Setting the Scene

  As a follow up Room 8 wrote a letter 'in-role' as Arlo, to his trusted friend. The letters were folded and put into a bundle. I handed the letters out randomly with the recipient having to respond to the letter 'in role,' as the trusted friend. The level of engagement was high and the responses filled with emotion.

  Saint Patrick's has had the pleasure of having Monique Walker share her beautiful taonga with us! Supported by the John Walker Foundation and Healing through Arts we have been able to experience Arlo and the Orca through dance and process drama. Jesse and Catherine brought the emotions of the an orca and the ocean to life for us through dance. Monique and Stacey delivered a powerful session where we heard the story and explored the highs and lows of life through the lens of waves and sunny versus moody skies. We all leant that it's ok to talk about how we feel, to seek help and also, importantly, to cry. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity Monique and we look forward to your next story! An example of an 'Insta-card' where we had to portray people in the lives of Arlo who could support him when he needed help. In these examples we had family members, police, friends, therapists, priests, nuns and even God!!

 Following on from Monitoring, Recording and Tweaking I finally feel I have some semblance of data. So moving forward... Can the specific and deliberate use of two types of process drama not only improve  Reflective Discussion  amongst reluctant contributors but also  Critical Literacy? The work we did as a class on Ahi Ka , Bastion Point was a personal test of the new Aotearoa New Zealand Histories Curriculum . It allowed us to view both the Nonfictional and Fictional side of Bastion Point from the burial of Michael Joseph Savage to the land occupation. Where:                               I used a type of Drama called ' Mantle of the Expert' (MoE) along with ' Hot Seating'.   MoE allows the student to take on the role of the expert, research, create and present their understanding. Hot Seating allows students to question and find out more information through interrogation. As disc...

  Monitoring: Following our work on Ahi Ka, Bastion Point and the recording of interrogational events throughout the process it became apparent my audio recordings were not showing the improvement I had anticipated.  The historical study began at Michael Joseph Savage's legacy, his burial at Bastian Point and finished at the conclusion of the land occupation. I broke the study into two distinct areas:    The non fiction and the fiction.  The non fiction  included reading and researching this historical time frame looking through old newspaper clippings, movie reels and journals. During this time we hot seated the Crown to find out why they actioned the burning of the homes on Bastion Point. The Crowns response left the students angry and frustrated. Now that the students knew the history of the area we could move into the fictional side. The fictional aspect focussed on the emotions and feelings running through the characters involved. It required the stu...

During Mitey 2 Lab we discussed ways to integrate Mitey throughout other curriculum areas! Here's something I'm doing with the new Aotearoa NZ Histories curriculum. With support from School Kit we have delved into the history of Bastion Point. Following the non-Fiction investigation we are now moving into the Fictional side! The   Mitey  side...What was going through young Joe Hawks mind as he watched his home being torched while sitting up in a tree in the orchard? What if the community came together planning and designing a Pa and Marae on the Orakei reserve that provided healthy safe homes, gardens, a medical centre also incorporating Tikanga. How would the Crown react to this? Would the view for the Queens arrival be more acceptable? Could we avoid the burning of so many homes and a future land occupation? Not to mention the death of a child?Under (a loosely formed) Mantle of the Expert, students are researching, designing and putting a plan through hoping they can change ...

 This week I was invited to speak at our Mitey2 Lab where St Pat's journey to date was shared and celebrated. It was an honour to be asked to speak and share my experience using 'The Backpack,' one of Mitey's wonderful resources supporting mental health and well being. During the day discussion was lead through Pods where representatives spoke about current in-school initiatives, what was working and where to next.  Lots of ideas to mull over and put in to action to hopefully cause a generational change towards the role of mental health and well being being second nature!  

By further developing students interrogative skills through the integration of Process Drama into the Reading / Literacy program will Reflective Discussion and Critical Literacy improve? Will this improvement be reflected in the their inferential and evaluative scores in Probe? Or just in their ability to verbally, during audio recording, offer multiple deep responses to one question? Will, adding in a new form of Process Drama (MoE) be advantageous for the students or benefit only the teachers desire to continually invigorate practice?  I do believe adding in Mantle of the Expert (MoE) will not only give another avenue for development of interrogative skills BUT also another method of  inquiry AND a starting pathway into the new Aotearoa NZ Histories curriculum.  I have created a presentation where the history of Bastion Point is researched and discussed looking at the use and misuse of power. Following the input and understanding  of this historical informat...

