This document discusses using drama as a teaching tool in the classroom. It defines drama and identifies its basic elements such as role playing, narrative, language, and symbols. It dispels common myths about drama requiring special skills or spaces. The document explains that drama can be incorporated across subjects to encourage communication, critical thinking, and engagement. Specific drama strategies are presented, such as role playing, hot seating, and mantle of the expert. Examples are given of how these strategies can be applied to different subject areas. Overall, the document advocates for using drama in the classroom to create a fun environment that helps students learn.

1. Drama as a Teaching Tool
Drama as a Teaching Tool Incorporating Drama Across the
Curriculum

2.  Is drama easy?
 How can I incorporate drama if I have no prior
training?
 What does the Ministry of Education say about Drama
education?
 How will drama help my students learn?
 What strategies would be useful in my subject area?
What is Drama?

3. Drama is defined as “the enactment of real and
imagined events through role-play, play making and
performances, enabling individuals and groups to
explore, shape and represent ideas, feelings and their
consequences in symbolic or dramatic form.” (SACSA,
p.12)
What is Drama?

4. Brian Woodland (1993), describes the basic elements of drama as:
• Role Playing
• Acting as if you were someone else
• Acting as if you were yourself in another situation
• Narrative
• Ordering events to create meaning
• Using narrative as in story telling and plotting
• Language
• Verbal
• Non-verbal such as, body language, facial expression, the use of space
• Symbols and ritual
• Use of space and movement
What are the basic elements of
drama?

5. • You need to be a good actor
• You need to be creative and artsy
• You need specific timetable allotment
• You need a large space such as an auditorium Want to
hear the good news?
NONE OF THESE MYTHS ARE TRUE!!
Common Myths About Teaching
Drama

6. also asserts that “Education in the arts involves students
intellectually, emotionally, socially, and physically. Learning
through the arts therefore fosters integration of students’
cognitive, emotional, sensory, and motor capacities, and
enables students with a wide variety of learning styles to
increase their learning potential. For example, hands-on
activities can challenge students to move from the concrete
to the abstract, and the students learn that, while the arts
can be enjoyable and fulfilling, they are also intellectually
rigorous disciplines” (p. 4) The Ministry’s Viewpoint
The Ontario Arts Curriculum grades 9
and 10 document (2010)

7. asserts that “education in the arts is essential to
students’ intellectual, social, physical and emotional
growth and well-being…The arts provides a natural
vehicle through which students can explore and
express themselves and discover and interpret the
world around them” (p. 3)
Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me and I may remember.
Involve me and I understand” -Chinese Proverb
The Ontario Arts Curriculum grades 1-
8 document (2009)

8. Here are a few reasons why you should use drama in
your classroom… - Encourages Communication and
Social Skills - Teaches Cooperation - Fosters teamwork
and collaboration - Nurtures Imagination - Strengthens
Critical Thinking Skills - Teaches Culture - Reinforces
Concepts - Fosters self-confidence and personal growth
How Will Drama Help my Students
Learn?

9. Readers Theatre
 Readers Theatre is a dramatic presentation of a
written work in a script form.
 Readers read from a script and reading parts are
divided among readers.
 No memorization, costumes, blocking, or special
lighting is needed.
 Scripts are held by the readers.
How Should I Include Drama in my
Classroom?

10.  Questions are asked to someone sitting in the ‘hot
seat’ who answers in character.
 Students in the class have the opportunity to ask
questions to a character or expert in the field they are
studying
 Students can be asked to research historical
characters with opposing points of view and then be
hot-seated by the class as part of a debate.
Hot-Seating

11.  The learners are framed ‘as if’ they are experts
 Through their work they create an imaginary enterprise
 The enterprise has a client that commissions them to work
on a project
 The emphasis is on the tasks the students need to do, to
make the “enterprise” a success and to serve the needs of
the client
 The project work creates opportunities to explore the
curriculum creating meaningful, cross- curricular contexts
for learning
Mantle of the Expert

12.  Involves an activity which a student or a group of
students dramatizes his or their real reactions to
certain problematic situations
 The purpose is to find out how students will normally
conduct themselves once they are confronted with a
particular kind or conflict or difficulty
Role-Play

13. Role-playing real-life situations allows students to rehearse a
skill or scenario which they may encounter in their daily
routines. This develops familiarity with the potential actions
and motions before they occur in a real setting ESL: Role-
playing in an ESL classroom, provides a practical forum for
students to put vocabulary and expressions into proper
context. In an ESL classroom there are many opportunities to
use role-play. A trip to the bank, ordering food at a restaurant
or a conversation between friends are just a few examples of
how role-play can be used.
Role-Play Special Education:

14. students examine case studies revolving around a
particular dilemma: carriers of cystic fibrosis are
considering having a baby; a person’s father has just
been diagnosed as having Huntington’s disease.
History: Drama makes history come alive. Role-play a
great way for students to develop empathy and
understanding for the challenges of living in another
time period. Students could enact a group of soldiers
having a conversation in the trenches.
Role-Play Science:

15.  https://www.youtub e.com/watch?v=m MblT0ormuc
 https://youtu.be/6ijNxnSf7qQ Still Not Convinced?
Let’s hear how other educators feel about drama
based instruction
Drama can also be incorporated into other subjects
such as math and science!
 https://www.teachingchannel.or g/videos/enhancing-
learning- through-drama#
Now let’s see role-play in action!

16. There are a plethora of resources available to help
educators incorporate drama into their daily instruction.
Not only will this create a fun engaging atmosphere in
your classroom, it will help your students learn!
Drama is the Smart Choice!

17. Hot Seating - Retrieved from
http://www.dramatoolkit.co.uk/drama-strategies/hot- seating Eduyan, Kirstal. (2013). Role
Playing Approach in Teaching. Retrieved from
http://www.slideshare.net/KirstalEduyan/role-playing-approach-in-teaching
Mantle of the Expert. Mantle of the Expert - Retrieved from
http://www.mantleoftheexpert.com/ copyright-notes/ South Australian Curriculum.
Standards and Accountability Framework, primary years band. Retrieved from
http://www.sacsa.sa.edu.au/ATT/%7B85CFF734-68DE-4F6D-A626-
4EA1EDEC69C2%7D/SACSA_5_PYB.pdf The Ontario Ministry of Education. (2010).
The Ontario curriculum, grades 11 and 12: The arts. Ontario: Queen’s Printer for Ontario.
The Ontario Ministry of Education. (2009). The Ontario curriculum, grades 1-8: The arts.
Ontario: Queen’s Printer for Ontario Woolland, B. (1993). The teaching of drama in the
primary school. Essex, UK: Pearson Education Ltd.
Resources Drama Toolkit. (2015)

18. Thank you very much!