So we are fully underway with the Higher at Knox. We successfully performed the investigatives Drama’s (Unit One) last week in the Drama studio to packed audiences of Staff, pupils and parents. The Groups chose the themes of ‘Teenage Life’ and ‘Cruelty’ and created engaging plays based on a variety of topics including self-harm, eating disorders, animal cruelty and women’s rights to name a few. After tears, drama strops and a few shouting matches they really shone as Playwrights, Directors, Drama-turgs and Actors.

A lot of people don’t seem to understand the amount of work that the pupils have to do to achieve the first unit and parents were quite shocked at a) how mature they approached the topics being dealt and b) how much work they had put into achieving their first unit. The SQA ask that each pupils research a choosen topic and from their research write a play. Their written play is then directed by them and they have to liase with the technical pupils to light and sound their production. They must also act in their peers plays and all the plays had to link to make one whole production - phew even writing it i’m shattered!

So we’ve now moved on and we’re all a go go! for Unit Two we are studying ‘Antigone’ by Sophocles. I studied it when doing Higher and my Drama Teacher, Mrs Chetty, was passionate about the text that it’s last with me all these years! It’s such a great story and how amazing that it was written ove 2500 years ago and still relevant to the world today!

Unit 3 is Contemporary Scottish Theatre and again another passion of mine so it’s been great to start teaching this and seeing the pupils really engaging in the first two lessons (Lecture on National Theatre Scotland and an introduction to playwright Linda McLean). We are going to be studying ‘Passing Places’ by Stephen Greenhorn, ‘One Good Beating’ by Linda McLean, ‘Black Watch’ by Gregory Burke, ‘The Women of Lockerbie’ by Deborah Brevoort and ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’ by M Spark.

So we are all go at Knox and through practical workshops our pupils will, hopefully, be ready for their acting exams in March/April and the written exam in May!

I was lucky to be chosen (through application) to join other teachers across Scotland in visiting Amsterdam with Learning Teaching Scotland. This visit is focusing on Holocaust Education and working with the Anne Frank foundation.

The visit will take place over four days and will include a visit to the Anne Frank house, The Jewish historical museum and Westerbork Camp. This trip will really enable not only myself but also Knox Academy, as a school, move forward with our Holocaust Education peadogy.

This visit means a lot to me, not only as an academic but also as a person. You are probably aware if you read my blog but i am passionate about the education of the Holocaust and the lessons we need to learn from it. I want to thank Janis, Martin and Stewart for their support in my application and I look forward in representing East Lothian Council on this LTS visit.

I will post further details once I have been.

I had an interesting chat with a fellow teacher the other who stated they thought that their subject (RMPS) was a curriculum for excllence, then I spoke to another teacher who felt their subject (English)  was also a curriculum for excellence. Then I went into Moray House to guest speak to the Drama students on the PGDE course about life since leaving Edinburgh Uni to find written in huge letters DRAMA IS A CURRICULUM FOR EXCELLENCE! mmm…. so when i say they feel their subject is a CfE what I mean is that they feel they already teach the 4 main components of the the new way to approach education in Scotland (successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors)

It’s been interesting to read the way many teachers across Scotland are still unclear what this new curriculum will mean to them and the pupils they teach. The CfE will effect the new S1 pupils entering secondary school in session 2009/2010.

I have to agree that I do feel CfE is what we’ve been teaching in Drama since the subject was recognised in the 1960s. It is also interesting to note that not all schools across Scotland have Drama Departments and in most schools we are small departments (there are some schools who have big Drama Departments of 4 or more teachers - I know… hard to believe but it’s true!).

