The Death of Drama
Now more than ever, with techno-education and the narrowing of the
curriculum to within an inch of its life, we have to embed drama and music into
our children’s lives.
When I hear my students tell me, “I don’t read books, Miss,” I nod with familiarity
at the answer, and ask them, “OK…what films do you like?”
It may surprise you to know that, increasingly, their answer has been, “I don’t
watch films.”
Reference points from an experience of narrative are few. Marvel is my
predominant allegory. My entire being panics when I list in my head all the
stories I love and try to imagine a world without them.
We must, as parents, introduce, encourage and instil some reality of drama and
narrative in our children’s lives. How else can they solve problems vicariously,
learn words which express their emotions, see patterns of language and
understand rhythm, relationships and humanity?
So, how can we do this? It seems to me that the lack of story arcs and plots is a
particular issue with Tik-Tok videos and Youtube clips, with little development
or understanding of anticipated drama. No suspense. That would take too long.
No need for foreshadowing. Brief snippets of tragedy or comedy.
Yet stories are still loved, as they always were. Children love to listen to stories
read aloud to them. They enjoy discussing their friends, their lives and their
futures. They adore expressing themselves in made-up performances and
puppet-shows. Maybe we can make the most of this at home whenever we
have the chance, in a bid to combat the inevitable progress and changes in our
childrens’ lives
Memory is a muscle
Sam E | Posted on 5th May 2022
“I don’t remember!” Many a student has been heard to cry about something told to them not forty-five minutes prior. This made me think.
As a child we would need to remember phone numbers. I remember playing memory games as a child. My parents would place ten objects on a table and each time take one away asking me to remember what was there. We sang songs about shopping lists, we played card games. Where back then we would need to remember what had happened the week before in Star Trek, we are now reminded each episode what just happened the hour before. Where before we would need to remember the events in the previous chapter of our books, now there is no need to remember anything when you click on an uncontextual and isolated video clip.
Exercising memory skills is something we can train our children to do with easy games and quizzes. It’s true we are moving into unchartered waters regarding the necessary skills for their future lives, but memory has served us all well over time, and is a crucial part of gaining and maintaining knowledge and references.
J March 