Questions I still have after lectures and tutorials.

Well it is the 13th week and this course is coming to an end. I have learnt a lot about drama and did the simulated teaching for it. Now, I’m reflecting back on the questions that still remain. I think there are no major questions, since the lecturer and tutor are both informative and knowledgeable. I think the only question left is: how to improve my interpretation of any literary work. In any literary works, we need to interpret the meaning as this is an important aspect after all. Only through the meaning we can get the message or the theme.

I think in order to resolve this, group discussion or further research needs to be done. Through group discussion I can get other people’s ideas and interpretation and base on that I can build my own interpretation as well. The reason being is that everyone has their own opinions and by exchanging ideas and views, I can improve my interpretation better.

Another way is through research. Finding more information about a play or drama can improve my interpretation and it is a form of input as well. We can look up the info on the internet or from books. In a way it is a way to gain knowledge and appreciate the play even more.

Blogs...does it contribute anything to my lesson?

During my first lecture, Dr. Edwin said that one of our assignments is to create our own blog. When I first heard that, I sighed and think that is going to be troublesome and boring. But as each week past by, I find out that blogs is actually a good platform for my thoughts to flow. It is a place where I can put my reflections into words and a good way to express my opinions. As I as taking Teaching the Language of Drama this semester, I think blogging is a good way to state my opinions and questions. Another thing about blogs that I like is that I can read other person’s view and opinion. Their view also contributes greatly because they help me understand better about the plays and I see them as my idea generator.
Besides that, I can also view my course mates’ blogs. Their thoughts are a lot different than mine and I am inspired by their opinions and feelings towards the course and lessons. Now I see blogging in a different light. I see it not only as a website but a stage for me and my course mates as well to put their thoughts into words and an outlet of our abundant views.

Would I interpret differently?

After all the lectures and tutorials that I have attended, I would not interpret it differently. When I first take this course, I came without much knowledge about drama. It is during lectures that I learn about drama and theatre. When Dr. Edwin discuss with us about the important aspects of the plays, I understand the plays better and that also helps me to be more analytical about certain. That all started with explanations the lecturer gave during the lesson. Base on his interpretation, I can gain knowledge and understand the meaning even better. When he emphasizes certain aspect of the play, I would pay more attention and jot it down.

As for my tutor, Miss Kasthoori, I find the way she teaches is also interesting. Her teachings also help me to build up my own interpretation of the lesson. So, the answer on interpreting the lesson differently still remains. Instead the lectures and tutorials give me more ideas and I understand more on the plays even more.

Learning about the plays is challenging for me, so I would not interpret them differently. Usually I will seek the lectures and tutorials for guidance and that helps me able to improve my own interpretation and understanding.

Adopt and Adapt

In lectures and tutorials, I have gained a lot of knowledge and it will come in handy when I become a teacher. In lectures I learned about the criteria of a good play. That had taught me how to choose a good and interesting play for my students. The skill of choosing a good play is important as it determines that interest of the students. For example, if I chose a boring, long and also a play that has no relation to my students, I am sure that they will not pay attention to my teachings. So, I think this skill is beneficial and adopting this skill is not hard with practice and lots of reading.

Choosing a play is one thing but choosing a suitable play is another. Finding a suitable play for my students is essential. This is one skill that I need to adapt. When searching an appropriate play, I need to identify the level of proficiency of the students, their level of understanding and also their interests.

Being a teacher is not easy when looking for the right material for the students. So, adapting these skills is a challenge and I need to concentrate on my goals to achieve it.

Aspects that are useful or not useful

The lessons that I have learned are all important to my area of study. In lectures, I learned the criteria of a good play which is useful to me when I’m teaching my students. Learning about the criteria of a good play is important for I need to choose wisely about the suitable play for my students. The criteria of a play should be interesting, concerns human experience and has impact on the students. These are useful aspects and I can use that in my area of study. Before this, I was ignorant about these criteria and did not bother about them.

Besides that, I think that learning the history of theatre is relevant to my field of study. To me learning the history of it is useful because it gives me a better picture on how theatre came to be. I can use the history of theatre as a way to introduce theatre to my students…of course I need to make history interesting. It does help me appreciate theatre more and see it as a performing art and it’s something to be admired as well.

So far, there are no aspects that in lectures or tutorials that are not useful. I take the lessons as a part of the learning process and also away to gain knowledge.

What have I learn?

During the first day of tutorial, it was quite interesting. Miss Kastoori asked us to role-play a simple and short play called “Bingo” by Edward Bond. Each groups need to present their own interpretation by role-playing it. My group and I were all involve in the play. We acted as students as students discussing homework and bombarding one particular student. While looking at other people’s performances, I would never think that one simple play can be performed in many ways. After that first class, I learned that drama can help a person expand his or her imagination and creativity.

Besides that, before taking this course, I thought that drama is just dialogues but during lectures I learned that drama is more than that. In a play, there are a lot of genres like comedy, tragicomedy, farce, and so on. In lectures, I also learn there are two types of theatre: Aristotelian and Brechtian. Beforehand, I never heard of these terms and taking this course has broadened my mind on the world of theatre and drama. Moreover, listening to the lectures isn’t so bad since there were terms or conventions in theatre that were foreign to me like soliloquy and the aside. I have never expected that drama has so much of these aspects and that really change my perspective on drama.

Any Questions?

The question that I still have regarding simulated teaching is how to make my activities more interesting. When preparing for my simulated teaching, I’ll always have problems figuring how to make my activities more appealing to the students. I do worry that my activities could bore the students and that will make the students uninterested towards the lesson. This kind of problem usually I can solve on my own. It would be good to have some feedback from my peers about the activities, so that I can make more improvements. I think that if there is something wrong with the activities, I should do better and review them through discussion with friends by asking for their opinions. If I made a mistake, I’ll treat it as part of the learning process and learn from it. From what Ms Kastoori has said during my first class, it’s better to learn our mistakes now than during our teaching practical.