Abstract #1589

Abstract: Revised abstract for ARLE Conference in Tallin, Estland 15-17.06.2017.
Peer Gynt in the secondary school classroom.
How classical texts can be revived through dramapedagogical methods.
Anne Lind, førsteamanuensis anne.lind@hioa.no
Høgskolen i Oslo og Akershus, Norway.
The last Education reform in Norway removed the list of canon authors from the curriculum, and left it to teachers to choose which authors and texts they would emphasize in their classroom (Kunnskapsdepartementet 2006/2013). Some teachers, set aside classical texts of for instance Henrik Ibsen. This has raised a debate in Norwegian medias about restoring literary canon, but also how classical texts could be approached in the classroom of today.
My project was undertaken in 2014 when I was teaching Norwegian to a group of young people of 17-18 years, in their last year of high school. I invited a teacher of dramapedagogics into the classroom. Two texts of Ibsen were chosen to work with, and a text of Shakespeare.
The class was led through different drama methods over a period of five weeks. Teacher in role as exposition, for instance as Peer Gynt’s mother Åse, with pupils in collective roles as tourists passing by her farm. Pupils in frozen positions (statues of freezing frames) were used to explore relations and emotions (Ilsaas, 1991, 2013). The frames were also put together in collages with “voice over”narratives to tell a story. All which led to the class’s desire for playing out orally a full scene of Peer Gynt (Ibsen 2008).
After the performance a survey was held in the form of a questionnaire of closed and some open questions, in three categories: 1) Age and gender. 2) A rating of seven different parts of the drama work. 3) What they had learnt, also compared to national goals. The questions were designed to encourage aesthetic reading and respons (Rosenblatt 1982).The answers in category 2 revealed that identification with characters and themes in Peer Gynt led to their choice of acting out a particular scene. The answers in category 3 showed that they had become more familiar with Ibsens’ texts and characters, and in addition that they had discovered their own classmates, and how surprisingly resourceful they were.
These findings, in what can be characterised in retrospect as action research, (Ulvik, Riese & Roness, 2016) has led to reconsidering “difficult” classical texts, their actuality can be rediscovered through transactional reading and dramapedagogical methods allowing young people to identify with timeless human issues, breaking old language barriers (Sæbø 1998, 2010, 2012). As it turns out the sociocultural benefits seem to be the pupils’ better knowledge and respect for each other.
On this background I will discuss two main questions at the ARLE conference. One concerning literary canon, and whether classical texts should be kept in the school curriculum. The other question deals with teaching methods and the reviving of old texts in the classroom.
Bibliography
Ibsen, Henrik (2008). Peer Gynt i Henrik Ibsens skrifter (red.) Vigdis Ystad og Asbjørn Aarseth. Oslo: Aschehoug.
Ilsaas, T. (2013) Drama as basic knowledge. In Drama, 2013. Årg. 50, nr. 1, pp.40-41.
Ilsaas, T. (1991). Teater i undervisningen (TIU) – Profesjonell teaterkunst som læringsverktøy. In H. Reistad (red.), Regikunst (s. 156- 167). Oslo: Tell forlag a.s.
Kunnskapsdepartementet (2006/2013) Læreplanverket for kunnskapsløftet. Oslo: Kunnskapsdepartementet.
Rosenblatt, L. (1982) The Literary transaction: Evocation and respons. In Theory into Practice 21:4, 268-277.
Sæbø, A.B. (1998). Drama –et kunstfag. Den kunstfaglige dramaprosessen i undervisning, læring og erkjennelse. Oslo: Tano-Aschehoug
Sæbø, A.B (2010) Drama som estetisk læringsform for å utvikle leseforståelse. In FoU i praksis, 4(1), pp. 9-25.
Sæbø, A.B. (2012) LDS' rolle i IDEA. In Drama, 2012, Årg. 49, nr. 1, pp.24-25
Ulvik, M. Riese, H. & Roness, D. (2016). Å forske på egen praksis. Aksjonsforskning og andre tilnærminger til profesjonell utvikling i utdanningsfeltet. Bergen: fagbokforlaget.