It was a wonderful surprise when I received an email from Puerto Rico asking me to provide information about forming a drama club for students in grades 4-6. Theatre skills and storytelling often go hand-in-hand when working with kids. I can think of no better way to instill an interest in and a love for literature than by giving youngsters a chance to act out stories, scenes or situations under the guidance of a teacher/mentor.
In an effort to meet current educational standards and improve school test scores, it seems there is little time left to integrate art of any kind into the curriculum. But what about those kids whose learning styles need expression through a variety of experiences: verbal, auditory and kinesthetic? Good teachers are always looking for ways to engage students, and I believe good teachers understand the importance of including art as part of the educational experience. If different forms of art cannot be integrated into the curriculum, perhaps after-school clubs in music, dance, visual art, drama and storytelling can be added to fill the void. I have seen how art can make a difference for underachieving students through active engagement, ultimately providing them with new purpose to read, write and understand concepts that held little or no interest before. Art expression makes it easy to open the door to all kinds of learning, and art makes learning fun.
Feel free to use the following outline to quickly and successfully introduce storytelling and theatre skills to students. I have found this to be an effective way to determine if there is enough interest to start an after-school drama or storytelling club. Announcing an after-school art-based club may bring several students through the door on the first day, but an announcement alone might not capture enough attention or create a strong desire for students to really want to participate. So, how do you do this?
Having Fun with Drama Games
Using the grades mentioned in the request from Puerto Rico as an example, I suggest the teacher/mentor consider the following steps as a club introduction or showcase. Ideally, this introduction will be presented in each 4th, 5th and 6th grade class at the school during a typical 45-minute class period.
* (5 minutes) Entertain the class with a brief example story by the club leader or a student volunteer who has had time to properly rehearse. (See “Three-Minute Tales: Stories From Around the World to Tell or Read When Time is Short”by Margaret Read MacDonald.)
* (3 minutes) Get students engaged by asking them what they liked, or did not like about the story itself. (It is important to state that this is not a time for them to evaluate the performance or performer, but rather an opportunity to discuss the story.)
* (2 minutes) Let the class know that this showcase is an example of activities members of the after-school club will enjoy. (Be sure to state that the club will be a place for students to try different skills in a safe and supportive environment. For the purposes of the class presentation, ask everyone to agree to keep this classroom introduction safe: no one may discuss the contribution of any other class member outside this showcase without permission.)
* (10 minutes) Present a brief warm-up theatre game for the entire class to enjoy.
(There are many wonderful theatre games on the Internet and in books about acting. The warm-up game can be as simple as “pass the face,” a mime game similar to “telephone,” where students stand in a circle. Students take turns drawing a slip of paper from a container and conveying, through facial expression, the emotion selected to the person on his/her right. The student on the right then “passes the face” to the next student, and so on. When the student on the left of the one starting the exercise receives the “face,” he/she tries to identify the emotion. For other examples of warm-up exercises, click here.)
* (4 minutes) Have several different students informally recall the sequence of the story told at the start of the session.
* (3 minutes) Invite the class to discuss different ways the story might be told or acted out (for example, with music, in mime, as a group performance, with props, in costume, with masks).
* (3 minutes) Divide the class into teams and have each team discuss amongst themselves how they might present the story as a group, if given a chance.
* (4 minutes) Have teams go to different areas in the room to rehearse or try out their idea.
* (5 minutes) Ask for one team to volunteer to share/act out their idea as a group in front of the class.
* (2 minutes) Introduce the process of Appreciations and Suggestions to be used during club workshops.
(Appreciations and Suggestions is a positive way to give and receive feedback; it is not critical evaluation. I have provided an outline for this procedure for your consideration, just click here for the PDF.)
* (3 minutes) Answer questions about the goals and activities of the club.
* (1 minute) Hand out information about the after-school club with details about how to sign up.
Martha Hamilton & Mitch Weiss. Children Tell Stories: Teaching and Using Storytelling in the Classroom. Richard C. Owen Publishers, Inc., Katonah, NY, 2005.
Keith Johnstone. Impro for Storytellers. Routledge Paperback, 1999.
Margaret Read MacDonald. Three-Minute Tales: Stories From Around the World to Tell or Read When Time is Short.August House Publishers, Inc., Little Rock, AR, 2004.
Lenka Peterson & Dan O’Connor. Kids Take the Stage: Helping Young People Discover the Creative Outlet of Theater. Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, NY, 1997.
Lynn Rubright. Beyond the Beanstalk: Interdisciplinary Learning Through Storytelling. Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH, 1996.
Viola Spolen. Theater Games for the Classroom.Northwestern University Press, Chicago, IL, 1986.