K_Curriculum

Building personal character through drama is easy with many of its interactive processes:  planning, rehearsing, devising, evaluating, and critiquing others.  During the acting process, actors must interpret, analyze, discuss, and imitate the character traits of the roles they play in a given story.  Additionally, other skills such as making and keeping commitments, improving audience behaviors which impact the specific behaviors of others, listening, and responding with empathy are key to the art form.   These skills apply to areas beyond drama and serve to promote positive character development.  You will find that drama tools will equip the students with valuable life skills.

Our chart below outlines drama's use in building personal character.  The chart lists the dynamic traits that directly influence the development and presentation of dramatic work.  These traits have been divided into two categories:

• INTERPERSONAL: Interpersonal traits directly impact communication with others such as a team or partner.
• INTRAPERSONAL: Intrapersonal traits impact an actor’s self visualization, awareness, and definition.

You can download a PDF of the table here.

We designed our lessons to assist building personal character through drama.  We've made it simple for you to implement in your class: JOIN today and see!

Character Education and Building Self Esteem

Drama and self esteem are natural partners. All of the fine arts, including drama/theater, give people insight into themselves. Participants in the arts gain insight about their potential and function in the greater world.  Drama/theater specifically uses tools (body, mind, voice) that are one with the user. For younger students, the use of play in the classroom gives students immediate success because they have spent their early life learning through play. They are experts. Older students and adults need to revisit play and become comfortable with that mode of learning. Exploring self, defining self, and coming to understand one’s interrelationship to the natural and human world is what drama/theater and self esteem are both about.

Through drama students achieve:

• + Pride and security
• + Self knowledge
• + Trust and belonging
• + Control, partnership, and mission
• + Competence

1. Drama/theater is a high risk activity (sometimes for both students and teachers).  When a safe classroom is created* and students are successful their sense of pride and sense of security with the teacher and peers soars.  (*See the Classroom Management Tips for Drama)
2. Drama/theater impacts and individualizes self-knowledge. Children who need to be "perfect" will learn not to expect perfection all the time in drama because the tasks rely on multiple intelligences.  Everyone will shine in some aspects of the program and struggle with others.  The Debrief and Learn sections of each lesson in this book are designed to encourage students to discuss their strengths and weaknesses.
3. Students learn to trust others and develop a sense of belonging in a group.  In this drama program teachers are encouraged to reassign groups each new lesson or unit.  Drama is a strong motivator leading to cooperation because cooperation is the only road to a completed activity they can share.  In a safe classroom, all students love to have completed dramas to share!!
4. The drama program sets realistic achievable goals that give students a sense of self-management and partnership in their work.  Students should learn concepts, skills, and terms presented to them in each lesson at one level before moving to a higher level. Teachers should discuss with students the outcomes for the session during the Starters section of each lesson.  The teacher should clearly state what is to be learned.  If students don't achieve what is expected, the Debrief and Learn activity provides a place for the teacher to ask the students for a better approach, strategy, or method of accomplishing the goal.
5. When the drama program scope and sequence is adhered to, students gain a sense of competence.  By becoming aware of their strengths and weaknesses in lower grades, they are able to choose the roles and jobs in more complex upper grade drama activities which allow them to take the next steps toward reaching their potential.

Character Education and Conflict Resolution

The essence of drama is conflict and tension. It is the conflict in drama that propels the story to its resolution. Because drama is a heightened and controlled expression of life, relationships, and emotions, it can be a safe place for people of all ages to work through frustration, anger, and violent tendencies of character. 

Good drama leaders begin by establishing a safe, non-judgmental environment, then engage students in discussing the causes and effects of violence in the context of story. They can reshape the violent moment into alternate choices, and they can design dramatic moments, distanced from the violence, to let participants gain new perspective on events, attitudes, and actions.

“Conflict is no stranger to theatre; drama is built on the premise of conflict.  What could be a more natural resource with which to explore conflict resolution?”  - Patricia Sternberg, Theatre for Conflict Resolution

Three major areas through which drama can impact violent behavior are:

1. Developing personal character traits
2. Learning to handle conflict
3. Learning to like and care for the self

The chart that follows (also available as a PDF file) offers some ideas on how and why to integrate drama and conflict resolution: