Year 12 a mixture of brand new students (externals) and students original Tiffin Girls, head to a class room and all sit down. There is chatter amongst them, Miss S joins in asking how the girls holiday’s were, as an external joins in she asks what the externals name is in a friendly tone and welcomes her to the group. I hand out two note books to each of the thirteen students.
Miss S stands in centre of class room in the middle, claps hands together and says ‘Right’ – the class has begun, the girls quieten down very quickly. There is a power point projected onto the board ‘What To Expect’ – Miss S explains the text which will be explored and how the year will run, she also briefly explains how AS might run into Alevel, if the girls carry on.
Miss S finishes her presentation and asks the class if they have questions – some do and these are addressed before moving onto a fun task, ‘Draw Your Spirit Animal’ Miss S hands out paper and colourful pens.
Each girl stands at the front of the class and explains their ‘spirit animal’ drawing. One girl has drawn a Cat, Miss S asks what characteristics the student has in common with her spirit animal. The student replies ‘inquisitive’ Miss S asks questions to why this is important in a Drama subject – because this is a characteristic you need for exploring play texts.
In this first lesson of the year the aim presumably was that the girls and Miss S got to know each other, why they are taking Drama and how the course will run throughout the year.
Year 9 rushed into the drama studio in an array of skirts and trousers, wild hair and loud noises, Miss S shouts over the rabble for them to form an alphabetical circle and sit down. The girls are excitable but do as they are told. Miss S jumps loudly says ‘shhh’ and the girls chatter semi stops, Miss S briefly explains what the class will focus on through the year but most of the girls are already aware of what they will be doing. Miss S asks every girl in the circle what they are most looking forward to working on in the year, the main answer is ‘musicals’ – this class really enjoy Drama, they are excited and bubbly even though it is the last period of the day.
Miss S then hands out the play that will be studied this term and explains they will be studying alongside practitioner Stanivlaski (naturalism) chooses people to read the characters while she reads the stage directions with an accent to encourage the girls to do the same. Miss S stops after every few lines to ask the girls questions about what they have just read, this makes sure the girls are paying attention to the text and also helps discuss adult concepts that the girls might be embarrassed by such as illusions to sex.
At the end of the lesson Miss S asks the girls what they learnt from this lesson, one girls answers that she realises they need to look deeper into the text to be aware of what each character is doing and feeling, another girl answers that detailed stage directions are necessary for a naturalistic style play and another girl answers that they need to do research into aspects of the play they might not be aware of, like how a laundry company works in the time period and what certain phrases mean.
In this first lesson the aim was to make sure the girls know what is expected of them this year, to let Miss S know the girls are most excited by and to jump straight into the play text and exploring it.
The main difference in the lessons was that the Year 12 class was a much more getting-to-know-each-other session, as there are new students joining the year, whereas, year 9’s lesson was about jumping straight into getting to grips with the text that is going to be explored this term.