Well today was wet and cold BUT it was burning hot in the drama studio with inspiration!

  Today I spoke to the S6 Drama students about our connections with America, they were very excited. Having sent several emails back and forth to the USA we have decided our first International Theatre Project.

Each school will help write a piece of international theatre looking at living in the western world during the war on terror. Each school will be responsible telling their side of the story in the eyes of their country.

The plays written by each school will then be interweaved together to create a piece of political theatre that jumps between Scotland andAmerica, telling the story from both sides of the Atlantic. The play will then go into rehearsal with each school producing the piece.

Our aim is to stage the play written by and acted by the students on the same day in the two different countries. Therefore creating a true piece of INTERNATIONAL theatre!

Am I the only one excited? I think not! Carol in America says ‘I LOVE THIS!!!’ whoop! Rock on!

I was inspired by a talk that our Deputy Head gave on International Education. The talk made me question the course we have in S6 and how we could use our time in creating a course that isn’t only fun, engaging but looking at the world in which we live in, after all Drama is a key subject in examining our culture, surroundings and world.

After several draft plans and discussions with my PT Faculty and SMT I have now created an International Theatre Course in which students will learn the different dramatic theories practiced across the world.

In my final year at Queen Margaret I had the pleasure of being taught Non-Western Theatre by a fantastic tutor called Dr Ksenija Horvat, for this unit I gained a 79% (one of my highest grades) however I have never been interested in the genre and completely forgot about it till the Whole School day meeting.

The course will cover African Storytelling, Japanese Noh Theatre, Chinese use of music and Opera, European Absurdist Theatre, Australian Aborigine movement, American Drama and British ‘In Yer Face’ theatre. Students will be able to explore each country through a practical and academic way before choosing three theories to devise a piece of international theatre that will be shown to a public audience.

A new development since I started this blog is that a fellow Drama teacher from the Georgia in America has been reading my blog and we have now created a partnership in helping one another to develop our international practices and working together on an International level. She was very keen in learning more about our play ‘In Holland Stands a House’ and I have now sent her a copy of the play which she hopes to stage, we aim to stage an American play next year.

So the Knox Academy Drama Department is certainly becoming fabulously International!

BBC news have just stated that the GTCS are to create a new code of conduct for teachers. This code of conduct would have to be signed by teaching staff before they enter a classroom.

One of the codes to be looked at is the information of staff on social networking sites such as facebook and bebo.

The bbc link states ‘One new recommendation is that teachers should be wary of posting information and photos of their personal lives on social networking websites.’. Surely this goes against our personal freedom and freedoom of speech?

Am I the only person having issues being told what I can and can not do in my private life?

I have tried to keep my blog purely educational BUT I have been worrying now for over a week regarding someone who is an extremely passionate musician and someone I know.

Kyle went missing in Dundee on Sunday 28th Oct 2007.

He’s a passionate singer and guitarist, although studying history,  music was always his destiny. He was a regular at open mic nights.

I hope you’re safe and please come home.

below are two links giving details about Kyle and what his family are doing for his return.

Kyle STV

Kyle BBC

I know people from around the world are reading my blog due to comments and messages I have. I hope I haven’t offended anyone by posting this and I hope by doing this someone will know something. No one can vanish without someone knowing something. Please contact the Tayside Police on 01382 223200 if you know anything.