Literature on classroom drama suggests that there is considerable untapped potential for using drama as a teaching method in the English classroom. Studies have shown that high school students using dramatic enactment experienced more instances of higher order thinking, more topic-specific emotions, decreased apprehension, and less…

This framework provides an overview of the Texas fine arts curriculum and a detailed explanation of the theater arts program under recent legislative mandates and Texas State Board of Education rules. The guide is designed to assist elementary and secondary school administrators, supervisors, counselors, teachers, and education service center…

In order to develop a guide for teaching a course on playwriting, a study reviewed related literature and conducted a survey of information and opinions from practicing playwrights. Members of the Playwrights' Union of Canada, 145 playwrights, completed a survey of ten open-ended questions describing the processes of the playwright's art,…

Fourteen brief articles deal with training actors to use their bodies effectively on stage. The articles discuss the following topics: the concept of succession-sequential movement (movement that passes through the body joint by joint); learning physical action through staged fight sequences; techniques of empty-handed combat; protecting students…

Composing oral poems and storytelling are two exercises that speech teachers can use in oral interpretation courses. Conducting the oral poetry exercise early in an introductory interpretation course allows students to become acquainted with each other and to encourage each other while sharing something of themselves with the entire class. This…

ELEVEN INSTITUTES FOR ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS (THREE MUSIC, TWO ART, TWO THEATER, TWO HUMANITIES, ONE LATIN, AND ONE FILM) WERE EVALUATED ON THE BASIS OF QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSES FROM 300 OF THE 430 PARTICIPANTS, FINAL REPORTS OF INSTITUTE DIRECTORS, AND DETAILED REPORTS OF OBSERVERS. THE GREATER EMPHASIS ON SUBJECT CONTENT THAN ON…

A close reading of "Improvisations for the Theater" and "I and Thou" will show that there is a common ground linking the games theory of Viola Spolin and the philosophy and religious teachings of Martin Buber. Relation, to Buber, is the direct and immediate response where two people share mutually with one another. It is this…

Improvisational exercises can be used when teaching dramatic literature, but only when they reflect the universal issues of the play text being studied and when they lead students to a deeper understanding of the dramatic work. (RL)

Describes an activity designed to get beginning drama students to work with other classmates and to get students up in front of a class in a group situation. (MH)

Reviews eight documents from the ERIC system that deal with teaching and learning: styles, processes, classroom interaction, innovative techniques (particularly in theatre classes), and obtaining grants to finance innovative ideas. (PD)

Provides an overview and several examples of the "reader's theatre" approach to teaching literature, which dramatizes literature to provide both a visual and an oral stimulus for those unaccustomed to using imagination to experience literary works. (FL)

Allow students to experience the richness of Polynesian culture as well as the challenge of dramatic reading with this Readers Theatre resource. During his years of living and teaching in Oamaru, New Zealand, James Barnes became intimately involved in the Maori culture. Through extensive research of the mythology of Polynesia, Barnes succeeded in…

Article describes a science lesson on body cleanliness. The students make an amoeba puppet soap mitt patterned after a real amoeba. (MM)

Discusses ERIC documents pertaining to oral reading instruction. (FL)