Why Drama is so Important in School – PART 1 – COMPREHENSION

Part 1 of the 12 part series: Why Drama is so important in School. – COMPREHENSION

I received an email a few weeks ago from a teacher using my books/plays for her students because she wanted them to improve their skills in reading comprehension. She wrote the following to me:

“I used your Midsummer Night’s Dream as reading material. I couldn’t get my high school special ed students to reread anything. Their thinking was, “I have already read that once and do not need to repeat.” But, by introducing this as a play that needed to be word-perfect and beginning on page 1 each day, they were willing to participate. They were rehearsing for a show, not simply earning a grade for the reading class. Your materials made all the difference. Most important, reading skills improved.”

— LaVelle Brown, Special Ed teacher

Many schools are missing or losing performing arts classes due to budget cuts.  I’m writing a 12-part piece about why we do drama in school, where I present valuable reasons why we need theater in our education systems and why it’s critical to continue supporting it.

One of these reasons is COMPREHENSION.  I’ve had a number of teachers and parents use my books or enroll their child in my classes to boost their understanding of language.  Drama is amazing for this development!

Think about it:

• Do kids only read a passage once in class? Typically, yes. Therefore, perform a play!
  • Participating in a play or a skit allows students to read the passages multiple times. By learning their lines they support their growth in comprehension.
• Do you want kids to understand the storyline, theme, or see the “big picture”? Be in a performance!
  • We rehearse dozens of times before we actually perform on stage or in front of an audience. Didn’t get the concept on the first pass… how about the 30^th?  Yep, comprehension increases with every pass through the material.
• Do you want to learn about a time in history? Do a play!
  • Understanding the Roman empire? Make an appearance in Julius Caesar.
  • Want to learn about the Renaissance? Perform Romeo & Juliet.
  • Learning about London in the 1800’s?  Act in Oliver Twist.
  • Learning about India? Monkey around with The Jungle Book.

Through rehearsals, performances, costume creation and design, comprehension is assimilated often without the participants even realizing it.

From a purely scientific perspective, repetitive review of a script creates new neuro-pathways in the brain, which leads to long-term comprehension skills. Isn’t that one of our goals as teachers, to help improve the brain?

It’s more than just “doing a play”, it’s about creating a more robust child that will make a difference in our future.

I would love to hear your thoughts about drama in school!

Best,

Brendan