Of course, I am always the last to know. Even worst, now that I had been transferred to be doing solely Primary School Drama, I am quite cut off from Senior School world.
I knew, a few of the kids from that batch would do great while there were a few who needed to stop being lazy and really work.
Hmmm... the suspense getting to you?...
Out of 32 students who had sat for the 2011-2012 IGCSE Drama exam... 23 students scored A*s and As while the other 9 scored a B!
OMG! I was ecstatic. I quickly informed Mr. Lawrence Espinosa and Ms. Ritu Battacharya (who are unfortunately not working in the school anymore).
Two weeks back, it was announced, out of that, 2 students, a boy and a girl had topped India for IGCSE Drama.
"For the first time in the history of the school", the batch passed out without any Cs; and having 2 students who topped the subject (we had a single topper before); and for the first time, the school did not use its favourite phrase. It was sad that the school did not recognise the efforts by those students.
In retrospect, I wondered what did we do right?
I had joined the school sometime in May of 2010 and experienced a bit of what the Grade 9 and Grade 10 students go through in their IGCSE Drama. The Grade 10 students were doing the Pre-released text of 'The Windsor Boy' and preparing for their written examination.
The new academic term started and all of a sudden, I was made into the Head of Department for Drama. The last HOD had left the school to work elsewhere. Mr. L was a more experienced with the IG and IB syllabus and Ms. R had joined slightly earlier then me. It was strange that the management would ask me to be the HOD. Though, I had declined, the position was thrust onto my shoulders.
During the professional week, we pored over the Schedule of Work and decided that we would give the students a feel of IGCSE and also start off their Monologue work and complete their recording, all in Grade 9.
The students were given short scripts to work on and got the opportunity to work on devised plays. What was incredible about this group was that it did not matter whom they worked with. Yes, some were very hard working and some were rather lazy - yet there was no major problem for them to work together and they managed to iron things out. We also analysed extract of a script and looked at it in the point of view of a director, actor, set designer, costume designer, sound & lighting designer.
Their mid-term and last term exam was based on the work done through-out Grade 9. This seem to help them to understand the written aspect of the examination.
By the time the students got into Grade 10; my former HOD had returned and therefore he was heading the department again. This time the students got set for their 15 minute group work of scripted plays (oh, by the way - we had passed their script & role just before the holidays had started) and devised pieces. The students seem to have put our efforts to good use as they had worked on their scripts over the holidays.
So the recordings came and went by and the script, The Physicists by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
given by IGCSE was analysed. And you know the rest off it...
Hence back to my analysis - my conclusion is that
a) the foundation received by the students in Grade 9 helped them to be more confident of their work.
b) the attitude of the students i.e.
i) co-operation
ii) respect
iii) wanting to work harder and better to get good score; and mostly,
iv) trusting the teachers and their fellow actors.
It is the above that had helped each and everyone of the students do better in their IGCSE Drama exams. Anyone out there wanting to pursue IG Drama - do ask yourself if you have the right attitude to do well in your performance as well as your exam.
Cheers!
September, 2012
The students were given short scripts to work on and got the opportunity to work on devised plays. What was incredible about this group was that it did not matter whom they worked with. Yes, some were very hard working and some were rather lazy - yet there was no major problem for them to work together and they managed to iron things out. We also analysed extract of a script and looked at it in the point of view of a director, actor, set designer, costume designer, sound & lighting designer.
Their mid-term and last term exam was based on the work done through-out Grade 9. This seem to help them to understand the written aspect of the examination.
By the time the students got into Grade 10; my former HOD had returned and therefore he was heading the department again. This time the students got set for their 15 minute group work of scripted plays (oh, by the way - we had passed their script & role just before the holidays had started) and devised pieces. The students seem to have put our efforts to good use as they had worked on their scripts over the holidays.
So the recordings came and went by and the script, The Physicists by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
given by IGCSE was analysed. And you know the rest off it...
Hence back to my analysis - my conclusion is that
a) the foundation received by the students in Grade 9 helped them to be more confident of their work.
b) the attitude of the students i.e.
i) co-operation
ii) respect
iii) wanting to work harder and better to get good score; and mostly,
iv) trusting the teachers and their fellow actors.
It is the above that had helped each and everyone of the students do better in their IGCSE Drama exams. Anyone out there wanting to pursue IG Drama - do ask yourself if you have the right attitude to do well in your performance as well as your exam.
Cheers!
September, 2012
