Yesterday, we spent the whole day focusing on drama. Francis, from a company called ‘Ignite Lights’, came into school and delivered a whole day of drama that was linked to our class novel: ‘The Thornthwaite Inheritance’.
We started the day by looking at stereotypes and how they are often used in writing/theatre. We discussed how stereotypes also affect our day-to-day lives and made some freeze-frames based on some stereotypical characters.
Next, we donned some outfits and became story detectives. First, finding the stories that contained our characters. Then, proposing an alternative plot before devising a short play.
Last, we studied the poem ‘Caged Bird’ by Maya Angelou. The poem reminded us of a character from our class novel. We created soundscapes and imagescapes to show our understanding of the key emotions in the poem. Brandon amazed us with his understanding of key themes, showing a real maturity in his answers. (Well done, Brandon!)
We had a great day exploring our class novel through drama and would like to thank Miss Valentine for organising the visit.
It was particularly fun to dress up. Can you guess whose hair got covered in black and white paint?
You could really help at home by discussing stereotypes with your child. You could discuss questions such as…
- which stereotypes are prevalent in society?
- is stereotyping always a negative?
- what can we do as individuals to combat stereotyping in society?