These curriculum  modules were developed as par of a spring 1998 graduate class in improvisation with youth at Arizona State University.  The framework and foundation for these modules is Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence (New York: Bantam Books, 1995).  All page and chapter references to this work are from the first edition.  Some of the plans have been implemented with adults and children.  Other plans are theoretical and await pilot instruction.
    These modules are distributed as a service in the field of drama/theatre education, grades K-12.  The plans are written for the specialist, but can be implemented by educators of other content areas.
    These modules were developed by the following M.F.A. and Ph.D. students in the ASU Theatre for Youth program:
    Mark Armstrong    Warren Baumgart Jr.    Heather Drastal    Jason Goodstone
    Lori Hager    S. Henry Hettick    Tommy Jarmiolowski    Carol Lanoux    Barbara Jo Maier
    Elizabeth O'Hara     Doyle Ott    Shalynn Reynolds    Cari Rodden     Michelle Renee White

                 Five Goals for Emotional Intelligence Instruction Through Drama

    The primary goals for Emotional Intelligence Instruction Through Drama are based on Peter Salovey's five domains of emotional intelligence (Emotional Intelligence, pp. 42-44).
Students will:
    1. recognize and monitor their own emotions for self-awareness
    2. manage their own emotions for positive change
    3. motivate themselves and exercise self-control for productivity
    4. recognize emotions in and empathize with others
    5. display social competence in interpersonal relationships

                                Grade Levels and Components
                for Emotional Intelligence Instruction Through Drama

    Each plan from these curriculum modules is designed for students within certain grade ranges, based on developmental needs and content appropriateness.  This is not to imply that the developmental needs categorized below are exclusive to the grade ranges.  Needs and appropriateness can overlap, accumulate, and interplay within grades K-12:
 
    GRADES K-3:    self awareness, relationships, decision-making

    GRADES 4-5:     peer relationships, empathy, impulse control, anger management

    GRADES 6:         peer pressures, self-worth

    GRADES 9-12:   multiple perspective-taking, self-confidence

    Since Goleman asserts that the Self Science Curriculum (Emotional Intelligence, Appendix E, pp.303-304) is a "model for the teaching of emotional intelligence," its thirteen components become the organizing framework and objectives for Emotional Intelligence Instruction Through Drama. For example:

Self-awareness: observing yourself and recognizing your feelings; building a vocabulary for feelings; knowing the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and reactions

Representative Lesson:

    GRADES K-3: List the following words on the board: fear, anxiety, nervousness,
    dread, fright, panic. Briefly discuss their similarities and differences. Conduct a story drama
    of There's a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer and discuss which emotion words
    might be more accurate to describe the Boy's and Nightmare's specific actions throughout
    the story. Replay the story trying to capture these differences in the enactment.

Personal decision-making: examining your actions and knowing their consequences; knowing if thought or feeling is ruling a decision: applying these insights to such issues as sex and drugs

Representative Lesson:

GRADES 4-5: Develop an open-ended scenario for improvisation or playwriting in which the characters critical decision can be from multiple options, leading to a number of different consequences (e.g., a new girl to a classroom sees that a certain boy is the class outcast; she can adopt the same attitude as the class, make friends with the outcast, observe but not react, ask others why he's the outcast). Improvise or write at least three different endings to the same introductory scenario.

Empathy: understanding others' feelings and concerns and taking their perspective; appreciating the differences in how people feel about things

Representative Lesson:

GRADES 6-5: Play "Hitch-hiker" in which a rotating number of players adopt the personality traits and physical mannerisms of the new person entering the car. Replay with emotion-based dialogue and physical mannerisms (e.g., irritability, self-pity, whimsy, guilt) with the words and their definitions on index cards given to each player

[NOTE: Since empathy is perhaps one of the most critical needs for emotional intelligence, extra plans have been included in the module.]

Assertiveness: stating your concerns and feelings without anger or passivity

Representative Lesson:

GRADES 9-12: Play Boals' "The Fighting Cocks" from Games for Actors and Non-Actors. Discuss how assertiveness weaves into the dialogue used for improvisation. Discuss assertiveness strategies employed during the improvisation. Replay, this time "spotlighting" selected pairs for demonstration. Assess and discuss how assertiveness enters into real-world situations.

