Working in a secondary school environment, there are often moments throughout the academic year that I find myself reflecting on my personal journey through education. It seems incredulous that on one hand, so much about student life seems to have changed and yet on the other, almost nothing at all. Looking back on my educational experiences to date, I believe that I am fortunate to be able to recall the memories fondly.
A large proportion of my education was spent at the secondary school and sixth form college I attended for nine years. The school to which I refer was a state comprehensive that served a larger than average catchment area. Its cohort was predominantly White British, with students attending from …show more content…
Most importantly I believe, it acts as an agent to increase the self-esteem and confidence of students, which is first and foremost my main commitment to the teaching of the subject. Empathy is learned and individual identities are established by accessing and understanding emotion when making choices about characters in class. Learning how to work collaboratively is a desirable skill to see emerging in young people and when our students work together by listening and accepting the ideas and contributions of others, it is preparing them for everyday challenge faced both in and of school. Both listening and negotiating also aid in the improving of communication skills. Drama helps students train in the practical elements of communication such as public speaking. In addition, students learn to be more persuasive in their communication, both written and oral, which supports vital literacy …show more content…
Now a trainee teacher, these ideas will continue to grow and change about what makes a ‘good education.’ This assignment serves as a ‘time capsule’, so that I will be able to refer back to it both during and after the course and appreciate the learning journey I have taken. In terms of how I tacked the practicalities of this task, I first set about breaking the work-load up into manageable ‘chunks’ and dedicated time over a couple of evenings to each section of questions. In addition, I also found it useful to annotate the information page in my assignment booklet with early ideas as and when they came to me, so that they would not be forgotten about when writing the assignment up fully. I have enjoyed talking to my partner, who is also a teacher, as well as colleagues about their views on their own subjects, what they see as important and how that differs from my thoughts. The exploration of my own views and values about both secondary education and the teaching and learning of drama has allowed me to consider my current style of teaching and that which I hope to