Drama enables the pupil to fulfil the four main outcomes of CfE and helps the pupil in skills for life long learning. All pupils must look at issues that affect them and the world in which they live in. They must use skills that will help them to a day to day basis as well as in the future, skills such as self-control, team work, confidence etc.  Most teachers will have to use various Drama techniques to meet the requirements of the outcomes; skills such as role play/team work/communication/perspective etc 

From this point of view my question is why is Drama still not fully recognised as a ‘proper’ subject. As a teacher, and I am sure I am not the only one there, I am constantly having to defend my subject on why it is not a ‘mikey mouse’ subject and why it is important all pupils should have Drama in their curriculum. I am luck at Knox that I have a supportive Head Teacher and my uptake from Drama is excellent however I still get bemused when teachers ask me ’so what do you actually do in Drama?’ do I ask that for those in Georgraphy, Chemistry, Maths, Business Management etc.

I do believe that a Curriculum for Excellence IS Drama and I would hope that councils throughout Scotland would try and secure departments, where they can, in schools to make sure that the young people of Scotland experience the most from their education.

So it’s been a couple of months since I last posted anything! It’s been all a go go here at Knox! So here is what has been keeping me busy and some educational thoughts on a couple of things.

Timetable

So my timetable has been pretty hectic and on minimum time isn’t easy but having great classes always helps. The new S1 have settled in really well and i’m really seeing this years S2 classes creating some amazing work. I find jumping from different mind set levels always interest and a monday is always interesting going from basic drama, to standard grade, to S2, to Higher, to acting technique!

Health and Safety

We’ve been having some interesting discussions lately about Health and Safety in Drama and had an excellent chat with Judith Wood (Health and Safety Officer for East Lothian). As our course at Knox is so practical we are always aware of how dangerous it could be if we don’t follow guidelines. So we’ve been working on getting a manual together for Health and Safety in Drama. Doing units like Stage Combat and Dance/Drama it can be quite easy to injure yourself, i’ve done it myself!

One thing that arose from our discussion and is an interesting debate is where do we stand in a PPP school? According to FES all our furniture should be bought new (what if we were doing a period play? Where do I get my set from?), The lighting is owned by the PPP so in theory we aren’t allowed to focus them (how does this work for a pupil doing Lighting for their SQA exam?).

The manual will hopefully be ready soon.

School Productions

So the Junior Production of TROJANS is underway and looking great! we have over 50 pupils from S1 - S3 involved onstage and about 10 involved backstage! It’s going to be good!

Sadly we didn’t get our uptake of boys to do THE CRUCIBLE so we are now working on a small studio piece that could be a bit controversial but will spark debate (we like a bit of controversry!), more about this later.

‘Across the Pond Theatre Company’

As some of you may have read, Knox Academy recieved the International Schools Award for a second year, well done! Part of this was due to the work we have been doing with our link school in America. Carol, our American teacher, has came up with a fantastic idea of a collusion project based on Martin Lurther King ‘I have a dream speech’. This will involve pupils from both schools creating work based around this text.

Expressive Arts Faculty Night

Knox had it’s first Expressive Arts faculty evening last week and it was a great success, well done everyone involved. Pupils showcased work in an informal setting. Work from P.E., Drama, Music and Art showed what talent we have here at Knox. Several Higher pupils showed a piece of work about teenagers and gangs. Using the ‘Home Office’ manual as a starting point it told the story of why young people get involved in gang crime. The second piece was from our S2 actors who created a very camp and over the top murder mystery called ‘The Butler Did it!’. Both were excellent. Well done.

Holocaust Memorial Day

This years theme is ‘Stand Up To Hatred’ and after last years success of our Holocaust Memorial week we have decided to continue what we had already started but this time we are wanting to involve the wider community in our work, with the ownership pf the project very much on the pupils. Teachers from various departments have met and the ball is now a rolling! Watch this space.

Goodbyes!

On the note of the Holocaust I would like to say a huge thank you and good bye Elaine who left Knox at summer to start a new life elsewhere. She was a great help during our planning for Holocaust Week and a great support to me when I first started.

I would also like to wish another collegue, A Wood, all the best as he leaves Knox to start a new post in the West. He has been great support and a great team mate during our Holocaust work and I hope he continues the hard work in his new school.

