DRAMA IN EDUCATION: A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO TEACHING WITH DRAMA TECHNIQUES - COURSE DESCRIPTION

Introduction

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This course is aimed at teachers and school staff from pre-school level to primary, secondary, vocational, adult and special needs education, staff of non-government organizations, government and policy makers and company staff as well as students and all those interested in use of drama to teach subject specific knowledge while developing their learners transversal skills by creating interactive learning environments within a fictional context. Participants are expected to have at least B1 level of English proficiency.

Methodology

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Participants will be active protagonists since they will live an educational experience centered on the experimentation of their own ability. Objectives will be carried out through several activities (short lessons, experience comparisons, theatre exercises, improvisations, simulations, group works and discussions…) which will allow participants both to learn and to bring their experiences in this event; our principle of teaching is based on “learning by doing approach” and on “mutual teaching”. Participants will have the opportunity to acquire technical and practical knowledge through a methodology based on team work, discussions and elaboration using also a method of practical exercises and simulations. Storytelling will be used to introduce pre-texts on which the Process Drama will be structured. IBL, TBL and PBL will be integrated into the context of Process Drama. Participants will learn to take the role of facilitators rather than teachers so they could develop their students' self-directed learning skills and turn them into protagonists of their own learning. Participants will be introduced to some key online tools that could be used as resources for teaching (for example collaborative writing) or for their personal professional development.

Objectives

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• Defining theatre, drama and education.

• Understanding drama conventions and ways of structuring them to create meaning and engagement.

• Promoting drama and theatre methods as tools for encouraging participation and bringing learning to life.

• Improving the participants’ ability to use the language of theatre, the sound, the image and the movement.

• Understanding how drama and theatre methods and techniques can be incorporated into lessons.

• Understanding the potential drama and theatre methods have for providing context for learning subject specific knowledge and development of skills and attitudes as well as for contextualizing cross-curricular projects.

• Facilitating experience that will motivate participants to provide similar experience to their learners.

• Developing communication, collaboration, presentation, problem solving, negotiation, critical and creative thinking skills.

• Improving the ability to use innovative and student-centered pedagogical approaches.

• Boosting participants’ confidence in use of drama and theatre methods for teaching.

• Enhancing understanding of the potential drama and theatre methods have in education and opportunities they provide.

• Enhancing professional skills through acquisition of versatile drama conventions and ability to structure them in order to reach envisaged learning outcomes.

• Providing and exercising creative ideas and practical resources for successful implementation of drama in education in different school settings (arts and crafts, science, language, citizenship, computer science, management, etc.) to be used with pupils as well as with staff.

• Improving English fluency (official language of the course).

• Promoting intercultural awareness and learning about Croatian culture and culture of other participants.

• Sharing experiences of drama in education from different countries in order to help each of us to be more effective in our work.

• Strengthening the European collaboration among people practicing drama in education in different contexts but unified by similar drama-pedagogical approaches.

• Providing insights into different education systems.

Networking opportunities and cultural programme

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The course includes networking opportunities and cultural exchange opportunities to create European dimension and find possible partners for future projects as well as a city tour or a cultural trip (depending on the location). These are included in the course fee and at no additional expence for participants.

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Preparation

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After registration participants will receive a pre-course questionnaire which will be used by the After registration participants will receive a pre-course questionnaire which will be used by the trainer to learn about participants’ teaching backgrounds and to assess their exact needs. Before the beginning of the course a basic reading list will be suggested to participants to prepare for the training. Participants will also be asked to prepare a presentation about themselves, their professional context and their culture which will be used during the first meeting. Participants will receive information about the country they are going to visit in order to prepare them for their cultural experience.

Follow up

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After the course participants will be asked to share what they have learned with the rest of the staff in their schools. Further books and articles to deepen the topic and contacts with some other practitioners all over Europe and in the world will be suggested by the trainer. The methods shared and explored and the bibliography given will allow the participants to complete and improve their educational path.

Certificate

Each participant will get a course attendance certificate and the Europass Mobility Document.

Accommodation

We do not directly offer accommodation and subsistence and participants are responsible for organizing it by themselves.

Paperwork

We also provide all the support with paperwork you might need for your Erasmus+ project documentation such as mobility agreement and registration letter.

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Cancelation policy

Free cancellation up to 30 days before the start. After that, the reservation is not refundable. Changes in name and profile of the participant are possible any time before the start of the course (replacement participants from the same school/org are accepted at any time). In case the school/org doesn't find a replacement, we will still offer a place at any of our confirmed courses later in the year without any additional costs but we can not guarantee that every course session will be confirmed and the school/org will only be offered to choose from already confirmed course sessions. In case it will not be possible for the participant to attend the course or for us to organize the course due to extraordinary circumstances (classified as such by the European Commission) which present themselves in the period of less than 30 days before the start of the course and we don’t manage to find an alternative solution, we will keep 50 % of the payment and refund the remaining balance of 50% to the payer’s bank account.