A presentation of work completed with preservice teachers on

1. Using Drama to Reflect,
Question and Transform
Margaret Branscombe
University of South Florida
mbranscombe@mail.usf.edu

2. How this fits in JoLLE?
Drama is…
•Multimodal literacy
•Activist literacy
•Transformative literacy

3. Why should we care?
Future teachers are being assessed on their
ability to reflect
But, do they ‘get’ what real reflection is about?
Zzzzzzzzzzzz factor!
The call for creativity within all professions is
getting louder

4. “Art is not a mirror held up to
reality but a hammer with which to
shape it” Bertolt Brecht

5. Research Questions
What are the affordances of drama to the
practice of reflecting?
What are preservice teacher perceptions
about the affordances of drama within a
teacher education program?

6. What is ethnodrama?
Roots are in ethnography - the study of a
culture
The culture being studied is that of the
preservice teacher’s internship experience
A definition “Dramatizing the data” (Saldana,
2005, p.2)
The data is the preservice teachers’ reflections

8. Theoretical influences
Donald Schon “The Reflective Practitioner”
Augusto Boal “Theatre of the Oppressed”
Paolo Freire “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”

9. “To exist humanly is to name the
world, to change it. Once named, the
world in its turn reappears to the
namers as a problem and requires
them a new naming. Human beings
are not built in silence but in word, in
work, in action – reflection.” (Freire,
1997)

10. Methods
Case study (Carroll, 1996)
Data: video, semi-structured interviews and
written accounts of drama experience by
preservice teachers

11. Analysis
Categorization of data
1. Drama affordances for reflecting
2. Drama affordances within teacher education
program

12. Further analysis of drama affordances
into codes:
Suited individual’s learning style (SILS)
Visual representation of reflections (VRR)
Critical stance (CS)
Opportunity to share experiences (OSE)
Learning about the art form (LAF)
What would I do? (WWID)
Engagement (E)
New perspectives (NP)

13. Results
Drama as offering a ‘new perspective’ when
reflecting
Drama as an engaging activity
Unexpected - the ‘I am not alone’ experience
(as both performer and audience member)

14. Discussion
Drama affordances applied to other methods
courses in education, e.g. classroom
management
Engagement factor applicable to all learning
Drama is reflecting in action
A tool to be used by preservice teachers in
schools

15. Boal, A. (1979). Theatre of the Oppressed. London: Pluto Press
Bowell, P. & Heap, B. (2001). Planning Process Drama. London: David Fulton
Publishers
Carroll, J. (1996). Escaping the information abattoir: Critical and transformative
research in drama classrooms. In P. Taylor (Ed.) Researching drama and arts
education: Paradigms and possibilities. London: Falmer Press.
Freire, P. (2011). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum
Heathcote, D. (1984). In Johnstone, L. & O’Neill, C. (eds.). Collected Writings on
Education and Drama. London: Hutchinson
Howard, T. C. & Aleman, G. R. (2008). What do teachers need to know? In Cochran-
Smith, M., Demer, K. E., Feimer-Nemser, S., & McIntyre, D. J. Handbook of Research
on Teacher Education. New York: Routledge.
Saldana, J. (2005). Ethnodrama: An anthology of reality theatre. AltaMira Press: Walnut
creek, CA
Schon, D. (1983) The reflective practitioner. Basic books, Inc: USA

16. And now, it’s your turn...