Higher Drama Performance

The Higher Drama pupils have been busy being dramaturgs, writers, directors and actors as they get ready to showcase their hard work for their first unit in the course. Unit One asks them to research, write and direct a play about an issue or topic they feel strongly about! Let’s just say it won’t be the most happy night but should be excellent to see their hard work on stage!

Standard Grade - Mary Poppins

Last night we went to see Mary Poppins at the Edinburgh Playhouse! We took both SG classes and what a treat! An amazing piece of theatre! Our pupils were awe struck at what they seen on stage! Stunning!

On that note I need to ’spit spot’ and have to dash just now but I want to discuss a Curriculum for Excellence - so when I am less busy i’ll be back!

JC x

P.s. How gutted am I that Legally Blonde has been cancelled on Broadway… NNNNNOOOOO!!!!!!

So session 2008/2009 has begun and it’s all go already! I feel like i’ve been back months!

Knox Academy are offering Higher Drama for the first time and our cohort of pupils doing the course are brilliant with some really exciting script writing ideas taking place now for their Investigative unit. The Standard Grade students are underway looking at characterisation and S2 are already using all they have learnt from first year to produce some excellent work. So we are already well underway for an exciting way.

Some exciting things to look forward to in this session

Junior Drama Production - TROJANS

The House of Troy have abused their position for too long. They deny the Youths their rights, have destroyed society and squander the country’s wealth on a stalemate war with Sparta. Enough is enough! While the Royal family plan a big party, the Council of War plan one final assault on the enemy and as Princess Cassandra tries to appeal for peace the Youths are preparing to fight back. Will the House of Troy fall? Will the rebellious Cassandra jump? Will Helena be returned to Sparta? All will be revealed in this powerful drama that takes the legends of the Trojan Wars and throws them into the madness of the 21st Century.

Senior Production - The Crucible

Well today seen HRH Queen Elizabeth II open the new Queen Margaret University Campus in Musselburgh.

Knox Academy were honoured to be invited to the opening and we took six members of our student council to the State visit. Representing Knox were our Head Boy, Head Girl, Deputy Head Boy, A representive from 4th year, 3rd year and 2nd year and were accompanied by Ms Duff (PT Citizenship) and myself. I think I am correct in saying we were the only school representing East Lothian. The pupils were brilliant and really looked great in their Dress code and made their first public outing as the new student council at Knox. I’m sure the Queen was happy!

In previous posts I have spoken of the great work the final year students of the Drama and Theatre Arts course have done with the Drama pupils at Knox in the Mussel-In project. Today seen their efforts recongised as they performed right in front of HRH Queen Elizabeth (she was sitting in the front row and one wrong kick from dancing chip man in the play could have caused damaged!)

It’s not everyday you get to perform for Royalty and the pupils from Knox Academy shone in their role and the Queen seemed to enjoy it giving them a round of applause after their production.

I would like to thank once again the Students from QM who have worked so hard with our pupils, thank you. I would also like to thank every Knox pupil who represented their school today on stage or off. We may not all be Royalists but at least this is a memory we won’t forget.

(on a different note… very sad to be back as an ex graduate knowing that the school of Drama is no more but also interesting to see that most visual displays were all from the School of Drama! mmm interesting!)

So I have now, successfully, finished my first year at the fantastic Knox Academy and all I can say is roll on next year. Looking back over the past year I can honestly say it has a pleasure to work such committed teachers and amazing pupils.

Highlights this year include:

• Setting up my studio with my posters and visual aids and meeting my classes
• the S6 Pantomime ‘Cinderella’. A great rehearsal period and production that went down well with everyone who seen it. Great songs, dances, acting and great audiences.
• The senior play ‘In Holland Stands a House’. The pupils really took on board the challenges of staging a small intimate studio performance. This play also was the FIRST production at Knox Academy and we made the audience cry!
• Holocaust Memorial Day - An emotional experence enabling every pupil in Knox look at the themes of the Holocaust through the eyes of young people. It was great to see all our hard work pay off during our assemblies and the wall of silence that hit you after the string group stopped playing.
• Working with students from Queen Margaret University and enabling our young people to create an Award Winning piece of Drama.
• Creating the ‘Across the Pond Theatre Project’ with Carol in America which aims to enable our pupils to engage in various arts form from other countries.
• Seeing the department grow from just teaching S1 and S2 and S6 to having Two Standard Grade Drama classes and a Higher Class as well as two senior Acting Classes and the S1 and S2.
• Having two students accepted in Scottish Youth Theatre Summer School
• Fantastic trip to London with S2/S3 pupils.
• Seeing two students leave Knox Academy and pursue a career in Drama at Drama School.
• Attending my first Knox Academy Prom Night.

