Introduction to Drama

The approach taken to drama in this curriculum is known as “drama in context”. Drama in context means that dramas are structured to provide a context, a situation, or a metaphoric framework in which students and teacher work together. Drama in context is also referred to as drama for understanding, role drama, group drama, or process drama.

Within the dramas, students and teachers assume roles and, taking with them their own unique set of experiences and perceptions, enter into a fictional world prepared to accept and “live through” an imagined situation.

Within the dramatic context, a wide variety of drama strategies are used to challenge the students to:

• explore themes, social situations, and issues
• stretch their thinking
• solve problems
• extend their use of language
• deepen their understanding of human behaviour
• develop abilities to express ideas and feelings through dramatic art form
• gain an understanding of dramatic art form.

The Drama Strand

Most Elementary Level students possess a natural capacity for acting “as if”. From an early age, much of their naturally occurring play involves the development of imaginative roles. Dramatic situations invite the students to act “as if” they are someone else; that is, to experiment with what it feels like to stand in someone else’s shoes.

Elementary Level students are expected to act “as if” or, in other words, to assume roles within the dramas. Students are not expected, as is the actor, to develop and portray complete interpretations of character.

At the Elementary Level, the main concern is with the internal actions that the drama evokes. Emphasis is not placed on the external actions of speaking and doing. It is far more important for a student to experience a sense of what it feels like to be an elderly person who must evacuate her home than to be able to look, to move, and to speak like an old woman.

The drama strand is organized into four required units:

Unit 1: Learning To Create
Unit 2: Ideas and Inspirations
Unit 3: Making Sense of Things
Unit 4: The World of Drama.

The creative/productive, cultural/historical, and critical/responsive components are interwoven throughout the drama strand to provide students with opportunities to:

• increase their understanding of others, themselves, and the world around them
• increase their ability to construct and to communicate meaning through language and action
• deepen understanding of cultural and social traditions
• gain a lasting appreciation of the dramatic art form through critical reflection upon drama experienced as participant and as audience.

The following describes what teachers will find in the drama section of the curriculum guide:

• Drama Unit Overviews and Sample Topics for Grades 1 to 5: This chart displays the four required units, the corresponding mini-unit themes, and sample topics for Grades 1-5.
• Foundational Objectives: There are seven foundational objectives for Kindergarten to Grade 5. These are broad objectives that are achieved gradually over the Elementary Level. This section includes a description of each foundational objective.
• Kindergarten to Grade 5 Developmental Continuum: This chart shows the scope and sequence of learning for drama from Kindergarten to Grade 5. The chart displays both foundational and specific learning objectives.
• Planning from the Drama Section of the Curriculum Guide: This section is intended to assist teachers in planning drama lessons and units or mini-units from the curriculum guide. A template for lesson planning is provided, along with a unit planning checklist.
• Learning Objectives Checklist: This checklist appears at the beginning of each grade and displays the learning objectives for the grade. Objectives selected for the grade’s sample unit are checked.
• Unit Overviews: The unit overviews include a statement about the unit’s purpose, a sample topic, a list of suggested resources for the sample topic, and a starter list of suggested activities for use in planning. Each unit overview includes suggestions for two mini-units. Both mini-units are required; however, the activities provided within the mini-units are suggestions only. The chart on the next page displays the four units, the corresponding mini-units, and the sample topics for Grades 1 to 5.
• Sample Unit: Each grade includes one sample unit. The sample unit is intended to show how a series of lessons can be developed from the suggested ideas in the unit overviews.
• Glossary: A glossary is included at the end of the drama section. The glossary provides basic definitions of terms. If more information is needed, the teacher can refer to resources on drama listed in Arts Education: A Bibliography for the Elementary Level (2003).

Teacher Reflection

 Following are things that teachers might think about while reading the Drama Strand section of the curriculum:

□ Will I teach the units in the order they appear in the curriculum guide (i.e., units 1-4) or will I begin with the sample unit for my grade?
□ Suggested resources in the sample unit and starter lists of activities that I have access to include:

□ School library resources (e.g., books, videos, websites, music recordings) include:

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□ School Division resources (e.g., shared resources, teacher leaders for K-5 Arts Education) include:

• ____________________________________
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□ Community resources (e.g., arts organizations, local artists, public library) include:

• ____________________________________
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□ Resources I would like my school to purchase include:

• ____________________________________
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• ____________________________________
• ____________________________________

Drama Unit Overviews and Sample Topics for Grades 1 to 5

Note: The mini-unit themes listed in this overview are required. The topics listed, however, are samples or examples. Teachers may choose other topics to express the required mini-unit themes. Mini-units in bold-faced type have been developed in the curriculum as sample units with lesson plans using the sample topics listed (available on CD-ROM and Saskatchewan Learning website).

Foundational Objectives

There are seven foundational objectives for the Elementary Level drama strand. These objectives are to be developed throughout the Elementary Level and can be achieved through the specific learning objectives. The foundational objectives cover the scope of the drama program and embody the three components of arts education.

The seven foundational objectives are listed below and are followed by an explanation of each objective.

