Class Allocation

“First of all, I think it is just strange that the university offers practicum during fourth term”

Initially, I agreed with my supervising teachers comments. I knew I had my work cut out for myself. With school reports being finalised, I knew the kids would slip into a ‘pre-holiday’ routine of wanting to watch movies and eat candy. Even more challenging was the fact that due to the governments new compulsory school attendance age being raised to 17, Year 10’s were required to attend all classes until their final assembly day; even though they had finished their school certificates, I needed to come up with something that was imperative to student learning whilst being fun at the same time.

The good news was, I had the study of Drama on my side. Many aspects of the Stage 4/5 Drama syllabus could be covered in a practical manner; furthermore, by incorporating dramatic forms and conventions through the use of games and improvisation/script work the students were able to meet/revise some syllabus outcomes and recall knowledge without having to pick up a pen or paper.

For those tasks that required penmanship and extra work, I wanted to ensure that tasks would be creative and artistic, allowing the students to attempt a student directed task under the guidance of myself as a classroom teacher. I was hoping that they would respond well to these tactics.

I was allocated two Year 7 Visual Arts classes (7ART3, 7ART7), a Year 7 Life Skills Drama class (7LSDRAMA), two Year 9 Drama classes (9DR and 9DRC), a Year 10 Drama class (10DR), a Year 11 Drama class (11DR) as well as a Theatre Sports and Visual Arts society clubs which would be run over some lunchtimes and free periods.