What am I looking forward to in session 2008/2009

• Higher Drama Investigative Drama performances in Oct.
• Senior Play (More News Later)
• Junior Play (More News Later)
• The First Knox Academy Musical (more News Later)
• New York, New York! CAN NOT WAIT!
• working with my two Standard Grade Classes on exciting projects.
• Creating more work with ‘Across the Pond’
• Possible exciting trip for Activities Week to the birth place of Theatre.

The Future is Bright… The Future is DRAMA!

I would like to take this time to say a few thank yous and goodbyes;

Thank to Mrs Craig who has fully supported me in everything I do and who’s door has always been open. Mrs Black for being my Faculty Head and dealing with any issues as soon as she could. To my wonderful pupils who with you I wouldn’t want to be in this job, you inspire the Drama we create and your ability to take everything I throw at you is amazing. Loving your work. To the S6 students of 2007/2008 - you were fantastic to work with. To all the staff at Knox who have helped pupils engage in Drama or who have supported the department. To you my readers (do I have any??? lol) a blog without readers is like an play without an audience.

Goodbyes! (CRY)

To Claire; thank you so much for all your help with the Pantomime and all your ideas for dance. You’ve been great to work with. To Andy, Fiona, Gill and Katie; You are great and will be a loss to Knox! All the best!

So that’s it! We’re off now for seven weeks - meeting the Queen on Friday with pupils and that’s my final duty of this session. Again thank you everyone and I will see you all in Session 2008/2009 - which to be honest… looks like another great year at Knox Academy!

As you have read in my previous post; pupils created an Award Winning Drama with Students from Queen Margaret University. The Mussell-Inn project has been an amazing opportunity for our pupils and they have gained a lot from the experience.

As a school, Knox Academy, has created a great relationship with the people running the project and has been great, as an ex graduate, to see the excellent work of the tutors continue in this difficult time (see No room for the arts).

We recieved good news on Friday that our students will be performing the award winning Drama for the Queen on July 4th. Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II will open the University and she has asked to see the Drama. This is a great expereince for our young people and they are very excited about the opportunity to act infront of her.

In a recent post I spoke out a collaborative projected between Knox Academy and Queen Margaret University. 10 pupils from S1 worked with final year community theatre students from the BA(Hons) Drama and Theatre Arts course. The final piece told the story of a small town in East Lothian called North Barr.  The pupils worked really hard and seeing the finished product was a joy to watch with some great storytelling and imagery used. A big thank you to the four students from QM who worked really hard on their project to make it a success. It gave our pupils a real chance to shine and show the people of East Lothian the talent we have here at Knox Academy.  The ‘Mussel-In’ project received the Santander Community Award for contribution to their local community with Knox Academy sharing the award. We are over the moon for all those involved and again a big thank you to everyone who supported the project. The four students who created the project should be very proud of their work and I’m sure we will see them nuturing the young talent of Scotland in the coming years.

Well it’s been awhile since my last post but the Drama Department has been busy, busy, busy with non stop activities since christmas.

Holocaust Assembly

Last week seen all students at Knox Academy attend an assembly relating to the Holocaust. We had two students (from thr English Department) who went to Auschwitz last year and we wanted them to be able to reflect their time there and enable students to be aware of what they seen. The Drama Department, along with English, created a 30 mins assembly that really made the students think. It included an edited video of NBC’s ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ put to Simple Plan’s song ‘Untitled’, personal accounts from the two Knox students, reflections from The Holocaust and the Rwandan Genocide, 3 poems, a power point presentation reflecting life in Europe before, during and after the Holocaust and the Knox String group playing the theme to Schnidler’s List.

