Drama Series: Teacher in Role & Writing in Role

This strategy is appropriate named, and revered as an invaluable technique for shaping the dramatic process. The teacher assumes the role of a character, evoking their emotions and attitudes while the students pose questions to the teacher. This reciprocal dialogue between the students and teacher add to the level of creativity and excitement. By taking on this role, you are able to question, challenge, organize thoughts, summarize ideas, and engage all students in dramatic action. Not only are the students learning valuable lessons within this activity, but they are also engaged in the inquiry process by posing their own questions and finding the answers. Within the classroom the teacher can pose as an expert, witness, book character, and so on; the possibilities are endless! I suggest having a movement or action (placing a hat on and off) to signal to the students when you are in role; if behaviours need to be addressed it does not jeopardize the authenticity of the scene. In order to gage a deeper understanding of what the students were able to take from the conversations, you could ask the students to ‘write in role’ or write as their character would for assessment purposes. Within my drama class at Brock University, the teacher played the role of a capture soldier to commemorate Remembrance Day, while the classmates wrote a letter in reflection of their experiences at war. However, this level of depth may not be suitable for younger ages, so you would have to carefully consider the topic before engaging in this activity.