Incorporating the Arts- Theatre in the Classroom

A while back in the school year I taught about theme and I wanted to incorporate something a bit different in one of my lessons that week. So, I used my theater background and joy of playwriting to create more engagement into a lesson.

I wrote up five skits that students could perform in class to help bring this reading skill to life. I chose a few students who wanted to participate and gave them skits at the beginning of the week. So, throughout the course of the week students had to study lines (done at home) to prepare for their mini performance. The skits didn't contain many lines and were pretty easy for students to memorize; and I must say this brought about the most engagement in some of my students! I mean students who barely talk in class were participating in this activity. Then again incorporating theater can help improve students' ability to communicate verbally and non-verbally, and that's just what some students need. After students performed their skits, we discussed the themes and clues given in the performances to support students answers of what they believed was portrayed.

Sometimes students need a visual to comprehend different skills, so why not bring it to life. No professional acting is needed, just a chance for students to participate and possibly showcase a talent they never knew was within them.

If you would like to use some of these skits in your class to practice this skill, just click on the bottom link to download.

Theme Skits
(I hope this link works. If not, just let me know in the comments below.)