NOTE:

FOR PERSONAL-CLASS
USE ONLY – NOT TO BE
FORWARDED

Drama of Color:

Improvisation with Ethnic Folklore and Contemporary Themes

Second/Revised Edition

Johnny Saldaña

Copyright © 2008 by Johnny Saldaña as an unpublished work

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Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Facilitating Drama in the Classroom

Part One – Improvisation with Ethnic Folklore

2. Stories from the Mexican and Mexican American Canons

The Ram in the Chile Patch by Americo Paredes

A Parrot for Christmas by Juan Sauvageau

The Weeping Woman (La llorona) retold by Johnny Saldaña

3. Stories from the Native American Canons

Why Bears Have Short Tails collected by Byrd Baylor

Grandmother Spider Steals the Sun by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz

The Warning retold by Maurine Grammer

4. Stories from the Asian and Pacific Islands Canons

The First Monkeys by M. Mariano

Taro and the Magic Fish retold by Johnny Saldaña

The Ten Farmers Anonymous

5. Stories from the African and African American Canons

Fatima and the Snake retold by John Lehon and Johnny Saldana

Little Eight John by James R. Aswell

People Who Could Fly by Julius Lester

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Part Two – Improvisation with Contemporary Themes

Introduction

6. Communities in Conflict

The Flops and the Uprights

Rabies

I (Won’t) Pledge Allegiance

7. Drama for Social Change

An Introduction to Sculpting and Images

Respect and Disrespect

Bullies

8. Reality Drama

I Woke Up Angry

Living Newspaper

Personal Narrative Monologues

References

Selected Bibliography

Permissions
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To the late Lisa A. Barnett, who made the original edition of Drama of Color possible
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Acknowledgements

(To be completed by the author upon acceptance of the manuscript for publication)
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Introduction

In the original 1995 edition of Drama of Color, the Introduction began with the observation, “It’s

difficult to reach consensus these days.” More than a decade later, it’s still difficult to reach

consensus.

The United States is a country of contradictions. The U.S. contains just 5% of the world’s

population yet consumes 20% of the world’s resources. National education policy holds teachers

and their students accountable for prescribed standards of achievement, but local, state, and

federal funding in most cases provides inadequate financial resources to help schools accomplish

these levels of excellence. America proclaims itself as the wealthiest nation in the world, yet

thousands of its citizens each night go to sleep hungry, homeless, and in urgent need of medical

attention. Our national pledge assures “liberty and justice for all,” but many women, people of

color, lesbians, and gays attest that liberty and justice elude them daily due to discriminatory

actions and laws.

With so many pressing issues and challenges facing our country today, why spend a

portion of limited classroom time on the legacies of folk literature? Folk tales are sometimes

perceived by several practitioners of drama and multicultural education as a “lesser” form of

cultural studies. Those not versed in the anthropological scholarship of folklore may dismiss

such tales as juvenile; or assign the content low priority when they feel there are more important

matters to explore with children. These perspectives negate the rich histories of our world’s

cultures. And when you negate the culture of a people, you also negate their identity.

A canon of folk literature offers social insight into a people’s ethos—their attitude, value,

and belief systems. These narrative artifacts, explored through dramatic modes of expression,
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bring us closer to a culture by examining their characters, conflicts, motifs, and themes. Visiting

the past allows us to see what differences emerged in each culture’s genesis. Visiting the past is

essential to examine and place our present condition into perspective. But by no means do I

suggest that folklore is the only facet of a culture worthy of examination by children.

Thanks to the groundbreaking Theatre of the Oppressed work of Augusto Boal, and

gifted practitioners of theatre for social change such as Michael Rohd, Mark Weinberg, Jenny

Wanasek, Chris Vine, Marc Weinblatt, Christina Marín, Charles Banaszewski, and Brent Blair,

to name just a few, classroom drama has evolved with the potential to extend further into highly

relevant and deeper personal work for children. The revised edition of Drama of Color

acknowledges and builds on this movement by exploring contemporary themes in addition to

traditional folklore studies with children. Improvisation is not only an artistic mode for

dramatizing literature, it is also a participatory, community forum for critically examining the

issues and contradictions inherent in our world today.

