Differentiating Your Drama Lessons

     I believe that one of the best aspects of Drama for teachers is that it is easily accessible to all students, yet can be made challenging enough to improve their learning. During my Drama education class I have witnessed strategies like Tableau, Hot-seating, Improvisation, Storytelling, and so many more. Some activities focused solely on building these strategies specifically, while others gave us the opportunity to select which strategy works best. For instance, in class we were asked to get into small groups and reenact the first contact between the European settlers and Canadian First Nations. The activity was left open for us as we were allowed to select any method that we felt would best portray this scenario. My group chose to create a scene where we would act as certain characters while other groups used tableaux or choral reading.

     From this activity I learned that Drama can be easily accessible to all students if you create an activity open enough for all students to participate. As a teacher, if you have students operating at a variety of different grade levels you could create activities where students can choose which method to use to create their performance. This leaves it open for them to make it as easy or as challenging as they choose. Often students at a high grade level will make the performance complex while students who have exceptionalities will create their own ways to create. Either way, students get the chance to create and express themselves. In addition, collaborative activities aid all students with understanding other curriculum content as students help each other to understand the content in order to complete the activity. With so many classrooms having a diverse range of abilities in one room Drama can be used for all students to learn all subjects while getting the chance to create performances using Drama strategies to guide them.