The students will:

1. Accept the dramatic context and assume roles within it.
2. Contribute ideas appropriate to the drama and accept the ideas of others.
3. Develop the ability to use a variety of strategies and processes in dramatic situations.
4. Reflect on individual contributions and the work of the group within dramatic contexts.
5. Understand the elements of dramatic presentations and develop concepts that lead to an understanding of organization in drama.
6. Begin to talk about and interpret drama experienced as audience.
7. Become familiar with drama and dramatic artists in own communities and beyond.

While some children may have difficulty distinguishing between fiction and reality, most are experienced in playing within highly dramatic situations of children’s own design. Acceptance of the dramatic situation requires that the students suspend their disbelief to accept the imagined situation and enter into the fiction provided by the drama. This requires students to engage their imaginations and, as the situation unfolds, to make connections between the fiction and students’ own experience.

As students gain experience working within dramas, the ability to function in dramatic situations both in and out of role is heightened. Commitment is the key ingredient in any drama. Commitment is the ability to sustain belief for as long as the drama demands, and to recognize and understand the purpose of the work. When students are committed to their collective work, they accept responsibility for its direction, its success, and its worth.

Many factors combine to support students’ commitment to their dramas. The following list describes some of these factors:

• Establishing a non-threatening and accepting environment.
• Choosing a context that is of interest to the students.
• Modelling behaviour and language within the dramas that lends authenticity to each work.
• Establishing student expectations and group guidelines for ways of working.
• Honouring all ideas that are seriously presented.
• Empowering students to control the direction of their dramas.
• Appreciating the surprises and discovering the power of role and empathy.

2. Contribute ideas appropriate to the drama and accept the ideas of others.

As each drama unfolds, students are called upon to express and initiate ideas, and to respect and often to follow the contributions of others. Students are challenged to negotiate, to problem solve, and to contribute to group decision making.

If students in or out of role express ideas that are not appropriate to the drama, it may be that the focus of the work is unclear. The teacher may call a temporary halt to the work and gather the children around in order to clarify the situation.

As dramas are unfolding, students contribute a variety of ideas, some of which may be conflicting in nature or inappropriate to the situation. Teachers involve students in negotiations concerning which ideas are to be incorporated into the work and how these ideas might enhance or change the direction of the work.

The negotiation that occurs within the dramatic situation is facilitated by the teacher to help students make sense of the material. Through skilful questioning, the group is led to clarify ideas, to summarize individual points of view, and to agree upon a course of action.

One of the challenges for the teacher and students working in dramatic situations is to negotiate in ways that honour all ideas. The teacher’s ability to facilitate group decision making is crucial.

3. Develop the ability to use a variety of strategies and processes in dramatic situations.

As students work together to create their own works of dramatic art, students develop an understanding of the strategies and processes involved in creating such works. Processes in which students may become involved include some of the following:

• choosing topics
• researching
• working in groups of all sizes
• synthesizing
• identifying the focus of their work
• choosing among available strategies
• shaping ideas into dramatic form
• reflecting
• refining and presenting their work to others.

Every drama should provide students with the opportunity to explore their chosen topic from several perspectives, in a number of groupings, and through a range of different strategies. These opportunities ensure that students are equipped to discover the strengths and limitations of the different groupings and strategies.

Students become familiar with a range of strategies such as:

• role
• narration
• imaging
• tableau
• tapping in
• meetings
• writing.

4. Reflect on individual contributions and the work of the group within dramatic contexts.

Both public and private reflection play a crucial role in drama work. Students must be provided with time to clarify and to share their understanding of the collective work as it unfolds.

Reflection enables students to stand back from their experience in order to examine meaning, to clarify their thinking, and to consider how effectively they functioned as a member of the group. The ability to reflect helps students understand how their responses and choices affect the responses and choices of others.

A variety of strategies can be used to facilitate student reflection both within and outside of dramatic situations. Discussion and journal writing have proven to be effective tools for reflection. Tableaux, storytelling, and small group scenes can serve this function as well. One-on-one interviews with the teacher are also valuable.

5. Understand the elements of dramatic presentations and develop concepts that lead to an understanding of organization in drama.

Three important concepts that students at the Elementary Level explore within their own contextual dramas include tension, contrast, and symbol. These concepts lead to an understanding of the elements of drama.

Tension is the pressure for response that can take the form of a challenge, a surprise, a time restraint, or the suspense of not knowing. Tension is what works in a drama to impel the students to respond and to take action.

Contrast is the dynamic use of movement/stillness, sound/silence, and light/darkness.

Symbol is something that stands for or represents something else. Broadly defined, dramas and collective creations are symbolic representations of human experience. Within works of dramatic art, links often exist between the concrete experiences of those involved and abstract ideas and themes.

It is the existence of tension, contrast, and symbol within all works of dramatic expression that creates form and uncovers meaning. Students gradually discover through their drama experiences how drama elements and episodes within dramas may be organized to create a whole.

When students are responding to dramatic presentations, however, students need to develop an understanding of concepts and terminology associated with traditional elements of drama such as plot, character, and dialogue. Consult the developmental continuum of objectives beginning on page 114 to determine when these concepts and terminology should be introduced and further developed. By using a process like Responding to Arts Expressions, students are able to recognize and to discuss the presence and function of the elements and organization of drama experienced as audience.

6. Begin to talk about and interpret drama experienced as audience.

One of the goals of the arts education program is that students gain a lasting appreciation of art forms experienced as audience. Most students have the opportunity to see a play or two a year when the high school drama club or a community theatre group performs or when professional theatre companies tour their plays. Some recorded dramatic presentations are also available for school use.

