Based on the Tuesday class session and the clips from Chris Pirlet's class at Aberdeen Central, does it seem to you that theater games would work well as a social science teaching technique? What do you see as positives and negatives about theater games? Do you think you will use theater games yourself when you teach? Why, or why not?
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Classroom Full of Stars (to be done after the Tuesday, September 24 class session)
Based on the Tuesday class session and the clips from Chris Pirlet's class at Aberdeen Central, does it seem to you that theater games would work well as a social science teaching technique? What do you see as positives and negatives about theater games? Do you think you will use theater games yourself when you teach? Why, or why not?
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I thought that today's class and everything that we did was a great idea for a social science classroom. As we were doing some of the activities today I wished that I had a classroom of my own to try out some of these ideas.
ReplyDeleteThere are many positives that go with theater games. It gets the students involved and undoubtedly will add humor to the classroom. Furthermore, I believe that students will remember these theater games more than any lecture that I give.
Some downfalls of theater games may be that they get the information wrong, and it may stick with them. Or that they will always want to them? Honestly, I have no idea what a negative would be, but I do know that I will use this strategy in my classroom.
I'm glad you are going to use the theater games. I thought the five of you did outstanding work: five is usually below critical mass for this sort of thing.
DeleteWell, theater games may be considered unorthodox by some teaching institutions, but the overlooked value is not forgotten on me. Theater games can help students become more comfortable with their peers. Theater games can help one to become more confident in themselves and more willing to speak out and provide increased input into a class discussion. The possibilities are endless if you have an entire class of students who are comfortable with their peers and willing to interact with the class as a whole. For me, I can only see positives coming from this kind of activity.
ReplyDeleteI do think the theater game activities work well in getting more students involved in discussion. Some of the quieter students really blossom when they get a chance to present ideas in this way.
DeleteI thought the theater games were fun and entertaining and would help a lot in a classroom. It would help the students that have a hard time speaking in front of the classroom greatly in the sense that if you act out a silly scene in front of the class how could you be embarrassed to present a project. The only downside that I could possibly see is time limitation to the amount of students. If you have a large class then you may get large groups for your time restrictions and some may not be as involved in the activity. Other than that it would be great to involve different kids with each other as well. Also another issue I could see is keeping it PG for some classrooms. With some students it may be hard while "winging it" to keep the classroom language and situations appropriate.
ReplyDeleteYou are right: there is occasionally a tendency to push beyond the PG level, especially since so much of what passes for "humor" on television is inappropriate for the classroom. Theater games might be a way of encouraging students to see humor in G/PG subjects. Hadn't thought about that, but, if so, that would be another plus.
DeleteI thought the theater games were fun and entertaining and would help a lot in a classroom. It would help the students that have a hard time speaking in front of the classroom greatly in the sense that if you act out a silly scene in front of the class how could you be embarrassed to present a project. The only downside that I could possibly see is time limitation to the amount of students. If you have a large class then you may get large groups for your time restrictions and some may not be as involved in the activity. Other than that it would be great to involve different kids with each other as well. Also another issue I could see is keeping it PG for some classrooms. With some students it may be hard while "winging it" to keep the classroom language and situations appropriate.
ReplyDeleteThe links for the videos did not work for me and being a visual learner, that kind of stinks. But through the slides describing it and the posts on here, I got a good sense of what it is and it's purpose. Theater games are positive for the fact it gets students outside their comfort zones. The stereotype and actually reality for what people think of history class is form to a degree from the movie Ferris Buller's Day Off when the teacher literally puts kids to sleep in a monotone voice. So much of some history classes are stuck sitting in a desk listening to lecture for an hour straight. As a college student, I personally get tired and need to move around every once in a while. For young adults and teenagers, you have to break up the lecture by something fun. This help fight that problem, granted like baker said kids will sometimes get inappropriate and need to be reminded of what is school appropriate. Also, by having them do a scene solely on winging it, really shows what knowledge they have retain. Plus, how they can relate to other historical people or events. Any one person can memorize useless facts or dates then forget it. The true test is being able to relate to other things like current events or policies. Is there another link or way I could view these videos, from the posts I've read I'd like to watch them to see how Chris does it.
ReplyDelete