Jenny Phillips #10

DRAMA

Skills
Social

Leaning

Initiate social interaction

Concentration

Make eye contact

Follow instructions

Listen to others

Remember content

Verbal communication

Understand complex ideas

Recognize others
emotions

Appeals to various
learning styles

Pick up on non verbal

cues

Transfer learning to other

content areas and real life

Work collaboratively

Reading comprehension

Public speaking

Storytelling

Who does it benefit?

How does it help students?

Students with autism

Students with Emotional Behavioral

Disorder

Uses visual, verbal and kinesthetic means

to teach students

Builds Self-esteem and self advocacy

Students with ADHD

Multi-sensory

Students with mild learning disabilities

Active

ALL students

Can be used to connect to students lives

Act ivies
Mimetics: Nonverbal Communication/
Eye Contact
Everyone stands in a circle facing each other.
One person begins by making eye contact
with someone and performing a gesture or
exaggerated facial expression. That person
responds by either mimicking the gesture or
creating a new gesture of his/her own. That
student then finds someone else and looks
him/her in the eyes and repeats the gesture.
This continues until the teacher decides to
end the activity.

Improvisation: Social Interaction

Improvisation helps students act out various
scenes. It requires students to listen to the
other improvisers and to respond accordingly.
The goal is not necessarily to be funny.
Improv can be used in a classroom to act out
social interactions to help studnets with
learning to respond appropriately. One
exercise could be to give students a situation
and ask two students to begin to act out the
scenario. The teacher may pause the scene to
talk about the scene and change the direction.
Example: A new student just moved to the
area and doesnt know anyone.

Mock Trial: Content

Students are assigned roles in a mock trial.
The trial setting can be used to reinforce
understanding and foster learning of a
variety of subjects from history to science. In
the mock trial students act out a court room
scene that incorpoarate information from
classroom content. Students can be given a
script or they can write the script themselves.
The process of acting out the scene allows for
students to hear, see, and actively perform
the information. Example: Put the engineer of
the Titanic on trail.

Pass the Word: Story Development/

Listening
Sitting in a circle students create a story by
each person contributing one word. It
requires students to listen to each other and
the story to be able to contribute in a way
that is appropriate and that furthers the
story. The teacher can even give goals for the
story like focusing on using descriptive
language.
**When using drama in the classroom, teachers
need to create a safe place for the students to be
creative without being afraid.**

References
Appelget, J., Matthews, C. F., Hildreth, D. P., & Daniel, M. L. (2002). Teaching the History of Science to Students with Learning
Disabilities. Intervention in School and Clinic, 37(5), 298-303. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
Kempe, A., & Tissot, C. (2012). The use of drama to teach social skills in a special school setting for students with autism. Support
for Learning, 27(3), 97-102. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
Schnapp, L., & Olsen, C. (2003). Teaching Self-Advocating Strategies Through Drama. Intervention in School and Clinic, 38(4), 211219. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
Trowsdale, J., & Hayhow, R. (2013). Can mimetics, a theatre-based practice, open possibilities for young people with learning
disabilities? A capability approach. British Journal of Special Education, 40(2), 72-79. Retrieved February 14, 2016.