The Goals of Drama of Color

This book adopts one of the central purposes of multicultural education according to its

premiere scholar James A. Banks: the development of ethnic literacy in children. Ethnic literacy,

as I apply it, is knowledge about and respect for the traditions, history, language, art forms,

literature, and ethos of various ethnic groups in our world. Part One of Drama of Color includes

folklore from four broad ethnic and cultural groups: Mexicans and Mexican Americans; Native

Americans; Asians and Pacific Islanders; and Africans and African Americans. But within the

four groups, the stories are selected from a limited number of nations (for example, the Hispanic

canon includes stories only from Mexicans and Mexican Americans, excluding Cuban, Central
 8

American, Puerto Rican, and other related canons). Ironically, attempts to inclusify drama

materials for children are also exclusive, since the book omits folklore from so many other

cultures such as Jewish American and European American. Each teacher is encouraged to extend

her own knowledge about folk literature, multicultural education, and children of color into the

gaps I have left.

While folklore can be used to examine different ethnic perspectives and worldviews, if

stereotypes can be dispelled along the way, so much the better. I recoil when I introduce a Native

American legend in a drama session and a child raises his hand and says, “How!”; when I discuss

a Chinese story and a child presses his hands against his head to slant his eyes; or when I work

with an African folktale and a youngster says, “Booga, booga.” These responses, triggered

perhaps by nothing more than playfulness, are rooted in misconceptions about people of color.

I’ve encountered racism and discrimination from White adolescents and adults. But oddly

enough, no child has ever made what I have interpreted as a racist remark when I work with

Mexican or Mexican American stories. I think they realize I’m “one of them” and they become

more cautious (or conscious) of what they say. That in itself may be noteworthy, but it doesn’t

stop me from educating them even more about my own or other ethnic groups.

The second major goal of Drama of Color is to provide each participant with personal

and deeper insight into the diverse world in which we live. The study of folklore can contribute

partially to that goal, but it is the exploration of our contemporary condition, our daily social

lives in conflict, and speculations about our future, which bring more immediate relevance to the

work. The U.S. Census Bureau projects that, by the year 2050, population demographics of the

estimated 439 million American citizenry will shift toward the following percentages: 46%

White American, 30% Latino American, 15% African American, and 9% Asian American. Part
 9

Two includes session designs focused on selected issues within classroom communities ranging

from bullying to allegiance; and selected issues within broader social communities ranging from

poverty to stigma. Improvisation is used to explore how conflicts emerge, escalate and,

hopefully, become resolved. Just as we want children to have enhanced ethnic literacy, we also

want them to have community literacy—a consciousness of what it takes to both fracture and

build a sense of group, and how the individual interacts with the community membership to

make them both happen.

There are so many approaches to and interpretations of multicultural education that

teachers and artists are sometimes at a loss to conceptualize what that term suggests and

includes. As reference, below is an excerpt from the National Association for Multicultural

Education’s (2006) definition, which captures the spirit and intent of Drama of Color:

Multicultural education is a process that permeates all aspects of school practices,

policies and organization as a means to ensure the highest levels of academic

achievement for all students. It helps students develop a positive self-concept by

providing knowledge about the histories, cultures, and contributions of diverse groups. It

prepares all students to work actively toward structural equality in organizations and

institutions by providing the knowledge, dispositions, and skills for the redistribution of

power and income among diverse groups. Thus, school curriculum must directly address

issues of racism, sexism, classism, linguicism, ableism, ageism, heterosexism, religious

intolerance, and xenophobia.

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Just as important is to emphasize what one of this book’s goals is not. My objective for

drama with children is not to develop formal acting skills but to use the art form as an

exploratory and experiential learning method. Drama education’s terminology is eclectic. Book

titles of related works will call the art form “creative drama,” “educational drama,” “theatre

arts,” “dramatic arts,” “improvisation,” and other variations. I prefer to use drama since “theatre”

suggests performance, the opposite of the approach I advocate in this work. I deliberately stay

away from terms traditionally relegated to formal theatre production and use more process-

oriented language with the elementary grade levels. In drama (not theatre), we explore, practice,

play out, or improvise before we share our work. We never rehearse and perform a script, and we

never do “skits,” a derogatory term not part of the art form (see Drama Terminology).
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DRAMA TERMINOLOGY

THEATRE DRAMA

Product Process

Stage Classroom, Working Area, Space

Scenography Environment, Setting, Time, Period, Place

Actors Students, Participants, Ensemble

Director Teacher, Facilitator, Artist-Teacher, Teacher-in-Role

Play Script Scenario, Story, Improvisation, Material, Theme, Idea

Rehearse Practice, Improvise, Work on, Experiment with, Explore

Perform Improvise, Dramatize, Present, Share, Show

Audience Observers, Peers

Critique Reflect, Assess, Discuss

“skit”
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We don’t have an audience in the classroom—we have observers; and we rarely critique the

product—we reflect on and assess the process. The act of audience applause is a convention of

the formal theatre, and for that very reason I used to discourage it in my own drama classroom.