Using a process, such as Responding to Arts Expressions, enables the teacher to guide the students to support their interpretations and opinions about the plays viewed as audience. Students begin to understand some of the work of today’s dramatic artists and have an opportunity to explore individual and cultural worldviews expressed through drama.

7. Become familiar with drama and dramatic artists in own communities and beyond.

Dramatic art form is as old as humankind. It has been, and continues to be, a medium for personal expression and for the definition and transmission of culture. Drama can simultaneously mirror and influence the society in which it is formed. It is essential for students to understand that learning about the drama of a culture deepens their understanding of its people.

Students are encouraged to consider the role that drama and dramatic artists play in their communities – local, national, and global; past and present. Students may realize that dramatic art can question societal values and offer us social commentary. Students become aware that drama sparks our imagination, increases our ability to empathize with others, and provides us with fresh ideas and personal insights.

Encourage students to research and to discuss relevant information about the dramatic art and artists with whom students come in contact and in whom they express an interest. It is beneficial for students to increase their knowledge of Saskatchewan and Canadian dramatic artists. Students begin to view drama as worthy artistic endeavour and to understand ways in which dramatic artists get ideas and execute them.

Kindergarten to Grade 5 Developmental Continuum

The chart on the following pages displays the scope and sequence of learning from Kindergarten to Grade 5. It includes broad foundational objectives for the Elementary Level and grade-specific learning objectives. This chart represents the required content for the drama strand.

Planning from the Drama Section of the Curriculum Guide 

The Curriculum Structure

The drama section of the curriculum encourages teachers to plan their drama programs in units – that is in a series of connected lessons. The curriculum includes four required units, each of which is presented in two mini-units. The mini-unit themes are required. The sample topics and activities are suggestions.

The time allotment for drama is 50 minutes per week. It follows then, that roughly three to five weeks could be spent on each mini-unit. It is not required, however, that the two mini-units be given equal time.

The activities provided for each mini-unit are intended to be a starter list only. As teachers become more experienced in using the curriculum guide, they will certainly want to add other activities or adapt the ones provided for different topics. The activities are listed in three categories: introductory, main, and concluding activities. These three categories have the following purposes:

Introductory Activities

Main Activities

Concluding Activities

Planning Lessons and Units

A sample form for planning drama lessons from the curriculum guide can be found on page 132. Remember that lessons can include research, discussion, reflection, and a variety of other activities as drama experiences. The following are steps to consider when planning drama units.

Step One

Familiarize yourself with the information provided for your grade. Become familiar with the scope of learning objectives. Study the four unit overviews. Become familiar with the units and mini-units. Read the sample unit for your grade (available on CD-ROM and on Saskatchewan Learning website). This provides a model for unit planning. Read the sample units for other grades to get a sense of how other units and themes or topics are addressed (available on CD-ROM and on Saskatchewan Learning website).

Step Two

Select a unit. Most teachers will want to begin with Unit 1: Learning to Create; however, the units may be taught in any order. Choose a mini-unit theme and topic. You may use the sample topic suggested in the guide or select one of more relevance to your students and community. Refer to Drama Unit Overviews and Sample Topics on page 111 of this curriculum guide.

 Step Three

Develop a plan for structuring the drama. For assistance with this step, read the section that follows entitled Planning the Drama. You may refer to the Starter List of Activities in the curriculum guide or develop your own activities. Lessons may be either 25-minute lessons (two per week) or 50-minute lessons (one per week), although teachers could plan for any combination totalling 50 minutes per week.

Step Four

Plan for potential directions or episodes within the drama. The following are important aspects of lesson planning:

• Select appropriate learning objectives for each lesson. A checklist is provided at the beginning of each grade. Remember that some learning objectives may need to be taught only once during the year, while others need to be taught and/or reinforced several times, depending on the students’ progress and the nature of the objective. Some learning objectives will, in all likelihood, be selected for all four units. Be sure to include Common Essential Learnings objectives.
• Select resources to which you have access. Be sure they apply to the objectives as well as to the topic of your mini-unit.
• Determine the means of assessing achievement of the objectives. Remember to plan for ongoing assessment rather than for assessment only at the end of a mini-unit. Sample assessment forms are included in this curriculum guide.
• Outline procedures for each lesson in the mini-unit. Be as detailed as you feel you need to be.

Step Five

Refer to the Sample Checklist for Planning a Drama Mini-unit on page 131. This checklist is a means of ensuring that Core Curriculum Components and Initiatives are included in every unit. It also acts as a reminder of the importance of including a variety of teaching strategies in the drama strand.

Planning the Drama

This section of the curriculum provides teachers with essential information for planning drama and for guiding students toward achievement of the foundational objectives and related learning objectives. It includes a description of the recommended approaches and a step-by-step guide to drama work with students.

The approach taken to the teaching and learning of drama in the Elementary Level Arts Education curriculum is “drama in context”. Drama in context is also referred to as drama for understanding, role drama, group drama, or process drama.

The Process at a Glance

Step One: Choosing the Topic

• Topics for drama work can arise out of any source that captures the attention of the students.
• Participation in choosing topics for drama work contributes to the sense of ownership and level of commitment as the work unfolds.
• Teachers can propose topics and help students identify a specific focus.
• Use negotiation, consensus building, brainstorming sessions, or suggestion boxes to tap students’ “ideas bank”.

