Drama

What is Drama? Drama is a great way to get students of all different abilities actively engaged in the classroom. Students can explore concepts and connect emotionally to events or people in history that might other wise be left dull by dry text books. They are able to capture a moment in time!

Some Examples of Drama Pantomime Movement Improvisation Scripted Readers Theatre Oral interpretation Debating Public speaking Interviews Story Telling

Why Use Drama? Students often fail to make connections to social students, therefore their learning is detached from personal meaning, prior knowledge and new connections to other subjects. Drama encourages understanding expression of multiple points of view. For example: The person playing a Native American can empathize with the plight of the Native Americans.

Why use drama cont. When students are struggling with understanding social studies topics, drama helps them look at historical events from a hands on, interactive perspective. Critical thinking and problem solving are activated as students work through the complexities of historical events and perspectives (Fennessey)

Why use drama Students develop leadership skills by taking responsibility and action Drama is a form of socialization Promotes high level of self confidence Emphasizes the necessity of teamwork Students who used drama in social studies were associated with having improved language arts skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Why use drama? you need more proof? “Probably the most important reason I use creative drama and theater in the classroom is that children get excited about it. Most of us, as teachers […] take the time to observe our students as individuals. We gather information about ways in which they learn best, and then we choose learning strategies to meet their needs. The arts accommodate the needs of diverse learning styles. [Drama helps the students] engage in self-expression, making discovery possible.” (Fennessey)

How to Use It? Be conscious of who you are grouping Should tie in with what you have previously worked on Needs to be student centered Have them create it Let them change the script Allow students to choose costumes and props

The before: Introduce activity! Promote Excitement!!  Your introduction should include some activation of prior knowledge. Remember to address the essential question. Assign groups, make sure you are conscious of who you are grouping together (grouping can be a form of differentiation) Activity should tie in with current content or unit Needs to be student centered Allow students to create script or activity Allow students to change the script if it is a pre-made script Allow students to choose costumes and props

During Camera Lights Action

After Regroup and asses what the students actually got out of the activity Did they get the essential question? Remember to differentiate your assessment! Give the students multiple ways to show you what they learned. Some ideas for assessment: Observe their discussion and conferences Give a reflective essay, ask for responses to a variety of stimuli, tests that involve problem solving tasks Student self evaluations

Afraid to use drama? Don’t Be!

How to Find Drama Resources Don’t underestimate the power of the books and your fellow teachers Google is your friend! See our website for an extensive list of online and hardcopy drama resources