The impact on the students was amazing, they sat completely silent taking everything in, respecting each piece. The power point was played during the String Group and when they had finished the images kept going for another 2 minutes and the wall of silence that hit you from the young people was so powerful. What was so rewarding was that although I ‘directed’ the order of the assembly this was very much student led with the ownership on them.

We are now about to have a de-brief session and start planning our event for next year.  I would just like to thank all the staff and students involved for making this a rememorable experience.

American School link

Well we are now under way in our collaboration production with our school in the States. Students from the youth theatre have started to look at script writing skills and will begin their research into terrorism in the UK and after Easter will begin to create and write their pieces.

Across the pond they have began to look at their structure and the overall piece is to be staged in both schools in May - lasting roughly an hour.

All go! Keep looking for more details later

Junior Courses

S1 students have now completed their dance/drama unit, creating some lovely work in connection with the Holocaust. Each student in S1 watched the acclaimed film ‘The Diary of Anne Frank - the whole story’ to gain insight into life during WW2 for Jews. They have now started a new unit of work on Bullying which has seen us actively discussing all sorts of bullying. They have now started to examine the story of ‘Wicked - the untold story of the witches of Oz’. By using a well known story (The Wizard of Oz) students will look at how there are two sides to every story and because of being different the ‘wicked’ witch of the west was bullied. We will then use the skills learnt in the unit to devise a docu-drama about bullying.

Over in S2 we have a new rota of students so we have just started Stage Combat. Using feedback from the students who completed the course before Christmas I have now changed the course slightly and these students will sit an acting assessment based on Stage Combat using skills learnt in improvisation, self-control, focus, stage combat, characterisation and status.

New York! New York!

The Drama department are taking 42 senior students to New York next February break (2009). They will spent a week in capital city of show business taking part in a Drama workshop with a Broadway performer, visiting some of the most iconic sites in the City, seeing two Broadway Shows and shopping! We are all excited and will be posting more about this later.

S6 Acting Company

As you may remember from a previous post; Knox Academy has an S6 Acting Company which produced ‘In Holland Stands a House’. Since then they have been focusing on skills and are now working towards a showcase evening which will see each student take part in a duologue; each scene will be linked by a cast member reflecting on her friends in the street where she once lived. Can anyone guess who? Yup! Mary Alice Young from Desperate Housewives will be telling the audience about what she can see. Audience members will see scenes from ‘Angels in America’, ‘Perfect Days’, ‘Bondagers’, ‘Medea’, ‘Sleeping Around’, ‘The Architect’ and all are linked by monologues from Desperate Housewives… as well as a trio from the musical ‘The Witches of Eastwick’. Should be an excellent evening of entertainment!

The Women of Lockerbie

On a personal level I am now directing Deborah Brevoort’s award winning Drama ‘The Women of Lockerbie’ with my own theatre company random ACT.

A mother from New Jersey roams the hills of Lockerbie Scotland, looking for her son’s remains which were lost in the crash of Pan Am 103. She meets the Women of Lockerbie, who are fighting the US Government to obtain the clothing of the victims found in the plane’s wreckage. The women, determined to convert an act of hatred into an act of love, want to wash the clothes of the dead and return them to the victim’s families. The Women of Lockerbie is loosely inspired by a true story, although the characters and situations in the play are purely fictional. Written in the structure of a Greek tragedy, it is a poetic drama about the triumph of love over hate.

We went to Lockerbie last sunday and visited the crash sites and was overwhelmed by what we saw and the kindness of the people who showed us round and spoke first hand of what happened that night. It was important for us as a theatre company to make sure that we do this play complete justice.

This is to be staged in April at the Scottish Storytelling centre. For more details click here

So as you can see it is all go… and i’ve not mentioned the admin, the report writing, the course options etc! I love teaching!