Step Two: Structuring the Drama

• Contextual dramas require planning.
• Use the process for structuring a drama described in the following section entitled The Process in Detail.
• Begin the year with a short drama of three or four episodes.

Step Three: Working Within the Drama

• Teachers and students assume various roles as the drama develops.
• As the participants bring each dramatic episode to life, the students’ responses and the fictional events imagined can lead the drama in unexpected directions.
• With experience, teachers learn to anticipate student responses and become confident in choosing among possible strategies and processes.

Step Four: Reflection

• Reflection can take a variety of both public and personal forms such as:
• whole group discussion
• tableaux
• prepared improvisation
• drawing
• writing in role
• journal writing.
• Times for reflection should be structured into each drama as the work unfolds.
• Reflection can also occur as a summative experience for each collective creation.

The Drama-making Process in Detail

Step One: Choosing the Topic

As in all subject areas, the foundational objectives and learning objectives are a teacher’s first consideration. Observe and listen to the students to identify relevant topics for exploration. Brainstorming sessions and an ongoing suggestion box are likely to provide a class with more than enough ideas for a year’s work in drama. It is important for students and teacher to reach consensus on the choice of topics as all members of the class must be willing to make a commitment to the work.

Topics suitable for drama are ones that “represent the everyday experience and forms of knowledge that all students possess in part, whatever their ability, background or ethnicity” ( Neelands, 1984, page 6). Such topics spark discussion, trigger personal connections, and lead to questions about the motivation, intentions, and consequences of the actions of people. Following are some possible topics to which students may add their own suggestions.

When the class has agreed upon a topic for the drama, students next suggest various aspects of the topic for exploration. Students could be asked to pose “what if ...” questions sparked by consideration of the topic choice.

Individual or group brainstorming sessions generate more ideas than can be structured into one drama, but valuable ideas are revealed that might not otherwise have been considered. A webbing, which organizes the thinking of the group, is helpful as the teacher moves toward identifying the focus; that is, one particular aspect of the topic for exploration.

 If a class chooses to do a drama about “the environment”, a possible focus might be provided by the question, “What would the members of a community do if they discovered frogs in a local pond were dying from a mysterious illness?” The drama could begin with people (e.g., students in role) questioning a scientist.

During the course of a drama, the focus can shift allowing the topic to be approached from other points of view. For example, in the environment drama, the focus could shift to the question, “What measures can be taken to ensure that ponds will not be contaminated in future?” In this case, a government official (e.g., teacher in role) could call together a panel of experts (e.g., students in role) who have previous experience with environmental safety.

Step Two: Structuring the Drama

Working in dramatic situations offers unique challenges to the traditional functions of students and teachers in the classroom. Teachers are at times called on to shift from the “natural authority” role and become one member of a group. This way of working guides students toward a deeper understanding of themselves, others, their world, and dramatic art form.

The structuring of a drama is the pre-planning phase of drama work. Before approaching the structuring of the work, teachers:

• consider the objectives
• reflect upon the topic and identify the focus that will begin the drama
• have an understanding of the drama strategies
• understand the processes and determine which strategies will most effectively facilitate the students’ exploration of the topic and their achievement of the objectives.

Drama Strategies

Drama strategies are selected and combined in various ways during initial planning. The strategies are also used by teachers and students for various purposes as the drama unfolds.

Following is a list of some drama strategies from which teachers may choose as they structure the work. Many of these and others are included in the sample units:

 Role is the basic ingredient of work in drama. When the children and teacher assume roles in a drama, they are acting “as if” they are someone else. They are experimenting with what it feels like to be in someone else’s shoes and developing empathy with those other lives. They are not, like the actor, portraying a fully-developed character.

Teacher in role is one of the most effective ways for teachers to work in drama. By taking on roles, the teacher is able to provide the students with a model through the use of appropriate language and apparent commitment to the process and to the work. Role enables the teacher to work with the children and to facilitate the shaping of the work from within.

The role that the teacher chooses depends upon what she or he hopes to achieve within the work. The following describe some basic types of role available to the teacher (Neelands & Goode, 2000).

• Leader
  This is very much like the natural teacher role and is, therefore, where the teacher inexperienced with working in role might comfortably begin.

• Opposer
  This is also an authority role but one that can function to cause the class as a whole to unite and challenge that authority. A selfish giant who does not let children play in his garden is an example.

• Intermediate role
  This flexible type of role provides the teacher with opportunities to be both authoritarian and sympathetic. A teacher in the intermediate role usually represents someone who has ultimate authority. In such cases, the students organize responses to whatever the “emissary” might propose. An example of this role is a bird warning of a coming storm.

• Needing help/victim role
  The teacher works in role as someone who needs help and appeals to the expertise and/or the humanity of the group. The teacher assumes such roles as that of a person who has just inherited a zoo but has not the slightest idea of how to run it.

• The lowest status role
  This role allows the teacher to be one member of the group; for example, one of the king’s vast troops. Students take on the authority roles.

Narration can be used to establish mood, to bridge gaps in time, and to register decisions made by the students within the drama. For example, as students are imagining themselves in a ship adrift on the sea, the teacher might read an excerpt from a sailor’s daily log book.

