Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
Drama Integration:
Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
Jonathan Jones
New York University
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Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to evaluate a professional development program using a case study
approach. In the study, four teachers will participate in an arts integration training program that
will demonstrate the use of process drama in the English Language Arts and Social Studies
classrooms. The efficacy of the program will be determined by the teachers’ successful
completion of the program, their feedback during and after the program, and their subsequent
ability to plan and implement this methodology in their classrooms. As part of the evaluative
process, the theory which supports the methodology will be explained and goals for the program
will be articulated. Based on the qualitative data from the evaluation process, the program can
then be modified based on the apparent efficacy of the program.
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Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
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Background
In spring 2010, I participated in one of the most profound educational experiences of my
teaching career. In the Methods of Conducting Creative Drama course, I devised an itinerary
wherein I demonstrated four process drama lessons during the first four weeks and thereafter, the
students were broken up into four groups, each devising and team-teaching two process drama
lessons for the subsequent eight weeks. Through my feedback on their written lessons before
they taught them, reflection periods which followed each lesson, and supporting readings by a
number of educational theatre theorists and practitioners, including Dorothy Heathcote, Gavin
Bolton, Cecily O’Neil, Jonothan Neelands, Tony Goode, Warrick Dobson, Judith Ackroyd, Jo
Barter-Boulton, Pamela Bowell, and Brian S. Heap, the students demonstrated a thorough
understanding of how to plan and implement this genre of drama education. To be fully
transparent, I did not have faith that this pedagogical approach would be effective, but I knew
from my own experience in the Master’s program in Educational Theatre that process drama was
an often touted but little understood genre among graduate and undergraduate students and I
hoped that I would be able to de-mystify and effectively train my students to implement the
form. Through my diligence, support, and faith in the form (if not my own pedagogical skills at
the time), I was able to achieve just that. The students’ work demonstrated growth and
development over the semester and aside from interpersonal issues among some group members,
the course was a resounding success.
On the heels of this tremendous experience, I had a number of conversations with
colleagues at NYU, in London on an NYU study abroad program focusing on Drama Education,
and from the high school I taught at in Los Angeles, through which I realized that the crux of
what I wanted to study, both for my dissertation, and going forward in my work both with pre-
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
service and in-service teachers was to conduct a qualitative research study wherein I facilitate a
program with the same ideals that I brought to my Methods course, and re-organize it as a
professional development program for in-service teachers such that they might use process
drama in English Language Arts and History/Social Studies classrooms to try to reach a variety
of students who require creative and/or unique approaches to classroom pedagogy including
English language learners, reluctant readers, and otherwise potentially resistant students; that is,
students who cover the spectrum of being disinterested, unmotivated, and possibly reading
disabled. This is not to say that this approach will directly correct these factors, but rather that it
will help to raise interest levels, build confidence, and increase motivation.
What is Process Drama?
In their introduction to Structure and Spontaneity: The Process Drama of Cecily O’Neill
(a prominent practitioner and theorist in the field of educational drama), Taylor and Warner
(1996) identify the features of process drama as:
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separate scenic units linked in an organic manner
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thematic exploration rather than an isolated random skit or sketch
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a happening and an experience which does not depend on a written script
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a concern with participants’ change in outlook
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improvisational activity
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outcomes not predetermined but discovered in process
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a script generated through action
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the leader actively working both within and outside the drama (p. 5-6)
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Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
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In the classroom setting, this functions as a fully imagined world with an episodic structure. The
students and (at times) the teacher play different roles in order to illuminate various perspectives
on a topic. The most obvious analogue to this type of work is the mock trial or mock presidential
debate that many students engage in during their formative years. In process drama, however, we
push the participants to refrain from limiting their view to one perspective, and use a series of
structured improvisations and dramatic encounters to get them to consider multiple perspectives,
challenge assumptions and preconceived notions, and work towards significant exploration and
critical thinking.
The best way to understand process drama is to walk through a sample lesson. In a
dramatic literature course, the students were going to read a selection of Eugene O’Neill’s early
sea plays, including Bound East for Cardiff (full lesson plan available in Appendix A). These
plays were written at the beginning of the last century and concern a nautical world largely
removed from our contemporary culture and from the lives of the students who were going to
read the plays. As such, it was beneficial to explore that world through the collective
imaginations of the students and teacher before reading the text in order to make the play
relevant and meaningful to the lives and/or experiences of the students. To begin creating the
world, the students were broken up into small groups and given a series of three images which
were distributed one at a time. Each series of images come from the late-nineteenth or earlytwentieth centuries showing children, families, and sailors. The students considered the whole
lives of the characters including their time at sea as well as before they went to sea and the lives
they are neglecting or removed from as a result of their being at sea. The students were given
discussion questions to answer based on their imagined ideas about the people in the images.
These questions included:
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
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What do you see?
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Who is in the image?
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Where does it take place?
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When?
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How do you know?
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Which person in the image might be our protagonist?
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What is his or her name?
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After the first image was thoroughly discussed, a second image was distributed and students
were asked to spot the protagonist again. If they didn’t make the connection, they were asked,
“Might you have identified the wrong protagonist in your first image?” Though there was no
known connection between the images, the students were constructing a narrative within their
small groups. The third image was distributed and the students were told to focus their attention
on this third image (the sailor images), understanding that the other two provided some
information about the history of the character.
