Long-term planning
It is important to identify an overall body of content for drama for the year. This will have a number of sources, which will include
- drama drawn from children's everyday experience
- particular issues, such as responsibility, that the teacher may wish to explore through drama
- aspects of life from the past, the present or a possible future that will arouse children's curiosity
- the needs, concerns and preoccupations of the children
- content and issues from other curriculum areas.
It will be useful for the teacher to identify a list of these and to draw up a plan that will take account of their integration with the overall curriculum plan for the year's work. This must, of course, allow for a considerable amount of flexibility, since the teacher will modify the drama content as the year progresses to accommodate factors such as
- the extent to which the class progresses in the different curriculum areas
- the progress of individual children in the class
- the extent to which current events will impinge on school experience
- the need to accommodate the issues, concerns and preoccupations of the class and of individual children.
In this context it is important that the teacher makes full use of the elements of drama, the prerequisites for making drama and the content of the curriculum in the different drama activities. This will ensure the essential characteristics of flexibility and add to the richness of the children's drama experience. It will greatly facilitate both the coherence and breadth of the teacher's long-term plan if he/she can identify a list of drama experiences that can be initiated from different starting points -- content, enactment, reflection, etc. (See 'Descriptions of successful drama activities', p. 64-91.)
Short-term planning
Planning a week's work in drama can involve
- drama arising out of the previous week's work
- activity that is part of a more extended drama activity
- a new drama exploration.
Whatever the case, it is important that the teacher decides beforehand on a definite, fresh focus for the week's drama and on which starting points will be most appropriate and effective in initiating the chosen content.
The question of integrating drama with other curriculum areas will also need to be decided. At times, when the particular learning benefit cannot be predicted at the outset and when it may depend on which direction the children take in the drama, such planning may not be possible. In any case it is important that careful thought be given to
- the extent of the integration
- the length and frequency of integrated activity
- the identification of the particular contribution that drama can make to the learning experience.
It is essential that wherever there is integration of drama with another curriculum area, whether the activity has its source in the drama per se or in the content of another subject, the quality of the drama is the first consideration.
As is already emphasised in Section 3, 'School planning for drama', the better the drama the higher the quality of the learning.
The teacher should prepare for any drama activity by identifying clearly
- the drama objectives of the activity
- the learning objectives of the activity.
The work will be successful only if both of these are achieved.
At a very practical level the teacher should decide on a number of scenes that will form the basis of the week's work. They should be chosen in the context of the planning considerations already discussed, but the selection should not be rigid. Developments in the drama work itself or in the other curriculum areas may make it more appropriate to use scenes other than those planned for.