Friday, April 10, 2015

Teaching Made Fun With Short Plays For The Classroom

By Joanna Walsh


Educators around the world are always on the lookout for ways to make their lessons more engaging and enhance the learning experience for their students. Short plays for the classroom enhance the lesson while also ensuring that the students are actively engaged. They are therefore invaluable resources for teachers who wish to have their students learn and have fun at the same time.

The plays serve as a means of keeping the students active during the class session. For most teachers the ideal method is to organize the class into groups and have them work on their own presentations of the drama. This keeps students engaged but also gets them excited because they will get to show their talent. For most five minute presentations, students will need fifteen to twenty minutes of planning time. During execution the students are still actively engaged as they switch between the roles of performers and audience.

The presentation can be turned into something bigger such as a whole school play. In fact, many large school plays had their genesis in classroom productions. Dramatic displays that are done at this level are quite achievement for younger students and older ones alike. Remarkable growth in self esteem is reported by teachers of students who engage in these activities.

Participation in these plays is one way of preparing the youth for the roles they will have to play in society as adults. The fact that they have to work with others during the planning and presentation stages helps them to practice interpersonal communication. This type of communication is key to developing positive social and business relationships. Leadership skills are developed as well since students who are natural leaders can take on the role of directors or producers.

These short dramatic pieces are also great teaching points. Lessons in ideal behavioral patterns are facilitated by dramatic extracts. These include principles surrounding themes such as love, loyalty and determination. In order to achieve this teachers can select drama scripts with story lines that reveal these principles. They can highlight the positive traits in characters who display the right traits and emphasize the rewards or the triumph experienced by these characters.

Some of the more practical curriculum centered goals are met through the use of these teaching tools as well. Language and art skills can be taught through the use of these pieces. In addition to the use of language, students learn to apply science concepts especially when it comes to creating sound effects of lighting.

Identifying the drama script that best fits the lesson is not difficult. Creative teachers can craft their own drama pieces. Educators are known for their creativity and teachers who write drama pieces live up to this expectation. Sometimes the piece is created as a joint effort between the teacher and the students and there are students who are talented enough to create these scripts on their own. They can also find them online through one or more of the many teacher resource websites available.

Short drama pieces are helpful teaching tools. They help teachers to achieve multiple objectives simultaneously. Through their strategic use, teachers are able to shape the world's future by fulfilling the requirements of the hidden and overt curriculum.




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