Notes that classroom management is an important part of teaching, and discusses movement, music, and drama as effective classroom-management tools for difficult parts of the daily routine. Offers examples of songs, chants, finger plays, and other activities to ease the stress of waiting, or to help meet the physical and emotional demands of young…

Discusses an action research study in which the teacher-researcher consistently explored three phases of readers theater (RT) activities with 14 students in an English-as-a-Second-Language writing class. Positive effects of using RT were found. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the issue of teaching evolution to middle and high school students and parent objections to this matter. Describes a curriculum resource book entitled "Teaching about Evolution and the Nature of Science" that was written for parents, teachers, and community leaders and is endorsed by the National Academy of Science's Center for Science,…

Presents the hypothesis that drama positively affects second language students by providing spontaneity and motivation. To test the hypothesis, the function of drama in language teaching is explored as well as the technique used to teach English through drama. (Author/VWL)

Describes a puppetry project a teacher developed for her middle school theater students, focusing on the step-by-step creation of puppets. Compares "drama for everyone" to writing across the curriculum, exposing students to myriad subjects. Discusses a project that built an advanced theater class around integrated learning, benefiting not only…

Describes two writing assignments that may be used to make Shakespeare more approachable and understandable: first a paraphrase of a passage, and second a memo to an actor interpreting the same passage. (TB)

This article describes a multi-part approach to Shakespeare's playwriting, including his conception of comedy, his method of characterization, aspects of staging, and the status of male and females. It can accommodate all types of Shakespearean plays. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is treated as seminal, while other plays are also…

Describes how, at a school in Texas, Shakespeare becomes a teaching vehicle for learning-disabled students as they engage in a year-long class that studies Shakespeare and his times, as well as produce an entire play. Argues that the experience works so successfully because it is student-centered, collaborative, and experiential. (SR)

Describes the development of a technique for teaching English and intercultural awareness to students in a small liberal arts college in Japan using drama. (Author/VWL)

Presents a lesson that focuses on Lithuanian efforts to gain their freedom and their role in the collapse of the Soviet Union. Describes various learning activities that foster understanding of this topic, such as having the students dramatize important events in Lithuania's struggle for independence. (CMK)

An elementary school teacher describes how students in grades five through six developed language-arts and other skills by rewriting Shakespeare plays; learning stage design, techniques, and vocabulary; reflecting on Shakespeare's intentions and their own insights into the plays' meanings; and presenting both original plays and their own versions.…

Suggests ways in which drama can be used to: explore issues that often give rise to aggression or violence; give space to articulate and respond to emotions; model and practice non-violent response to aggression; consider the consequences of one's actions; empower children to stand up to bullying; and channel energy into performance. (TJQ)

Theater as representation (TAR) has been used in pre-service and in-service teacher and administrator preparation programs since 1998. This paper places TAR within a pedagogical arena that further solidifies its place as an instrument for leadership professional development in B.Ed., M.Ed., and in-service programs. Maxine Greene (1995) challenges…

This paper presents some of the emergent findings from my Ph.D. research, which is connected to the large-scale, federally-funded research project on which I am an assistant. This project investigates how drama education highlights the intersections between students' school and personal lives, and the influence of those intersections on the…

Exploring difficult issues can be the domain of drama and theatre. This article examines the processes of researching and workshopping an exploration of HIV-AIDS by a group of 20 undergraduate university students using playbuilding techniques. The importance of hegemony and the assimilation process become key issues in this classroom drama…