Additional strategies

So I have already discussed and shared some of the strategies that we used and implemented in my drama class, but I thought I would take some time to share some other strategies with you that can also be implemented in and through drama! So here I go:

Position mapping: a chair is placed in the middle of the room and students are asked to stand up and join around the chair. The teacher can then ask questions, asking the students to position themselves in accordance to the chair to the question/topic.
For example: teacher asks "how comfortable are you with creating your own bar graphs?" Students would then position themselves according to how comfortable they feel with this, with more comfortable students standing closer or perhaps sitting on the chair, with more uncomfortable students standing further away.

Corridor of voices (voice alley): two lines are formed with one character proceeding in between those lines, where those facing each other can give their opinion/thoughts to a certain situation, circumstance, etc. A modification for this may be to use a puppet to walk through the center, as to not hurt anyone's feelings or for it to become a personal attack or personal comments to be made to the person walking through.

Hot seating: A character is put on the spot to share their feelings, opinions, beliefs or thoughts about a certain topic or subject. This could be a student taking on the role of the character from a story or created scenario and being questioned within that role, or you could split students into groups of characters to add some variation to thoughts/opinions. You may also opt to place the student (in character) in a chair in the middle and question them from this position. With this strategy especially, it is important for students to not feel anxious or centered out, therefore it is always an option to pass.

Pop-up story: Students are chosen to play certain roles or characters in a certain scenario (could also be read from a book). Whenever that students' character comes up in the situation, story or scenario, they must 'pop up' and act as though the character is in the description.

News reporting: One student (or even the teacher) may act as a new reporter, giving news of a situation or scenario, where the other students or participants may act as characters affected by the scenario.
For example: teacher enters the room as news reporter, stating that there has been a crisis and there are no more vegetables growing in the world. Students would respond to this (perhaps by integrating this strategy with hot seating) to share their thoughts and feelings on this topic, maybe acting as the civilians.

 Slow motion: This is exactly as it sounds: students act out a scene in slow motion! This is a strategy that students can have a lot of fun with and can really be incorporated into anything. It also gets students thinking about tempo (obviously from a slow perspective) and how this affects their presentation or the engagement of the audience.

Mirrors: In this strategy, students will work in pairs or groups to 'mirror' something that one person is doing. As one person acts as the main 'actor' or 'actress', the other person(s) will follow along in their movements to do exactly what they are doing, acting as though they are a mirror. With younger students you might want to put limits on loco-motor movements simply for safety reasons. You can also modify this strategy for someone who is in a wheelchair by only using upper body movements. This strategy could also be modified for the blind by describing what is happening or even allowing them to feel the other person and how they are positioned.

Tableaux: This can be introduced as young as grade 1 and kids will love it and understand more than you think! Tableaux is a group of silent, motionless figures that are used to represent a scene, theme or abstract idea from a story or idea. Tableaux may be presented as one image, or there may be multiple images with transitions. Younger students may need more direction, but they have no problem understanding levels, expression and freeze frame!

 So there ya go! Some extra strategies and ideas for you to hopefully implement into your own classroom! Enjoy :)