But I later realized that the action provided both the participants and me a sense of responsive

and necessary closure. Applause acknowledges good work by the community—and there are

times when we impulsively must applaud as an expression of our feelings.

The Selected Bibliography of texts in drama education will provide multiple perspectives

on the art form, and teachers are encouraged to seek the methodology or methodologies that best

suit themselves and their classroom communities.

Reflections on “Standards”

I am admittedly torn over the use of educational standards and performance objectives

(also called benchmarks, expectancies, competencies, outcomes, exit skills, etc.) in the field of

drama and theatre. I understand how their presence adds credibility and legitimacy to the art

form in the eyes of administrators, teachers, and parents. If well written and developed by the

primary constituents of teachers and students, standards can provide curricular guidance and a

sense of ownership. But from my own practice I have discovered virtually no utility from

standards. My philosophical stance may also stem from political objections. I find it

pedagogically abhorrent to standardize an art form and to standardize achievement in it when the

diversity of classrooms and inequity of available resources make it virtually impossible for no

child to be left behind.

A child’s level of academic “success” these days is weighted too heavily on whether or

not he or she achieves competency standards from a mainstream curriculum through grueling
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and inauthentic testing. But failure to achieve those standards should not always be seen as

failure on the part of the child. It is the systemic school inequities, the curriculum itself, and the

teacher’s approach to it that may have to be reexamined to become more compatible with

children from diverse backgrounds. If traditional Eurocentric curricula and approaches to

teaching are incompatible with the child of color’s cultural background and conditioning, then

academic failure is fostered. Educational equity is a primary goal of multicultural education, and

its achievement requires changes in curriculum, teacher beliefs, teaching styles, and other

personal and institutional changes (Banks 1994, 3-4).

I acknowledge, however, that teachers extend children’s learning by finding curricular

connections between the content areas, and drama is a compatible medium for introducing,

reinforcing, and synthesizing general knowledge. Story drama with ethnic folk literature and

improvisation with contemporary themes integrates the social studies, language arts and, of

course, drama. The study of a folktale and its related components (ethnic origin, motifs,

characters, symbolic meanings, etc.) provide opportunities for both historic and contemporary

interpretations of a culture’s worldview. Exploration of current social issues enhances a child’s

understanding of daily life and the individual contributions to the communities to which he or

she belongs. The session designs in this book relate to the following list of performance

objectives (adapted from the Social Studies, Language Arts, Literature, and Theatre standards of

the Arizona Department of Education):

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LANGUAGE ARTS
SOCIAL STUDIES DRAMA AND LITERATURE
 locate countries and  portray a variety of  relate literature to
continents on a map or characters personal experiences
globe
 use dialogue to tell the  compare/contrast
 describe a region’s story through literary works
unique civilizations improvisation  participate in group
and cultural identities discussion
 develop risk taking
 retell stories to describe skills for improvisation  write in a variety of
past events expressive forms

 recreate past history through enactment

 recognize the relationships between events and
people
 retell personal events to show an understanding of
how history is the story of events, people, and
places in the past
 describe how people in a community work together
to achieve common goals

 analyze how a character’s traits influence that

character’s actions
 identify elements of a story (setting, character,
theme, etc.)
 retell or re-enact a story, placing the events in
correct sequence
 select language appropriate to the context (e.g.,
character, historic period)
 discuss universal themes in a story
 develop critical thinking and group problem solving skills
 develop inquiry and research skills
 describe how stories and conflicts are related to daily life
 analyze and evaluate multiple perspectives of the same event
 explore the human condition of past and present cultures through their history,
geography, social climate, arts, and literature
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School programs exploring brain-based learning (Wolfe, 2001), the multiple intelligences

(Gardner, 1999; Stephanakis, 2002), emotional intelligence (Goleman, 1995; Mortiboys, 2005),

integrated/interdisciplinary approaches to curricula (Cornett, 2007), or alternative/authentic

methods of assessment (Janesick, 2006), may find story drama and improvisation compatible

with their goals and an exciting, new approach to instruction. The accompanying session designs

are written for beginning teachers of drama and include a detailed outline of activities and

suggested directions for student players. Follow-up activities in social studies and language

arts/literature are provided after each plan in Part One. Teachers can enhance learning in one or

more subject areas with their own classrooms as they find appropriate.