Still in their small groups, the students completed a Circle of Life, an activity from
Neelands and Goode’s Structuring Drama Work: A Handbook of Available Forms in Theatre
and Drama (2000). In this activity, a sheet of paper was divided into four quadrants. In the
center, the students were asked to draw a small circle in which to write the name and age of their
character. Clockwise from top left, each quadrant was labeled one of the following: Home,
Family, Day, and Play. The students added information (from the image or what they imagined)
that filled in the details of this character’s life. Questions to promote responses included: What
might his or her home life be like? Who are the members of his or her family? How might they
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
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feel about one another? What might this character do in a typical day as a sailor? What might
this character do for fun while at play?
Through discussing the images and completing the Circle of Life activity, the students
constructed the life of this character through thoughts and words. As this was a drama and
literature lesson, the students needed to construct the character using the body and to begin work
with small excerpts of text from the play. Each group was given a small scroll that was said to
have been written by their character, though it was in fact a direct excerpt from O’Neill’s Bound
East for Cardiff (1919) which read:
This sailor life ain’t much to cry about leavin’—just one ship after another, hard work,
small pay, and bum grub; and when we git into port, just a drunk endin’ up in a fight, and
all your money gone, and then ship away again. Never meetin’ no nice people; never
gittin’ outa sailor town, hardly, in any port; travelin’ all over the world and never seein’
none of it; without no one to care whether you’re alive or dead. There ain’t much in all
that that’d make yuh sorry to lose it (p. 31).
Based on the students’ discussions about the images, the information they included in their chart,
and this scroll of dialogue, the groups were asked to create a tableau (frozen picture using the
body). This tableau could either be metaphorical or show a literal image from the character’s life.
The groups showed their tableau and as they were shown, the students who were looking at the
work were asked to talk about what they saw in the physical image: Who might the characters
be? What might their relationships be? Additionally, the teacher used the thought tracking device
from Neelands and Goode (2000), wherein individual students within the tableau were asked to
share what their character was thinking in the moment in single words, phrases, or short
sentences.
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
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As the students continued to build the imagined lives of these characters within their
groups, they were next given an opportunity to explore their own individual thoughts as the main
character through a letter writing activity. The students were told to consider that at some point,
some element of the early life of the character prompted him or her to leave everything and
everyone they knew behind. What might have happened to make them decide to do this? The
students wrote a short letter from their character to someone they left behind, explaining why he
or she was leaving. After they finished writing, the students exchanged the letters with a partner.
They read the letters and identified a key word or phrase within the letter and shared them with
the whole group. To make the connections between the activities explicit and further illuminate
the lives of the characters, the students got back into their groups, showed the tableaux again,
one group at a time, and this time, rather than thought track, each individual shared the word or
phrase they identified from the letters.
For the next dramatic encounter, the students remained in their groups and devised a
short scene based on a line of dialogue from the play in which the character Driscoll talks about
his dreams. The dreams were:
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It must be great to stay on dry land all your life and have a farm with a house of your own
with cows and pigs and chickens ‘way in the middle of the land where yuh’d never smell
the sea or see a ship.
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It must be great to have a wife, and kids to play with at night after supper when your
work was done.
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It must be great to have a home of your own (p. 31).
The scenes had to incorporate the main character, additional characters the students might have
imagined to be in his or her life, and showed what life would be like if this dream were to
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
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become a reality for the character. The scenes were planned and rehearsed within the small
groups and shown such that one group watched while another re-created their initial tableau and
the third group performed their dream scene. In this way, the students connected all the dramatic
activities to create a panorama of the lives of these characters.
In the final reflective exercise of the lesson, the students used the Spectrum of Difference
activity from Neelands and Goode (2000) to physically demonstrate their predictions for the
imagined future of their character. They saw images from the character’s past, explored the
character’s present through tableau and letter writing, and considered the dreams the character
spoke about; now they wanted to show if they believed these dreams could become a reality. The
students thought about whether their character would achieve one of these dreams, or if their
future held something else in store. They showed their images and then placed themselves along
a continuum where one end was for people who fully realized the dream and the other was for
those that did not. For a poetic closure to the activities, the students once again shared the words
and phrases from the letters.
Why use an arts integration approach?
A study released in April 2012 by the US Department of Education found that the
percentage of access to specific drama instruction (that is, drama as a subject unto itself) in
public elementary schools had declined from 20% in 1999-2000 to only 4% in 2009-2010
(Parsad et al. p. 5). Advocating for more drama teachers without a sustainable funding model and
a re-assessment of educational priorities in an era that prizes reading and mathematics above
other curricular areas is futile, but training existing classroom teachers to integrate drama into
their teaching practice is not. Thus, if teachers can be effectively trained to integrate drama
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
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practice into their pedagogical approaches for curricular areas that carry more weight in today’s
academic landscape, we can begin to address the decline in access to drama instruction. The
report from the US Department of Education shows that this shift to arts integration is a trend as
well, demonstrating growth in the incorporation of drama into other curricular areas during the
same period from 50% up to 53% (Parsad et al. p. 5), though only 29% report the integration of
drama into the English/Language Arts curriculum and 46% in unspecified other curricular areas
(Parsad et al. p. 47). For secondary schools, the report showed that specific drama instruction
was less dire, decreasing from 48% to 45% (Parsad et al. p. 9). While this decrease is small
compared to that at the elementary level, it still leaves half of the country’s public school
students without any access to drama education, and only 11% of those that have specific drama
instruction provide five or more courses in the discipline (Parsad et al. p. 10). Further, the study
of the integration of drama into other disciplines is not even studied at the secondary level,
suggesting that it is either not valued as an appropriate pedagogical approach at this level, or it is
insignificant due to a lack of utilization and training for secondary teachers.
