Dramatic play, rhyming games and songs are some of the language-rich activities that build pre-reading skills. The problems many children face in learning to read could be prevented with high-quality instruction that incorporates a range of pre-school language-building activities. Head Start students who received regular, frequent instruction in drama and sign language scored higher in language development than a control group not offered drama and sign language.   The Task Force on Children’s Learning and the Arts: Birth to Age Eight and Sara Goldhawk, Young Children and the Arts: Making Creative Connections, Arts Education Partnership, 1998.

For students with learning disabilities, creative drama exercises improved learning behavior and speaking skills necessary for success in the classroom. Critical Links, 20-21

Imaginative play coached by a teacher enhances important learning abilities that help kindergarten children make physical and social sense of the world around them. Critical Links, 24-25

“When I examine myself and my method of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing knowledge.” Albert Einstein, scientist, as recalled by a friend on the 100th anniversary of Einstein’s birth

By acting out all or part of a story, kindergarteners and first graders in northeast Georgia were better able to retell the story, recall more details, and put the story’s elements in the correct order. Studies of older children have shown impacts of drama on reading and writing abilities. Critical Links, 38-39

When fifth grade remedial reading students used creative drama to act out stories they read, they understood the stories better. They were also better able to understand reading that they did not act out, such as text in standardized tests. Critical Links, 22-23

Fifth and sixth graders’ participation in improvisational drama throughout a school year resulted in greater use of expressive and interactive skills. Expressive language is the ability to speculate, imagine, predict, reason and evaluate one’s own learning or higher order thinking skills. Interactive language skills were found in students’ exchanges with each other and later reflection. Students’ own reflections on the improvisations brought up moral issues not typical in information-driven classrooms. Say the authors, “Drama puts the human content into what is predominantly a materialistic curriculum.” Critical Links, 50-51

“When it came to theatre people would say, ‘I learned to see the world. I learned to hear the world. I learned to feel the world through someone’s eyes and ears and heart, other than my own.’ When it comes to problems of AIDS and declining education and hunger and the host of other problems we as a society face, if we don’t have the empathetic ability to see the world through each other’s eyes and ears and hearts, we can’t even have the conversation.” Ben Cameron, Executive Director, Theatre Communications Groupspeech, Arts Breakfast of Champions, Northwest Business for Culture and the Arts, Portland, OR, 2000

"In terms of payoff, theatre is the thing that makes the greatest difference because of the fact that it’s able to incorporate somany of the different arts—everything from dance to music to the technical aspects. And what’s extremely important for those of us worried about literacy is that there is so much writing and so much involvement with extended text in theatre…with theatre you get a greater range of genres, all sorts of genres in oral and written language.” Shirley Brice Heath, Learning and the Arts: Crossing Boundaries, Proceedings from an invitational meeting for education, arts and youth funders, Los Angeles, organized by Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, J. Paul Getty Trust, and The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, 2000

At a New York City high school, senior drama students who wrote and performed their own play became more collaborative, confident and self-reliant learners, valuing their own ideas and contributions to thegroup and regularly seeking out additional information and insight through library research and group discussions. Library registration rose from 25% to 85%. Attendance also improved. Critical Links, 28-29

"Dramatic conventions offer a safe harbor for trying out the situations of life, for experimenting with expression and communication, and for deepening human understanding—developments devoutly desired by all" Critical Links, 58

Many students in a theatre acting program reported that the intense review of Shakespeare texts in preparation for performing helped them not only master the plays, but also improve their reading of other complex material such as math and physics texts. Shakespeare’s plays can be effective as well at getting students to engage deeply with their own life experience, a process that is linked to all types of learning. “‘Unfolding’ is used to describe how students open themselves to learning processes through the study of Shakespeare: acting, working in creative communities, and linking self-knowledge to social and intellectual development.” Champions of Change, 79-90and Critical Links, 48-49

[continue reading]    

© 2007-2008 Woodruff Arts Center, All Rights Reserved
Funding for Woodruff 's Education Initiative was generously provided by The Goizueta Foundation, Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, Inc., The Kendeda Fund & an Anonymous Donor.

This site is best viewed with a resolution of 800x600 (or higher) and supports Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0+ or Firefox 1.0+