Suggested activities for years 1–8
- Introducing new conventions
- Writing in role – junior primary
- Writing in role – senior primary
- Voices in the head
- Telephone conversations
Introducing new conventions
Poster 3 could be used to support the introduction of a new convention or conventions. For example, if introducing conscience alley, show the students what it might look like and help them to think about its purpose. When a character has to make a difficult decision or is thinking about an issue, the reflective convention of conscience alley can be used to investigate a range of ideas.
Writing in role – junior primary
This activity is for junior primary students, based on big books, poems, or songs.
After reading a big book, junior class students could meet a key character from the story or someone who knows about one of the key characters. For example, after reading the Ready to Read text Greedy Cat is Hungry, the children in role as pet-shop owners could advise Aunty (teacher in role) about what to do with a fat cat. They could write in role, producing a list of suitable food and suggesting the right amount to feed Greedy Cat. They could give ongoing support and advice to Aunty via letters or email. (Set up an Internet hotmail account in Aunty’s name to make the emailing authentic.) The students could design posters depicting good foods or promoting a good feeding routine to display on the pet-shop wall.
For similar ideas see The New Zealand Curriculum Exemplars: The Arts, Level 1 Sanja Is a Vet.
Writing in role – senior primary
This activity is writing in role for senior primary students, based on fairy tales.
In a drama based on the fairy tale Bluebeard, students in role as friends of Bluebeard’s new wife are asked to advise her. Should she use the key, which Bluebeard entrusted to her, to open the door he asked her never to open? After listening to each other and giving their own advice, the friends write one last time to advocate for their particular perspective.
Examples (excerpted from letters written by year 6–8 students)
“I am not pushing you to do anything but I think you should still go into the room … You might find some more things out about your husband … “
“… when you got married you said that you would respect each other and if you go into that room, are you respecting (him)? NO! Because you will not be respecting his privacy.”
“Even when, dear J, your curiosity disappears, it shall be replaced by guilt. When he asks you if you’ve been in that room, you will be lying to him … Please listen, I am your closest friend, your dearest friend …“
Voices in the head
After considering a newspaper article, a story, or a photograph as part of a social studies unit, one student could take the role of a key person in the text or picture. If appropriate, the class can model the student into a frozen image based on a significant moment of tension they have identified in their focus material.
The rest of the class become the “voices in the head” for the role, speaking aloud the character’s possible thoughts at this moment. These thoughts can be contradictory. Out of role, the students could discuss how people may have contradictory thoughts and feelings at moments of tension and could make connections to times when they have experienced contradictory thoughts and feelings.
Telephone conversations
Students work in pairs to improvise a telephone conversation to shed light on a present situation, to give new information, or to extend and develop a particular role. For example, in a drama about The Three Billy Goats Gruff, students could devise a phone conversation between the troll and other members of his family or community (his wife, a neighbour, or a policeman) telling the story from the troll’s point of view.