Heathcote life celebration and memorial website

This week we received a message from the Heathcote family with information about Dorothy’s Life Celebration, which is to be held on 11th December at St. Werburgh’s Church, Church Street, Spondon, DERBY DE21 7LL in the UK. The celebration will be followed by a party.
If there is anyone from NZ who is able to attend this celebration that would be great – you would be representing many of us who would like to be there. You are asked to  RSVP to mariannekevin@yahoo.co.uk (or by post, but not telephone) so numbers attending can be catered for. In lieu of flowers, or for those unable to attend, you might like to consider a charitable donation to the Dorothy Heathcote Drama Award at www.justgiving.com/dorothyheathcote This website will accept donations from the UK and abroad.
In advance of the Life Celebration, Marianne is very keen for many people who have photographs and written memories of Dorothy to mail hard copies to her,  ideally with photographs labelled on the back with names/approximate dates.
Marianne says “This is something that will be very special to us as a family and we would like to treasure it and pass it on to Anna and future generations.”
Marianne also invites us all to visit www.dorothyheathcote.org which has just been launched as the only official website endorsed by the family and dedicated to the life and work of Dorothy, to be used as the international meeting place where all memories of Dorothy and her work can be shared, and her practice carried forward. There is a special ‘affected by DH’ page where you can add your name to a list of all those who knew or were touched by Dorothy. For those who haven’t already read it, Dorothy’s official obituary and photograph are also on this website.
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Planning for term four

A successful planning session was held in Hamilton last week where local teachers came together to brainstorm ideas and share advice for term four:

Amongst others, we generated the following ideas:

  • A Mantle of the expert approach to the story Jack and the Beanstalk, for year two primary students. In this case, the teacher has decided to place a strong emphasis on the drama for learning / process drama side with teacher going into role as the giant’s wife, very distressed at the stealing of her golden hen…. The teacher really wanted to work with this theme after experiencing some petty theft within the classroom.
  • A MOTE for senior high school students involving a company that regulates new technologies in the marketplace [this one can be seen as working in the ‘regulatory’ mode from Heathcote’s list]. This one is going to be used as a starting point for a senior drama unit and the students will be challenged to explore ethical and political issues arising from secretive surveillence in society. Students’ ideas will be used as the basis for a devised performance.
  • For a senior primary class, a mantle of the expert exploration of the environmental damage from ‘Rena’ (the cargo ship currently aground off the Bay of Plenty). We discussed how important it would be with this one to take care with ‘frame distance’, as this is a real life issue, currently unfolding. We talked about how we could enrol the students as a company commissioned to clean out and recycle the shipping containers that have floated off the ship… this will take the class into science, design and math learning.

The gathering was useful not only to touch base with other teachers but also to remind ourselves of some of planning steps and guiding principles of planning in MOTE. Again, it was impressive to see primary, early years and secondary teachers sharing ideas. Kia Ora team!

Changes to the MOTE NZ website

Visitors to this site may have noticed a few updates to the way the site is being used.

Responding to teachers’ requests for a less ‘public’ space for discussion and asking questions, we have now added a “Moodle” discussion forum. This will allow users to interact directly with each other, post questions, offer advice etc. Questions and answers will no longer be posted to the ‘front page’ of the site.

Subscribing to the discussion forum takes a few little steps but I do hope you will take a moment to join as the forum needs members to make it work!

  • First click on the link (on the right of the www.mantleofttheexpert.co.nz website page)
  • You will be prompted to set up an account (NB: This is a different account from your subscription to the mantleoftheexpert.co.nz website)
  • Discussion forums are called ‘courses’ (because we are using the university’s moodle system). Click on the one you wish to join.
  • If you are prompted for a ‘key’ then please email viva@waikato.ac.nz for more information

There are already a few discussions underway – check it out!

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Link to blog added

A new link has been added to Robin Mills’ blog about room 5’s adventures at Puketaha school.

Thanks Robin –

Check out the blog here

http://puketaha5.wordpress.com

 

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Nature rangers

Robin Mills from  Puketaha school has sent a message telling us the latest about her teaching in Mantle of the Expert. Children are in role as nature rangers running an island sanctuary for native animals off the shores of NZ.

The island sanctuary (imagined) where we are based as rangers is rather uncomfortably close to where the (real) container ship Rena has run aground this week….  but I chose to ignore that as we’re further out to sea and the rangers weren’t aware of the proximity before they went off for their two weeks break.
Being an environmental clean-up company could make an interesting topic. Actually this year we’ve had some substantial current event potential for Mantle scenarios! I hope 2012 isn’t as eventful in reality. We have had enough science-based learning ideas to last a long time!
I’ve attached two faves from our ranger’s photo album – the drama scenario was that we were out on the island in the dark counting tuatara eggs as part of our census. We had previously mapped the island to scale, drawn in its ‘height lines’ (don’t you love the language kids come up with), worked out the nature of the terrain we were working on, organised treams to search 1/4 of the island each, collected appropriate gear and had our driver drop us off at a point close to each search area. (Ideas courtesy of Luke’s demo at the conference.)
The diaries written after the search were classic, more ‘real’ than the writing that followed our trip to Waitomo. Says something for writing in role, doesn’t it?

A mighty tree has fallen – passing of Dorothy Heathcote

Kua hinga he totara i te wao nui a Tane –
“A mighty totora has fallen in the forest of Tane”

 

Many people will have already heard the sad news that the progenitor of Mantle of the Expert, Prof. Dorothy Heathcote passed away over the weekend. Dorothy’s contribution to drama education was of course immeasurable. We are all very fortunate to have lived and learned in her shadow. I know that Dorothy was very proud of the work that was happening in Mantle of the Expert in New Zealand and always took a keen interest in developments here.

Her passing serves as a reminder to keep planting the seeds and growing our own forest of Totora here in Aotearoa. I have been reflecting on how many people in NZ must have been touched by the power of her work. She visited here a number of times during the 70s and 80s and inspired a whole generation of teachers and policy makers. She was with us again via live link at the Weaving Our Stories conference in 2009 and the stunning address she gave on that day seems to take on extra import in light of her passing.

Dorothy’s amazing life story is captured beautifully in the attached obituary which was supplied by her family. Your comments are invited (either here, or on the Drama NZ website) and will be relayed to the Heathcote family.

Dorothy Heathcote Obituary

 

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Using MOTE for the first time

This article from the UK website gives a really nice account of a teacher using drama for learning – teaching in role – the expert frame for the first time in a short ‘mini mantle’ based around the fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood.

Could be a nice model for those wanting to “dabble”.

Sourced from www.mantleoftheexpert.com

using moe for the first time