INTRODUCTION
Theatre is
a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers,
typically actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or
imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The
performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations
of gesture, speech,
song, music, and dance. Elements of art, such as painted scenery
and stagecraft such as lighting are
used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience.
THEATRE IN EDUCATION (TIE)
Theatre in education (TIE) originated in Britain in
1965 and has continued to present day. TIE typically includes a theatre company
performing in an educational setting (i.e. a school) for youth, including
interactive and performative moments.
Theatre as an educational medium uses entertainment
and humor to attract children’s attention, and emphasizes learning through the
interplay between actual and fictional contexts. The use of ‘Theatre in
Education’ (TIE) presents a novel approach to engaging young people in
education through art. Evaluations have revealed that the overwhelming majority
of students demonstrate enjoyment and enthusiasm through watching educational
theatre, are receptive and listen attentively, and can correctly identify the
educational messages being portrayed. The use of TIE began in Britain in the
mid-1960s, and grew out of recognition for child-centered education, whereby
learning is more effective when a child investigates and discovers through
active play .
The specific aim of TIE is: to harness the techniques and imaginative potency of theatre in the
service of education and to provide an experience for children that will be
intensely absorbing, challenging, even provocative, and an unrivalled stimulus
for further work on the chosen subject in and out of school.
Through performance-based education, children have the
opportunity to discover their place on the ‘world stage’. TIE has been applied
to a wide range of educational topics with children, including environmental
issues, substance use, accident prevention, abuse, neglect abuse and bullying,
social issues, nutrition, disability awareness, etc
PSYCHOLOGY
OF THEATRE IN EDUCATION
The use of theatre as an effective means of educating
young people has its basis in key psychological theories. Socio-cultural theory stems from the work of Vygotsky
and Bandura.
Vygotsky proposed learning was embedded within social
events and occurred as individuals interact with other human beings, objects
and events in the environment and this interaction helps the child learn what
is important in their culture. Similarly, Bandura emphasized the importance of
observational learning whereby children model behaviors, attitudes and
emotional responses of others according to the observed benefits and adverse
effects of those behaviors.
Participation in drama exercises and games has been
proven to bring many psychological, educational, developmental, and
sociological benefits to all those involved. By participating in drama and
having the ability to identify conflicts, children learn how to face problems
head on as well as the process needed to solve problems. They learn how to
hypothesize and test possible solutions to their problems, develop alternative
ways to approach them if the first way does not work, and even redefine
problems if they see others arise. Through creative drama, children are urged
to evaluate conflicts, process all the information presented, discover and
imagine potential resolutions, think creatively, and work together to solve a
problem.
TEACHING
AS A PERFORMING ART
Good teaching is one-fourth preparation
and three-fourths pure theatre – Gail Godwin
Lecturing from the front of the room
with the students as audience sitting passively in rows is quit a boring task. That
is not exactly the real teaching. New
teachers need to develop effective ways of being
for the classroom. To that end, understanding how performing artists work and how
actors approach a role can benefit the new educators. In addition,
participation in an acting class designed expressly for teachers will aid new
teachers in the development of the vocal, physical,
mental and emotional ways of being that will translate to greater classroom
success.
Performing,
in the classroom sense, means acting in a way that creates a positive classroom
environment that encourages student achievement. Effective teachers understand
intuitively how to perform in a classroom.
We
say and do from the tone of our voice to our gestures, body movements and
furniture layout – is performed in an artful way to maximize our effectiveness
in promoting student growth and achievement. However, for those teachers for
whom performing is not second nature, the skills required to be a most
proficient performer can be learned. That is, if there is someone available to
teach them. Unfortunately, most college methods courses focus on the whats (planning
lessons, knowing about various
pedagogical tools and technologies) and focus less on the hows of implementation and ways of being in the
classroom. But a teacher has to seek various methods of transaction of the
content through various hows. For this a teacher has to practice performing
arts. Working in the performing arts sharpens senses. A performer understand
when to lighten the mood, when to slow the tempo and when to be still. A
teacher should be both teacher and actor; a teacher uses her voice, body and
props to establish a sense of trust and rapport, to excite imaginations, as
well as to communicate ideas and intentions as clearly as possible. Moreover,
this ability had been nurtured and developed in the theater and through practice.
Performing is
central to teaching. Professional performing artists in the theater are very
careful about how they use their voices, bodies and environment to maximize
audience involvement and participation in the presented work. These performing
artists spend years, lifetimes even, learning and perfecting their craft. The
performing arts have become a great resource in strategies for securing the
attention and involvement of audiences. Teachers can (and should) avail
themselves of this storehouse of knowledge as we; too, use our voices, bodies
and classrooms to create optimal learning environments for our students.
