Anna Quinn, an English teacher, describes her use of dramatic activities for interpreting texts along with other techniques to help improve college reading skills. Students have demonstrated measurable increases in reading levels by using drama to fill textual gaps, charades to increase vocabulary, blending into the characters, predicting the…

Bruce Robbins, an English teacher, has brought a fresh approach to teaching Shakespeare in the classroom by using a teaching method simulating with experience of the actors of the Elizabethan stage. A close attention to structure and individual words has helped the students to find cues from the text to enhance their understanding.

An experienced secondary teacher shares some common misconceptions about literary analysis. The activities, which help the students to practice theory and read drama, poetry and fiction, are described.

A neglected aspect in reading instruction is the teaching of reading comprehension and constructing meaning from text. Cognitive field theory emphasises that children construct meaning and develop rules at a subconscious level when they learn a language (Samson, Rasinski & Samson, 2003, 7). The emphasis here is on the processes that we go through,…

This paper presents a defense for the use of historical scripted conversations in science. We discuss drama's use of both expository and narrative text forms to expand the language forms available for a variety of learners, the use of scripted conversations as a defensible curriculum design to foster learning in general and science in particular,…

Involvement with the Wrinkle Writing Program at the University of New Mexico led Dupre to encourage playwriting in her classroom as a means to understand and respect differences.

Stephen Greenblatt imbues "The Norton Shakespeare"--the widely used annotated collection of which he is editor--with a new historicism that limits inquiry largely to questions of power as they affect race, class, and sex. Sean Benson considered teaching from the volume, but found that Greenblatt's materialist ideology does not foster an…

Teachers at Robinson Elementary School in rural Starksboro, Vermont learned long ago that when they need to reach children who are struggling academically (and perhaps suffering socially, as well), integrating art, drama, writing, dance, song and music throughout the curriculum can help. This article tells the story of how Robinson Elementary wove…

Drawing on a critical race theory framework, this article weaves together sociology, education, history, and performance studies to challenge deficit interpretations of Pierre Bourdieu's cultural capital theory and to analyze Culture Clash's play Chavez Ravine. The play recounts a decade of Los Angeles history through the perspectives of displaced…

In response to the rising levels of school conflict, the present study investigated a new approach to conflict resolution for middle and high school students using interactive drama and role play called the Win-Win Resolutions program. The standardized curriculum delivered within the school setting includes strategies for self-control and anger…

Although environmental and heritage interpretation aims to connect humans with their natural and cultural heritage, and has the potential to contribute to a vision of sustainable living, it often falls short of engaging and inspiring its audiences. Some interpreters advocate the use of artistic approaches to create more affective…

The use of drama with the children in your classroom can catch the attention of even the most reluctant of students and bring literature to life in a way that other methods cannot. Furthermore, "playing" with plays can teach more than language arts; depending on the texts chosen, drama can teach children such important life lessons as tolerance…

Drama has been effectively used in many learning contexts including English as a second language classes. However, it has received less attention in foreign/second contexts. This article explores how drama for learning can impact upon the relationships among attitudes, motivation and learning in French second language (FSL) classrooms. The authors…

Education rests on the foundation of culture in the broadest sense of that word. How deeply and solidly that foundation has been laid down determines the size and solidity of the building that can be constructed on it. This applies in particular to higher education, which is by no means designed solely to offer just a body of specialized…

In the South African context, "impact" is one of those words that has gathered a set of layered meanings in the field of research and evaluation. It is generally used to mean the "effect" an activity or experience has had on its target audience. Has the experience changed things in any way? Has it made a difference? This paper…