Why Teach Drama?

Throughout recent years, arts programs in schools have experienced many cuts and been 'put on the back burner'. Subjects such as language arts and mathematics have come to the forefront of education and become our biggest priority. But what about creativity? And who says that all subjects are individual entities? One of the latest topics in education is creating 21st century learners, and I feel that the arts and developing creativity is essential to being a 21st century learner.

Drama allows for students to perspective take, work with others, critically think, develop an understanding, tell a story, demonstrate their knowledge and so much more. Drama is not a subject that needs to be practiced or taught on its own. As demonstrated through the classroom strategies section of this blog, many of them have an interdisciplinary application. Drama lends itself well to differentiated teaching and assessment as it allows for more types of learners to be engaged with subject matter and also provides them with a unique way to express their knowledge. Who says that writing a paper is the only way to summarize an event, story, or novel? How about a sequence of tableaux? Expanding your teaching practices to include drama into your daily lessons will not only further engage your students, as they are up out of their chairs and moving, but it will also diversify their learning and reach more of your students in a classroom of diverse learners.

So what does drama teach students? Here is just a small list:

COMMUNICATION SKILLS
COOPERATION
PUBLIC SPEAKING
SELF-ESTEEM
CONFIDENCE
EMPATHY
PERSPECTIVE TAKING
CRITICAL THINKING
INTERPERSONAL SKILLS
TEAMWORK
CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK
CREATIVITY
DIVERSITY

Don't let the arts slip through the cracks in your classroom.

For more information on the benefits of drama and ways to integrate it into your daily classroom, visit 12 Fascinating Ways to Use Drama in the Curriculum