As the preceding information shows the state of drama in public schools, it is worth
exploring the benefits of drama instruction. Drama Improves Lisbon Key Competencies in
Education (DICE) was a two-year study in eleven European countries and Palestine investigating
the effects of educational theatre on five of the eight key competencies1:
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communication in the mother tongue
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learning to learn
Key competences in the shape of knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to each context are fundamental for
each individual in a knowledge-based society. They provide added value for the labor market, social cohesion and
active citizenship by offering flexibility and adaptability, satisfaction and motivation. Because they should be
acquired by everyone, this recommendation proposes a reference tool for European Union (EU) countries to ensure
that these key competences are fully integrated into their strategies and infrastructures, particularly in the context of
lifelong learning (European Parliament, Council, 2006).
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
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interpersonal, inter-cultural and social competences; civic competence
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entrepreneurship
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cultural expression
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The study looked at 4,475 students who participated in 111 different educational theatre
programs (DICE, The DICE Has Been Cast, pp. 5-6). Treatment and control groups were
matched within school sites for age and school year to minimize the unintended influence of
outside factors. The pairs of treatment and control groups featured those students who had drama
instruction and those that did not. The students completed questionnaires, the teachers completed
questionnaires about each student, participating countries conducted structured observations of
dramatic activity, teachers completed structured descriptions of their drama activities, two
independent organizations blindly evaluated individual drama programs for efficacy, theatre
education leaders from each country provided their assessments of educational theatre work
within their country, and researchers reviewed current research in the field of educational theatre
(DICE, The DICE Has Been Cast, pp. 27-31).
At the conclusion of the two years, the DICE study yielded the following results:
Students who participate in drama activity:
1. are assessed more highly by their teachers in all aspects,
2. feel more confident in reading and understanding tasks,
3. feel more confident in communication,
4. are more likely to feel that they are creative,
5. like going to school more,
6. enjoy school activities more,
7. are better at problem solving,
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
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8. are better at coping with stress,
9. are significantly more tolerant towards both minorities and foreigners,
10. are more active citizens,
11. show more interest in voting at any level,
12. show more interest in participating in public issues,
13. are more empathic: they have concern for others,
14. are more able to change their perspective,
15. are more innovative and entrepreneurial,
16. show more dedication towards their future and have more plans,
17. are much more willing to participate in any genre of arts and culture, and not just
performing arts, but also writing, making music, films, handicrafts, and attending all sorts
of arts and cultural activities,
18. spend more time in school, more time reading, doing housework, playing, talking, and
spend more time with family members and taking care of younger brothers and sisters. In
contrast, they spend less time watching TV or playing computer games,
19. do more for their families, are more likely to have a part-time job and spend more time
being creative either alone or in a group. They more frequently go to the theatre,
exhibitions and museums, and the cinema, and go hiking and biking more often,
20. are more likely to be a central character in the class,
21. have a better sense of humor,
22. feel better at home (DICE, The DICE Has Been Cast, pp. 6-7).
While treatment students in the DICE study were exposed to a range of dramatic encounters,
most of the drama descriptions utilized the same methods: dialogues in role, interviews in role,
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
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letter writing in role, improvisations, and self-created tableau or human sculptures directed by an
outside individual (DICE, The DICE Has Been Cast, pp. 64-65). Some of this work would likely
have involved process drama, but based on the description provided earlier of a sample process
drama lesson, the overlap of strategies with the work that was studied in DICE is clear.
While the DICE study focused on the impacts of current educational work outside the
United States, MacCammon, Saldaña, Hines, and Omasta’s Lifelong Impact study was limited
to, “Determine in what ways participation in high school theatre/speech classes and/or related
extracurricular activities may have positively influenced and affected adults after graduation
(and) to identify, describe, and advocate the potentially beneficial and ‘lifelong’ impacts
speech/theatre participation during adolescence can contribute to adulthood” (pp. 2-3). For the
purposes of this study, theatre classes were defined as, “Those that focus on introductory and
advanced studies of all aspects of actor training and theatre production (verbal improvisation,
movement, scene study, design, theatre technology, history, directing, etc.), while speech classes
focus on introductory and advanced topics in human communication and rhetoric (voice, oral
interpretation of literature, extemporaneous and persuasive speaking, etc.)” (p. 3). As was the
case with the DICE study, MacCammon et al. did not specifically look at process drama, but
connections can be made between that which was covered and the types of activity and
engagement listed in the lesson description here. The study involved a mixed-methods survey,
whereby participants responded to a mixture of short answer questions and Likert-scale questions
that provided demographic information about the participant, their participation in theatre or
speech classes, their evaluation of those experiences, and advice for theatre teachers and school
boards (p. 4).
From 234 respondents, the Lifelong Impact study found:
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
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1. the high school teacher has a significant impact on the adolescent experience,
2. many respondents respected their teachers because their teachers seemed to love their
jobs and demanded quality work from them,
3. through theatre/speech and across time, students developed confidence,
expressiveness, a sense of belonging, resilience, and self-identity,
4. young people established lifelong friendships and connections with others,
experienced performance epiphanies, developed a sense of accomplishment, found
personal validation, and had a sense of being part of something bigger than
themselves,
5. adolescents gained thinking and working skills, a sense of identity, and a sense of
legacy,
6. students developed an expanded sense of socio-historical awareness (pp. 5-10).
MacCammon et al. graphically depicted their findings as follows:
These findings mirror those of the DICE study, and though they were conducted on a smaller
scale and are based on adult reflections on drama education rather than work-in-progress, the
confluence of outcomes adds credibility to both studies.
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
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As both studies show, the benefits of drama instruction cannot be discounted in terms of
their overall benefit to the growth and development of young people, yet the decline in access
indicated by the US Department of Education is the reality that schools and students are faced
with. Thus, finding ways to incorporate drama has to be a priority, and if hiring drama specialists
is not economically feasible, training the teachers who are already in the classroom to integrate
these methodologies is the next best step.