The complete list of the thirteen components from The Self Science Curriculum follows:

                                The Self Science Curriculum

Main components:

    Self-awareness: observing yourself and recognizing your feelings; building a vocabulary for feelings; knowing the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and reactions
    Personal decision-making: examining your actions and knowing their consequences; knowing if thought or feeling is ruling a decision; applying these insights to issues such as sex and drugs
    Managing feelings: monitoring "self-talk" to catch negative messages such as internal put-downs; realizing what is behind a feeling (e.g., the hurt that underlies anger); finding ways to handle fears and anxieties, anger, and sadness
    Handling stress: learning the value of exercise, guided imagery, relaxation methods
    Empathy understanding others' feelings and concerns and taking their perspective; appreciating the differences in how people feel about things
    Communications: talking about feelings effectively: becoming a good listener and question-asker; distinguishing between what someone does or says and your own reactions or judgments about it; sending "I" messages instead of blame
    Self-disclosure: valuing openness and building trust in a relationship; knowing when it's safe to risk talking about your private feelings
    Insight:  identifying patterns in your emotional life and reactions; recognizing similar patterns in others
    Self-acceptance: feeling pride and seeing yourself in a positive light; recognizing your strengths and weaknesses; being able to laugh at yourself
    Personal responsibility: taking responsibility; recognizing the consequences of your decisions and actions, accepting your feelings and moods, following through on commitments (e.g., to studying)

    Assertiveness: stating your concerns and feelings without anger or passivity
    Group dynamics: cooperation; knowing when and how to lead, when to follow
    Conflict resolution: how to fight fair with other kids, with parents, with teachers; the win/win model for negotiating compromise

SOURCE: Karen F. Stone and Harold Q. Dillehunt, Self Science- The Subject Is Me (Santa Monica: Goodyear Publishing Co., 1978).
 

                            A Philosophy and Rationale for
               Emotional Intelligence Instruction Through Drama

    In Emotional Intelligence (New York: Bantam Books, 19g5), author Daniel Goleman concludes from contemporary news reports and social science research that "the present generation 0f children [is] more troubled emotionally than the last: more lonely and depressed, more angry and unruly, more nervous and prone to worry, more impulsive and aggressive." (xiii) Children and youth entering our schools with these frames of mind disrupt their own and others' capacity to learn effectively, and inhibit their personal potential for successful adulthood. What role, then, can educators play to alleviate these social problems?

Goleman asserts that

        people who are emotionally adept--who know and manage their own feelings well, and
        who read and deal effectively with other people's feelings--are at an advantage in any
        domain of life. . . People with well-developed emotional skills are also more likely to be
        content and effective in their lives, mastering the habits of mind that foster their own
        productivity; people who cannot marshal some control over their emotional life fight
        inner battles that sabotage their ability for focused work and clear thought (36).

It is this rationale that supports an emotional intelligence curriculum in today's schools as a developmental necessity, since "childhood and adolescence are critical windows of opportunity for setting down the essential emotional habits that will govern our lives" (xiii).

    If time within the school year does not permit the addition of a separate course to cultivate the students' emotional intelligence, subject areas already in place can explore the integration of these vital concepts into their content. informal drama and formal theatre practice, due to the nature of the art forms, have great potential for developing a student's emotional intelligence through a teachers sensitive guidance. Classroom improvisation and the rigors of theatre production serve as forums for exploring and improving the human condition--the core subject matter of these arts.

    Drama and theatre are not the sole domains of emotional inquiry and development. They are but one part of a broader school curriculum that incorporates facets of emotional intelligence opportunities in such areas as social studies, language arts, student counseling services, and peer mediation. The attached modules illustrate how drama and theatre can function as vehicles not just for the development of artistic process and product, but for the development of emotionally healthy individuals.

    Emotional intelligence should not be perceived as a "new age" or "liberal" movement. Indeed, its goals go "hand in hand with education for character, for moral development, and for citizenship" (286), essential needs of the generation currently in our schools. Strengthening each child's personal capacity for empathy, anger management, and interpersonal skills, for example, are fundamental lessons that will hopefully transfer to everyday living as our young people progress through an increasingly complex social world. Goleman advises that emotional intelligence's "outcome--decent human beings--is more critical to our future than ever" (263).