Using drama games productively
The following article is comprised of an extract from Beyond the Script Take 3: Drama in the English and literacy classroom by Robyn Ewing and Jennifer Simons, with Margery Hertzberg and Victoria Campbell
When planning to use a drama game the teacher should clarify the reasons for its introduction. It may be as a way of easing students from one way of thinking (e.g. individual, logical) into another (e.g. collaborative, lateral). It may be to focus their attention because they have just left the playground after recess. It may be a means of strategically mixing students – teaming them with classmates who are not part of their friendship groups.
More importantly, games can often be used as a way of foreshadowing the theme of the text to be studied and the related drama strategy to be introduced. A game about convicts and overseers can be used to precede a drama that focuses on the colonial era.
Games are usually played at the beginning of a lesson, yet they may be more effective in the middle (to increase tension) or at the end (to help ‘de-roling’). What the game is, and where it is placed, will depend on the focus for the whole lesson.
Some key purposes for games are:
- fostering collaboration and trust
- building spatial awareness
- encouraging focused interactions around an emerging theme
- refocusing and reflecting after the drama.