How can we know that this integration of Drama into Language Arts and Social Studies will
benefit students?
The studies cited above cover the general population of students who are engaged in
drama education at school. For classroom teachers looking to enhance the work they already do
through differentiated approaches, drama work will speak to a variety of students, particularly
English language learners, reluctant readers, and otherwise potentially resistant students.
The demonstration lesson unpacked above included a tableau activity which was also
identified as one of the hallmarks of drama instruction in the DICE study. Dong (2004), a
theorist in teaching English language learners across educational disciplines, says,
“Tableau…helps English language learners to enter into the experience of the story and explore
the deeper meaning of the words in tangible and concrete ways” (p. 110). Thus, as these students
engage in acquiring and mastering a second language, tableau work in process drama allows
them to both see and create perceptible demonstrations of written words. Additionally, Dong
explains that by asking students to engage in physical response in English education, “the teacher
can enhance the students’ understanding of words and concepts and create a close connection
between the student and the character that they have portrayed” (p. 111). These tangible
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
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demonstrations and connections to characters will increase interest and motivation as students
move from dramatic activity into more conventional reading, analysis, and response to text in the
English Language Arts curriculum and concepts in the Social Studies curriculum.
Krashen’s input hypothesis on second language acquisition (1982) suggests that
meaningful, comprehensible, and relevant input reduce a second language learners’ anxiety and
promote language acquisition (p. 20-22). Meaningful input is described as that which connects to
the students’ lives, comprehensible input is that which can be understood, and relevant input is
that which the student can relate to. While Krashen is advocating this input theory for second
language learners, any teacher would understand that this input theory applies to all students
when we want them to engage with curriculum and have successful outcomes. Creating
educational experiences like process drama wherein the student can utilize their prior knowledge
to make predictions, validate their understandings of people and the world around them, and
connect to the curricular material will allow for more meaningful, comprehensible, and relevant
learning experiences.
In addition to providing learning opportunities that are meaningful, comprehensible, and
relevant, the second language teacher should work to lower the student’s affective filter which is
constituted of the affective factors that relate to and limit the second language acquisition
process. Krashen (1982) places these factors into three categories:
1. motivation
2. self-confidence
3. anxiety
Students who have high motivation, self-confidence and a good self-image, and low anxiety
generally do better in second-language acquisition (pp. 30-31).
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
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When learning about specific techniques to reach English learners, pre-service teachers
are often advised that these techniques may be good for the class as a whole as they represent
examples of good teaching, and, relatively speaking, both of Krashen’s theories demonstrate
approaches to education that will benefit second language learners as well as other learners in the
academic setting. Process drama is a pedagogical bridge that can make curricula meaningful,
comprehensible, and relevant and in so doing, will help to lower the students’ affective filter
when it comes time to engage with the traditional curricular materials and this will benefit
English language learners, reluctant readers, and otherwise potentially resistant students alike.
This will be accomplished through all of the observed outcomes of drama education documented
by the DICE and Lifelong Impact studies as well as the direct outcomes of the individual process
drama lesson. From the sample lesson provided here, we see that characters are created based on
student prediction and imagination; the world in which the characters live is informed by images
and the prior knowledge and imagination that students bring to the images; text is introduced in
small chunks relevant to the characters and world the students have created or connected to; and
the life choices and consequences of those choices are considered and acted upon based on the
student’s individual perceptions and understandings. The students created and discovered a
world and characters within that world, and the actual text of the play is then an extension of that
world and confirmation or contradiction of predictions that arose from the drama lesson.
What is the program to be evaluated?
This professional development program is aimed at teachers of English Language Arts
and Social Studies across grade levels and will reach four teachers. Early childhood or childhood
general education practitioners or subject-specific secondary teachers in either field are good
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
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candidates for the program. As process drama is a pedagogical approach rather than subjectspecific curricular content, the form can be effectively implemented to a variety of age groups
though the selection of strategies and the way strategies are implemented will change
accordingly.
As the facilitator, I will lead four 90-minute process drama lessons with a demonstration
group. The four teachers will participate in the first two lessons as part of the demonstration
group rather than observe them in order to gain an understanding of the form in action. In the
remaining lessons, they will have the option to stay in the group or observe from the outside
based on their own learning needs. Each demonstration lesson will be followed by a 90-minute
reflection and instruction session during which I will share the lesson plan with the teachers,
discuss the theory that supports the lesson, identify the strategies that were implemented, and
explain the lesson structure. The teachers will have an opportunity to ask questions about the
planning, implementation, and facilitation process and will reflect upon their learning in a
response journal. During the four sessions, a template for planning will be shared, a series of
strategies will be demonstrated, and topics from both the English Language Arts and Social
Studies cannons will be evaluated to determine a series of opportunities in the teachers’ scope
and sequence where this approach might be utilized. The teachers will then plan a process drama
lesson for their students that is tied to their usual curriculum and which will be evaluated by the
facilitator and their peers in the program cohort.
After the initial four sessions, the teachers will have two optional 90-minute planning
sessions which can be utilized for planning and/or debriefing lessons (individually or in any
combination of participants) and lesson support for two additional lessons which will be
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
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evaluated by the facilitator and their peers in the program cohort. The facilitator will be available
to observe and provide feedback for one lesson per teacher.
What is the purpose of this evaluation?
The purpose of this evaluation is to determine the effectiveness of the professional
development program in terms of the planning and implementation of the program, the selection
of participants, their experience in the program, and their ability to demonstrate understanding of
the form through planning and implementation in their own classrooms.