Yes, as
teachers, our collaborators, our audience, are first and finally our
students. Yet, real-life students do not enter into the traditional teacher
preparation model until the very end, during student teaching. Theoretical
discussions of “students” abound, but there is precious little contact with the
children themselves. There is scant time for
novice teachers to get up on their feet and rehearse how to enter their classrooms, call a class to order, take
attendance, counsel students, provide clear instructions,
focus a chaotic classroom, raise the energy level in the room, elicit more thoughtful responses from reluctant students,
question effectively, implement rules and consequences or give meaningful
praise and constructive feedback. These are all acts; these are
performances that can and should be rehearsed. A teacher should do much rehearsal
before entering into a class.
DIFFERENT TEACHING
TECHNIQUES WHICH CAN BE INCORPORATED IN CLASSROOM WITH THE HELP OF
THEATRE
One of the easiest ways to incorporate drama in the classroom is
to have students act out the dialogue from their textbooks.
Simply pair them up, have them choose roles, then work together to act out the
dialogue, figuring out for themselves and the stage movements. This is
effective for a beginning activity of incorporating drama in the classroom.
2.
Perform Reader’s Theater
Another good beginning exercise is to do Reader’s Theater. Hand
out copies of a short or one-act play, have students choose roles, and then
read the play from their seats without acting it out. However, do encourage
them to read dramatically, modeling as necessary.
If students are reading a short story, the students act out this
story or part of the story, working in groups and assigning roles and
determining the blocking. This is particularly effective with short stories or one-scene
stories with limited characters.
4. Give “Voice” to an Inanimate Object
A monologue is a short scene with just one character talking,
either addressing the audience .After writing them, students can read the
monologues aloud
Have students develop a character, writing a one-page profile on
the character’s background, appearance, personality, etc. Have them introduce
the character to the class, explaining what interests them about their
character.
Using the character they’ve already developed, have students
write a monologue for that character then perform it.
Have
students act out short scenes without dialogue. The rest of the class then
supplies the dialogue, developing the “script.
Improvise Put
students in groups of two or three, and assign the characters and the situation
to the groups, perhaps using 3x5 index cards. Give a time limit of two to three
minutes per scene. Students go from there, extemporaneously creating the
dialogue and movement themselves.
8. Puppet-performed theatre Puppets have
demonstrated potential as an educational and clinical tool and have relevance
for counselling, health education and nursing services, through providing opportunities for creative expression
and learning through play . Many
theatre-based education programs have utilised puppets as performance figures .
9. Actor-performed theatre Actor-performed
theatre has been utilised as a means of educating young people. Group
discussion and, in some instances, role play followed the performance. The
intervention focused on social issues particularly around the transition from
primary to secondary school.
10.Research/theory
based performances
Several of the
programs reviewed here that found positive effects were based on theoretical
understandings of any topic. Particularly with elementary or primary school
children, a sound knowledge base of developmental issues and risk factors is
necessary to be able to change children’s intention to engage in risky
behavior.
BENEFITS OF THEATRE IN
EDUCATION
Increase concentration of students:
Playing, practicing, and performing develop a
sustained focus of mind, body, and voice which helps with other areas of life
including school.
Increase Communication Skills:
Drama
enhances verbal and nonverbal expression of ideas. It improves voice
projection, articulation, fluency of language, and persuasive speech.
Increase Problem Solving skills:
Students
learn to communicate the who, what, where, when, and why to the audience.
Improvisation fosters quick-thinking solutions, which leads to greater
adaptability in life.
Provide Fun and entertainment:
Theatre
brings play, humor, and laughter to learning; this improves motivation and
reduces stress.
Build Trust:
The
social interaction and risk taking in drama develop trust in self, others, and
the process.
Increase
Memory:
Rehearsing and performing the words, movements, and cues
strengthen this skill like a muscle
Increase
Social Awareness:
Legends, myths, poems, stories, and plays used in drama teach
students about social issues and conflicts from cultures past, present, all
over the world.
Increase
Aesthetic sense:
Teaches Empathy.
Creates Strong Communication
Demands Creative Thinking
Builds Teamwork and Collaboration
Relieves Stress.
Ridiculously Low Cost.
Easy to Integrate.
CONCLUSION
Theatre in education programmes are designed to maximize
pupils’ learning and cater for a variety of pupils’ preferred learning styles.
Based on Fleming’s VARK (Visual,
Aural, Read/write, and Kinesthetic) learning style directed pedagogy to ensure
maximum engagement and retention of messages, TIE programmes combine
contemporary technologies with tried and tested drama based communications to
connect, inspire and change young people’s attitudes and behavior. New TIE
production sets incorporate a back projected media screen which is used to
ensure a multi-sensory learning experience that maximizes pupil learning and
supports delivery of key learning objectives. We can conclude that theatre
practice is an essential entity in teaching learning environment.
