Forum Theatre as a Means of "Minding the Body" in Reflective Practice

This paper describes an arts-based Action Research project in which Forum Theatre (FT) was used to explore classroom management issues with pre-service teachers. Both participants and author were engaged in inquiry: the pre-service teachers tested different management strategies, immediately experiencing the consequences of their actions; the author noted qualities of body language and emotion to which she could draw attention in future FT workshops, thus highlighting the importance of what one senses and feels when responding to difficult classroom situations.