Summary Questions (including a diagram of the program’s theory of action)
Based on McCawley’s approach to developing a Logic Model for program planning and
evaluation as well as Weiss’ Program Theory Model (p. 56), I have graphically articulated the
theory of action for the professional development program as follows:
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
INPUTS
DRAMA INTEGRATION
Training teachers to use Process Drama in
English Language Arts and Social Studies
What we invest
 Materials for
instruction
 time for
planning and
implementation of
workshops
 time for
follow-up
lesson
coaching
 time for
evaluation of
lesson plans
 time for
observation of
and reflection
on lessons
 space for
workshops
 money for
space rental
OUTPUTS
What we do
 four threehour
workshops
 provide
mentorship
 provide
optional
resources for
teachers
 follow-up
lesson
coaching
 feedback on
lesson plans
 optional
observation
of and
reflection on
lessons
Who we reach
 in-service
teachers of
English
Language Arts
and Social
Studies
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Short-
OUTCOMES
Medium-
Long-
Change in:
Change in:
Change in:
 understanding
of how to
conduct
process drama
 understanding
of why to
conduct
process drama
 understanding
of how to
plan process
drama lessons
 attitude,
awareness,
and/or
motivation
towards
process drama
 ability to
plan process
drama
 ability to
implement
process
drama
 ability to
effectively
reflect on
process
drama
lessons
 ability to
modify
planning for
future
process
drama
lessons
 student
motivation,
interest, and
achievement
 teacher
effectiveness
 social and
emotional
outcomes
for students
 experiences
that will
have
positive
lifelong
impacts for
students
This model details who implements the program, who participates, and what happens from input
level to corresponding outputs which lead to the final outcomes. It is important to note that this
model points to long term outcomes which are likely influenced by other factors and thus beyond
the scope of this evaluation.
In the evaluation process, key elements of the theory of action/logic model are called into
question in order to determine the efficacy of the program as well as whether or not the activities
and components of the program are leading to the anticipated outcomes. These questions can be
divided into two groups: process indicators which are formative in nature and outcome indicators
which are summative. Various forms of evidence are used in order to collect data in support of
each question, all of which are indicated in the tables below:
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
Process Indicators
1. What is the number of teachers being reached? How
many teachers are from the target groups?
2. How would you describe the teachers’ attitude towards
their students and their willingness to implement new
strategies into their classroom teaching at the start of the
program?
Source of Evidence
Interview Data
3. Are the facilitator and teachers meeting time
commitments and investing their energy in the successful
completion of the program?
Anecdotal Memos
Facilitator Response Journal
Teacher’s Response Journals
4. How can the facilitator-teacher and teacher-teacher
interactions be characterized? Do these interactions
represent mentorship and positive interpersonal
relationships? Why or why not?
Anecdotal Memos
Lesson Transcriptions
Facilitator Response Journal
Teacher’s Response Journals
5. Are teachers taking ownership over the work or are they
letting the facilitator make all decisions?
Anecdotal Memos
Lesson Transcriptions
Facilitator Response Journal
Teacher’s Response Journals
Outcome Indicators
1. What do the teachers know as a result of this experience
that they did not already know?
Source of Evidence
Anecdotal Memos
Observation Notes
Teacher Evaluations
Lesson Transcriptions
Interview Data
Teacher’s Response Journals
Anecdotal Memos
Observation Notes
Teacher Evaluations
Lesson Transcriptions
Interview Data
Teacher’s Response Journals
Anecdotal Memos
Observation Notes
Teacher Evaluations
Interview Data
Teacher’s Response Journals
Lesson Plans
Anecdotal Memos
Observation Notes
Teacher Evaluations
Interview Data
Teacher’s Response Journals
2. What changes can be observed in attitude, motivation,
and/or awareness in relation to this experience?
3. Are the teachers able to plan process drama lessons?
4. Are the teachers able to implement process drama
lessons in their classroom?
Interview Data
Facilitator Response Journal
Teacher’s Response Journals
21
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
5. Are teachers able to reflect on lessons and modify their
planning for future lessons?
6. How do the teachers characterize their experience
utilizing this teaching methodology?
22
Anecdotal Memos
Observation Notes
Lesson Transcriptions
Interview Data
Teacher’s Response Journals
Anecdotal Memos
Observation Notes
Teacher Evaluations
Interview Data
Teacher’s Response Journals
Methodology
During the evaluation, there will be four principal data collection periods: pre, formative,
post / summative, and follow up. During the pre-program period, I will conduct preliminary
interviews with the teachers which will provide basic information about their training, teaching
experience, and attitude, awareness, and/or motivation towards their students, school and arts
integration and process drama. I will utilize a semi-structured interview protocol (Appendix B)
which will be standardized for all teachers and will have some standardized questions across
each data collection period in order to evaluate changes over time.
The formative period will focus on the process indicator questions. During the program, I
will maintain a log book for recording observation notes and anecdotal memos. I will audiorecord and transcribe sessions in order to document the demonstration lessons and teacher
comments. The teachers will write response journals after each demonstration lesson for further
reflection and analysis that expound upon process drama and the facilitator. I will keep my own
response journal to reflect upon the work both as the facilitator and the evaluator.
During the post/summative period, I will conduct exit interviews which will evaluate the
teachers’ experience in the program. Teachers will complete an evaluation form that allows them
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
23
to respond to questions using a Likert-scale and provide optional short responses (Appendix C). I
will provide feedback on lesson plans and make myself available for additional planning support.
