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"We are most fully human when we play."
The above statement reflects the single most important philosophy in drama class. Children are encouraged to play, sometimes based on stories or themes narrated or suggested by the teacher, sometimes based on their own ideas, experiences, or whims. The skills of drama (being heard, sharing focus, playing actions, performing mime and movement, and understanding story structure) are assimilated and developed through scene work and gently taught through exercises that become more complex as children move through the grade levels.
The overall goal of the Crossroads Drama program is to teach children to feel comfortable in the public self-expression of feelings and ideas. Children learn to communicate through voice and movement, to take creative risks, and to appreciate the many varied forms of drama that appear in their lives–-plays, movies, parades, pageants, or classroom debates.
Examples from the drama curriculum:
KINDERGARTEN: Students act out various stories, sing songs, and follow directions. Later in the year students learn the basic ingredients of storytelling and scene structure, and they eventually make up their own stories, scenes, and poems.
FIRST GRADE: Students review the elements of dramatic structure and then invent their own creation myths. In the spring they create a variety of Native American plays after comparing the different environments and cultures of tribes.
SECOND GRADE: As part of the second grade study of "people who make a difference," children compare superheroes with real heroes and examine heroic acts. After a short unit on vocal dynamics students work on poetry, breaking out of the spoken word into mime and movement.
THIRD GRADE: Students continue crafting cohesive scenes that resolve conflicts and encourage creative risk-taking. They also work intently on learning how to give and take focus as well as on different ways to create characterizations.
FOURTH GRADE: Students are challenged to do more complex scenes with more interesting characters and plots. Emphasis is placed on California history, dramatizations of the biographies of important Californians, and more.
FIFTH GRADE: Students continue to work on more challenging and complex scenes focusing on the Industrial Revolution and westward expansion. An introductory unit on Shakespeare is also included.
