Teaching Playwriting

Paper Summary:

This paper argues for a greater inclusion of playwriting in the high school educational syllabus. The writer points out that some of the reasons playwriting is not included are it is simply impractical and serves no functional purpose. However, many teachers feel that playwriting is an important and educationally viable subject, which can have many benefits for the student. The paper relates that the formal academic advantages of playwriting as a school subject are literary competency and inquiry, communications skills and creative problem solving. The author stresses that playwriting as a teaching method is interesting and as well as a craft for the students, which in itself encourages further learning.

Table of Contents:
The Argument for Playwriting in Schools
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"In the first instance, some commentators are of the opinion that play writing skills and other theater arts have a positive effect generally on the student's educational development. It can, for example, "... promote the educational outcomes associated with good citizenship" This view is related to a central aspect of playwriting, which is the fact that it encourages the students to think outside the narrow boundaries of his everyday frame of reference and encourages them to imagine other circumstances, situations and events that help to expand their view of life and explore problem areas that they would not normally experience."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Burnaford, Gail, Arnold Aprill, and Cynthia Weiss, eds. Renaissance in the Classroom: Arts Integration and Meaningful Learning. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001. Questia. 25 Sept. 2007 <http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=108203135>.
• Ferree, Angela M. "Soaps and Suspicious Activity: Dramatic Experiences in British Classrooms." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 45.1 (2001): 16.
• Kindelan, Nancy. Theatre studies as a practical liberal education. Liberal Education, September 22, 2004.
• O'Farrell L. Challenging Our Assumptions: Playwrights and the Drama Curriculum. 25 Sept. 2007. http://www.csse.ca/CJE/Articles/FullText/CJE18-2/CJE18-2-03OFarrell.pdf.
• Salvante, Margaret Playwriting in the K-12 curriculum: a catalyst for educational reform. Arts Education Policy Review .November 1, 1993.

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