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ON TEACHING DRAMA TO KIDS:
I started to teach when I was forty. I had not taught drama before
that. it was much harder than I thought it would be and the first summer
that I taught a group of small children, I was completely exausted at the
end of the session. when I remember back to that first group, it seems as if
they were all ADD because there seemed to be so much out of control
behaviour. I am not sure if this was a reflection of the students in my
first group or that I just didn't know how to keep them all focussed.
we started our first summer camp performance with ' the name of the tree'
which was alot of fun to work on. I think there were about twelve kids and
they seemd to be quite young, around 7 years to about 10. we worked in a
very echoey church hall and by the time the camp was done, I had no voice
left.
on my second summer of teaching I had some of the same kids
and quite a few others, my group was still young and we chose to put up "the
firebird". we were in a different location, and it wasn't so echoey which
helped me keep my voice from getting wrecked in the process of yelling over
the kids noise.
I also discovered..... the whistle.
I
struggled for many years to figure out how to get them motivated without
yelling at them like a lunatic sports coach. fifteen years later I can say
that I have reduced the yelling at them to about 5 percent of where I was at
the beginning, but I doubt that a single summer camp has been yell free
completely. something happens in the process of putting stuff up and the
speed at which you have to travel, that seems to lean toward the yelling. I
think its like the win lose scenario of sports and you are just sucked into
the fray with the players. "the team" concept stretches quite far as theatre
is in many ways an emotional catch point for the arts, like perhaps a
fulcrum. it resembles a sportsteam in many ways. I have noticed over
the years of putting up shows with kids, that the more team players I have,
the better and smoother the production. and age is not that much of a
factor. personalities and probably to some degree what kind of things happen
in the home front affect whether a child is capable of playing on a team
well. whether they understand the concept of sharing, supporting each other,
giving their best and being able to understand that if they are no doing
their best it is affecting everyone, these all count for something.
I have over the years cultivated faith in the process of theatre. I have
reduced the yelling at them unecessarily and allowed the natural pressure of
the situation to play out. I have learned in many ways the nature of
consequence and can see how it feels on the kids. I have learned about
patience and how to balance they enjoyment of learning with the excitement
of the drama. it is a delicate balance and sometimes I am more succesful
then other times at acheiving it.
Jody Terio
Artistic
Directorlittle red theatre
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