Imaging is a technique that allows the students to slow down and focus on an issue. The students, sitting quietly with eyes closed, allow pictures to form in their minds. These images may be motivated by bits of narration, music, sounds, or smells.

Voting is a familiar strategy not necessarily associated with the arts. At times, when consensus is not achieved, voting is the next best option.

A tableau is a still image, a frozen moment, or a photograph. It is created by posing still bodies and communicates a living representation of an event, an idea, or a feeling. This valuable drama strategy can be used to encourage discussion and reflection.

Tapping in is a means by which those individuals represented in a tableau may be prompted to express their response to the particular moment that is captured in time and space by the tableau. The teacher places a hand on the shoulder of one of the students in role in the tableau and poses questions that are designed to reveal the actor’s thinking about the situation represented by the tableau.

Mime is a silent art form in which the body is used as the instrument of communication. Mime enables the children to explore and to represent ideas and events through movement and gesture. For example, the children create a circus parade or, as merchants, go silently about their tasks at the village market.

Dance drama is expressive movement through which ideas, stories, sounds, and music can be interpreted. It can be used to express such episodes as dream sequences and parts of celebrations.

Parallel play describes a situation in which all of the students work simultaneously but separately in their own space. It allows students time to “try on” their roles before working in role in a larger grouping. For example, each of the animals moves at will through the jungle prior to being called to a jungle gym workout.

Storytelling is a means of creating and sharing stories. The stories may be familiar or unfamiliar, the stories of others, or the student’s own. In drama, storytelling is a means of sharing and reflecting on each other’s experiences and the experiences of the group.

Story theatre techniques may be used in drama as stories are told. As the story is told by a narrator, others act it out either while speaking the dialogue or through miming the action. Alternatively, the narration may be provided by those who are acting out the characters, animals, or inanimate objects.

Flashbacks and flashforwards can be used effectively to help build belief, to challenge the children to consider the consequences of decisions, and to support periods of reflection. For example, in a drama about newcomers to the west, the students are asked to work in pairs, one in role as a newcomer and one as someone who was left behind. They are asked to improvise the difficult goodbye they would have to say before their departure.

Interviews work well to encourage seriousness, to reveal a variety of perspectives, and to aid reflection. Interviews can encourage spontaneous storytelling. Some examples are lawyer and client, coach and player, and fisherman and fish. The large group interview strategy has become known as the hot seat.

Journeys can provide not only a strategy but, if focused, a context in itself. Students can explore different kinds of journeys ranging from journeys into space to journeys to new lands. Students can be challenged by such problems as deciding whether or not to go, preparing to go, saying goodbye, and coping with the unknown along the way.

Meetings can help the whole group establish focus and begin to build belief. At first, the teacher could assume the familiar leader-type role but as the students and teacher become more experienced in drama, the teacher could become one of the group and the students the authority.

Ritual is a technique in which one action is repeated by many individuals to formalize or to provide specific significance to a situation. For example, members of a top secret space mission (e.g., students in role) board their spacecraft one by one prior to launch. As they do so, they are given a computerized identification bracelet and are required to state why they have committed themselves to the mission.

The drawing and painting of treasure maps, maps of the town, blueprints of haunted houses, floor plans of factories, and wanted posters can be used within a drama. Such work can help the students build belief.

Writing of family records, headlines, diaries, letters, journal entries, news stories, ledgers, poetry, chants, and legends can be used within a drama. Writing, which can slow down and deepen the students’ thinking about the work, provides an opportunity to respond to and to record their feelings and findings.

Choral speaking is a means by which poetry, chants and raps, short stories, fairy tales, fables, and legends are interpreted and communicated vocally by a group. For example, a drama might be inspired by a particular poem. The students and teacher might decide that group speaking of the piece would provide ideal closure for the work.

Games, exercises, and warm ups are used as classroom drama activities to develop personal and social skills such as trust or risk taking, as well as to develop imagination, concentration, and vocal skills. Many of these familiar activities can be used purposefully and imaginatively within a dramatic context.

Improvisation is any unscripted drama work. A distinction must be made between spontaneous improvisation, which is immediate and unrehearsed, and prepared improvisation, which is shaped and rehearsed. Spontaneous improvisation is characteristic of much of the work done within contextual dramas. As students shape and refine their work toward the development of a collective creation, they engage more in prepared improvisation.

Sidecoaching is normally done by the teacher. Occasionally, students may be asked to sidecoach. The individual who is sidecoaching the class provides information that guides the students’ dramatic experience. For example, the students might be engaged in parallel play as they prepare for a journey while the teacher sidecoaches instructions about what students need to pack in their cases.

Understanding the Processes and Choosing the Strategies

As well as having a grasp of the learning objectives and the available strategies, the teacher needs to be aware that:

• the drama takes shape episode by episode
• the drama needs to provide frequent opportunities for reflection
• the drama should allow for a variety of groupings
• within the drama, the teacher facilitates negotiation through skilful questioning approaches
• within the drama, the teacher and the children fulfill a variety of functions and responsibilities.

Dramas take shape episode by episode. They are not structured along plot lines as stories and plays often are. Within each episode, the emphasis is placed on what is happening now, not what will happen next.

In drama, questions are used within the work to involve the students, to assess students’ belief and commitment, to assist with control, and to encourage reflection. The following table features a variety of question approaches a teacher can use both to structure drama work and to guide the drama in progress.