Changing Perspectives on Multicultural Education

In the latter part of the twentieth century, several prominent multicultural and multiethnic

education texts profiled general characteristics of children of color from selected backgrounds.

The goal was to help teachers (predominantly white, female, and middle class) better understand

these children and to change mainstream curricula, instructional practices, and assessment

strategies to accommodate the needs of diverse classroom populations. The original edition of

Drama of Color adopted this pedagogical approach and, in good faith, provided readers with a

chapter of specific recommendations for improvisational work with children of color (for

example, “Verbal improvisation may be influenced by the Native American child’s speech and

communication patterns—delayed responses to auditory messages, speaking at a softer and

slower rate, and less interjection during conversation”). But as educational research and

multicultural studies evolved into the twenty-first century, such generalizations from “recipe

lists” of ethnic behaviors were misleading and led to stereotypical teacher beliefs about children
 16

of color. More damagingly, they led to misperceptions of deficits in these children who were

diagnosed through “needs assessments” when they should have been administered “assets

inventories.” Empirical studies in education that profile general characteristics of selected ethnic

groups still continue (Tyler et al., 2008), but these are now directed toward a group’s positive

and unique cultural values and their implications for successful classroom pedagogy and

practice.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, educational equity, ethnicity, immigration

status, and diverse language backgrounds are the issues that surge to the forefront in most school

classrooms. Approximately 25% of the U.S. public school population consists of children of

Hispanic descent, and 75% of those children live in homes where Spanish is the primary spoken

language. A child’s social class—i.e., poverty—was formerly and mistakenly perceived as a

critical variable that influenced and thus lessened the quality of a child’s educational

experiences. Selected teachers may have been inadvertently taught to “dumb down” the

curriculum for what they believed were students with limited learning abilities. Limited

resources do indeed affect a school’s available materials and infrastructure, but those problems

speak to systemic issues and are not valid indicators or predictors of a child’s educational

potential and success, regardless of socioeconomic class. Award-winning elementary educator

Rafe Esquith and educational researcher Eugene Garcia promote that what children of color as

young as third grade need now is more, not less, experience in complex literary text analysis—to

understand and comprehend the “hows” and “whys” of what they read.

Also contested at the beginning of the twenty-first century among anthropologists is the

concept of race and whether it is socially constructed or biologically rooted. And, there is still no

perfect or universally accepted definition of culture that satisfies scholars and practitioners from
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a variety of academic disciplines in education and the social sciences. Nevertheless, drama

practitioner Janinka Greenwood advises that facilitators do their “homework” about the cross-

cultural groups with whom they work and then to take a risk:

The facilitator needs to have real and confident knowledge, not only of spoken language

but also of complex cultural semiotics that accompany speech and action. The drama

needs time to work through potential clashes in conceptualization and values. Above all,

the facilitator needs to be responsive to the reactions of participants. The drama will

probably not justify itself. Participants need opportunities to make sense, in their own

personal and cultural terms, of what is happening in the work. (2006, p. 315)

In other words, to teach multiculturally is to teach multidimensionally.

The revised edition of Drama of Color does not assume to offer any foolproof

prescriptions or magic solutions for working effectively with diverse classrooms of children. It’s

difficult to reach consensus these days, and even more difficult to profile the “typical” classroom

and “general” ways children of any color will respond to drama. Mary J. Kelly, an African

American artist, advises teachers to “value the child as an individual and the culture as a whole.”

And that suggests that we explore what makes each one of us unique and what makes each one

of us similar to others. As I noted in my book on qualitative research (Saldaña, 2003), the goal of

analyzing data from diverse participant perspectives is to acknowledge the contradictions and to

discover to what all the differences have in common.

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The Unique and the Universal

Our differences make us unique; they are what give us individual identity. Exploring the

unique elements in these stories and thematic sessions enhances ethnic and community literacy

and may enable children to see things from others’ points of view. The session design for Taro

and the Magic Fish introduces children to the mie and kata from the Japanese Kabuki theatre.

The Warning encourages players to reflect on the crisis faced by the Laguna Pueblo Indians

when Spanish explorers arrived on the continent. The Weeping Woman (La llorona), the most

well-known folktale to southwestern Mexican Americans, is surprisingly unknown to many non-

Hispanics. A discussion of why the story is so popular among the culture reveals much about the

ethos of its people. Also, when children of color in the classroom hear stories from their own

cultural backgrounds and explore them improvisationally, relevance and ownership are

established. Noted drama educator and researcher Lorenzo Garcia promotes that literary material

dramatized in the classroom must reflect and speak to its diverse students, otherwise young

people of color may believe, “If drama’s not about me, then maybe it’s not for me.”

