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What began as something very simple suddenly
grew to something much larger. In this site I have done my best
to outline the beginnings of what is needed to appreciate and understand
the use of drama in the classroom. I truly believe in the value
of the ideas I have begun to list on this site. Because a site
like this can never be completely comprehensive, I have also included
in the bibliography a
listing of books and other resources that I found to be extremely
helpful and which I hope will help others as well.
Who is drama best suited for? As outlined
in the research on this site, Gavin Bolton and other child drama
specialists note that preschoolers have excellent imaginations,
but that the value of drama continues through grade school, high
school, college, and on into adulthood. Ever go to or have a friend
go to a psychologist and roleplay to work on problems? That's drama!
Is drama an end all cure to educational
strategies? Of course not. Just as not every student responds well
to lectures or individual study time, not every student works well
in a classroom drama environment. The purpose of this site is not
to claim that teachers should only teach through drama, but rather
incoporate aspects of it to enhance their existing classroom environment.
I strongly suggest reading not only the text
on these pages, but following up through the books. The resource
links will only offer the basic uses of drama and the mechanics
of various activities and are mostly geared towards theatre classrooms.
Understanding the real value that these teaching strategies offer
to your students requires a much deeper study than anything I have
found on the Internet.
That said, lets take a look at why we
do classroom drama.
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