At this point in the process of planning a drama, the teacher plans the lesson much as she or he would any lesson. It is now a case of determining which strategies best facilitate the students’ exploration of the topic and their achievement of the curriculum objectives. When structuring a drama, the teacher is in effect drawing a map. The map, however, is not the journey. The course of the journey must be determined by the students. Although the starting and ending point for the drama may be planned, each drama will be different as no two journeys are ever exactly the same.

Step Three: Working Within The Drama

When the structuring of the work is complete, the teacher is prepared to begin the drama with the students. A trusting environment is essential as students are being asked to join the teacher in a “pretend world”.

As the drama unfolds, the teacher must ease ownership of the work into the students’ hands. The idea of a carefully planned lesson being allowed to take on a life of its own might be somewhat disquieting. The following section entitled Planning on your Feet provides some strategies for keeping the drama moving in a positive direction. The teacher, who is ultimately responsible for the whole work, can and must control the quality of the experience while encouraging the students to take more responsibility in determining its direction, shape, and meaning.

Figure 1 illustrates the functions and responsibilities of teacher and students in working through a drama together.

Figure 1: The Functions and Responsibilities of Teacher and Students in Drama

Planning on Your Feet

In order to be comfortable and to participate with ease in dramatic situations, teachers and students must work within each situation. As teachers and students gain experience, they learn that a drama cannot fail. This is not to say that control in a drama cannot be lost. Examples include the following:

• the actors may lose sight of the focus
• the actors may not be able to sense the purpose in a particular episode, and the action may become disorganized and chaotic
• the teacher might sense a general waning of the students’ level of commitment.

If this happens, it may be that the drama requires new life or closure. In such cases, the teacher can:

• call a temporary halt to the work
• gather the students around to explain his or her observations
• enter into a purposeful negotiation with the students in an attempt to uncover the reasons for the confusion and to generate possible solutions to remedy it.

If, at any time during a work, the teacher is unable to think quickly enough to accommodate unexpected responses and events that signal a change of direction for the work, the teacher may “buy time” in a number of ways:

• lead the students in or out of role into individual or group drawings, some form of writing, or the preparation and presentation of tableaux
• call a temporary halt to the work and ask the students what they believe is the most important thing to consider at this time
• bring closure to the lesson for the day and take time to rethink and refocus the work, ensuring that the objectives continue to be met.

As drama strategies are explored and used over time, teachers and students make more skilful choices. Remember that a drama can be stopped at any time. If the drama feels uncomfortable or out of control, or simply does not seem to be working for whatever reason, slow the pace of the work and provide for extra periods of reflection. During these times, teachers and students are usually able to identify reasons for the lack of success of a particular episode and propose solutions.

Keep a log book of the drama in progress. It provides a wealth of information to support student assessment, assessment of the work itself, and the effectiveness of the teacher’s roles in it. It can offer insights into how the dramas are working and strengthen future structuring of dramas .

Step Four: Reflection

Periods of reflection enable students in and out of role to pause and to clarify their thinking about the development of the drama. Periods of reflection provide students with opportunities to examine the sources of ideas to discover what makes the drama meaningful, and to understand how individual responses and choices influence the responses and choices of others.

A variety of strategies can be used to encourage student reflection both within and outside of dramatic situations. Whole group discussion, interviews, tableaux, prepared improvisation, drawing, writing in role, and journal writing are effective in motivating students’ critical consideration of both the form and the content of their work.

Questions that request the expression of personal experiences and attitudes can be used to guide a summative personal journal entry. The following are examples: “Have you ever had to make a decision that was as difficult for you as this one was for each of these townspeople? Which part of the drama was most challenging for you? Why? What advice would you give to another class undertaking a similar project?”

Sample Checklist for Planning a Drama Mini-unit

Teachers should check most of the following for each mini-unit:

• Have I chosen a topic that unifies the lessons in the mini-unit?
• Have I identified appropriate learning objectives including learning objectives that address the Common Essential Learnings?
• Have I mapped out a structure for a dramatic context within a mini-unit?
• Have I included opportunities for the students to explore and to express themselves through a variety of drama strategies and processes?
• Have I included opportunities for the students to research ideas and topics?
• Have I included opportunities for both individual and group work?
• Have I included opportunities for discussion?
• Have I included opportunities for students’ reflection on their own work?
• Have I included examples of dramatic artists from Canada, if applicable?
• Have I considered all three components (creative/productive, cultural/historical, and critical/responsive)?
• Have I included First Nation and Métis content either specifically or as examples of general concepts?
• Have I tried to make the activities relevant to the students and their communities?
• Have I made plans to assess the extent to which students have achieved the learning objectives during the mini-unit?
• Have I considered both process and product in the selection of assessment strategies?

Other:

 

Sample Planning Form for a Drama Lesson

Grade 3 Drama

Learning Objectives Checklist

The students will:

Grade 3 Unit Overviews

Unit 1: Learning to Create

Time: 6-8 weeks

This unit develops students’ understanding of drama strategies and processes that may be used during contextual dramas.

