Getting the Buggers into Drama
by Sue Cowley
This wonderfully accessible and practical guide provides a range of effective strategies for teaching drama. Written with her usual practicality, humour and optimism, Sue Cowley demonstrates how drama can make lessons across the curriculum more interesting and engaging. This fascinating guide is aimed both at the specialist drama teacher and at those who are interested in using drama to help them deliver other areas of the curriculum. It will also be particularly helpful to staff at primary level who have found themselves lumbered with "putting on the school play"!
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 Teaching drama
Drama in the curriculum
The benefits of drama
Common pitfalls for drama teachers
Drama across the curriculum
Structuring drama lessons
Classroom management for drama
Drama spaces
2 Ways of working
Individual focus
Warm ups
Trust games
Pair work
Small group work
Improvisation
Freeze frames
Hot seating
Judgement chair
Thought tracking
Conscience alley / Thought tunnel
The role of the expert
Whole class improvisation
Teacher in role
Meetings
Tag improvisation
3 Building drama skills
Concentration
Focus exercises
Cooperation
Cooperation exercises
Confidence
Confidence boosting exercises
4 Warm ups and cool downs
Why warm up?
Physical warm ups
Vocal warm ups
Why cool down?
Cool down exercises
5 Aspects of drama
Inspiration
Storytelling
Props
Costume
Setting - place and time
Creating atmosphere
Using contrasts
Selecting material
Themes
Forms
Genre
Scripts and texts
Writing in drama
6 Role play and characterisation
Role play
Facial expression
Voice
Body language
Age
Occupation
Relationships
Gender
Status
Motive and motivation
7 Dramatic tension
What is tension?
Dramatic tension
Body language
Atmosphere
Characters and relationships
Confined spaces
A series of problems
Suspense
Conflict
8 Advanced drama techniques
Sub-text
Dramatic irony
Symbolism
Semiotics
Narrative theatre - the 'aside'
Objective and super-objective
9 Themes for drama
Communication
Bullying
The Estate
War
10 Drama across the curriculum
Art and design
Citizenship
Design and technology
Geography
History
ICT
Mathematics
MFL
Music
PE
Science
Religious education
Careers education
PSHE
11 Staging a successful school production
Choosing a production
Casting
Budgeting
The production team
The audience
Rehearsals
Top tips for a successful performance
Appendix One: Vocabulary list for drama
Appendix Two: Internet links for drama
Appendix Three: Texts for drama
ISBN: 9780826497581
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