Teaching Through Drama in the Classroom
Learn how to engage your students through meaningful teaching methods
In the context of the primary school, educational drama is not to be confused with what may be termed ‘performance drama’. Educational drama, as it is envisaged in the curriculum, is a creative process that allows children to explore the full potential of drama as a learning experience. It is improvisational in nature and has as its aim a quest for knowledge that involves every aspect of the child’s personality: spiritual, moral, emotional, intellectual and physical. In making this drama the child enters an imagined context (the drama world), through enacting a fiction about characters in certain circumstances, at some particular time and in some particular situation, and so can explore in a unique way conflicts, issues, consequences, attitudes, emotions, concerns and preoccupations that are important to the understanding of real life” (DES, 1999).
This course objectives are:
- Develop an understanding (and a passion) for drama principles and for using drama in the classroom
- Explore how using “alternative” (non-traditional) methods of teaching can benefit pupils and why this is the case
- Become aware of the Department of Education and Skills (DES) guidelines on the use of teaching through drama in the classroom, and its various strands
- Learn about the issues that drama may help with in the classroom
- Become familiar with the 7 key benefits of working through drama
- Gain practical ideas for implementation across most subjects
- Hear an account of how drama supported a child in a real-life scenario and how this impacted his world
Your Instructor
Lorraine Lynch is CEO and Founder of the Child Psychology Institute. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychological Studies and English, a Higher Diploma in Psychology and a Masters of Science in Health Psychology. Lorraine is also the author of two books designed to promote children’s wellness - #100happydays4kids and Closing Saor’s Day.