The Drama Teacher

After spending three years (2007-2009) as President of Drama Victoria, our state Drama teachers association, last year I took a back seat on Drama Vic’s Committee of Management. However this year, I’m President again until the next election in March 2012.

I’d be interested if any Victorian Drama teachers, who are members of Drama Vic, have any feedback or suggestions on Drama Victoria’s activities, conference or professional learning opportunities? Even though our PL program for 2011 is already set and published, there are tweaks that can still be made to make these experiences better for you. Also, ideas at this time can potentially be implemented in Drama Victoria’s 2012 professional learning program, which is of course planned the year before.

Good news coming up soon at Drama Vic! The association’s new website is nearing completion behind the scenes and will be on the web at the start of Term 2. The current website has been in need of a major overhaul for some time and Drama Victoria has invested in a new design (front end) and an amazing database (back end), both of which will see significant changes to make the interaction between Drama Victoria and its members a more efficient and exciting experience.

Late January or early February marks the beginning of the academic year for school students across Australia (the home of The Drama Teacher), so it may be an opportune time for us drama and theatre teachers to have a think about a few new year’s resolutions. If you teach drama or theatre in another part of the world on a different time line, the new year brings with it many opportunities to make change for the better, midway through the academic year.

To get the ball rolling, I’ll list a few of my own new year’s resolutions for my professional life as a high school Drama teacher, while I hope and pray none of my students accidentally or deliberately end up reading this post! If they do come across it in their travels, well at least I’ll be kept honest, hey?

Justin’s Top 10 New Year’s Resolution 2011

1. be more organised
2. learn to prioritise
3. plan, plan, plan!
4. use more technology in the drama classroom
5. play more targeted drama games
6. empower my students more
7. make a greater number of my drama lessons fun for my students
8. learn new ideas and concepts from my students
9. implement student suggestions in my curriculum
10. be more passionate about drama teaching than ever before!

Anyone else wish to share their new year’s resolutions below? Please, feel free to comment!