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Critical Thinking Articles for Drama Teachers

Browse 25 critical thinking articles

Small Group Exercise: The 20-Step Process
Classroom Exercise

Small Group Exercise: The 20-Step Process

This exercise is inspired by the theatre game The Machine, where students work together to create parts of a factory machine with repeated movements and sound. In The 20-Step Process, we take this...
21st Century Skills In the Drama Classroom
Teaching Drama

21st Century Skills In the Drama Classroom

Drama is one of the few classes that teachers real world skills. This is something that every drama teacher knows well. You know this. Despite resistance you may receive from parents,...
How to Write a Play Review
Production

How to Write a Play Review

We’ve all seen those reviews. The ones that rip the theatre production up one side and down the other. They criticize the scenery and the script. They suggest that the leads take up basket weaving,...
The Drama Survey
Teaching Drama

The Drama Survey

It’s the first day of semester. You have a Grade Nine / Drama One class or a group of students you haven’t worked with before. They stare at you, you stare at them. How can you determine what they...
Student Self Assessment
Teaching Drama

Student Self Assessment

Not only is it important for students to reflect on and evaluate the work of others, they also need to build self evaluation skills. But self assessment can be tricky. It takes a lot of practice to...
The Most Interesting Person Exercise
Classroom Exercise

The Most Interesting Person Exercise

Who is the most interesting person you know? Who is the most interesting person your dad knows? Who is the most interesting person your boss knows? It could be a specific story, a whole history or...
Script Analysis for Actors
Acting

Script Analysis for Actors

Whether you’re performing your first role or your fortieth, Theatrefolk has a great roundup of guides to help you prepare for your role, to analyze the script from a few different angles, and to...
Character Analysis Exercise
Classroom Exercise

Character Analysis Exercise

Character analysis can be done in many forms: • You can analyze a character in a play you’re studying. • You can analyze a character you’re playing in a production. • You can analyze a character in...
Reality vs Illusion Exercise
Classroom Exercise

Reality vs Illusion Exercise

How do people create illusion out of harsh reality? In the play A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche Dubois works hard at creating an illusion. She tells lies about her past so that others see her in...
Song Analysis and Singing in Character
Acting

Song Analysis and Singing in Character

Drama Teachers! Do you want to teach musical theatre in your program, but you’re getting feedback from students like I can’t sing. I could never be in a musical. If you can’t sing you can’t be in a...
I Would Never…. A Pre-Study Romeo and Juliet Exercise
Classroom Exercise

I Would Never…. A Pre-Study Romeo and Juliet Exercise

“Shakespeare is too hard… Shakespeare is too old… I can’t relate to Shakespeare….” It’s one thing to tell students that they should study Shakespeare, it’s another thing to get them engaged in the...
Eavesdropping Exercise: Where do ideas come from?
Classroom Exercise

Eavesdropping Exercise: Where do ideas come from?

Ideas are not magical ponies. They don’t appear instantly. Writers know they have to look for ideas. The more they look for them, the more ideas they have. The key with ideas is not to focus on the...
Where do Ideas Come From?
Playwriting

Where do Ideas Come From?

The biggest obstacle to writing a play often comes before the first word. It happens in the idea stage. I want to write, but my ideas are stupid. I know I could write something great but where do I...
What’s in Your Bag?
Classroom Exercise

What’s in Your Bag?

Characters come alive in the smallest details: a favourite food, a favourite type of music, a fear of spiders, an allergy to plums, a scar from a fall at two years of age, a love of reality...
Connect to Critical Thinking
Teaching Drama

Connect to Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking is a buzzword. It’s one of the keystone 21st century skills. How do we incorporate critical thinking into the drama classroom? Provide steps not buzzwordsCritical thinking is a...