Oh, The Drama!
Marianne
DeSario, Teacher Consultant: marianne.desario@7VWP.com
Jen
Liddy, Teacher Consultant: jen.liddy@7VWP.com
The
Big Idea
People
make assumptions about the truth of any given situation based on their own
perspectives, experiences, and baggage. To teach people to explore issues in a
multi-perspective way, Brian Edmiston, the author of “Ethical Imagination:
Choosing an Ethical Self in Drama” uses dramas & dialogic inquiry to engage
students into looking beyond a ‘what happened’ moment. He strives to immerse
students in a historical or cultural scenario & allowing them to examine
what is beyond the ‘what happened’ moment. Today, we will explore drama as a
way to challenge our own perceptions and gain understanding of an event through
multiple perspectives.
Classroom
Goal
Help
students re-examine a drama, issue, or problem from a multi-lensed perspective,
examining the validity of a situation and navigating the issue from a place of
dialogic inquiry vs. from a place of a power claim.
The
Method
1.
Write: 1.5 minutes
Introduce
a ‘Drama’: We have all experienced drama in some form. Create a Facebook post,
Tweet, or text that easily relays the “What Happened” in a ‘dramatic’ experience
2.
Share: 1 minute
In a whiparound format, share your post, tweet, or text.
3.
Write: 4
minutes
Exploding
your drama: Engage with dialogic inquiry with yourself by focusing on
what’s beyond the “What happened?” in your drama. What’s underneath your drama?
Expand on your post, tweet, or text (perhaps in a paragraph?) by expanding your
drama to address the following:
o What was your reaction to this drama?
o Why did this drama occur?
o Who else did it affect & how did it affect them?
o How did others involved react? Why?
4.
Close Reading: 6.5 minutes
Close
Reading: Annotate the four paragraphs on page 63 & 64, starting with “I
believe…”. As you read, focus on ‘hotspots’ for you. Annotate ideas that make
you think, connect to your experience, make you question, or that you could use
in your classroom.
5.
Share:
2 minutes
Identify
one hotspot and give a one-sentence explanation of why that was a hotspot for
you.
6.
Write: 4 minutes
Choose
a New Perspective: Think of your “exploded drama” as your initial view of the
situation, as Edmiston describes it. Release yourself from your “single
opinion” and create an “alternative possibility” in your drama. Revise &
retell your story, post, tweet, or text from the perspective of another
affected person. How can your perspective on this drama be expanded, complicated,
or revised? Some questions to help you think are:
- How do others react?
- Why do they react that way?
- How did it affect them, emotionally/physically/etc.?
- What are the outcomes – long and short term?
- What could’ve been done differently?
- How can this be transformed into a positive experience?
7. Share: 6 minutes
Closing
Synthesis of Ideas: Examine the dramatic piece you revised and notice the
places where you now see an “inequitable view” that you held before and any
“fresh perspectives” you uncovered. What did you notice? Share how, if at all,
your lens has been changed?
The Wrap
1.
In this teaching demonstration, we used a model of writing, sharing, and close
reading to think through ideas presented in an article. We collaborated to
allow participants to examine their viewpoints and practice seeing a problem
from another perspective.
2.
How can you use this idea of drama as a way to dig underneath the ‘what
happens’ in your classroom and in your life?
Thank you for your time and willingness to write, share, think,
speak, and listen. If you have any questions about this teaching demonstration,
please contact us by email at marianne.desario@7vwp.com or jen.liddy@7vwp.com.
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