In 2009 Dorothy Heathcote presented me with a handwritten document entitled “Mantle of the Expert – my current understanding”. This was her keynote for the Weaving our Stories conference held in Hamilton, New Zealand in that year. Her words as she handed me the document were, “I thought you might want to do something with this.”
After some time, I decided the best thing to do was to publish the keynote in a form that would be freely available to everyone. First step was to transcribe it from handwritten to typewritten form. Dianna Elvin generously offered to do this – thanks Dianna – and the full transcript can be found here.
Next, I thought it would be useful to look at the address in ‘bite sized chunks’ and offer commentary and interpretation. I have started this process in an occasional blog series – you’ll find that here.
I hope this will be an interesting and useful read whether you are a teacher, a scholars or just an interested passerby. Please join in with any comments, questions and responses…
Ka kite!
Tauranga cluster Thursday
Just making double sure everyone got this notification from Stephen – seems like some of the auto emails didn’t go out. Apologies if this is the second time you have received this!
Hi all,
A reminder of our last Tauranga MOTE cluster gathering for 2014 to be held at Winderemere on Thursday 27th November at 4:30 for a 5pm start.
Viv will be attending and the topic will be mistakes and cautionary tales. Let’s make the most of Vivs expertise before she moves on to the lovely Hawkes Bay.
See you there,
Stephen
Tauranga MOTE Cluster Meeting
Hi all,
A reminder of our last Tauranga MOTE cluster gathering for 2014 to be held at Winderemere on Thursday 27th November at 4:30 for a 5pm start.
Viv will be attending and the topic will be mistakes and cautionary tales. Let’s make the most of Vivs expertise before she moves on to the lovely Hawkes Bay.
See you there,
Stephen
Cluster meeting in Auckland
Excited to report that thanks to the energies of colleagues in Auckland, there will be a cluster meeting in the city of sails later this month. Here are the details. Please get along if you can – we’ve been dying to get a group off its feet in Auckland!
What: Mantle of the Expert Aotearoa – Auckland cluster meeting For: Any Educator (ECE, Primary, Secondary) interested in MOTE, drama for learning.
When: Friday 21st November. 4.30 – 6.30 pm
Where: Marist College, 31 Alberton Ave, Mt Albert, Auckland Topic: Introduce, brainstorm and share
Facilitated by: Raquela Syred and Michelle Hesketh
Please RSVP to :’raquela.storiesinaction@gmail.com’
Mantle of the Expert, my current understanding
In 2009 Dorothy Heathcote presented me with a handwritten document entitled “Mantle of the Expert – my current understanding”. This was her keynote for the Weaving our Stories conference held in Hamilton, New Zealand in that year. Her words as she handed me the document were, “I thought you might want to do something with this.”
After some time, I decided the best thing to do was to publish the keynote in a form that would be freely available to everyone. First step was to transcribe it from handwritten to typewritten form. Dianna Elvin generously offered to do this – thanks Dianna – and the full transcript can be found here.
Next, I thought it would be useful to look at the address in ‘bite sized chunks’ and offer commentary and interpretation. I have started this process in an occasional blog series – you’ll find that here.
I hope this will be an interesting and useful read whether you are a teacher, a scholars or just an interested passerby. Please join in with any comments, questions and responses…
Ka kite!
Hamilton Cluster meeting 23rd October
Hi all – we now have a date for the previously-postponed cluster meeting. Great theme – should be a rich discussion. Please see the following message from our host, Rebecca Board.
Next Hamilton cluster meeting
Greetings all. Just to advise that the next cluster meeting for Hamilton, which was due to be held Thursday 16th, has been postponed. New date and venue will be advised soon….
Astronauts and lucky tokens
Here’s a very happy pic taken at last night’s Tauranga cluster meeting. We spent time exploring new conventions for building belief, based on a fun game of Astronauts…. there were flight simulators, astroid belts, doors that went ‘swoosh’ and even lucky tokens…. I guess you had to be there! To make sure you don’t miss out on the next one, put these dates and venues in your diary now: further details to be confirmed nearer the time.
Hamilton – David St School, 16th October
Tauranga – Windermere, 27th November
Christine Hatton process drama workshop 7 Sept
There are few places still available for this workshop facilitated by Christine Hatton, from University of Newcastle.
Christine (who is fabulous) will share a unit of work exploring Shaun Tan’s “The Red Tree” through process drama – suitable for senior primary, intermediate or junior secondary levels. Great PD for those who want to enhance their understanding of drama conventions.
The workshop is being hosted by Drama NZ, and held at the University of Waikato.
If you would like to come, you would need to register to secure a place, so please email Gaenor Stoate [gaenor@waikato.ac.nz] and do pass this leaflet on to others you think might be interested.
Tauranga cluster group meeting
A reminder that the Tauranga MOTE cluster group will gather at Windermere in the Maharaia Room on Thursday 21st August.
Viv will run a session on building belief phase of Mantle/process drama. This is a session she ran successfully at the Hamilton cluster group gathering.
We look forward to seeing you all there.
Stephen
Dorothy Heathcote’s influence in Aotearoa NZ
Researching for a chapter I’m writing on the history and development of Mantle of the Expert in NZ, I rediscovered this short piece by Susan Battye from a few years ago. It’s worth sharing again as it gives a bit of context about how Heathcote’s work has impacted on the NZ curriculum and teaching more generally. [She also says nice things about our work at Waikato… which is very cool !] It’s the final sentence that resonates most with me: “Mantle of the Expert is for many teachers, and not just teachers of drama. It is an idea for which the time has come.” So true! Kia Ora Susan…
Dramatic reputation echoes in classrooms – Battye 2010