School Number 2
Cockburn High School So from the first school I realised that I had to be a little bit more prepared for this interview especially as this high school was a specialist performing arts school. I will talk you through what happened on the day again. 8:40am Arrive at the school, meet the other candidates. 9am. Candidate meeting with the Deputy Head Teacher and the performing arts teachers who will be conducting the interviews, one drama teacher and one dance teacher. All the candidates listened to each other and we were shown a short video about Cockburn High School which showed us how much the teachers and students care about the school. 9:30am. Next up the Drama teacher told us what the course would be and a little background about the drama department at Cockburn High School. From what he was telling me and looking around I saw that this school heavily loves the performing arts. It's good to see that there are some schools around the UK that still think drama, dance and music are important subjects. The teacher said each year they perform a christmas musical (this year it was Billy Elliot), a year 7 and 8 festival in March and then a year 9, 10, 11 and sixth form show in April. They also write their own musical that they perform in the summer. A truly remarkable school. 9:50am. Monologue. The school gave the drama candiates two monologues, we had to choose one and perfom it to the drama teacher, the piece I chose was Theme for English B by Langston Hughes. I mainly chose this one as it was set in New York and I knew I could do the New York accent so to walk in with an accent must show something to the drama teacher. He didn't give me any criticism after, he just said thank you and gave me a written task to do. I guess they can't give too much away. 10am. Written Task. I was given a written task of: You are teaching a year 10 drama class about the Holocaust, they have a basic knowledge of the Holocaust and they prefer group work. How would you go about planning a two hour lesson? This was a difficult task to write about as you don't want to do exercises that are too offensive, you need to be careful about it. This is what I wrote: 1) Have a brief ten minute discussion about the holocaust, see what the year 10 class already know and already don't know. 2) Get the class to walk around the room. I will then shout out an emotion so like scared or angry, after they have done this I will ask them why I told them to show me the emotions I chose. I will be looking for answers like "you told us to be scared because that's what the Jews would have been thinking before they went into the gas chamber" 3) I will then get them into 4 groups and give each group a scenario, they will then perform these pieces to each other. Group 1 - You are a Jewish family who have just heard on the radio about Hitler's regime and his plans on about blonde hair and blue eyes and how he is going to burn the Jewish. Group 2 - You are the same Jewish family who are going through border control, one of you doesn't have blonde hair and blue eyes and can't get through the border. Group 3 - You are the 3 family members who got through the border but it was a trick, you were sent to an extermination camp. Tell the audience using direct address what you see and how you're feeling. Group 4 - You are just about to go into the gas chamber, describe how you're feeling, how others are feeling. Putting all 4 shows together will create a chronological series of events that can cover one part of the Holocaust. 4) I will then ask each group to go back onto stage and let the class direct them in order to create a fluid piece of drama. This will increase their directing skills and leadership skills by taking on the role of director. 10:30am. Teaching task. As the game I played at the previous school, Jewel Thief, went down well with the pupils and the teachers I played it again. After the game I asked them why I chose that game, they said the same things: listening skills, sense of touch, spacial awareness, levels etc. The kids were really engaging and for a year 8 class they knew a lot of drama terms just like the last school, I'm impressed with the yorkshire drama knowledge. I then played a game called Knights Wizards and Giants which is a big game of Rock Paper Scissors and the school in Liverpool seem to enjoy it too. The kids were confused at first at how to play the game but after short demo they picked it up quickly. After the game I asked them why I had picked it and they said the things I was looking for such as: teamwork, creativity, physical exaggeration etc. They even said things I weren't expecting like: energy, using your brain to outsmart the other team. Great bunch of pupils, really engaging and listened to me from the start. 11am. Interview. I then had a one to one interview with the Deputy Head Teacher, he asked me a series of questions such as "Why Cockburn? Why do you want to be a teacher?" The one question I thought was different was "I'm going to ring up your best friend, what he would say about you and why?" First thought that came into my head was which bestfriend? It all depends on who you ring. I replied with "They willl call me creative, independent, funny and imaginative, if you phoned up a drama best friend they'll be able to give you an example of my creativity or my imagination. When I'm doing a project I like to see how it can be different and outside the box, not the simplest way possible." I've noticed I gesture a lot in interviews, I get nervous under pressure and I think people judge me too much. I need to calm down and just sell myself. 11:45. Tour of the school. Overall it was a good school, it had many facilities and the drama department was just brilliant. It also had a heated outside eating area which I thought was really unique and different. They also had their own police officer in the school, this is a great idea and I think other schools should follow this, it would stop the pupils from misbehaving in and around school. I loved this school and if I was accepted I wouldn't say no, having spoken to the PGCE teachers there they reassured everyone that it's one of the best schools they've taught at and the kids couldn't be nicer. As it's a performing arts school it would easily mould me into a better drama teacher than a normal school, Cockburn, you amazed me. Now I wait for a UCAS email...
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Knights, Wizards & GiantsStep 1) Split the group into two even teams. |