MICROTEACHING
Name : Qurrotu Aini
Srn : 171230126
Class : TBI/VI D
How to Begin with Teacher in Role
Why use teacher in role?
The most important resource you have as a teacher when using drama is yourself.
Learning demands intervention from the teacher to structure, direct and influence
the learning of the pupils. One of the best ways to do that in drama work is to be
inside the drama. Therefore, at the centre of the dramas that we include in this
book, is the key teaching technique that is used, namely teacher in role (TiR). This
chapter will set out approaches to TiR and give examples of how it works.
Many teachers see TiR as a difficult activity, particularly with older children
in the primary school. However, it is our experience that when a teacher takes a
role he or she becomes ‘interesting’ to the children, so that there are less control problems because they become engaged. Many times we have watched
trainee teachers with a class of children struggling to get attention when giving
instructions in traditional teacher mode. Yet, as soon as they move into role,
they obtain that attention more effectively.
For example, a trainee was talking out of role to a class to explain that they
were about to meet a girl who was having trouble with her father and needed
their help (see ‘The Dream’ drama based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream). The
class were calling out and not listening properly. She was talking over them and
trying to teach without getting their full attention. Then she explained that they
could ask questions of one of the roles from the story and that she was going to
become that role when she sat down. She picked up a ribbon with a ring
threaded on it and put it round her neck as the role signifier. When she sat down
as Hermia, they were focused entirely on her and were listening very closely, putting hands up to ask questions and taking turns in a very orderly way. They were
interested in her problem, which was her father’s insistence on deciding whom
she should marry. The trainee was not doing anything different apart from using
For another example of the simple use of hot-seating see the Tim the Ostler
section in ‘The Highwayman’ drama. This can show important elements of
how the children see the text, what their comprehension of it is. It provides a
more stimulating way of approaching comprehension than questions from the
teacher. This is partly due to the shift in tense. We are talking ‘as if’ it is happening now as against the past tense, which so often dominates classroom talk.
Teacher as storyteller
The teacher as a storyteller is something all primary school teachers will recognise
Preparation for the role
In preparing to be this kind of storyteller the teacher must have made particular decisions about this child.
Begin by asking the class out of role what they want to ask the child and the
order of those questions. This not only provides the teacher with some security
in knowing what is going to be asked, at least initially, but also allows some
minutes to refine the planning, so that the teacher can be specific in answering
their questions. The questions will, to a certain extent, be predictable because
they are largely generated by the circumstances of the drama so far and the role
the class has taken, which will be that of anxious parents.
What is speaking and listening ?
Speaking and listening is the most important communication form that
human beings use. Really effective oracy, developmental speaking and listening, will help pupils build their language, their understanding, their ability to
handle their own world, making sense of it and who they are in it.
It has to be an interaction with others where both sides are contributing.
When a pupil is speaking and listening properly, he or she is able to see how
each contribution arises from what has already been said.
Reading and writing come later in language learning and should not come
until the child’s head is full of the words that reading and writing will demand.
True speaking and listening for learning is effective ‘talk’, not two separate
activities, as the phrase ‘speaking and listening’ suggests; it is an oral language
interaction, which, at its best, is complex, demanding and truly creative.
Learning is a social activity and thus talk is its real source. Writing is a solo activity, which allows the individual to distil ideas already learned; it comes later.
Teachers are encouraged to generate this sort of work:
We’re convinced that excellent teaching of speaking and listening enhances
pupils’ learning and raises standards further. Giving a higher status to talk in
the classroom offers motivating and purposeful ways of learning to many
pupils, and enables them and their teachers to make more appropriate
choices between the uses of spoken and written language. (QCA, 2003, p. 4)
We believe that to develop the most productive talk, we need to think about it
as dialogue.
Dialogic teaching
This is one of the most interesting, potentially powerful and new concepts
being promoted in educational circles in the UK. It is the result of extensive
work by Robin Alexander and others (Alexander, 2000, Alexander, 2005). This
approach to oracy in the classroom raises the profile of talk, speaking and listening, from the poor relation of English in the National Curriculum, to
become the central focus, the pivot of learning across the curriculum.
Alexander’s work is a prompt for the greater awareness, for the growing
importance of talk in the classroom. However, it is clear from his research that
many classrooms in England lack the authentic dialogue to promote true learning, where talk lacks the status it has elsewhere in Europe.
How is listening of high quality taught through drama?
Drama is the creation of meanings in action and pupils have to struggle all the
time to make sense of what is going on around them so that they can engage
with it. They have to make sense of the fictional situation as it develops. Unless
pupils listen they do not know what is going on. The teacher can provide surprises, challenges, interesting people to meet in the forms of teachers in role;
pupils can provide models of language use for each other because lead pupils
begin to take initiative and provide input.
In drama we can get new levels of listening because of the pupils’ interest in
the problem-solving of the drama itself. The focus of the problem or dilemma
that the pupils face embodies the nature of the language. In order to carry out
all of these speaking activities they are, of course, inevitably developing their
listening and we see this in all its powerful and active modes, listening that is:
open, sensitive, reflective, receptive, supportive, attentive, collective, creative.
This is because each pupil has to make sense of what the teacher and the rest of
the pupils are gradually building up around them.
Pupils feel valued in drama and consequently have more confidence in what
they want to say and show more respect to what other contributors to the
drama say.
In order for drama to work the teacher has to listen very closely as well, to
see where the pupils are, to pick up what the pupils are offering and use it
within the drama.
Let’s look at a class showing these skills as they engage in a dialogue in
‘Daedalus and Icarus’. This is the sort of dialogue that can be generated by a
drama. We will take an actual extract from a lesson and consider what is being
achieve
Srn : 171230126
Class : TBI/VI D
How to Begin with Teacher in Role
Why use teacher in role?
