How to

So, you want to try Injecting Drama into your classes, but you don't know how. You sat through the workshop, but you are really unsure how you can incorporate drama into your math class (or science, or PE, or drivers ed?) I am going to try and provide you with a few examples that will help. They are as general as can be, but since teachers are by nature creative and improvisational people (whether they know it or not) I hope that you can adapt or modify this example to suit your needs.

Here is a class planning sheet that I use to plan my drama classes or a lesson when I go into another teachers classroom.


EXAMPLE #1: The Science Lesson
You have been teaching the Periodic Table of Elements in your science class. Normally you would assign the students a blank Periodic Table worksheet that they must then complete to show that they understand the concept that you are teaching. BUT, recently you attended a workshop that encouraged teachers to use more "drama" in their classrooms. The idea being that students can demonstrate understanding in other ways than just completing worksheets or taking quizzes or "presenting" to the class. You want to do something different, so you start generating some ideas.

1. I want to do something different. I wonder what is out there?
2. You remember this game called PARTY QUIRKS that you played at a party in college with the "theater people" and you then saw it on the TV show "Whose Line is is Anyway", or better yet - you remember this guy demonstrated it at a workshop.
3. What if: What if instead of personality traits I made the "quirks" elemental traits or elemental group traits?
4. I can then: Assign students an element or a group to research and study. They must learn about that element or group and "personify" the characteristics.
5. After they students have researched and thought about their element, we can play Party Quirks using the elemental characteristics!
6. Students will demonstrate that they understand their element or group by successfully improvising the element as if it were a person.
7. Audience members can watch and guess what the element or group is by using clues!

Sulfur keeps passing noxious gas
The Noble Gasses won't mingle with anyone
Boron keeps asking if the house is infested with ants or fleas, because it wants to kill them

EXAMPLE #2: The Primary Language Arts Lesson

You have been working on a read aloud book such as "The Tale of Desperaux" (I use that one because that is how I learned the lesson) and have some difficult vocabulary words. You also want to make sure that the kids UNDERSTAND the words - meaning: you want to go beyond just reciting the definition. what can you do to get them to really understand the words.**

1. You have a list of words that are in the book. These words have deep meanings and/or have a level of depth to them that is beyond simple repetition.
2. You want the students to UNDERSTAND the words, not just repeat them.
3. You have taken a few acting classes in college and your sister does a lot of community theater acting.
4. What If....
   1. You made the words come alive?
   2. You used a little acting to make the words real?
   3. You asked the kids to DEMONSTRATE words and not just reproduce them on a vocab quiz?

1. Take one word:
   1. MUTTERING
   2. Do the following:
      1. Say the word and have the students repeat
      2. Say the word while associating a visible action with the word (hand covering mouth and turning to the side)
      3. Then say the following with the "acting": I am not speaking loud enough for anyone to hear, I am muttering".
      4. Then say: "I am muttering. People can't really hear me and what I am saying is not clear"
      5. Then start to go backwards by saying "I am not speaking loud enough for anyone to hear, I am muttering"
      6. Then say muttering with the action
      7. Then say "muttering" without the action.

1. When it is time to "assess" the students understanding of the word, you can have them DEMONSTRATE instead of write down the definition.