In the follow-up period, I will conduct follow-up interviews which will document the
teacher’s success or failures with utilizing the form. I will collect additional lesson plans for
analysis. If possible, I will observe lessons and collect notes using the observation protocol (see
Appendix D). From the interviews and teacher response journals, evidence for the long-term
outcomes may begin to emerge but in all likelihood, these outcomes are beyond the scope of this
evaluation and will not be investigated at this time.
Because these instruments are newly created for this evaluation, their validity is
questionable. In order to address questions of validity, the instruments have been designed to
corroborate information across platforms. In this way, the findings of the evaluation will have
stronger internal validity as there will have been multiple measures to address each of the
evaluation questions. Further, as this is a piloted version of the evaluation, an additional
objective of this first experience will be to determine both the internal and external validity of
each instrument to help formulate a less labor-intensive evaluation process in the future.
The sample for this evaluation will come from volunteers from pools of teachers that I
have some connection with due to my supervision of student teachers at New York City public
and private schools. Through this network of teachers, I will advertise the availability of the
program and ask the network to further advertise the program until four teachers have been
identified who agree to participate.
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
24
Research Questions May Include:
-
How do participants respond to my teaching methodology? What do they say? What do
they do?
-
What questions are raised during the program? How are they addressed? What impact do
they have on my pedagogy?
-
Do the lesson plans submitted by the participants demonstrate internalization of the
theory and practice utilized in the program? Why or why not?
-
Do participants implement these plans? Why or why not?
-
What is their experience like if they do?
-
How do participants characterize their students before the training and what changes do
they report after implementing this methodology?
Data Analysis
Given that the data will be qualitative in nature, the interviews, observations, anecdotal
memos, lesson transcriptions, lesson plans, and response journals will be analyzed and coded for
emergent themes and categories for each individual subject and between subjects. This analysis
will provide detailed evidence regarding the effectiveness of the program.
Significance and Limitations of the Study
The cohort for this program and evaluation constitute a collective case study. The
research findings will demonstrate the effectiveness for this particular program and the
experience of these four teachers in the program. If the program is successful or modifications
are recommended and made to improve the program, then the program can be reconstructed and
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
25
expanded with new participants who may have a similar outcome. Remember that though 53%
of elementary schools report the use of drama instruction in other curricular areas (which this
program prepares teachers to do), only 17% report offering professional development of any kind
to do this work (Parsad et al. p. 48) and secondary schools are neither providing drama
instruction in other curricular areas nor offering professional development to do so (or at least it
is not being tracked by the US Department of Education). Thus, there is a considerable market
for professional development for teachers who are already doing some form of drama work
(some of whom may not be familiar with process drama) and are in need of professional
development opportunities, many teachers who are not doing drama work at all and schools that
lack drama specialists all together—all of whom might benefit from this type of program.
The nature of this study prevents the existence of a control group which is usually
standard in a program evaluation and that is a significant limitation of this study, however, that
limitation comes from the scope of this evaluation program. As the program is new, we must
answer one question first: is this an effective program to train teachers to utilize process drama?
The next question that would be asked is whether or not students who receive process drama
instruction have better outcomes than students who do not. In that study, there would be an
obvious distinction between the treatment and control groups, but this program is not at that
stage yet, besides which, a number of studies (including the DICE and Lifelong Impact studies
referenced here) are tackling this question, though few are looking at the training of teachers, and
none are using the methodology I have adopted here.
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
26
References
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Davis, D. (2010). Gavin Bolton: Essential writings. Sterling, VA: Trentham.
DICE Consortium (2010). Making a world of difference: A DICE resource for practitioners on
educational theatre and drama.
DICE Consortium (2010). The DICE has been cast: A DICE resource; Research findings and
recommendations on educational theatre and drama.
Dong, Y. (2004). Teaching language and content to linguistically and culturally diverse
students. Greenwhich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
European Parliament, Council (2006). Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 18 December 2006 on key competences for lifelong learning. Official Journal
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Gallagher, K. and Booth, D. (Eds.) (2003). How theatre educates: Convergences and
counterpoints. Buffalo, NY: University of Toronto Press.
Jasinski Schneider, J., Crumpler, T., and Rogers, T. (2006). Process drama and multiple
literacies: Addressing social, cultural, and ethical issues. Portsmouth, NY: Heinemann.
Johnson, L. and O’Neill, C. (1984). Collected writings in education and drama: Dorothy
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Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. New York, NY:
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Krashen, S. (1985). The input hypothesis: Issues and implications. New York, NY: Longman.
Manley, A. and O’Neill, C. (1997). Dreamseakers: Creative approaches to the African American
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McCammon, L., Saldaña, J., Hines, A., and Omasta, M. (2012). Lifelong impact: Adult
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McCawley, P. (n.d.). The logic model for program planning and evaluation. University of Idaho
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McLaren, P. (1988). The Liminal Servant and the Roots of Critical Pedagogy. Language Arts,
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Morgan, N. and Saxton, J. (1989). Teaching drama: A mind of many wonders. 2nd Edition.
Cheltenham, UK: Stanley Thorne Publishers.
O’Neill, C. (1985). Imagined worlds in theatre and drama. Theory into Practice, 24 (3). In
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Warner, C. (Eds.) Structure and spontaneity: The process drama of Cecily O’Neill (101112). Sterling, VA: Trentham.
O’Neill, C. (1991). Artists and models: Theatre teachers for the future. Design for Arts in
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The process drama of Cecily O’Neill (119-126). Sterling, VA: Trentham.
O’Neill, C. (1994). Drama in education. Encyclopedia of English Studies ad Language Arts
Purves, A. with Papas, L. and Jordan, S. (Eds.). New York, NY: Scholastic. In Taylor, P.
and Warner, C. (Eds.) Structure and spontaneity: The process drama of Cecily O’Neill
(31-39). Sterling, VA: Trentham.