Mini-unit: Our Environment

Sample Topic: Friends and Foes

Suggested Resources  

• The Island of the Skog by S. Kellogg, video (See English Language Arts: A Bibliography for the Elementary Level, 2001)
• Music to accompany a fictional journey
• Folktales involving friends and foes such as The Three Little Pigs,Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk
• Contemporary stories of friends and foes that diverge from the original tale such as Jim and the Beanstalk by R. Briggs

Starter List of Activities

Introductory Activities

Discussion
View the video and/or read the book entitled The Island of Skog in which a band of mice sail away from the dangers of the city in pursuit of freedom and happiness. The mice land on an island inhabited by a seemingly hostile Skog with gigantic feet. The themes of friendship and prejudice are developed when the two parties meet face to face.

Create a contextual drama about historical or contemporary friends and foes. Introduce conflict and tension through a misunderstanding that takes place.

Brainstorming
Create a list of experiences that have the potential for misunderstanding between or among friends. Some of the misunderstandings might lead to hurt feelings. Other misunderstandings might lead to humourous results. Some examples follow:

• Two of three friends are seen by the third friend whispering and laughing in the school hallway. When the third friend approaches, the two friends stop talking. The third friend thinks the two friends were making fun of him/her. However, the two friends were really planning a surprise party for the third friend. What things could potentially happen with this or a similar misunderstanding?
• One friend invites another friend to a fancy-dress party. The second friend thinks that fancy dress means costume, and shows up in a Halloween costume. Upon arriving, the friend learns that the other girls are simply wearing fancy dresses. What things could potentially happen with this or a similar misunderstanding?

Small group improvisations
Have groups of students select one or two of the misunderstandings from the list created during the previous brainstorming activity. Create improvisations in role based on that idea.

Reflection
Discuss personal experiences of being misunderstood. What were the consequences?

Main Activities

Journey
Using The Island of Skog or another story about friends and foes as inspiration, develop a contextual drama about a group of friends (people or animals) who go on a journey to escape a bad situation.

Narration and Parallel play
Create a narration to read as the students go on the imaginary journey. Include, for example:

• a description of the hostile situation that the travellers are leaving behind
• packing up and getting ready to go
• saying goodbye to those who are not leaving
• boarding the boat, train, cars, wagons, or other mode of transportation
• the journey itself.

Use music to create an appropriate travelling mood as the students engage in parallel play. Accompany the students’ journey with narration that tells of the travellers’ experiences and challenges. The students may encounter a storm, for example, and dance or mime the event in slow motion. Or they may create tableaux of different events along the way. The travellers might meet strange and wonderful characters who may be either friends or foes.

Parallel play
The travellers arrive at a new location (e.g., an island or rainforest) where they discover inhabitants who appear to be very different from them. The rainforest inhabitants might be small, quick-moving, bird-like creatures or large, slow-moving, hairy creatures. Or, a group of island inhabitants might have skin that is multi-coloured, striped, or polka-dotted.

When the travellers arrive at the new location, they do not know whether the inhabitants are friends or foes.

Teacher in role
Introduce into the drama events that may be interpreted by the travellers as being hostile messages from the island or rainforest inhabitants. The inhabitants might leave notes or other objects outside the travellers’ camp that could be interpreted as friendly or hostile. For example, a picture of a boat sailing on the water might be interpreted as telling the travellers to leave the island. However, the note could also be interpreted as welcoming their arrival. The mystery of the unknown can create an atmosphere of anticipation for the students.

Improvisation
Encourage the students to create a plan of action in order to introduce the travellers to the inhabitants. Explore in role the following questions through small group improvisations:

• How will the travellers determine whether the inhabitants are friends or foes?
• How will the travellers make friends with the inhabitants? For example, could the travellers invite the inhabitants to a feast so they could get to know one another?
• What will the travellers do if the inhabitants are unfriendly or dangerous?

Hold a meeting with students in role as travellers to discuss each group’s thoughts.

Improvisation
In role as the original inhabitants, work in small groups to explore their thoughts about the newly arrived travellers. Are the inhabitants afraid of the travellers? Do the inhabitants think the travellers are strange looking creatures? What are the inhabitants going to do about these new visitors who may be friends or foes?

Send out some spies from both camps to bring back information about the others. Ask the spies to observe the other group’s appearance and behaviour and to take note of their language.

Teacher in role
Introduce conflict or tension into the drama by reporting a disturbing event such as food and supplies mysteriously disappearing from the various camps.

Meeting
Call a meeting with students in role to inform them about the disturbing event. Have the students present their suggestions for finding the answer to what happened.

Brainstorming
Conduct an inquiry to discover the cause of the mysterious event. Encourage students to brainstorm what could have taken place. If food has disappeared from a camp, there may be several likely explanations for the disappearances. For example, the travellers’ pets or other animals may have dragged the food into the forest. Someone within the travellers’ own camp may have hidden the food to keep it safe. The inhabitants might have thought the food was a gift to cook as a welcoming feast.

Tableaux
Create tableaux in small groups to show what happened to the missing objects. Do the travellers blame the inhabitants for the problem, and vice versa? Did anyone actually see what happened? Are the travellers afraid of the inhabitants or angry, or just curious?

Create another tableau to show what happens when the travellers and the inhabitants finally meet each other.

Captions
As each group shows its tableau to the class, invite the rest of the students to create a caption that might appear beneath the picture if it were to be published in a newspaper.

