Reflection Week #5 - Process Drama fromText

What: 
I was honestly surprised by how much I learned from getting to develop Process Drama using text. I have always loved books and I think that they should be used in the classroom often. Never before did I realize though just how much can be learned from one book. My team's book was called Pink and Say and was a truen story about two boys and their experience in the Civil War.  While coming up with activities I was surprised by how many different topics and core curriculum objectives could be covered in one book. Not only did it cover language arts, but it also went into drama and social studies. Process Drama did all that in a fun and memorable way. It was also neat getting to watch everyone else go through their books because it gave me even more ideas on how to use Process Drama to teach various subjects. I loved the variety of topics the chosen books were on, and how much I learned from them. Process Drama is something I cannot wait to use in the classroom.

So What:
The activities that I will implement in my teaching are endless, just like the lists of possibilities in the text and on the web. I think that it honestly depends on the individual text that is chosen and what activity fits best where. I loved the 21 ideas online and I will definitely be holding onto my book because of all the ideas contained in that. One idea that I know I will probably use more than others, is using music to create a mood. I consider myself a musical person, and have participated in musical activities for a lot of my life. I love it's ability to not only create a mood but to help express feelings. Music can take you to another dimension where you can more fully experience what is being read in the text, and I know that it will help students connect.

Now What:
One thing that I have already started doing to help myself prepare to teach and integrate creative drama is to keep a list of all of the various activities I can use. There is such a huge variety of ideas, and I know there is no way  I will remember all of them. Since I know there is a place I can go to look up those ideas I will be able to use them in my own classroom. I have also started to go through the picture books I have at home and place sticky notes on the pages of the book. Those notes contain information about activities I can do in the classroom. I know that by keeping those ideas I can just pull the book out when I go to teach it and have those ideas already written down exactly where I would use them. There are just so many ways to integrate drama it blows me away. It makes things so memorable for kids that I know I will be using it in my classroom often.