Natalie and Alex from Puketaha school have provided a link to their classroom blog. Check out the ‘links’ on the right of our home page or click the link below to visit. You might notice that some of the blog is written in role…
Thanks guys for sharing this with us!
http://classof2011room1.
A final reminder that enrolments for ALED 515, the University of Waikato’s postgraduate paper in Mantle of the Expert will be closing soon.
This year the paper will be taught through a combination of oncampus classes (16th to 20th January, Windermere Campus, Tauranga) and follow up work online (concluding end of term one).
The paper offers a combination of practical experience, theory and assistance with planning for your own classroom. Past students have included primary, secondary and community educators. The course has been a fantastic experience in the past and looks like shaping up to be a great group this year too…. Further information is on the attached flier.
Check out the new page just inserted into the website under ‘planning in MOTE – teacher resources’ Or click here. On this page you will find 10 concept ideas for MOTE plans all very different and all with a distinctly NZ theme.
These concepts for Mantle of the Expert units of work were designed by third year students as part of their learning on TEAL 387 at Waikato University. My thanks to these students for agreeing to allow their ideas to be shared with other teachers. They are loosely categorized according to the main curriculum learning areas that they cover – though the ‘incorporated’ approach of MOTE means that each concept gives opportunities to teach right across the curriculum including opportunities for rich learning in Maths, Literacy and ethics / values. Key competencies are not indicated but are core to any MOTE experience.
Please note, these concepts provide only the broad framework for planning – naturally a great deal of micro-planning would be required for individual lessons and to ensure teaching for learning. It is important to note that the concepts as they stand do NOT include indications of drama conventions and other drama for learning strategies which the teacher would need to use. And naturally, the direction of the inquiry would flex and change depending on the interests of the children in the class. Nonetheless, I think you will agree that these concepts provide a stimulating set of NZ based ideas for MOTE units – and we really need to start building a collection of those!
Very sad to report the death of another important figure within drama education circles in this part of the world - Prof. John Carroll. I attach here below an extract from an obituary for John written by Susan Battye. To read the whole thing, visit the drama NZ website….
Professor John Carroll, BA NE, MEd PhD Newcastle(UK) has died. A staunch supporter of Drama New Zealand from its inception, he will be sorely missed by many members for his intelligence, wit, humanity and devotion to the work of Dorothy Heathcote. He has made an enormous contribution to the development of Drama in Education and his death is most untimely.
His friend, Gerry Boland writes: ‘John Carroll died in Bathurst at approximately 12:30am, Thursday, 27 October. His life’s partner Julie Martello, his sister Lee, and son Jack were with him when he expired after making a stalwart fight against cancer over many months.’
T o me he was an Aussie chum who was colloquially known in Drama circles as ‘one of the Johns’. He is immortalised on film working with Primary aged students in Newcastle upon Tyne in role in a Mantle of the Expert drama about Dr Lister. We were fortunate to have been able to see John last year during a presentation to the Drama Symposium organised by the Critical Studies Department at the University of Auckland. Within the world of academia John Carroll paved the way for Drama to enter the brave new world of screen mediated drama. There is no doubt that his pioneering work in Australia has been of benefit to us all who work in the field of Drama in Education.
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:
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!
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!
There are already a few discussions underway – check it out!
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
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?
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.
