'The Play Script', an action research study into playwriting in senior classes in the primary school
This is a study into classroom playwriting in senior classes in the primary school. As a teacher, I identified a gap in the provision of genres of creative writing available to the teacher. As a community playwright, I recognised the potential of playwriting for young creative writers. As a researcher, I discovered that there was scant literature reporting on this area. I was convinced that an argument could be made for playwriting in literacy. This would challenge the prevailing assumption that writing play scripts is for performance, exclusively. My aim was to construct a theory and pedagogy of the play script to help the classroom teacher. My first research question was to address the need for the creation of a viable pedagogy. I honed six pedagogical approaches and prioritised two: the Writer’s Workshop and collaborative writing. My second research question was to address the need for a domain knowledge of the play script to support the teacher. I wondered if such a theory could be based on Aristotle’s seminal text, Poetics (330 BC). My third research question sought to bring clarity to some issue or mood or moment in playwriting and the research process. I turned to an arts-based research paradigm to construct my own research method for reflection based on visual metaphors. I adopted a reflective practitioner framework using action research as my central methodology. Epistemologically, I moved forward in a growing awareness of how phenomenology, interpretivism, constructivism and pragmatism were actualising as my research north star. I used five research methods to collect data. One was new, addressed in my third research question. I embarked on a two-year empirical journey with sixty-five students in a large primary school. I amassed data on the diverse aspects of my complex study. This was analysed in two ways: themes and crystallisation. The latter involved organising my data in different configurations that did not follow traditional triangulation practices. Pieces of data could stand on their own merit or in juxtaposition with other ‘fragments’. Over time, these could translate into findings. Crystallisation was a whole new research world to me. Establishing truthfulness was central to my research. Findings indicated that playwriting was a novel, teachable craft. A palette of pedagogies was tailored to suit the teacher’s style. These, amongst other features, could render the affective in playwriting. A significant finding was the realisation that Aristotle’s 330BC theory of a play script had real relevance and accessibility as a domain knowledge of classroom playwriting. It could render novel aspects of playwriting such as humour and a conversational writing register. Another significant finding was the considered cultivation of a theory and practice of an arts-based research method for reflection, the Rich Picture. All three research questions were answered using both deductive and inductive approaches. A literature review was on-going. Playwriting was a phenomenon for all students, for all teachers. This wholly qualitative research approach will culminate in a set of teacher-friendly resources in playwriting after the completion of this dissertation. It can shape future classroom creative writing experiences. Perhaps the most interesting finding was that playwriting is a form of narrative writing and the aim of narrative writing is entertainment. Here was a most fitting rationale for playwriting. Over the decades, Irish playwrights have been celebrated as writers of entertaining plays. It is in our DNA. In this study, sixty-five primary school students were celebrated as writers of their own entertaining plays. Future DNA? Curtains up.
Classroom playwriting, Qualitative Reflective Practitioner Paradigm, Visual metaphors (the 'Rich Picture'), Crysallisation as analysis
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