirds of the way through the term each group had to present a raw performance (unpolished) in order to receive extensive feedback from myself and their classmates on how they could take the piece to the next level before their final assessment. This made the process extremely transparent and shifted the focus from the final product to the learning. These are all strategies that could be implemented in other classrooms despite the topic area.

6. Allow Your Students To Fail - My year 11’s will clearly articulate that it is ok to ‘fail in Drama’. This is because I say to them all the time, “If we aren’t failing we aren’t learning.” Throughout my lessons the students in my class are expected to perform, contribute and participate in every moment. This is difficult because when they are giving an answer in Drama they are giving of themselves; they are putting themselves on the line. I need my classroom to be a safe place, built on trust and love (and of course joy) so they will give everything a go. After developing a safe environment where failing is valued as part of the process students start becoming risk-takers. Creating this culture is difficult but completely worth it.

One way I encourage this is by modelling risk-taking myself. My lessons frequently start with,  ‘Today in class we are going to try this… I haven’t tried this before… It may not work but let’s give this ago.’ Additionally at the start of the year I tell my classes, “I am not going to ask you to do something I am not willing to do myself.” Yes, they call me out on it often and yes I get up straight away and put myself on the line…. and sometimes I fail and that is ok. They learn that it is ok. Ok to take risks and fail. Ok to make mistakes. And they also learn that by taking risks they win. They discover something great. They achieve more then they ever expected. They find the best in themselves. And we talk about it and we write about it and we learn from it.

I know other teachers do many of these things, but Drama teachers do them smashingly well! Drama teachers teach their students to be risk-takers, curious, creative thinkers, reflective, listeners, confident, creative, open to ideas, empathetic and adventurous amongst other things. 

What life-long skills are you teaching your students? What could other teachers learn from your area of teacher expertise? If you would like to share what we could learn as teachers from your area of teaching please email me. I would love to hear from you. 

1. Know your students - As they enter the room greet the students and touch base with them about something you know they have been doing; find out about their interests; learn the names of their friends; comment on things you have heard they have succeeded in outside your classroom. I begin each lesson in a circle (easy when you teach drama!) and finish each lesson in circle. This gives me the opportunity to make eye-contact with all my students, smile at each and everyone of them and check in and out with them as they come to and from the space.

2. Practice gratitude daily - There are many ways you can bring gratitude to your classroom. (Check out The Up Jar for one awesome way.) Make gratitude a daily practice. Give students an opportunity to thank each other for their contributions in the lesson and make sure you thank them too. Reflect on your lesson by making a gratitude list (either in your chronicle or just in your head). Eg. Today I was grateful that John asked Alice to work with him. Today I was grateful that the technology worked! Today I was grateful the Katrina actually made it to class for the first time this week. Today I was grateful for the effort Lauren applied when completing her written work. You will start seeing your students in a new light. 

3. Use music as a way to set the tone of your classroom - If you walk past my classroom you will often hear music seeping through the door. If I want my students to be energetic and full of life for the lesson I will play upbeat music as they enter the classroom. If I want my students to be calm and focussed, the music they hear as they enter let’s them know this. Classical music signals that they need to write quietly, mellow music is used to accompany serious group discussion. I have music for all moods, all occasions and all classes on my computer waiting to be played whenever I need it. I also get students to make music suggestions (things they like or listen to), which forces me to expand my library and gives me another way to connect with them. Of course there is time for silence and listening too. My all time favourite thing to do though is have a dance break. Yes, a dance break. When my students have been working really hard, have hit a creative wall or need to a moment to reconnect with each other we dance…. dance = joy. 

4. Create a space that brings out their happy - Make the environment a space they like coming to and don’t want to leave. Decorate with bright colours, inspiration and your students work, A space that brings out happiness, celebrates creativity and oozes life will help your students feel happy, be creative and ready themselves for learning. Where would you rather be - a brown brick classroom with desks in rows and a whiteboard up the front or a colourful, collaborative space that celebrates learning and creativity? Primary teachers are great at this, but secondary teachers generally need to step it up!

5. Build in student choice - When students have a choice about how they learn, what they learn about and who they learn it with, then I find they a much happier. Yes we are governed by curriculum, but there are ways to creatively differentiate tasks and build in student choice. Check out the Learning Matrix for some starting ideas. It also forces students to take responsibility for their own learning and establish self-directed practices that will assist them long-term. 

If you would like to contribute 5 ways that you bring joy into your classroom I would love to hear from you. Please email me or comment below. 

Our school operates under a vertical tutor group system. This means that each morning I get to spend a short period of time with a wonderful group of girls from year 7 through to year 12. I am meant to mentor them through their schooling years and provide them with pastoral and academic care. I view this as a privilege and an honour and I want to ensure that my students flourish under my care and guidance. However, this can be challenging when I only see them for 20 minutes, 4 times a week.

At the start of this year I asked my students what they wanted to use their tutor group time for, the answers were varied, but one struck a deep chord with me. A quiet year 12 student said, "I would love to have more meaningful conversations... deeper conversations... about the world and stuff." Yes, the world and stuff.... deep huh? Then I realised, when do we ever give the students a chance just to reflect on their week, their day, their lives, the world? When do the just sit together and listen to each other without the pressure of completing work or being graded? So, I decided to do something about it.

This term we have embarked on The Tuesday Project. On a Tuesday the girls come into tutor group, sit in a circle and ready themselves to listen. I have a jar which holds a number of conversation starters. I draw one out of the jar and we begin. The results have been amazing. This week one student, who appears to be confident and self-assured, shared that she is lonely in her classes. The other students in the group gave her strategies to try and alleviate her loneliness and also discussed how they could help others that might be in lonely in their classes.  Last week, the question was 'What do you love about yourself?' and two of the students in my group couldn't answer. The other students responded by listing what they loved about these two girls.  Meanwhile, another question led one student to concede she wanted to be a lobster farmer when she left school!

I believe that deeper conversations in the classroom can lead to more self-awareness, care for others, resilience, the development of active listening skills and a more mindful and nurturing school environment.

This term I am sourcing my conversation starters from Momastery's Key Jar as a starting point. Next term I am going to ask the students to write two of their own questions to place in our jar. I am excited about this project and the deeper conversations we are yet to have.