TIE - Part 16

A major aspect to our TIE Macbeth piece is the use of facilitation. During the rehearsal period, when we've reached the point of facilitation (i.e. actually talking to our TA) we haven't been really discussing what we want our TA to be led to or how we're going to do this. The facilitation is potentially the most important part of the piece because it allows our TA to think for themselves and solidify the knowledge that they already have.

Before our first performance on Thursday, we discussed the importance of facilitation and how it should factor into the piece. The points of direct facilitation/contact occur at:

• The Character Mixing Desk for Act 1, Scene 7; occurs part of the way through the scene (whether the TA believe Joel has put the sliders in the correct place) and also at the end of the scene (whether the sliders stay the same throughout the scene or if they change).
• After Act 2, Scene 2 where we discuss where the modern day English quotes match up to the Shakespearean version. 
• After hamartia, where we ask our TA what they believe Macbeth's fatal flaw is. 

It is important that we get the hang of getting the TA to shape their responses around the point that we are trying to make which relates to the client's vision and need. This ideal of shaping our TA's responses can be done during the feeding back portion of the facilitation, where the main facilitator who remained onstage can ask further questions; this can also be done when making contact initially as asking further questions will solidify our TA's opinions and thus we are achieving the aims of the client. It must be noted that facilitation is much different than normal acting because you have to make contact with the TA and engage with them; thus speech has to be slower in order to help them understand both the task that we want them to complete and also to solidify their knowledge.

In class, we went through the above points of facilitation and predicted the answers that we may get from our TA and found ways to which we could deepen their understanding with secondary questions to make them think better. It's good to structure questions so that when getting feedback we get good responses.

At the moment, I do feel that we are massively up against time. As Director's Challenge ran on for a little longer than expected and with focus on the Y12 BTECs' performance of The Pillowman it has been hard to merely focus on TIE. Moreover, I do feel that we discussed for too long on certain aspects and didn't discuss enough on others. For example, we had massive debates on whether we needed 1,7 and 2,2 because of the similarities between the scenes but we didn't discuss much about the impact of Banquo nor the impact of the Witches and as a result these latter sections have been more rushed in the devising process and don't have the same level of thought behind them. Additionally, as this moment in time I don't believe we're fully prepared for the facilitation and discussion with our TA aspects of the piece because, as I mentioned earlier, we've been skipping over these bits in rehearsal - arguably, these are the most important parts of the piece. Nevertheless, with our first performance on Thursday it is important that our facilitation is to the best of our ability, although I do not know how I'll react when confronted with a room of Y11s!

Facilitation 1 - Correction of Joel's sliders

This is the first point of communication with the TA as a whole and as a result it needs to be quite strong in what we say and the questions that we ask. It must be noted that we are not trying to be teachers and as such should approach the TA as a friend - in some aspects this will be simple because we are of similar age to our TA (2 years difference) - but we still must appear knowledgeable in the subject. I think this may be a bit of an issue because I do think that a good majority of our class haven't done appropriate research into the topic and as such have limited knowledge - it could transpire that our TA know more about the subject than us however, on the other hand, this may be expected because they have been studying Macbeth for 2 years whereas our class have had about 3 months. Nevertheless, we must appear knowledgeable and this will assert our status for the rest of the piece.

Initial questions that we could ask are:

• Do you understand what we're doing? (In order to reinforce the task; if they don't understand it, we should explain further and relate it to our slider.) 
• Where do you think the slider should go in the extract that we've just watched? (Allows them to not make single word answers although this is a closed ended question.) 
• Can you pick out a moment in the scene we've just watched that shows this? (Directs the students to a specific point - asking a why do you think that question would only make them say 'I don't know' and this would be bad in aiding their understanding.) 
• Are there any key quotes from this section or in the whole play that support this? (Makes them think a little more - relating to the whole play is something that they will have to do in their exam thus reinforcing their learning.) 
• Do you think your slider is impacted on by the other sliders? (Allows for relation to different themes and may help them pick out what the overarching character trait of Macbeth is.)
• Other questions can be asked dependent on what the students say but this structure to questioning may be good. 

Facilitation 2 - Whether Macbeth's sliders change in the scene? 

Although I am not completely active in this facilitation because I am the main facilitator and so remain on stage, it is important to ponder what questions I could ask our TA if I see someone who's sat doing nothing. The questions for myself to begin with should be whether the sliders do change - the fact that we're asking the question does mean that we expect our TA to say that they do change. Indeed, I believe that all the sliders fluctuate but the main interpretation that we want to achieve is that ambition increases, guilt decreases and morality jumps around - this will be aided if we ask about the impact of Lady Macbeth. 

Initial questions that we could ask are: 

• Do you understand what we're doing? (Explanation for this as before.) 
• From watching the 1,7 how do you think the sliders changed? 
• Was there anything in particular in the scene that made you think this? Any quotes from this scene or actions? 
• Are there any quotes that you can link this to from the rest of the play? 
• Can you link the change to other sliders? Does one slider changing affecting yours or does your slider affect another slider? 

Facilitation 3 - Modern to Shakespearean English 

This facilitation has been done to enable our TA to better understand the quotes and so that they can be used in the exam with their proper meaning - allows our TA to not be confused. Moreover, this section allows our TA to stay engaged in the scene as they're looking for a specific translated quote. 

Initial questions that we could ask are: 

• Have you found the quote? Where about is it in the piece? (If they've not found it, I could ask them to translate the quote and then ask them where they think they heard something along those lines.) 
• What do you think Shakespeare was trying to imply/suggest through this? Do you think you could relate this to the sliders from earlier? 
• Have you found the bonus quote? What do you think Shakespeare was trying to suggest through this? 
• Are there any other quotes or moments in the play that can relate to this quote?

The ability to explain what a quote means allows our TA to write better in their exam. 

Facilitation 4 - Hamartia

I don't engage in this facilitation because I remain on stage.