The most important resource you have as a teacher when using drama is yourself.
Learning demands intervention from the teacher to structure, direct and influence
the learning of the pupils. One of the best ways to do that in drama work is to be
inside the drama. Therefore, at the centre of the dramas that we include in this
book, is the key teaching technique that is used, namely teacher in role (TiR). This
chapter will set out approaches to TiR and give examples of how it works.
Many teachers see TiR as a difficult activity, particularly with older children
in the primary school. However, it is our experience that when a teacher takes a
role he or she becomes ‘interesting’ to the children, so that there are less control problems because they become engaged. Many times we have watched
trainee teachers with a class of children struggling to get attention when giving
instructions in traditional teacher mode. Yet, as soon as they move into role,
they obtain that attention more effectively.
For example, a trainee was talking out of role to a class to explain that they
were about to meet a girl who was having trouble with her father and needed
their help (see ‘The Dream’ drama based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream). The
class were calling out and not listening properly. She was talking over them and
trying to teach without getting their full attention. Then she explained that they
could ask questions of one of the roles from the story and that she was going to
become that role when she sat down. She picked up a ribbon with a ring
threaded on it and put it round her neck as the role signifier. When she sat down
as Hermia, they were focused entirely on her and were listening very closely, putting hands up to ask questions and taking turns in a very orderly way. They were
interested in her problem, which was her father’s insistence on deciding whom
she should marry. The trainee was not doing anything different apart from using
For another example of the simple use of hot-seating see the Tim the Ostler
section in ‘The Highwayman’ drama. This can show important elements of
how the children see the text, what their comprehension of it is. It provides a
more stimulating way of approaching comprehension than questions from the
teacher. This is partly due to the shift in tense. We are talking ‘as if’ it is happening now as against the past tense, which so often dominates classroom talk.
Teacher as storyteller
The teacher as a storyteller is something all primary school teachers will recognise
Preparation for the role
In preparing to be this kind of storyteller the teacher must have made particular decisions about this child.
Begin by asking the class out of role what they want to ask the child and the
order of those questions. This not only provides the teacher with some security
in knowing what is going to be asked, at least initially, but also allows some
minutes to refine the planning, so that the teacher can be specific in answering
their questions. The questions will, to a certain extent, be predictable because
they are largely generated by the circumstances of the drama so far and the role
the class has taken, which will be that of anxious parents.
What is speaking and listening ?
Speaking and listening is the most important communication form that
human beings use. Really effective oracy, developmental speaking and listening, will help pupils build their language, their understanding, their ability to
handle their own world, making sense of it and who they are in it.
It has to be an interaction with others where both sides are contributing.
When a pupil is speaking and listening properly, he or she is able to see how
each contribution arises from what has already been said.
Reading and writing come later in language learning and should not come
until the child’s head is full of the words that reading and writing will demand.
True speaking and listening for learning is effective ‘talk’, not two separate
activities, as the phrase ‘speaking and listening’ suggests; it is an oral language
interaction, which, at its best, is complex, demanding and truly creative.
Learning is a social activity and thus talk is its real source. Writing is a solo activity, which allows the individual to distil ideas already learned; it comes later.
Teachers are encouraged to generate this sort of work:
We’re convinced that excellent teaching of speaking and listening enhances
pupils’ learning and raises standards further. Giving a higher status to talk in
the classroom offers motivating and purposeful ways of learning to many
pupils, and enables them and their teachers to make more appropriate
choices between the uses of spoken and written language. (QCA, 2003, p. 4)
We believe that to develop the most productive talk, we need to think about it
as dialogue.
Dialogic teaching
This is one of the most interesting, potentially powerful and new concepts
being promoted in educational circles in the UK. It is the result of extensive
work by Robin Alexander and others (Alexander, 2000, Alexander, 2005). This
approach to oracy in the classroom raises the profile of talk, speaking and listening, from the poor relation of English in the National Curriculum, to
become the central focus, the pivot of learning across the curriculum.
Alexander’s work is a prompt for the greater awareness, for the growing
importance of talk in the classroom. However, it is clear from his research that
many classrooms in England lack the authentic dialogue to promote true learning, where talk lacks the status it has elsewhere in Europe.
How is listening of high quality taught through drama?
Drama is the creation of meanings in action and pupils have to struggle all the
time to make sense of what is going on around them so that they can engage
with it. They have to make sense of the fictional situation as it develops. Unless
pupils listen they do not know what is going on. The teacher can provide surprises, challenges, interesting people to meet in the forms of teachers in role;
pupils can provide models of language use for each other because lead pupils
begin to take initiative and provide input.
In drama we can get new levels of listening because of the pupils’ interest in
the problem-solving of the drama itself. The focus of the problem or dilemma
that the pupils face embodies the nature of the language. In order to carry out
all of these speaking activities they are, of course, inevitably developing their
listening and we see this in all its powerful and active modes, listening that is:
open, sensitive, reflective, receptive, supportive, attentive, collective, creative.
This is because each pupil has to make sense of what the teacher and the rest of
the pupils are gradually building up around them.
Pupils feel valued in drama and consequently have more confidence in what
they want to say and show more respect to what other contributors to the
drama say.
In order for drama to work the teacher has to listen very closely as well, to
see where the pupils are, to pick up what the pupils are offering and use it
within the drama.
Let’s look at a class showing these skills as they engage in a dialogue in
‘Daedalus and Icarus’. This is the sort of dialogue that can be generated by a
drama. We will take an actual extract from a lesson and consider what is being
achieve
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