Discovering Miss Havisham

By:
Liz Mitchell
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Stories lie at the heart of all drama. This presentation and workshop will explore the character of Miss Havisham, central to the novel ‘Great Expectations’ by Charles Dickens. The session will be led by Liz Mitchell who will begin with short extracts from the novel, selected to remind the participants of ‘the bones’ of Miss Havisham’s character. This introductory activity will provide the opportunity to identify the questions the participants would like to investigate further about this ambivalent character from Dickens’ novel. The presenter will then explain and demonstrate a range of drama structures and strategies which reflect the developments in current drama education research and theory, and which also endorse and promote the use of story to enrich and extend the quality of students' understanding and learning. Participants will then be invited and assisted to explore how possible answers to their questions could be discovered using such structures and strategies. The content and practice of this session aims to exemplify how drama can be used within educational institutions to create imaginative and collaborative contexts to support students’ thinking, creativity and enquiry and to affirm the power and potency of the written word.


Keywords: Story, Drama, Creativity, Thinking, Enquiry, Imagination, Discovery, Learning
Stream: Educational Resources and Learning
Presentation Type: 60 minute Workshop Presentation in English
Paper: Discovering Miss Havisham

Liz Mitchell

Lecturer in Drama, The Department of Sport, Culture and the Arts
Faculty of Education, Strathclyde University
Glasgow, UNITED KINGDOM

Liz Mitchell, MSc. is responsible for PGDE (S) Drama within the Faculty of Education and also teaches Drama to postgraduate and undergraduate students who are studying to teach in the primary sector. Her key research interest is drama education. She has presented her work at national and international drama education conferences and has been published in 'The International Drama Research Journal'. She has just completed a chapter on ‘Secondary Drama’, which will be published by the Edinburgh University Press in 2008 titled, ‘Scottish Education’, Third Edition, under the editorship of Professor Tom Bryce, University of Strathclyde, and Professor Walter Humes, University of Paisley .

Ref: B07P0090