Structured Improvisation. This is the title of our discussion during yesterdays
campus session for module 1. When you teach you improvise sections your lesson
to suit the needs of learners in the class. You have a map of where you need to
go (A to B) but how you get there is dictated by your students.
We face
external pressure to produce a lesson plan and theres a saying that "Failure to plan is a plan to fail!. However it is
not always possible to follow this exact. Failure to plan is a plan to fail! What is your view on this?
Hi Gemma,
ReplyDeleteI am so pleased that I can now view your Blog AND I can comment too! :-)
How about this one...an experience from my Drama classes today that I never thought would happen! I hadn't planned to say this, but it suddenly came to me whilst they were showing me their work...
Over the last few weeks, I have asked each group of 15 children to improvise their own scenes to s set theme. This is in preparation to show the rest of the school at the end of term.
I found myself today saying the following: "Now that you have improvised, we now need to think about making this into a structured scene. So, how do we get from an improvisation to a structured scene?"
So there it was, completely back to front - the participants were now being asked to transfer an improvisation to a structured scene!
My method of teaching however was a structured improvisation. I had a loose plan of what I wanted them to achieve in the hour, with the use of improvisation, which allowed the children to explore ideas.
Your thoughts would be very much appreciated please Gemma! I was so surprised that I had come up with the question and then to find myself reflecting...naturally..? Has anything happened in your classes of significance yet?
Best Wishes,
Jo
Hi Jo, so it works then :)
ReplyDeleteYour experience proves that the two combined, "improvisation" and "structure" really can compliment each other. I do agree that improvisation should probably have a structure to it.
I have also been experimenting in my lessons. Rather than sticking to a well organised lesson plan I have been using the idea of a map. A learning objective, a starter and a final product for assessment.
I have taken a few different approaches on this.
In one lesson I led the structured improvisation. I had a learning objective, a starter, a main task and a review/reflection task. This was the structure to my lesson. I started with the dance warm up, then students observed a DVD clip to give them inspiration and ideas for their main group choreography task. SThe students worked well in their groups and used ideas from the professional dance works which they had observed. Their group work was improvised and my teaching/support was spontaneous (in response to my students needs). The peer performances towards the end of the lesson enabled students to show work in progress and for reflection to take place. Those observing the performance gave constructive feedback allowing those performing to set targets for improvement before next lessons assessment. This encouraged all students to aspire and they made good progress within the lesson. Overall this lesson appeared to be successful.
In another class I allowed the students to guide the lesson entirely. The topic was still on street dance battles, the learning objective was explained and the students understood that they were to use different dance movements to create a dance routine for a battle. The students wanted to work in groups to improvise and explore their own choreographic ideas. All students were fully engaged in this task, which continued for most of the lesson with little input/teaching from myself. These students choose not to perform their work in progress but to continue working on their group routines as self study (homework) and to perform these next lesson.
I look forward to comparing the grades of students from these two classes after next lessons dance assessment. I predict that the first class will achieve the highest grades as they had more structure to their lesson and reflected on their own practise. However could this be down to my lack of confidence in what my students are actually able to achieve by themselves (if I have not played a leading role in their learning?). This raises a new question in my mind. What is the definition of "teaching"?
Now then, that is an interesting question... "What is the definition of teaching?"
ReplyDeleteTh Oxford Popular Dictionary defines the word "teach" as this: impart information or skill to (a person) or about (a subject).
It says nothing about how you go a bout doing that, i.e lesson plans, structure or improvisation. I guess they are just methods of teaching, of which there are so many more to investigate! :-) Great food for thought, thanks Gemma!