Drama as living through history: A reflective practitioner study

Abstract

Drama as living through history: A reflective practitioner study tells the story of learning that occurred over the winter term of 2012. At the centre of this study is the teaching of a year 10 drama class at Mariam College, Auckland and, at the heart of the learning, is Parihaka. Parihaka is a small settlement that lies between Mount Taranaki and the ocean and, on the 18th of every month, the community and visitors gather to speak about the struggle for peace: the legacy of Parihaka. The teaching and learning sequence which is reflected through this study takes the class of students through events which culminated in the destruction of this settlement in 1881. My intention was to teach about Parihaka in order for students to gain an empathetic understanding for an aspect of the history of Aotearoa1/New Zealand. This study grew out of an original intention to research my own practice in order to improve it. The key focus for my study is to: critically reflect on how the use of a ‘living through’ approach in drama, enables students to enhance their affective engagement in content while simultaneously teaching students about the art form of drama. This thesis, based on a reflective practitioner study, demonstrates that in a ‘living through’ approach to teaching, drama students become affectively engaged with the story of Parihaka. Affective engagement, through empathy and emotional connection, is demonstrated through descriptions of key moments of the teaching and learning sequence, and communicated by students through journal entries, performance work and presentation of ideas for a documentary film. All of this work was conducted within the expectations and assessment requirements of the New Zealand Curriculum framework. The methodology used is that of ‘Reflective Practitioner’ and data has been gathered through the study of the teaching and learning sequence which includes teacher intentions, descriptions of practice, video recordings and photographs, reflections by students, and focus groups. Data was analysed by the researcher during the teaching process and later, after the passing of time. 1 The Māori name for this land.