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O’Neill, C. (1995). Drama worlds: A framework for process drama. Portsmouth, NH:
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O’Neill, C. and Lambert, A. (1979). Working from within: Teacher and the group as qrtists in
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drama of Cecily O’Neill (51-56). Sterling, VA: Trentham.
O’Neill, C. and Lambert, A. (1982). Drama Structures. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
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action. English Journal. In Taylor, P. and Warner, C. (Eds.) Structure and spontaneity:
The process drama of Cecily O’Neill (91-100). Sterling, VA: Trentham.
O’Neill, E. (1919). Bound East for Cardiff. In Alan Weissman (Ed.), Eugene O’Neill: The long
voyage home and other plays (p. 21-34). New York: Dover Publications.
Parsad, B., Spiegelman, M., and Coopersmith, J. (2012). Arts Education: In Public Elementary
and Secondary Schools 1999—2000 and 2009—20010. Washington, DC: National
Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012014.pdf
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28
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
29
Appendix A – Bound East for Cardiff Process Drama Lesson Plan
1. Circle of Life
Select nine images of sailors from the turn of the 20th
century. Divide the nine images into three piles of three
images and distribute them one at a time to each group such
that each group will get three different images. Layer
directions as follows:
What do you see? Who is in the image? Where does it take
place? When? How do you know? Which person in the
image might be our protagonist? What is his or her name?
Now look at the second image…can you spot your
protagonist? Might you have identified the wrong
protagonist in your first image? Now the third. The third
image is the one we will focus our attention on,
understanding that the other two provide some information
about the history of our character.
For your character, complete a Circle of Life Chart as
follows: in the center, the name and age of your character.
Clockwise from top left, indicate Home, Family, Day, and
Play. In each box, add information (from the image or what
you can imagine) that fills in the details of this character’s
life. Who does he or she interact with? What does he or she
do? How does he or she feel about his or her life and the
people in it? Share.
2. Tableau and Thought Tracking
Based on the information you included in your chart and
the scroll of dialogue your character wrote, create a tableau
of your character. This could either be metaphorical or
show a literal image from this character’s life. Show.
Discuss. Thought track.
The text for the scrolls is:
This sailor life ain’t much to cry about leavin’—just one
ship after another, hard work, small pay, and bum grub;
and when we git into port, just a drunk endin’ up in a fight,
and all your money gone, and then ship away again. Never
meetin’ no nice people; never gittin’ outa sailor town,
hardly, in any port; travelin’ all over the world and never
seein’ none of it; without no one to care whether you’re
alive or dead. There ain’t much in all that that’d make yuh
sorry to lose it.
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
30
3. Letter Writing
How would you describe the life of these characters? At
some point, some element of their early life prompted them
to leave everything and everyone they knew behind. What
might have happened to make them decide to do this? Write
a letter from your character to someone they left behind
explaining why he or she is leaving. Exchange. Identify a
key word or phrase. Share. Show the tableaux again, one
group at a time, and this time, rather than thought track, tap
each person and hear those words and phrases again.
4. Dreams
Distribute one line of dream dialogue to each group. They
are to create a short scene that illuminates the dream. The
dreams are:
It must be great to stay on dry land all your life and have a farm
with a house of your own with cows and pigs and chickens ‘way
in the middle of the land where yuh’d never smell the sea or see
a ship.
It must be great to have a wife, and kids to play with at night
after supper when your work was done.
It must be great to have a home of your own.
These dreams will be rehearsed and shown such that one group
is watching while another recreates their initial tableau and the
third group performs their dream.
5. Spectrum of Difference
Come to a circle.
Your character may or may realize their dream. You know
the history, you’ve seen the pictures, you can imagine what
life is like. Take a few moments to think about whether your
character will achieve one of these dreams, or will their
future hold something else in store. Think of an individual
image to show where your character ends up. When you
are ready, turn and face out. When everyone is ready, I will
count to three and you will all turn in and show your
image.
Create a continuum where one side is for those who fully
realized a dream and the other is for those who did not.
Everyone places themselves somewhere along the
continuum.
Hear the words and phrases from the letters again.
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
31
Appendix B - Interview Protocol
Pre-Interview
Main Questions
Tell me about your teaching experience.
Tell me about your teacher preparation.
Tell me about one of your classes.
Tell me about your professional development
experiences.
Tell me about your experience with drama.
Follow Up Questions
Where have you taught?
What have you taught (grade/courses)?
How would you describe your experience
teaching?
What did you like?
What didn’t you like?
How would you rate your teacher training?
What’s good about the class?
What’s bad about the class?
What are your students like?
How would you characterize their academic
performance?
What has been valuable?
What has not been valuable?
Do you have experience as a student?
Do you have experience as a teacher?
Has any of your pre-service or development
training used drama?
Exit Interview
Main Questions
Tell me about your experience in this program.
Tell me about process drama.
Tell me about your goals for your students.
Tell me about your next steps regarding
process drama.
Are there any questions I haven’t asked that
you would like to address?
Follow Up Questions
What has been valuable?
What has not been valuable?
How would you rate the program?
If you had to recommend this type of program
to someone, who would it be? Why?
What is it?
How can it be used?
Will you use it? Why or why not?
How do you think your students will respond?
What short term goals do you have for them?
What long term goals do you have for them?
How might you help them to achieve these
goals?
Do you think they will be successful? Why or
why not?
What will you do?
What do you need more support with?
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
32
Follow-up Interview
Main Questions
Tell me about one of your classes.