Relevant Aspects of My Current Reading Program Looking at my current practice, under a Reading lens... I have 4 groups with reading ages ranging from 9-13+ years. Each group has an assigned levelled Journal / reader which is accompanied by Slides made specifically for that text. The Slides include a variety of comprehension questions, word work, research areas and a create aspect where information and understanding is artistically expressed ready to be Blogged. During the week I see each group at least twice at an instructional level, not including 'on the spot' discussion and check-ins. The main component of instruction is comprehension and understanding of the text. Interspersed with Group Reading there is usually a Newspaper article from current events that we break down as a whole class. This includes: unpacking any technical language, discussion points and answering a variety of question types. This is also linked, in discussion, to how it relates to each student and their...

The most eye opening data collected with regards to Critical Literacy would be that from 'Voice Memo'   and the associated 'Anecdotal Notes' where it was made clear that many students were unable to participate in reflective discussion and questioning. For success in comprehension, whether it be evaluative, inferential or critical literacy the ability to question both intra and interpersonally in depth is an advantage. This competence is reflected across literacy in both reading and writing. These findings made me research further into the effectiveness of two particular areas of Process Drama:  Hot Seating and Mantle of the Expert (MoE) Both of types of drama provide an excellent opportunity for reflective discussion.  Both Hot Seating and MoE allow for the exploration of multiple perspectives which can be adopted to strengthen view points with the opportunity to walk in other peoples shoes. Viv Aitken in 'Connecting Curriculum Linking Learning,' discusses ...

Preliminary Findings Individually, each piece of data informs different strengths and weaknesses in the different areas, however there is a cumulative effect. During 'Hot Seating' the first Voice Memo seemed to be very constrained with one question / one response being recorded by the whole class. Questions were asked in isolation with no follow up or follow through to  'find out more' by digging deeper in particular areas.  Anecdotally, while watching movement and process while creating a 'Postcard ' (where one child is added at a time to replicate a given scene), some students were unable to physically express  themselves as part of a group interpreting a before and after scene. This alluded to the fact that they were unaware of the physical surroundings being portrayed in the story and as such were unable to mentally re-create the situation using spontaneous flexible problem solving.  Following two very disruptive years differing  PAT Reading Comprehension ...

Tools, Measures and Approaches to Profile Student Learning Student voice has been the most powerful tool for me knowing where my students are with regards to their Critical Literacy.                                                                                                                                                                              Using Voice Memos to record student voice allows me to capture and compare discussion and extended interrogative skills ove...

Let's redo last year and roll it into this year. Unfinished inquiries with questions still unanswered. ' That Old Chestnut ' of Inferential and Evaluative comprehension still lurks as an under current with  Critical Literacy being the golden egg.  Critical Literacy,  where students question and examine ideas requiring synthesis, analysis, interpretation and evaluation uncovering a deeper meaning and even potentially challenging the assumptions of the author (Lankshear, 1994).   This year, as last year, I am going to use Process Drama (PD) to continue improving Reading results in my Yr 7 & 8 class. However, I am kick starting with a focus on using PD to improve and refine Sharing, discussion and Interrogation. As with most research you make new discoveries that challenge your initial thoughts. Following last years audio recordings of Hot Seating students it was made apparent that there was a huge growth in their ability to extend lines of questionin...

The year has started with its usual craziness under Covid.  What began with a full class abruptly dwindled down to 5 only to fluctuate over the past 6 weeks. What I have noticed, with the comings and goings, my new Yr 7 students and two new Yr 8 students fall short with their ability to verbally share, discuss and interrogate.  A new class with different expectations is formidable for both student and teacher... righ t? But these are skills that need to be nurtured and built from a students first day at school, aged 5... better yet from day dot!  There needs to be an enthusiastic anticipation that what you bring to school is important... let's hear it! Sharing, discussing and interrogating  is not about being right, wrong or judged but about having a platform to dispense personal realities and to grow a deep understanding of differing views from those around you.  Once this is established inference and evaluative comprehension should have an easier pathway to n...

This year I was fortunate enough to be asked to facilitate a Break Out at Creative Schools: Blaze Of Colour conference, alongside Professor Peter O'Connor and Poet Selina Tusitala Marsh. A wonderful experience sharing how I use digital animation alongside process drama to enhance literacy and comprehension. A highlight of the day was finally being able to listen to our own Poet Laureate, Selina Tusitala Marsh, author of one of my favourite books, Mophead.  I used one of her creative writing techniques in class on our first week back at school... the laughter and engagement while the learners shared their written pieces was magic to my ears! And so the year begins... let Creatives reign!