Nazreen Osman

Award Recipient of “The Efficiency Medal” (Pingat Berkebolehan) in the National Day Awards Ceremony 2011, Nazreen has been a member of SDEA since 2007. She will be presenting at this year's Teachers Symposium - Creativity, Values and Character Development Through The Arts, organised by the National Arts Council, as part of the Singapore Arts Festival 2012.

E-Interview with Nazreen Osman

1. Tell us more about the medal you were awarded? You've done much to promote drama in your school, Tampines Primary, can you share with us how drama is used: over what duration, how it has been used, e.g. in curriculum and in your club.

I’ve been awarded with “The Efficiency Medal” (Pingat Berkebolehan) in the National Day Awards Ceremony 2011. The Efficiency Medal was instituted in 1969. The Medal is awarded to a person who shows exceptional efficiency or exceptional devotion to duty or for work of special significance. I see this medal as a recognition of the work that I do. It is an affirmation that I am doing something meaningful and worthwhile, i.e. developing drama in education in my school.

The medal is an acknowledgement of my area of contribution to teaching. My greatest area of contribution in teaching is in the introduction of drama as a pedagogy in the curriculum. The drama programme is called ACTtituDE (A Character Transformation and Turnaround through Drama in Education). Drama is used as a pedagogy to develop thinking skills, communication skills as well as Social Emotional Learning competencies. I have implemented a customized curriculum since 2006. The drama curriculum is still being refined today. Currently, drama is part of the school’s curriculum for English Language. It is being taught across all levels in a modular fashion. Each primary level has to complete a series of drama lessons for at least a term. These drama lessons had to be carefully planned so that it would enrich the student’s content knowledge and at the same time inject creativity and engagement.

My deepest conviction is that every child is creative and confident. Being a drama teacher, I feel that it is important for me to create a safe context for a child to speak and exchange ideas. By building rapport with pupils through "play" in the classroom, the pupils and I are interacting, exchanging ideas and investigating problems together.

Drama in Tampines Primary has developed pupils in many ways. It provides pupils with a platform to instill confidence, nurture creativity and develop their character and values. Drama as a school based curriculum has expanded and refined throughout the years in Tampines Primary since it started from a very small scale research project in 2006.

Currently, all pupils are enjoying drama in curriculum. Pupils from Primary 1 to 6 go through the modules in drama based on themes. Drama is integrated in the English Language and the themes of the drama lessons have also included Social Studies topics.

As a Senior Teacher in Drama, I also look into the professional development of teachers. Every year, I conduct drama workshops for all EL and MT teachers. These school-based workshops introduce teachers to drama strategies that they can incorporate into their lessons.

Drama has also gone beyond the classroom where pupils practise their skills in a performance space outside the classroom. One of these performance spaces is the school’s Blackbox theatre. Tampines Primary is privileged to have our very own Blackbox, the first ever in a primary school. As a teacher in charge of drama club CCA, together with my colleagues and pupils we collaborate and produce a school play production.

2. What do you hope to do for Tampines Primary School?

There are many exciting plans for 2012. One of them is to look closely at a professional development plan to equip teachers to use drama as pedagogy in Tampines Primary. The professional development can take the form of workshops, courses, coaching and even team teaching. Another plan is to look at how theatre can build bonds between the school and the community. Do keep a lookout for the exciting programme lined up for childrens’ theatre in our very own Blackbox!

3. How long have you been an SDEA member and what were the projects you were involved in?

I have been an SDEA Comm member from 2007 to 2011.

The following are the workshops and event which I was involved in:

• 2007 – Hot House- Youth Theatre Directing
• Apr 2008 – Hot House- Connections: Using drama as a pedagogy in the teaching of Malay Language
• July 2008 – Celebrate Drama
• Mar 2010 – SDEA Connections

In 2010, I had the opportunity to head Celebrate Drama and it was a great experience for me. I also had the opportunity to work with Peggy Ferroa from SDEA and Jeffrey Tan from NAC in the development of post play discussion questions for some of the plays staged as part of the Singapore Arts Festival.

4. What is the Teachers Symposium - Creativity, Values and Character Development Through The Arts, organised by the National Arts Council, as part of the Singapore Arts Festival 2012 about and what will you be sharing?

This symposium looks at how arts can bring out the creativity in the classroom and beyond, teaching of values and character development.

I will be sharing on how drama in Tampines Primary (also known as ACTtituDE), is developed using the approaches of Create, Perform and Respond. There will also be snippets of the drama in curriculum and how it has developed over the past few years in my school. I hope that through this presentation, it will provide some insight into how drama brings out creativity and confidence in every child.