S3 Drama:
Reporting Window 1

The topics we have covered in this reporting window are:

Drama Skills

·   Theatre In Education – Term One

Learners worked collaboratively to develop their own scripted Theatre in Education piece. The dramas were issue based, relevant to the intended audience.  The dramas were developed from brainstorming, still images, and class discussion of learner’s own experiences then rehearsed and presented to the class with a group discussion after each drama about the issues explored. This gave learners the opportunity to experience writing a drama for a specific target audience and the restrictions that might bring such as suitability of content and language. This collaborative process allowed learners to experience leadership, negotiation and decision making through the creative process. This process also provided learners with the opportunity to further develop their performance skills, using voice and movement to enhance characterisation and explore the convention of monologue with each learner writing and performing their own character’s introduction.

·       The Island – Characterisation – Term One

Learners were taken on a guided adventure where they developed their own character with detailed background and performed in role as this character as the adventure unfolded. They were introduced to characterisation techniques such as Character Card, Hot-Seating, Writing-in-Role and Improvisation allowing them the space to develop and deepen their understanding of their character and through characterisation, develop acting concepts for their characters in terms of voice and movement.

·       Drama Conventions – Term One

Learners have worked collaboratively to develop their own devised dramas following the Drama Process from stimulus to performance. The focus of this unit was to build Drama Conventions into their work allowing learners to experiment with how devices such as split-stage, mime, narration, flashbacks and voiceovers can make their dramas more impactful. This collaborative process allowed learners to experience leadership, negotiation and decision making through the creative process. This process also provided learners with the opportunity to further develop their performance skills, using voice and movement to enhance characterisation, for example, pitch, pace, volume, facial expression and body language.

·       Choose Your Own Adventure: Script Writing – Term Two

Learners have worked collaboratively to develop their own scripted drama which they rehearsed and presented to the class with a choice of three possible endings which the audience could choose from. This gave learners the opportunity to learn about the structure of a scripted play and the importance of stage directions and annotating a working script. This collaborative process allowed learners to experience leadership, negotiation and decision making through the creative process.

Course Overview

The majority of work covered in S3 Drama is based around CfE Level 4 outcomes The majority of learners at this stage of S3 are working at Fourth B or above. Learners working below this level continue to be offered classroom support with CfE Level 4/3 content to ensure progression in learning.

Working Grade descriptions for S3 Drama:

Fourth A: Making excellent progress at CfE Level 4, performing well against all the outcomes covered. Learners always demonstrate sensitivity, precision and depth in the portrayal of a character, using their understanding of characterisation to create characters using different approaches, and show confidence in presenting their work to an audience. Learners will take the opportunity to lead negotiation and decision making, working with others to devise, rehearse and refine dramas and scripts. They will take every opportunity to use theatre arts technology to enhance tension, mood and atmosphere in drama work and can analyse technical aspects of drama and scripts, making informed judgments and considered opinions on their own and others’ work.

Fourth B: Making good progress at CfE Level 4, performing well against most of the outcomes. Learners mostly demonstrate some sensitivity, precision, and depth in the portrayal of a character, using their understanding of characterisation to create characters using different approaches, and generally show confidence in presenting their work to an audience. Learners will mostly take the opportunity to lead negotiation and decision making, working with others to devise, rehearse and refine dramas and scripts. They will take most opportunities to use theatre arts technology to enhance tension, mood and atmosphere in drama work and generally can analyse technical aspects of drama and scripts, making informed judgments and considered opinions on their own and others’ work.  

Fourth C: Making reasonable progress at CfE Level 4, performing well against some of the outcomes but finding others more challenging. Learners occasionally demonstrate some sensitivity, precision, and depth in the portrayal of a character, sometimes showing confidence in presenting their work to an audience. Learners will occasionally take the opportunity to lead negotiation and decision making, working with others to devise, rehearse and refine dramas and scripts. They will take some opportunities to use theatre arts technology to enhance tension, mood and atmosphere in drama work and occasionally can analyse technical aspects of drama and scripts, making general judgments and sharing basic opinions on their own and others’ work.  

Fourth D: Making some progress at CfE Level 4, performing well against few of the outcomes covered while finding the majority challenging. Learners are having difficulty demonstrating any sensitivity, precision, and depth in the portrayal of a character, very occasionally showing confidence in presenting their work to an audience. They find taking the opportunity to lead negotiation and decision making, challenging when working with others to devise, rehearse and refine dramas and scripts. They will take very occasional opportunities to use theatre arts technology to enhance tension, mood and atmosphere in drama work and finds making general judgments and sharing basic opinions on their own and others’ work to be challenging.

Third A to D: While continuing to experience CfE Level 4 outcomes the majority of the work can be very challenging, and most tasks require further explanation and to be broken down into smaller, simplified versions in order to make progress and build confidence.