Drama and Literacy in Education: Active learning through participation

Tuesday 10 July – Primary in-service teachers' workshop
Wednesday 11 July – Secondary in-service teachers' workshop

Overview

Students in drama use their literacy skills in situations that demand their participation. When students engage holistically with the meanings offered in a story, they develop new understanding of the content at both the interpersonal and the intrapersonal levels (Gardner, l983). They do so by exploring human behaviours and experiences in social circumstances under fictional pressure. In drama, we have the opportunity to draw our students' attention to what they are listening to with their eyes and seeing with their ears - that is, the accumulation and movement of meanings that lie underneath the words and the doing (Miller, & Saxton, 2004, p. 31).

Drama educates through a multiplicity of metalanguages - "the humanizing languages of the arts" (UNESCO World Arts Conference (2006, p.2) - requiring that each student brings his/her own personal contexts and feelings into play. These become the fabric with which the fictional world is woven. The interactive story drama workshops, based on picture books, offer a major contribution to the exercising of multiple literacies while offering opportunities to uncover the social (or "hidden") curriculum.

The contexts for the work will be geared either to elementary, middle and/or secondary classrooms depending on the members of the group.

Participants will be provided with a comprehensive resource guide to use with their own students.

Presenters

Carole Miller is Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction, Faculty of Education, University of Victoria. A co-author of Learning to Teach Drama: A Case Narrative Approach, and recipient of the Faculty of Education Award for Excellence in Teaching, her primary area of research is the relationship of drama to learning across the curriculum.

Juliana Saxton is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Theatre and Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Victoria. Co-author of Teaching Drama: a mind of many wonders and Asking Better Questions (now it its 2nd edition), she is recipient of the University of Victoria Alumni Teacher of Excellence award and serves as deputy University Orator.

Together Carole and Juliana wrote Into the Story: Language in Action Through Drama for generalist teachers. Tested out in classrooms of all levels over six years before being published by Heinemann, the text became the American Alliance for Theatre and Education's Distinguished Book of 2005. Co-chairs of the Academic Program for the 5th International Drama and Theatre in Education Association (IDEA) World Congress, Ottawa 2004, they very much look forward to continuing those associations through sharing their work and learning new perspectives.

References

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York: BasicBooks

Miller, C. & Saxton, J. (2004). Into the Story: Language in Action through Drama. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

UNESCO (2006). Joint Declaration of the international drama/theatre and
Education association (IDEA), international society for education through art (InSEA), international society for music education (ISME). Viseu, Portugal.
http://www.assitej.org/doc/Joint%20Declaration.pdf (retrieved March 23, 2007)

Fees & Registration

Cost: $95 per workshop (GST inclusive)

Download PDF flyer & registration form

Where & How to Get There

Venue:
Education Building - A35
Manning Road
The University of Sydney
Camperdown NSW

Download a PDF map of the campus. The Education Building is located near the geographic centre of the campus just north of 'The Square' and next to the Manning Building.

Please find public transport information here.

Please find University of Sydney Camperdown campus parking information here.

Contact

Please direct enquiries to at the DPL.