The TreeProduction Design
Term: Summer 2013 Summary In the first year of the school opening, Mr Shindler, the Head of Drama, directed a production written and acted by year 7 students. He requested that I work with some of the students who were not in the production to support with the production design. As a result, a number of different commissions emerged from set and costume design to interpreting a story written by one of the students, Cody, into an animation that was shown intermittently throughout the play. Many students were willing to come on board and committed time after school. As a result of making the T-shirt, we invested in screen-printing facilities and brought in a professional t-shirt designer to support with the process. In retrospect, it was the beginning of our journey into developing project-based learning and raised the potential of giving ownership to students early on and seeing how they develop. Quote The following quote is feedback to Mr Shindler on the production, which indicates the high level of authenticity and creative authorship that he managed to get from the students, something that is much easier said than done... "Dear Daniel, I wanted to write to you to say how delighted I was to be at The Tree the other night. What the year 7 students presented to us was nothing short of amazing. The piece had been clearly made by them – not written by a playwright or teacher. The stories could easily have just been a mix of things they liked – but they had more than this – they had selected them so each one had a message The message might easily have been decided by a teacher – but they had chosen their own and found that they did in fact link to the values of the school. Some schools would have started with the posters and tried to make a play out of those –but it was clear that this was the other way round and that the whole thing had started with them Then there are the skills – many will only have done drama for a year and what the have achieved is remarkable. It was clear they they had learned from each other and really built their own artistic dramatic and learning community. So many rely on TV for entertainment – not School 21 students : They make their own. Again it was more than that – they were asking questions, searching for answers, making responses and challenging their audience as well as themselves. I felt challenged in many ways – it is good for someone who has been teaching for over twenty one years to be reminded that 99% is not enough, that you only ever really lose if you do not engage in the fight. I want you to tell your students that their message was a powerful and very useful one for me at present. There are many uncertainties in education as I type and it is very easy to give up. They reminded me that this is Not and option,. I needed that reminder. I saw the true dramatists of the future on Monday night – we need them. I wish you all the very best for you and the sapling is saw that evening may it continue to grow and flourish." Amanda Kipling Course Leader PGCE Drama, Senior Tutor Department of Educational Studies Goldsmiths |
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