The Drama Class With An Identity Crisis
Problem: I have a Year 9 Drama class who think they are in Year 11!
Problem? What problem?
Seriously, there is no problem here, but I thought I’d blog about it anyway.
It is often the luck of the draw when a Year 9 elective class is sewn together via the inner workings of a school timetable. A lesson in group dynamics. How great is your drama class when all the planets align?!
My Year 9 Drama class is gold. Not only do all 20 students love drama, they have artistic discipline at 14 years of age, they arrive early to class when they can, they learn their lines for homework well before they are due, they start rehearsals before I give the instruction to do so and everyone gets along just fine. They’re talented, too!
As they practice their Commedia dell’Arte plays, each group has incorporated their own lazzi (comic interludes), interpreted the play successfully with their own little twist, thrown in a bit of music and some silly dancing to boot.
The trick is to recognise gold when it lies before you and never take it for granted. Today, I am invisible in my own classroom. My Year 9 Drama class runs by itself. All of a sudden I am happy to be irrelevant.
