The Power of Play and Strength of Storytelling
Exploring narrative storytelling and theatrical activities across curriculum creates opportunities for better understanding and connections to content. Often, educators utilize technology within their curriculum as the only avenue to interdisciplinary instruction. However, opening up a variety of different content areas including science, mathematics, English, social studies, and more to storytelling and theatrical play means opening up to a variety of ways of knowing for students.
"Drama can support constructivist learning because the children become active agents of their own learning" (McGregor & Precious, 2011, pg.5). Rather than passively working through a text or video, students have another means to explore concepts and ideas; demonstrating that storytelling and dramatic activity are not content areas, but instead learning activities to add to an educator's toolbox. Storytelling can, for example, enable students to see through a particular scientist's eyes and therefore better understand principles and concepts they were exploring (McGregor & Precious, 2011). Furthermore, within a historical context, students playing characters from the past develop a better sense of what those experiences were beyond simply reciting or reading text (Kornfield & Leyden, 2005). Within both domains the storytelling acts as a means to gain understanding, rather than the content itself; it empowers the learner much like the integration of digital tools might. The integration of theatrical plays and storytelling emboldens students and provides them with practical social and constructive means to build knowledge; as, "in applied theatre settings, youth are invited to participate as creators, decision makers, and leaders" (Alrutz, 2015, pg.12). Storytelling and narrative represent an integral form of communication and exchange of ideas dating back throughout human history (Friday, 2014; Porter, n.d.), and are therefore effective tools to promote understanding across curricular areas beyond the textbook (Friday, 2014; Kornfeld & Leyden, 2005; McGregor & Precious, 2011; Porter, n.d.).
Providing different ways to explore concepts and demonstrate learning is paramount to differentiated instruction, and these tools provide a means to do so. "Drama provides an ideal approach to learning science that is inclusive, because much of the time the children can participate in their own personalised way to produce their own unique performance(s)" (McGregor & Precious, 2011, pg.5). Students often unengaged by a particular subject or with a learning challenge preventing them from fully engaging in concepts are often able to use narrative and theatrical play as a means to explore content. Kornfield and Leyden (2005) describe a situation in their own practice where a particular student had challenges focusing and staying attentive during traditional instruction in a social studies class. "But he loved participating in the plays. Not only did he remember his own lines, but he was also usually so attentive during rehearsals that we could count on him to re member other students' lines and to prompt them at the appropriate moment" (Kornfield & Leyden, 2005, pg.234).
"Drama can support constructivist learning because the children become active agents of their own learning" (McGregor & Precious, 2011, pg.5). Rather than passively working through a text or video, students have another means to explore concepts and ideas; demonstrating that storytelling and dramatic activity are not content areas, but instead learning activities to add to an educator's toolbox. Storytelling can, for example, enable students to see through a particular scientist's eyes and therefore better understand principles and concepts they were exploring (McGregor & Precious, 2011). Furthermore, within a historical context, students playing characters from the past develop a better sense of what those experiences were beyond simply reciting or reading text (Kornfield & Leyden, 2005). Within both domains the storytelling acts as a means to gain understanding, rather than the content itself; it empowers the learner much like the integration of digital tools might. The integration of theatrical plays and storytelling emboldens students and provides them with practical social and constructive means to build knowledge; as, "in applied theatre settings, youth are invited to participate as creators, decision makers, and leaders" (Alrutz, 2015, pg.12). Storytelling and narrative represent an integral form of communication and exchange of ideas dating back throughout human history (Friday, 2014; Porter, n.d.), and are therefore effective tools to promote understanding across curricular areas beyond the textbook (Friday, 2014; Kornfeld & Leyden, 2005; McGregor & Precious, 2011; Porter, n.d.).
Providing different ways to explore concepts and demonstrate learning is paramount to differentiated instruction, and these tools provide a means to do so. "Drama provides an ideal approach to learning science that is inclusive, because much of the time the children can participate in their own personalised way to produce their own unique performance(s)" (McGregor & Precious, 2011, pg.5). Students often unengaged by a particular subject or with a learning challenge preventing them from fully engaging in concepts are often able to use narrative and theatrical play as a means to explore content. Kornfield and Leyden (2005) describe a situation in their own practice where a particular student had challenges focusing and staying attentive during traditional instruction in a social studies class. "But he loved participating in the plays. Not only did he remember his own lines, but he was also usually so attentive during rehearsals that we could count on him to re member other students' lines and to prompt them at the appropriate moment" (Kornfield & Leyden, 2005, pg.234).