Outram Room 7: Process Drama - Being an Early Settler

We have been exploring the voyage of the Early European settlers this week. To do this we have been using process drama. We were given the task of developing 'family groups' - including deciding on a family name, family make up (mum, dad, uncle?) and our ages.
Being in role was one of the drama conventions that we were working on - this meant staying in character and 'walking a mile in their shoes'. In our family groups we decided what belongings we would pack into our suitcase - what would we take or leave behind? What might we need once we got to the new land? We thought about how the Early Settlers would have felt leaving their homelands and discussed their reasons for leaving. Then we had our final family photo on British soil.
As family groups we lined up for the doctors final inspection - we learnt how dangerous any illness would be on a confined space like a boat, but we also thought about how desperate some of these families would have been to get on board. Some would have saved up for a long time or sold all their belongings to get money for the passage.
The Captain lead us onto the ship and showed us our cabin. We were surprised at the confined space and how crowded it was. We settled down for our first night. We used another drama convention - spoken thoughts aloud - to think about how the passengers might be feeling at this early stage. Some people were worried about the crowded conditions and how they would cope, some people were excited and ready for the journey ahead.
We used our drama experiences to write diary entries in role. Writing in role is another drama convention. Our Super Sentences this week are from this diary writing. Working through these experiences in drama really helped us to think about the settlers experience and their feelings and emotions.