Empowering Students With Short Plays For The Classroom

By Joanna Walsh


One common desire among educators around the world is the desire for students to have fun while learning. This is why teachers are always interested in creative ways to make the learning environment more learner friendly. Short plays for the classroom allow educators to do just that. With these literary works, teachers can change lives positively by making the learning process an engaging and exciting one.

The plays serve as a means of keeping the students active during the class session. For most teachers the ideal method is to organize the class into groups and have them work on their own presentations of the drama. This keeps students engaged but also gets them excited because they will get to show their talent. For most five minute presentations, students will need fifteen to twenty minutes of planning time. During execution the students are still actively engaged as they switch between the roles of performers and audience.

The presentation can be turned into something bigger such as a whole school play. In fact, many large school plays had their genesis in classroom productions. Dramatic displays that are done at this level are quite achievement for younger students and older ones alike. Remarkable growth in self esteem is reported by teachers of students who engage in these activities.

Working together on a play helps to groom students for their adult lives. In order to prepare adequately they must work with others in discussing and planning their performances. This type of cooperation is also required when they are onstage. This helps to build their interpersonal skills and these are skills that are crucial to social and professional relationships.

These short dramatic pieces are also great teaching points. Lessons in ideal behavioral patterns are facilitated by dramatic extracts. These include principles surrounding themes such as love, loyalty and determination. In order to achieve this teachers can select drama scripts with story lines that reveal these principles. They can highlight the positive traits in characters who display the right traits and emphasize the rewards or the triumph experienced by these characters.

During the preparation and presentation of dramatic pieces students learn curriculum based concepts. One curriculum based goal that these teaching tools help to accomplish is the development of language skills among students. Tactile learners get to develop their skills when they work on the creation of set or stage items. Science principles are taught and enhanced when students have to work out the lighting setting for the stage.

For most teachers, finding the right play to use is easy. This is because there are many teacher centered websites that offer short dramatic works that are designed for classroom use. Crafting an original play for a specific class is not unusual however and many teachers do exactly that. Sometimes the class can create its own play as a part of a special project.

Inspiring teachers fill their students with an enthusiasm for learning. In the long term this converts into a desire to excel and to change the world for better. The power of drama in the hands of the right teacher cannot be underestimated as it plants the seeds of knowledge, growth and ambition that later bear fruits such as innovation, progress and security.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment