A quick user's guide to Teacher in Role

This will be useful for those of you who are using the drama idea from this months Bamboozle Bite. If you don't yet receive the bites go onto the website and sign up for the newsletter.  Or if you want to see what you are getting for your time investment [there is no money to pay - it is free.) go to our "What we do" page and click on Bamboozle Bites at the bottom of the list on the left which takes you to the archived Bites. 

Having a member of staff playing a role in classroom drama is a great way to engage students in all sorts of learning.  Many drama sessions are improved by using someone in role as a character from the drama or from a story you are telling.  Having a member of staff play a role within the drama is a highly flexible technique that allows you to provide the class with a whole variety of experiences.  It opens up a mass of learning opportunities which can make any drama session more exciting and can deepen how the students identify with, and respond to, a story.  It is also lots of fun.  For some staff the idea of playing a role seems daunting at first – in fact all staff are able to do it, you just need a few tips. 
So what do you need to know in order to play a role effectively? – particularly if you have little experience of drama and would describe yourself as someone who ‘can’t act?’  The first, and most important, thing to stress is that it is not about being able to act.  It is more about representing someone – doing what they might do, saying what they might say – in an authentic and believable way so that the students have someone to identify with.

Some do’s and don’ts when representing a character.
 

Do

• believe you can represent this person – because you can – as long as you can breathe and think – you can play a role
• be willing sometimes to say nothing and/or do very little – the facilitator is in control of what happens and can stop the action if needs be – students are very capable of giving ideas when a character does and says very little.
• ask for help of colleagues or the students before ‘going into role’.  Such questions as: “What do you think I should do when I first come out of the shelter?”  “Do you think I am worried in this situation – or am I quite happy with how things are?” will help to get the students involved and give you advice.
• have fun

Don’t

• act.  The very few times that I have found a role not to work is when the person playing it has been too busy demonstrating their acting prowess to realise what was needed.   All you are doing is being there to represent a character so that the students can respond.
• put on accents – unless you are accomplished, and even then it can be a distraction “Isn’t miss clever” – your everyday voice if perfect
• be concerned if things go wrong – this is not the National Theatre it is just a drama session – and the beauty of a drama session is that we can do it again – in fact, nearly all situations benefit from being done again – students have a chance to see more of the action and make more suggestions
• try and be too realistic – it is not real, it is drama.  You are representing a character so you and your students can think about the issues or dilemmas the character is faced with

I wish you lots of fun with this.  If you have not used a role in this way before you will be opening up a whole new way of working with your class which I can guarantee will be lots of fun and you may be amazed at how your group responds.

Posted Sep 12, 01:29 PM in category Drama-ideas Motivation-tips

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