Metacognition TIPR Content Area: Theatre
Ah, the theatre (read that line in you best pretentious English accent)! I actually never believed I would go to college until I learned that I could get a degree in theatre. This news changed my life. I liked school ok but nothing really interested me like theatre did. As a teen I just viewed acting as a fun, exciting, and frankly, an easy class. Having some years of experience behind me and a few classes in Educational Phycology, I can see how the way that I learn really lends itself to the stage. Seriously, this is a revelation. I'm ok at taking notes, understanding text books, and jumping through the hoops, but you ask me to get up and try something new and I'm in it to win it! Come to find out, this understanding of how I learn is called metacognition. Everyone can do it! Metacognition is just learning how you learn, thinking about thinking (I feel super smart saying that).
My first two service field hours were spent in a intermediate/advanced theatre class with 7th and 8th grade students. This is a big class, 43 kids total. Both times the teacher had written on a movable white board to stack chairs and sit on the ground. The kids knew the expectation the second they walked in the door and were ready with an excited and loud energy when the bell rang. Yes, they were loud but not in a disruptive way. They were pumped. They knew they were going to try something new and that they were going to succeed at it. There are not a lot of ways to fail in theatre, so long as you try.
The classes began with a warm up session that got bodies, minds, and voices ready to work. The warm up time lasted about 15 minutes. After warm ups the teacher reviewed what they did the day before and then explained the plan for what they would accomplish that day. As the class time progressed the teacher walked around while the students followed her instructions, evaluating what they were doing and giving feedback as they needed adjustment or praise as they succeeded. With 15 minutes left in class everyone sat in a circle and offered feedback about the day's instruction. They evaluated how they felt while performing her instructions, what worked for them, what did not. All who wanted to offer an evaluation had the opportunity.
Here's what I think is interesting about theatre classes, acting in particular; there are no pencils and pens, no workbooks, no note taking. Most of it is visual and verbal, so in the area of metacognition, when a teacher wants to students to be aware of how they learn, it has to be pointed out while the student is doing it.
An example of this is when the kids had spent the whole class moving according to the direction of the teacher. She told them this was a practice to help them be self aware without being aware of the others around them. This helps them focus on what they are doing and not what others are thinking about them. She reminded them repeatedly that they needed to find the motivation inside themselves to do what she asked of them, and to do it only when they were ready. This is very indicative of declarative metacognition. The teacher continually asked them to be aware of themselves in the space and only follow instruction when they were ready. This relied very heavily on the personal variable of learning.
These classes were also very unifying for the students. The instructions were basic and easy to follow and self motivated, so the student's development or biology did not play a factor in accomplishing the task. However, the experience they gained was equal. All students were 100% silent, on task, and engaged throughout the lesson.
The metacognitive cycle and backwards design are very natural companions to teaching theatre. In the second class I attended the end result of the day was to present a 60 second scene that the student made up using only a task they were given on a paper (knocking on the floor) and then deciding the motivation behind it (knocking on the floor because they are locked in the attic and need someone to get them out). The class started by analyzing what they hope to get better at. In this case it was for the students to practice doing a simple task realistically. The goal was made clear, they are not to be showy or silly in their task, they are to just do it. They made a plan by themselves by first writing the task down that they had been given and then writing down what their motivation behind it was. This was the planning phase. They enacted the strategies they had made by practicing, and monitored themselves by working in small groups and discussing their ideas. Finally, they each performed their task/scene. At the end of the performance an evaluation was held discussing what worked in each of the presentations. Every student had a chance to perform and be evaluated and offer evaluation.
In conclusion, I feel the teacher was highly successful at teaching her students how to understand how they learn. I also feel she was highly successful at keeping her students engaged, optimizing the personal variable of learning, and using declarative metacognition in order for her students to gain the best experience possible.
My first two service field hours were spent in a intermediate/advanced theatre class with 7th and 8th grade students. This is a big class, 43 kids total. Both times the teacher had written on a movable white board to stack chairs and sit on the ground. The kids knew the expectation the second they walked in the door and were ready with an excited and loud energy when the bell rang. Yes, they were loud but not in a disruptive way. They were pumped. They knew they were going to try something new and that they were going to succeed at it. There are not a lot of ways to fail in theatre, so long as you try.
The classes began with a warm up session that got bodies, minds, and voices ready to work. The warm up time lasted about 15 minutes. After warm ups the teacher reviewed what they did the day before and then explained the plan for what they would accomplish that day. As the class time progressed the teacher walked around while the students followed her instructions, evaluating what they were doing and giving feedback as they needed adjustment or praise as they succeeded. With 15 minutes left in class everyone sat in a circle and offered feedback about the day's instruction. They evaluated how they felt while performing her instructions, what worked for them, what did not. All who wanted to offer an evaluation had the opportunity.
Here's what I think is interesting about theatre classes, acting in particular; there are no pencils and pens, no workbooks, no note taking. Most of it is visual and verbal, so in the area of metacognition, when a teacher wants to students to be aware of how they learn, it has to be pointed out while the student is doing it.
An example of this is when the kids had spent the whole class moving according to the direction of the teacher. She told them this was a practice to help them be self aware without being aware of the others around them. This helps them focus on what they are doing and not what others are thinking about them. She reminded them repeatedly that they needed to find the motivation inside themselves to do what she asked of them, and to do it only when they were ready. This is very indicative of declarative metacognition. The teacher continually asked them to be aware of themselves in the space and only follow instruction when they were ready. This relied very heavily on the personal variable of learning.
These classes were also very unifying for the students. The instructions were basic and easy to follow and self motivated, so the student's development or biology did not play a factor in accomplishing the task. However, the experience they gained was equal. All students were 100% silent, on task, and engaged throughout the lesson.
The metacognitive cycle and backwards design are very natural companions to teaching theatre. In the second class I attended the end result of the day was to present a 60 second scene that the student made up using only a task they were given on a paper (knocking on the floor) and then deciding the motivation behind it (knocking on the floor because they are locked in the attic and need someone to get them out). The class started by analyzing what they hope to get better at. In this case it was for the students to practice doing a simple task realistically. The goal was made clear, they are not to be showy or silly in their task, they are to just do it. They made a plan by themselves by first writing the task down that they had been given and then writing down what their motivation behind it was. This was the planning phase. They enacted the strategies they had made by practicing, and monitored themselves by working in small groups and discussing their ideas. Finally, they each performed their task/scene. At the end of the performance an evaluation was held discussing what worked in each of the presentations. Every student had a chance to perform and be evaluated and offer evaluation.
In conclusion, I feel the teacher was highly successful at teaching her students how to understand how they learn. I also feel she was highly successful at keeping her students engaged, optimizing the personal variable of learning, and using declarative metacognition in order for her students to gain the best experience possible.
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