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Two Mantle of the expert PD opportunities in Whangarei – next week!

Thanks to Renee Downey and the team from Otaika Valley in Whangarei who are hosting two PD sessions for local teachers with an interest in Mantle of the Expert. It’s short notice (sorry) and places are limited but here’s the information in case colleagues from the Northland region would be interested in a last minute registration … Haere mai – all welcome.

Thursday 23rd March is a session focussed on Mantle in the Junior school…. This will follow on from our session in November last year – with an introduction to planning and some further drama conventions. Even if you didn’t make the previous one, it would be great to have you along.

Tuesday 28th March is a session designed for those with a little more experience in Mantle… though once again, anyone is welcome to attend. Participants are asked to bring questions or problems of practice, which we will explore together.

For more information about either of these workshops, including cost, start & finish times and directions to the school, please contact Renee on r.downey@otaika.school.nz 

 

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Process drama from picture books

 

Process drama is a great way to bring stories to life in the classroom – and to become familiar with the conventions and strategies used in Mantle of the Expert. Picture books provide a wonderful starting point for planning, as they provide many of the ‘raw ingredients’ for successful drama. In this post I share two resources:

The first is a plan adapted from one of the units in the excellent ‘Playing our Stories’ resource (Learning Media 2001 – now sadly out of print). It’s a fairly straightforward drama based on The Lighthouse Keeper’s Rescue by Rhonda and David Armitage. Designed to support for those trying teacher in role and drama conventions for the first time, the plan is fully ‘scripted’ with links to curriculum etc.

Mrs Grinlings problem 2017

The second resource follows on from the first and gives a set of 12 steps to follow to create your own drama using the same structure with a different picture book. This is a framework for planning I developed and trialled with student teachers over many years. It seems to work pretty well, with many fabulous original dramas developed using these steps. An advantage of developing your own drama is you can choose books that suit your context (for example using texts in te reo, or more complex sophisticated picture books for senior students). The same structure could be adapted for other books too, including novels or playtexts.

Creating drama from a picture book 2018

I do hope you find these resources useful. Just to clarify, they are not ‘mantle’ plans in the sense of setting up full-length cross curricula dramatic inquiry … but I hope they may be useful in developing the drama skills needed for mantle teaching.

See other posts on this site for  tips for teaching in role including dealing with uncertainty from participants and the importance of clear signalling.