Cinema's pedagogical essence nurtures a variety of educational strategies. Beyond serving as a support to other areas of knowledge or as the subject of artistic analysis, it also provides students with a means to give -- freely and significantly -- voice to their own concerns and interests. Short film production in schools can offer a process for…

In this article, I outline and theorize about a series of three lessons on playwriting I conducted in a secondary English Literature classroom in Singapore using drama improvisation strategies that I name drama-based playwriting, or DBP. I advance the argument that this genre of creative writing is best taught through the medium of drama so as to…

This paper explores an example of applied theatre and praxis learning in an Australian classroom with drama students aged 16-17 years which took the form of "real fiction" or social theatre monologue writing. It presents monologue responses from nine participants, altered by the researcher to protect identities and to tease out issues…

This article investigates how playwriting served three middle school Black girls within a larger practitioner research study seeking to better understand the literate practices of girls of color. It delves into the ways that playwriting provided the girls in an afterschool writing club opportunities to explore both their knowledge and ways of…

The concept of the 'creative' in creative writing has a vexed history. This article explores the myths surrounding creativity and how they have influenced the way teachers have approached playwriting pedagogy. It reports on research into the teaching and learning experiences of students and teachers in secondary schools, focusing on the…

Understanding, encouraging and developing creativity in the classroom is an international priority (Craft, 2011). This article outlines the findings of research into playwriting pedagogy. It interrogates the conceptual assumptions that surround teaching and learning for creativity, and how these ideas influence teacher practice and student…

Background / Context: This conceptual essay contributes to recent education research on immigrant youth from West African countries that examines the interplay of popularized narratives of immigrant youth and young adults, and their Diasporic literacy practices. Specifically, we examine embodied Diaspora literacies as affirming and extending…

People who do not know theatre may think the only creative artist in the field is the playwright--with actors, directors, and designers mere "interpreters" of the dramatist's vision. Historically, however, creative mastery and power have passed through different hands. Sometimes, the playwright did the staging. In other periods, leading…

This article offers playwriting and other arts-based literacies as dynamic and multifaceted alternatives to the traditional high school research paper. The authors present an analysis of what happened when a teacher asked students to conduct research on a human rights issue and represent their research in a five-scene play. They contend that…

Debates surrounding the teaching of playwriting are heavily influenced by theories of creativity. This article reports on research in Australian secondary schools that explored the student and teacher experiences of playwriting pedagogy. The findings of the research revealed that teaching was based on a belief in intrinsic creativity: that…

My privileged opportunity to work with renowned Drama theorist, Dorothy Heathcote, in Melbourne in the 1970s, set a foundation for what I now call Theatre as Education research. Formerly a teacher of Secondary Drama, I became very experienced at creating plays with my students, based on their own ideas, or inspired by the stories of the community.…

A study of former participants in high and middle school playwriting programs investigated students' perceptions of their experiences. After 20+ years of partnerships in a wide range of schools, Washington D.C.'s Young Playwrights' Theater examined how and why playwriting works and for whom. How does the form and process of writing plays motivate…

This article is a piece of "fiction written under oath." It reports two key findings of a doctoral research project, which investigated English teachers' reactions to the abolition of Year 9 SATs in England and in Wales. The research showed that in both countries, English teachers' pedagogical repertoires have widened as a result of the…

Research suggests that experts and beginners use qualitatively different writing processes when given the same text to write. Throughout their writing, experts tend to create a network of executive, structural, and content problems that they continually refine and coordinate as they bring the text to fruition. Novices, in contrast, tend to focus…

The benefits of playwriting as a process for students are yet to be fully understood. While there is scarce research on playwriting pedagogy, the research that does exist suggests that playwriting provides several benefits for students relating to self-esteem, literacy and language development, as well as increased engagement in school and the…