Using Drama to Reflect, Question and

Transform

Margaret Branscombe

University of South Florida

mbranscombe@mail.usf.edu

How this fits in JoLLE?

Drama is…

•Multimodal literacy

•Activist literacy

•Transformative literacy

Why should we care?Future teachers are being assessed on their ability to reflect

But, do they ‘get’ what real reflection is about?

Zzzzzzzzzzzz factor!

The call for creativity within all professions is getting louder

“Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it” Bertolt

Brecht

Research QuestionsWhat are the affordances of drama to the practice of reflecting?

What are preservice teacher perceptions about the affordances of drama within a teacher education program?

What is ethnodrama?

Roots are in ethnography - the study of a culture

The culture being studied is that of the preservice teacher’s internship experience

A definition “Dramatizing the data” (Saldana, 2005, p.2)

The data is the preservice teachers’ reflections

Theoretical influences

Donald Schon “The Reflective Practitioner”

Augusto Boal “Theatre of the Oppressed”

Paolo Freire “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”

“To exist humanly is to name the world, to change it. Once named, the world in its turn

reappears to the namers as a problem and requires them a

new naming. Human beings are not built in silence but in word, in work, in action – reflection.”

(Freire, 1997)

Methods

Case study (Carroll, 1996)

Data: video, semi-structured interviews and written accounts of drama experience by preservice teachers

Analysis

Categorization of data

1. Drama affordances for reflecting

2. Drama affordances within teacher education program

Further analysis of drama affordances into codes:

Suited individual’s learning style (SILS)Visual representation of reflections (VRR)

Critical stance (CS)Opportunity to share experiences (OSE)

Learning about the art form (LAF)What would I do? (WWID)

Engagement (E)New perspectives (NP)

ResultsDrama as offering a ‘new perspective’ when reflecting

Drama as an engaging activity

Unexpected - the ‘I am not alone’ experience (as both performer and audience member)

DiscussionDrama affordances applied to other methods courses in education, e.g. classroom management

Engagement factor applicable to all learning

Drama is reflecting in action

A tool to be used by preservice teachers in schools

Boal, A. (1979). Theatre of the Oppressed. London: Pluto Press

Bowell, P. & Heap, B. (2001). Planning Process Drama. London: David Fulton

Publishers

Carroll, J. (1996). Escaping the information abattoir: Critical and transformative research in drama classrooms. In P. Taylor (Ed.) Researching drama and arts education: Paradigms and possibilities. London: Falmer Press.

Freire, P. (2011). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum

Heathcote, D. (1984). In Johnstone, L. & O’Neill, C. (eds.). Collected Writings on Education and Drama. London: Hutchinson

Howard, T. C. & Aleman, G. R. (2008). What do teachers need to know? In Cochran-Smith, M., Demer, K. E., Feimer-Nemser, S., & McIntyre, D. J. Handbook of Research on Teacher Education. New York: Routledge.

Saldana, J. (2005). Ethnodrama: An anthology of reality theatre. AltaMira Press: Walnut creek, CA

Schon, D. (1983) The reflective practitioner. Basic books, Inc: USA

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