The Reasons to Teach Drama Class with Unique Lessons

I have two things to admit.

Number One:

I liked my drama teacher. He introduced me to the art form. I will be forever grateful to him for this.

When I began teaching, I basically taught my drama classes like my beloved high school drama teacher, Mr. Kent Chapman. He wa my and only drama teacher During my teen years.

My college professors were skilled as actors and they did a fabulous job of training me as an actress., but they weren’t Mr. Chapman.

Mr. Chapman really knew his stuff. He handed us a script to read which he thought challenged us, tough scenes to memorize and directed us quite expertly considering we lived in a small town in Kansas. This was in the 1970’s you understand.

For awhile, this teaching style worked for me.

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Slowly and without realizing it, the lessons grew stale. I enjoy the challenge of creating a new class (we were under no benchmarks or state assessments at the time), but sooner or later, I became bored.

What to do, what to do…..

For thirteen years, I taught a pre-elective drama class to four hundred sixth graders each year. Wow. Just telling you this, makes me think I was near crazy. I did what I needed to do at the time and this was the only job that was offered to me.

It was at this time I realized there were many ways to teach about theater arts.

Teaching the same concept over and over is a drain on one’s imagination and energy. During many moments, I couldn’t remember if I taught the students everything in my notes because I memorized the notes just by saying them multiple times. Never mind my patience with the kids! After I said the same thing three times a day every twenty-five days it’s a wonder I could think at. all.

Theatre with a Twist!

Number Two:

I like pretzels. They are similar to a cracker, but different you know? (Okay, remember this, will ya?)

Three years into the job, I realized there were many ways to teach the components of theatre. I decided as long as I taught the concepts it didn’t matter what the subject was as long as I kept to the concepts.

For instance, costume design could be taught the traditional way

a. read a script, pick a few characters and design costumes for them

OR…..

b. teach the same concepts in a unique way (utilize a particular theme such as Halloween or a genre such as Fairy Tales or Mascots or Cirque Du Soleil)

When you look at the challenge in this manner, it’s easy to see why selecting item B on my list gave me TONS of ideas. These ideas carried over into every other lesson. Fabulous!

The Reasons to Teach Drama Class with Unique Lessons

Here are the reasons to be unique in your drama lessons:

You are all ready unique, so be you!
It uses your creative solving skills which are a big part of who artists are–they are there for the taking.
It creates energy
It nurtures the passion in you because you must embrace the change you are making–it’s absolutely exhilarating
You will grow, both as an educator and as an individual (I have learned about so many wonderful subjects because I chose the less traveled path.)
It will open you up and expose any biases you may have and that’s always a good thing.
Your students will love you for it–they can tell when we are bored with our subject.

If I haven’t convinced you yet, maybe these quotes will:

“As we grow as unique persons, we learn to respect the uniqueness of others.” Robert Schuller
“You are unique, and if that is not fulfilled, then something has been lost.” Martha Graham
“Being unique is a lifelong process. It’s difficult to be fresh and new all the time but it’s the only way to be.” Edwin Mamerto

My Teacherspayteachers store has a slogan: Teaching Theater with a Twist. Check out some of my products and you’ll see: Dramamommaspeaks Store

Here are several of my Dramamommaspeaks covers. You’ll see what I am twisting…..

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