I wanted to change the world, and a state school seemed the best place to start’ the author declares in her introduction, and as a fresh faced trainee teacher over 12 years ago I know I felt the same; but for ‘state school’ read ‘drama classroom’. How many of us sometimes lose sight of that inspiring Dead Poet Society-style calling on a cold wet afternoon with year 9? This book reignites that passion through its honesty and humanity.
Kate Clanchy writes the book we probably all have in us: a candid, heart-on-sleeve account of life as a teacher. The struggles are real, undoubtedly, and although Clanchy's anecdotes are raw and personal, they are not sentimental, but powerful in their familiarity.
The book is split into chapters each focussing on a particular student that Clanchy has taught, a retelling of moments that have stood out, and on reflection, experiences that can teach us something about teaching as a whole. Almost all of them, however, are underpinned by a simple message: creativity as a way to connect – whether it is Clanchy role-playing a debate between Macbeth and Macduff? with a tough Edinburgh Year 7; using poetry in the pupil referral unit; or staging Stags and Hens in an Essex school to explore gender stereotypes. Awkward Liam making a horror film for a media studies project, Akash who reads Brecht and writes a play to make sense of his homosexuality for his mum, or seeing the school musical harness David's angry energy – throughout, Clancy seems to connect with children, from all walks of life and all around the world, through creative endeavour.
This book reminds us why we teach it in the first place; and holds a torch up to creative practice as a way to connect with the young people we work with, who are, sadly all too often, feeling disconnected. As drama teachers we know the value of creativity in helping lost people find a place, or writing as a way to find a voice, or performing to find strength, or reading plays to make sense of the world. We know drama in schools is inclusive, individual, creative, challenging, and reflective of society. The whole book reads like a clarion call to all to lift teaching up again to what it was in our heads when we first signed up. The power of education to change lives. The power of Drama to change the world.