In small towns throughout the Midwest, families would gather on nights for an evening of broad comedy, melodrama, and music. Jackson Community College has kept this dying art alive every summer since the Rosier Players troupe was donated to the college in 1976. (MLW)

Proposes several strategies for overcoming obstacles to an integrated methodology, and to student interests and learning, in teaching a foreign language dramatic literature course. The activities focus on both reading and writing of drama, characterization, and interpretation. (CB)

Examines research into the various factors affecting the frequency and complexity of dramatic play. Lists and elaborates on those factors, which include the child's maturity; social and cultural settings; teacher intervention in play; children's individual differences; children's familiarity with and security in play surroundings; and presence or…

Describes several exercises in an elementary classroom led by Koester--a game in which differences are special, and one that simulates community living. Notes that Koester's class is diversified racially, and the exercises in her class are seen by each student as a shared lesson. Concludes with a call for meaningful interactions with and among…

Provides a guide for helping students perform melodramas via the intercom. The benefits include motivating students to read and heightening student self-esteem. Suggests five elements for a successful performance: a clearly written script, rehearsals, optimal voice levels and microphone distance, an introduction by the principal, and…

A teacher recounts how a classroom atmosphere of comfort and trust was developed as 10- and 11-year-old students wrote a play, acted in it, directed it, and designed sets and costumes, based on the book "The Lion's Paw" by Robb White. (DB)

Twenty-four special and regular education fifth-grade students participated in a dramatic games group or noncompetitive games group. Results showed that students with mental retardation in the drama condition were targeted for positive social interactions by regular education peers more and were more highly regarded as friends than were those in…

Describes the planning, implementation, evaluation, and implications of a "Drama Day"--a one-day middle school festival centered on creating theater. Discusses plans for "Drama Day II." (RS)

Finds that reverse mainstreaming, creative drama, and social skills training (used during an academic year with a class of fourth-grade students and emotionally disturbed (ED) students improved the fourth graders' attitudes toward emotionally disturbed children and improved the self-concepts of the ED students. (SR)

Discusses a yearlong study of a classroom's experience with Readers Theatre. Analyzes the "remedial" children's interpretive behaviors--language uses, body movements, comparative approaches, and affective interpretations--as they enacted literary texts in the theater of their own creation. Suggests that one solution to the problems of labeled…

Presents scenarios from a kindergarten classroom in which dramatization is used extensively in conjunction with nonfiction books. Shows how the children acted out topics that ranged from the Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving to the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., showing that they were able to develop rich representations of nonfiction materials.…

Investigates the experiences of 17 "remedial" readers as they interpreted and performed texts through classroom theater. Discusses results of a study aimed at analyzing patterns of children's text interpretation. Details the students' evolving conception of themselves as actors and interpreters of texts. (HB)

Explores the beliefs of an elementary school teacher who consistently used drama in her classroom. Finds that the use of drama is contingent on the teacher's beliefs about the kinds of support provided within the school, about the value of drama, and about her own ability to structure effective drama experiences. (SR)

Discusses how outdoor play can be as effective as indoor play in facilitating young children's development. Offers advice on selection of toys and materials; organization of play spaces; addition of movable toys and equipment; ways to stimulate imaginative outdoor play; and playground safety. (TJQ)

Discusses, in poetic form, the writing of the play "Salvador" from the perspective of the author. Explains her thoughts about writing for children, including didactic relationships with children, didactic functions of art, and how adults teachers try to create a sterilized, lifeless, good-thinking, and artificial world for children when they are…