Classroom

planning for
drama
 In his/her approach to planning drama in the classroom the teacher needs to take account of a
number of considerations:

• the general planning context for drama in the classroom

• the short-term and long-term content of drama
• the integration of drama with other curriculum areas
• teaching drama to multi-class groups.
 The general planning
context for drama in the
classroom
Drama in the classroom provides children with an experience that will
• develop their drama skills
• develop their ability to use drama to enhance their learning experience in other curriculum areas
• contribute to their overall development.
term planning that will incorporate regular engagement with all thecontent objectives of the drama curriculum and
ensure a consistent and imaginative use of the three
prerequisites of process drama:
• content
• the fictional lens
• creating a safe environment
In order to ensure continuity it is important for the teacher to take account of children’s
previous drama experience.
The content of the drama
Long-term planning

It is important to identify an overall body of content for drama for the year. This will have a number of sources,
which will include:

• drama drawn from children’s everyday experience

• particular issues, such as responsibility, that the teacher may wish to explore through drama
• aspects of life from the past, the present or a possible future that will arouse children’s curiosity
• the needs, concerns and preoccupations of the children
• content and issues from other curriculum areas.
It will be useful for the teacher to identify a list of these and to draw up a plan that will take account of their
integration with the overall curriculum plan for the year’s work. This must, of course, allow for a considerable amount
of flexibility, since the teacher will modifythe drama content as the year progressesto accommodate factors such as
 • the extent to which the class progresses in the different curriculum areas
• the progress of individual children in the class
• the extent to which current events will impinge on school experience
• the need to accommodate the issues, concerns and preoccupations of the class and of individual
children.

In this context it is important that the teacher makes full use of the elements of drama, the
prerequisites for making drama and the content of the curriculum in the different drama activities.
Short-term planning
Planning a week’s work in drama can involve drama arising out of
the previous
week’s work activity that is part of a more
extended drama activity a new drama exploration.
Whatever the case, it is important that the teacher decides beforehand on a definite, fresh focus for the
week’s drama and on which starting points will be most appropriate and effective in initiating the chosen
content.
 The integration of drama with other
curriculum areas
As was indicated in the previous section, ‘The content of drama’, it is
important, both in the long term and the short term, to plan carefully the
integration of drama with other curriculum areas. Whether a projected
integration should be undertaken depends entirely on the extent to which
the drama is going to enhance the learning experience in the area with
which it is integrated. A number of factors will affect this decision:
How drama activity can
integrate with other
subject areas
How drama activity
can
integrate with other
subject areas