Module 1 - Task 2D - Inquiry

What in your daily practice gets you really enthusiastic to find out more about? Who do you admire who also works with what makes you enthusiastic?

I get incredibly enthusiastic when watching other teachers in the classroom and used to find watching drama school colleagues very exciting, because I was witnessing  their journies of discovery. I now am doing exactly the same with different classrooms and various year year groups and relish the challenge of finding ways in order to engage them in learning through my creative skills. I admire many of my drama teachers throughout the years of my school learning for enstilling that passion for the Arts in me.

What gets you angry or makes you sad? Who do you admire who shares your feelings or has found a way to work around the sadness or anger?

It makes me sad that in the acting industry there can be people who will happily exploit people as a result of their undying love for the arts. I myself have been racially abused whilst working as an acting professional and I therefore become annoyed when people do not respect other artistic members within their communities. I find it unfair that people

What do you love about what you do? Who do you admire who also seems to love this or is an example of what you love?

I love the constant challenges I am faced with when I have acted and when I am teaching. To control a class or an audience is a powerful skill and one which is benefited incredibly by my knowledge of the arts and how it can help people. I love the excitement when a child speaks or interacts for the first time through drama therapy, whether that be working as a group on tasks or playing with sounds and movements and seeing them truly come alive.

What do you feel you don't understand? Who do you admire? Who does seem to understand it or who has found a way of making now understanding it's interesting or beautiful or has asked the same questions as you?

I don't always feel that I can grasp everyone in my school through the arts, because it just simply isn't their thing. It is often hard that when you feel so passionate about something, you have people who can take drama or leave drama. This just doesn't correlate with me! I feel comfortable when I am interacting with people of a very similar creative mindset. I've established that the reason I find young people harder to reach within a primary school than a theatre school, is because people at a theatre school truly want to be there. They are interested in the Arts.

How do you decide the apporopriate ethical response in a given situation? To what extent are disciplinary responses different to that you might expect more gernally in society? For example, what level of physical contact would you deem appropriate or not from another professional that you would find unacceptable more generally? Why?

 

Within the school setting, I recently had to give a powerpoint presentation on keeping your hands to yourself and what the appropriate response to physical contact would be within a school setting. I normally thrive from forms of contact with others, because the Acting industry can involve an open body, mind and soul. However, when training at drama school and having lessons in Audition Technique, it soon became clear that there is quite simply a time and a place for forms of physical contact and that you must remember to remain professional and level-headed at all times. This training has given me the knowledge of how to behave appropriately. This is now something I have taken into school with me.

 

My Own personal questions to consider in the future

How is my research into theorists aiding my Professional Practice?

 

Can I relate certain theorists to my Professional Practice?

 

Which theorists present thoughts about teaching drama to children and how drama can benefit young people?