MOTE in the English classroom
Received this email from Esther at Auckland Girl’s Grammar – she’s been bravely trying some drama strategies she learned in the IFTE conference workshop within her Secondary English classroom. Well done Esther – sounds like you are taking some risks and creating rich learning experiences for the students!
Great to see the collaboration between teachers within the school too – we need more of this at secondary!
Just to let you know, that with some nervous excitement, we are both trying out some techniques we learnt from you! Fortunately, we have also had the help of our school drama teacher to help guide us.
So far I have got my Year 9 English class to become a team of investigative journalists following up on a story animal cruelty and a strange rebellion on Manor Farm [aka Animal Farm] – where I ended up impersonating the drunken Mr Jones languishing at the Red Lion pub as they interrogated me!This week I am getting my Year 12 English class to become a Trauma team who are going to work with a family where domestic violence and murder have occurred (from the novel ‘Purple Hibiscus’) and interview then prepare psychological assessments of each character for a meeting with a lawyer.Before the year is out I would like to think about how I can apply MoTE to my low stream class and my Art History class too.Its all very scary and I feel like a first year teacher all over again but it is reinvigorating my teaching and certainly impacting student engagement in my classroom. Many thanks for providing the inspiration in your workshop that ignited this professional growth!Best wishesEsther GrahamAuckland Girls’ Grammar School.
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