Every cloud has a silver lining,’ goes the saying, and for many of us, getting through the coronavirus lockdown has been made bearable by unfettered access to the internet and social media.
Teachers have been using online platforms and resources for years of course, but in 2020, those resources suddenly became frontline for the continued education of millions of our children and young people.
On the face of it, self-isolation, with or without an internet connection, does not appear to be compatible with traditional forms of teaching, so how do you harness online resources and mobile applications to the business of sustaining the curriculum?
Compared to, say, maths or chemistry, drama probably isn't best served by e-learning – group work, trust exercises and social connection are key to any live drama class – but there are so many choices out there that it is possible to find something that will suit your needs at a time of enforced social distancing.
Tips from the front line
Sixth form drama teacher Keith Burt, who is behind the website Burt's Drama, recently produced a handy guide to teaching drama remotely, providing useful advice about setting work, undertaking research, making your own bespoke videos for students (or using existing ones on YouTube) and seeing what's available in the way of streamed productions (see p.14).
Burt says, ‘It's a question of setting your students tasks they can do without you being physically present. So I might suggest a piece of text, say a monologue, get them to analyse it, and then prepare it as a performance which they can then video.
‘Link the work you intend to set to the work the students have already done – this is particularly important for younger students who might not have as many lessons as those working towards qualifications. Simple ideas such as if you've taught a play, ask them to write a scene in that style or write an additional scene. They need to demonstrate that they have understood the original genre in order to be able to complete the new activity.’
When we spoke towards the end of March, a fortnight into the schools’ lockdown, Burt was carrying on where he’d left off, communicating with his pupils mostly by group emails. ‘I've given them an extract from The Hunger Games, and asked them to think about how they would act out the scene. What tone of voice or gestures would they use for this or that character? So they will analyse the script and think about what they need to communicate as an actor.
© SONDEM/ADOBESTOCK
A wealth of resources has emerged from all directions to help you teach online
‘There are so many ways that you can share work these days via the cloud. Every system has some sort of cloud sharing format that you can utilise and ask students to upload their work onto. That way students can upload their work and you can feedback to them.’
A boost for theory work
In practical terms, e-learning is better suited to working independently. With this in mind, for what would have been the resumption of the summer term, Burt has made a video for his students about different stage configurations. ‘They will use that knowledge to think about which configurations are useful for what purpose. Why would a theatre in the round be better suited to a particular play than a proscenium arch? Finally, they will design a set for one of the configurations.’
He cites this as an example of ‘combining knowledge’ because it brings together two related topics – stage configuration and set design. Researching a playwright, critic, designer or other technician is also a good use of isolation time and Burt suggests creating a fact file or some kind of artwork based on research, which the student can use for reference at a future time.
GCSE drama is unique in its practical and theoretical requirement. Burt says, ‘A lot of drama students struggle with the analytical evaluations, the course work. No other GCSE course demands that. A lot of young people are drawn to drama in the first place by the practical side but alongside that is a framework of written work which has to demonstrate their understanding of drama in different ways.’
London-based drama coach Janet Spencer-Turner, whose students are entered for LAMDA exams, often refers her students to classical and contemporary plays on YouTube, Digital Theatre Plus or Drama Online before discussing with them matters of language, context, structure or gender politics. ‘It is quite possible to bring a small group of students together through a group video chat to analyse a particular text,’ she says.
Self-taping: the future?
And what if you have students applying to drama schools? Actor and drama coach Ben O’Mahony uses Zoom messaging, Facetime and WhatsApp for one-to-one audition coaching. He says, ‘Drama teaching generally is not particularly well suited to working online, but one to one coaching is the most effective way of preparing students for drama school auditions, and doing it online has been very helpful given the challenges we're facing.’
‘Personally,’ O’Mahony says, ‘I would like all first-round drama school auditions to be self-taped. It gets rid of the audition nerves, and it means people don't have to travel long distances, and arrange accommodation, in order to attend what is statistically likely to be an unsuccessful audition. Most drama schools receive between 2,500 and 5,000 applications, for which there are between 12 and 50 places.”
Federation of Drama Schools institutions are putting together their Autumn 2020 cohorts at the moment using Zoom (see page 27). Caitlin Smith, Head of Movement at Italia Conti, is positive: ‘we've been impressed by the work candidates are putting forward. There's brave, bold choices, they're presenting well. Of course it's difficult – both for them to do, and for us to really appraise physical expressive capacity. But the screen – it's still a space to be in imaginatively – and to find the thoughts of the character in the body and so we're still looking for connection to physical impulse, a physical sense of their speeches-and we can see that in what they tape and in direction through Zoom.’
The number and nature of resources available online is constantly being updated, but here is a selection to help you plan your remote lessons:
Google Classroom can be launched as your own complete online classroom, though it does require constant internet access from teacher and student.
burtsdrama.com Keith Burt's excellent blog, packed with teaching ideas, toolkits, drama techniques and useful pointers to other sites.
dramaresource.com Another really useful platform from the much-respected director, author and educator David Farmer, aimed at primary and secondary drama teachers, full of ideas, games and inspiration. His online teacher training courses are also currently being offered free. Sign up to Farmer's mailing list as he is sending regular bulletins of teaching resources and streamed theatre as they're made available to teachers and the public.
nationaldrama.org.uk The lobby group for drama teachers is offering ideas, guidance and support during the lockdown, and is also currently sending out bulletins by email to its members, with links to resources.
www.nile-elt.com/courses/course/790 NILE is offering a free online course for teachers, providing tools and skills for delivering your own classes online.
bbbpress.com/teaching-drama-online A US-based platform offering ready-made musicals, games and other performance-related activities for KS1 and KS2.
prospero.digital A company which specialises in bringing drama, learning and technology together. Prospero does require a subscription, but has been using digital technology for remote drama teaching for some time.
SecEd: https://bit.ly/3dmVyXb and Headteacher Update: https://bit.ly/33JgZNB The two education publications are making regular updates to their online lists of resources for all subjects.
theschoolmusicalscompany.com The writers and publishers of musicals aimed specifi cally at KS1, KS2 and lower KS3, also suitable for youth drama clubs and theatre groups, have made a number of free downloadable resources available.
disneyonstage.co.uk/education Resources for home learning are free to download from all the Disney stage shows here.
polkatheatre.com/polka-online The renowned children's theatre company is offering online activity packs, storytelling and more on their new online portal.
…Plus, all producing theatres across the country are doing something to reach out to their audiences online, from podcasts and backstage photos at the Donmar Warehouse to workshops from Pegasus Theatre and Frantic Assembly and monologue clips from the Almeida. See our news pages, or search the web for any theatre company you can think of, to see what they're offering and build a lesson plan around it for your students.