Tapping in
While each group is showing its tableau, tap some students on the shoulder and ask questions about what students are doing and what they are thinking. Remind the students that they must answer in role as one of the travellers or inhabitants. Prompt their responses with questions such as:

• Who are you?
• What are you doing?
• Who are these other people around you?
• How are you feeling?
• Are you afraid of these travellers/inhabitants?
• What are you going to do next?

Reflection
Ask the students to consider questions such as the following in their reflections:

• Do you recall why the mice in The Island of Skog became hostile?
• How might their conflict have been avoided?
• What could the travellers or inhabitants in the students’ drama have done to make their initial meeting more successful?
• What do “prejudice” and “discrimination” mean?
• What happens to people when they experience prejudice or discrimination?
• Have the students ever experienced or observed discrimination?
• How can a person’s appearance create prejudice in others?
• Are there things that people can do to stop discrimination?

Concluding Activities

Discussion
Talk about the meaning of friends and foes. Discuss what makes a good friend. Remind students that sometimes people fear or dislike people about whom they know very little. What circumstances can help to create a foe?

Create new directions and endings for familiar folktales such as The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, or Jack and the Beanstalk.

Start with a story map and plan diversions from the traditional story along the way. Or, create a web by placing the story title in the centre and listing characters and events in other locations on the web. Ask students “what if?” questions to inspire diversions from the original story. If using the story of The Three Little Pigs, for example, have the students complete the stem, “What if…

• the pigs designed some traps for the wolf
• the pigs’ friends came to rescue them
• the wolf decided to try a different method of destroying the houses
• the wolf is simply testing the strength of the houses and decides to help the pigs design better houses?”

Explore some of the students’ new ideas about friends and foes through drama. Read stories about friends and foes that diverge from the original in unexpected ways such as Jim and the Beanstalk by R. Briggs.

Mini-unit: … And Beyond

Sample Topic: Machine Worlds

Suggested Resources  

• The Gooch Machine: Poems for Children to Perform
• Books about robots and futuristic machines
• Chart paper and markers

Starter List of Activities

Introductory Activities

Imaging
Read poems about robots or fabulous machines such as The Gooch Machine that is guaranteed to keep your teacher sweet.

Invite students to close their eyes and imagine travelling in time to a future where students encounter fantastic new machines that can perform great tasks for people. Talk the students through the experience while providing examples of fantastic machines to encourage the students to stretch their imaginations.

Following the imaging activity, ask the students to list some things students’ own imaginary machines might be able to do.

Drawing
Have the students draw their imaginary machines from the previous activity.

Main Activities

Meeting/Mantle of the expert
In role as an important business executive, call a meeting of designers (i.e., students in role) and explain that the company is in a race with its competitor to invent a new machine that will be one of the greatest inventions of all time.

Explain that the students have been flown in at great expense because they are recognized as being the best designers and inventors in the world.

Inform the designers that the competitors are having a similar meeting at their high-tech factory on the other side of town.

Improvisation
Divide the class in half. Tell half of the students that they are working for the original company; tell the rest of the students that they are working for the competitor’s company across town.

Voting
Invite each of the two groups to come up with a name for its company. The company name should suggest that the company is creative and futuristic in its designs. List the suggested company names, discuss each one, and vote on the best name for each company.

Divide the two companies into smaller groups.

Place the names of company clients in a hat or box (e.g., hospital workers, farmers, builders, police, firefighters, teachers, office workers, children, the elderly, and so on).

Have each group of designers select a client from the names in the box. Each small group must design a futuristic machine to make the client’s work or life easier or more effective.

Brainstorming
Challenge each small group to brainstorm a list of the types of activities that its client performs. What are the activities that the client does? What challenges does each client face? What would make the client’s work or lives easier or better?

Drawing
Using large sheets of chart paper and markers, ask each group to design its machine. Designers are also to include a list of the functions of the respective machines.

Role
Instruct the company designers to prepare a presentation to promote their inventions to the clients.

Role
Invite a few students from the opposing company to assume the roles of the clients while each group of designers presents its machine invention to its client group.

Invite the students who are in role as clients to challenge the designers with questions about the design and effectiveness of the machines. In what ways will each machine affect the client’s life or work? What problems do the clients foresee with each design? What benefits do they see if they were to build and purchase the machine?

Create a display of each company’s designs.

Flashforward
Take the students on an imaginary journey to a time in the future where all of their machine designs are in use. The future society is populated by robots and other fabulous machines that do the work of many or all of the people.

Present students with questions such as “What will people do with their time if all of the work is being done by machines? How will people buy products if they do not have jobs? Will people still need money now that machines are so efficient? Have the world’s problems such as pollution, violence, or poverty been solved by these machines?”

Concluding Activities

Writing
Ask each student to write in role as a company client a diary entry talking about how the machine has changed his or her life for better or for worse.

Improvisation
Invite students to create scenarios where students’ machines and others are in use in a futuristic society. Introduce tension into the drama by presenting situations where conflicts arise (e.g., perhaps some people in the community want to go back to the way things were in the old days before machines were doing everything).

Unit 2: Ideas and Inspirations

Time: 6-8 weeks

Ideas for dramas come from many different sources such as the imagination, pictures, media, day dreams, questions, and so on. In this unit, the students explore ideas and fictional situations that arise from wishes and dreams.

Mini-unit: Sources of Inspiration

Sample Topic: Wishes and Dreams