Tell me about process drama.
Tell me about your experience in this program.
Tell me about your goals for your students.
Tell me about your next steps regarding
process drama.
Are there any questions I haven’t asked that
you would like to address?
Follow Up Questions
What’s good about the class?
What’s bad about the class?
What are your students like?
How would you characterize their academic
performance?
What is it?
How can it be used?
Are you using it? Why or why not?
If so, how have your students responded to it?
What has been valuable?
What has not been valuable?
How would you rate the program?
If you had to recommend this type of program
to someone, who would it be? Why?
What short term goals do you have for them?
What long term goals do you have for them?
How might you help them to achieve these
goals?
Do you think they will be successful? Why or
why not?
What will you do?
What do you need more support with?
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
33
Appendix C – Evaluation Form
Adapted from the NYU Steinhardt Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions Course Evaluation
Directions:
For each item, circle the response that best applies to the prompt.
1.
The program objectives were clear
Strongly
Agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Very Good
Neither
Agree nor
Disagree
Neither
Agree nor
Disagree
Neither
Agree nor
Disagree
Neither
Agree nor
Disagree
Neither
Agree nor
Disagree
Neither
Agree nor
Disagree
Neither
Agree nor
Disagree
Neither
Agree nor
Disagree
Neither
Agree nor
Disagree
Neither
Agree nor
Disagree
Good
2.
The facilitator was prepared.
Strongly
Agree
Agree
3.
Concepts were explained clearly.
Strongly
Agree
Agree
4.
The facilitator created a climate conducive to learning.
Strongly
Agree
Agree
5.
The facilitator provided helpful feedback.
Strongly
Agree
Agree
6.
I learned a lot in this program.
Strongly
Agree
Agree
7.
The program contributed to my professional
development.
Strongly
Agree
Agree
8.
The facilitator’s use of questions was effective.
Strongly
Agree
Agree
9.
The workshop facility was conducive to learning.
Strongly
Agree
Agree
10. I would recommend this program to my colleagues.
Strongly
Agree
Agree
11. Overall, I would rate this program as:
Excellent
Fair
Poor
12. Overall, I would rate this facilitator as:
Excellent
Very Good
Good
Fair
Poor
Heartaches: What did you appreciate about this program?
Bellyaches: What didn’t you appreciate about this program?
Lingering Questions: What about the topic remains a mystery to you?
Advice: What advice would you give to teachers thinking about taking this development program?
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
Appendix D – Observation Protocol
Participant ID _________________________
Date
_________________________
Element
1. Motivation
and Engagement
Observed Level of Performance
The students are The students
The students are
unmotivated and show some
highly motivated
disengaged
evidence of
and engaged
motivation and
engagement
1
2
2. Attitude
Towards School
The students
display evidence
of negativity
toward school
The students
display evidence
of neutral
feelings toward
school
1
2
3
3. Interpersonal
Relationships:
Student-tostudent
The students
display evidence
of negativity
among each
other
The students
display evidence
of neutrality
among each
other
The students
display evidence
of positive
interactions
among each
other
1
2
3
4. Interpersonal
Relationships:
Student-toteacher
The students
display evidence
of negativity
towards the
teacher or viceversa
The students
display evidence
of neutrality
towards the
teacher or viceversa
The students
display evidence
of positive
interactions
towards the
teacher or viceversa
1
2
5. Mentorship
The teacher does
not provide a
mentoring
atmosphere
The teacher
provides a
mentoring
atmosphere some
of the time
6. Ownership
The teacher
makes decisions
with students
taking a more
passive role
1
1
2
The teacher and
students have an
even balance of
decision making
2
3
The students
display positive
feelings toward
school
3
The teacher
consistently
provides a
mentoring
atmosphere
3
The students
make most
decisions
3
Comments
34
Drama Integration: Training Teachers to Use Process Drama in English Language Arts and Social Studies
7. Content
Knowledge
The teacher
displays limited
knowledge of the
subject or
appropriate
teaching methods
The teacher
displays
knowledge of the
subject or
appropriate
teaching methods
The teacher
displays a strong
understanding of
the subject and
appropriate
teaching methods
1
2
3
The students
appear
comfortable
some of the time:
either with each
other or the
material
The students
appear
comfortable all
of the time: both
with each other
and the material
1
2
3
9. Clear
Expectations
It is unclear what
the students are
supposed to
accomplish today
It is somewhat
clear what the
students are
supposed to
accomplish today
It is entirely clear
to all students
what they are
supposed to
accomplish today
10. Progress
Toward Goals
The students are
not making
progress toward
performance
goals.
1
2
3
11. Knowledge
of Process
Drama Content
The teacher
demonstrates
little or no
knowledge of the
form nor how to
utilize it in the
classroom.
The teacher
demonstrates
some knowledge
of the form and
how to utilize it
in the classroom.
The teacher
demonstrates a
strong
knowledge of the
form and how to
utilize it in the
classroom.
1
2
3
12. Engagement
of Students
through Drama
The students are
not engaged in
drama strategies.
The students are
unevenly
engaged in
drama strategies.
The students are
consistently
engaged in
drama strategies.
1
2
3
8. Comfort Level
The students
appear
uncomfortable:
either with each
other or the
material
1
13. Reflection on
the Art Form
The students are
not effectively
reflecting on the
art form.
1
2
The students are
making limited
progress toward
performance
goals.
The students are
unevenly
reflecting on the
art form.
2
Adapted from NYU Steinhardt’s DRSTOS-R Teacher Observation Protocol
3
The students are
making progress
toward
performance
goals.
The students are
effectively
reflecting on the
art form.
3
35