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 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!

On the 27th January 1945 the Red Army marched into the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz and liberated the prisoners from their opressors.

Seven years ago National Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) was created to commemorate, to educate and to prompt action in the UK. HMD commemorates the lives of those lost in the Holocaust; as a result of Nazi persecution and in more recent genocides. It educates about the Holocaust and it lessons for the present day. It prompts action in the UK highlighting the continuing dangers of racism, anti-semitism and all forms of discrimination.

As a teacher and theatre pracitioner I feel that it is so important to educate young people about the Holocaust and Genocide since World War Two. We are now getting to a stage in history where first hand stories are being lost and it is up to children and grand children of survivors to pass on information.

Throughout the Drama Curruiculum  at Knox Academy students experience various insights into the Holocaust… S1 look at the Holocaust through Dance/Drama, S2 look at the topic through the eyes of Refugees and writing monologues to perform and the S6 have just completed In Holland Stands a House about Anne Frank, as well as looking at scenes from Fear and Misery of the Third Reich. I have just written the Standard Grade course for next year and the students will have to create a piece of Docu-Drama based on Genocide. All these topics look at the aims of HMD and hopefully will engage students.

I think it should be council wide that all schools should be doing something active for HMD; an assembly, cross curricular work, research, presentations etc anything that will enable the students to look at the topic and engage them.

We are living in a world where sadly Genocide happens and yet young people are quite niave about the topic due to lack of education, please don’t think that is only a teachers job, I feel parents and the governement should also be doing all they can to make young people understand that being different for whatever reason is actually fine. The tragedies of Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur have shown that the international community, and each of us as citizens, have not truly understood the lessons of the Holocaust.

Every year, a different theme is announced for HMD. In 2008, the theme is Imagine…remember reflect react.

Knox Academy has already started their work towards the day, ending with a memorial by the senior students for those who have died throughout the world. It is my aim that Knox Academy makes this a day in their calendar, enabling students to look at the day each year from a different point of view.

Imagine… what it is like

remember… the past

reflect… on the memories

react… so it won’t happen again

What will you be doing on the 27th?

Well I was talking to a few friends about the Standard Grade (SG) course and how exciting I thought it was and we then began to discuss the Scottish Government thinking of getting rid of it and replacing them with Intermediate One and Intermediate Two courses… mmm having taught both courses i’m thinking it’s not a good idea. The debate also rose on TES and I feel it will be debated further before they make any decisions.

The Standard Grade is designed for pupils to sit over two years and gives students the flexibility to experience many aspects of theatre that suits them. It is marked on three areas; Creating, Presenting and Knowledge and Understanding. At the end of the two years students sit two exams; an acting exam (Creating and Presenting) and a written paper (Knowledge and Understanding). The course can be differentiated to suit the needs of the students with high learning outcomes based on improvisation. In SG Drama we aim to enable students to achieve the best grades they can. Students look at characterisation, theatre arts, various genres of theatre, script writing, play reading, improvisation etc.

The Intermediate Courses are split into three areas; Devising, Theatre Arts and Theatre Production. In Int One students are asked to devise their own piece for the final unit whereas in Int Two the students are asked to take on various roles to create a production for the final unit. The problem with the higher still courses is that they do not meet the right needs for those wanting to Higher Drama. I had a girl last year who chose to do make-up for her final exam and she done very well in it yet in Higher they must do acting so what about the skills she learnt in Int Two, how can thse be transfered? Saying this… the Int 2 course enables students who may not enjoy acting to take on various roles such as Lighting, sound, make-up, directing, set etc

Another issue is that the Int Two course is very reliant on people who can read scripts, a lot of my students in my previous school found it hard to be fluent readers yet in the SG course achieved excellent credit passes as they had to create their own pieces and although we studied some script owrk I did not have to assess them on it.

If the Scottish Government were to get rid of SG then they really have to make sure that the Higher Still courses enable students to carry on transferable skills throughout their school career, they must also take into consideration students who may have achieved an excellent grade at SG but may only have passed the Higher Still courses due to reading and writing levels. What do you think?