But acknowledging the differences is just one facet of multicultural education. Former

elementary school educator Colleen Koester worked with a broad ethnic mix in her classroom,

and observed that each child began the school year with an individual cultural background.

Through conscious efforts by the teacher, the diversity eventually evolved into a unified

classroom culture. She noted, “We can’t possibly share all of the cultural distinctions of the

people that we teach. We all come from a place, and we’re meeting people coming from other

places, and somehow the goal is to come together and find our bonds.” Differences are still

acknowledged and celebrated as unique, but the universals—connections that link us together as

human beings—are purposefully sought. Similarity of color or gender isn’t necessarily an

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indicator of commonality. And sharing the same classroom space for several hours a day isn’t

necessarily an indicator of community.

Helping children find the universals may also help them find personal relevance and

meaning in the stories—reference points that link the literature of the past with the contemporary

self. The Ram in the Chile Patch is more than just a simple formula tale of a ram that takes over a

boy’s chile patch by force. It is a tale of bullies who confront us in the schoolyard. It is a tale of

gangs who take over our turf. It is a tale of how the little can overcome the big with simple and

strategic ingenuity. Fatima and the Snake reminds us that there is danger in disguise—not just

for adults, but for children as well; and not just in the fictional past, but in our present reality. I

learned from elementary educator Gideon Twigg three of the most intriguing questions to ask

children about a character during the drama process: “What does this character have to worry

about?” “What kind of trouble is this character in?” and “How are you the same as this

character?”

Through universals we can also help children make connections from one thing to

another—reference points that connect the self with others. The story of Why Bears Have Short

Tails is found not only among the Diné (Navajo), but also among the Cherokee and in the

folklore of Norway. How did this same story come to exist in these diverse cultures? What was

the route of transmission, if any? What are the connections? These are the questions whose

answers provide our common bonds.

Finally, each character in every story and improvisation has emotions, advocated by

drama practitioners as the most basic universal of all. Through literature and thematic

exploration, students can experience and reflect on the universal human condition through the

emotions the characters undergo, possibly enhancing empathy for them. If a child has
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experienced despair, anxiety, belittlement, humiliation, or anger, then he or she may find

personal relevance and meaning in the character of the Little Boy in The Ram in the Chile Patch

or as a target of oppression in Bullies. If a child wishes to feel powerful and in control, then

relevance and meaning may be found in portraying a soldier from Taro and the Magic Fish or a

wealthy bunny from The Flops and the Uprights. And if the child finds joy and mischievous

delight in trickery or the absurd, then a connection is made with Why Bears Have Short Tails,

Little Eight John, and I (Won’t) Pledge Allegiance.

Establish a secure environment where respect for all children is given, where students

feel free to take creative risks, and are motivated to learn both the differences and similarities

between their own culture and another’s. Help children discover what makes each one of us

unique, then find the universals to establish a community with common bonds.

Closure

The opportunity for all children to explore drama in the schools is readily available. But

these opportunities will be provided only if administrative support for the arts is evident, and if

the individual classroom teacher integrates these experiences into her curriculum. A teacher

colleague shared that he finds classroom drama a financially accessible art form because the cost

of producing it is minimal. “Sets and costumes cost money. But imagination and creativity—

those are free, in ample supply, and donated willingly by my children.”

Another friend of mine observed, “People are so easily offended these days.” The most

common concern I’ve heard from pre- and in-service teachers regarding the original edition of

Drama of Color was that some of the stories are too violent. As an unspoken response I thought

to myself, “Too violent? Have you seen what children are watching on television these days? Are
 21

you aware of the types of video games they’re playing?” Compared to the actual and unfortunate

atrocities in our world today, these stories and themes are moderately tame. No doubt there will

be something in this book that offends someone, whether it be a particular story selected for the

anthology, a suggested theme for improvisational activity, a philosophical point of view, or even

an omission. “Political correctness” is either an admirable goal or the stifling of free speech,

depending on your perspective. Since it’s difficult to reach consensus these days, I encourage

you to adapt and experiment with this collection of signature session designs, and to ultimately

choose what works best for you and your own teaching contexts.
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Chapter 1

Facilitating Drama in the Classroom

This chapter is structured as a series of questions and responses on how story drama and

improvisation can be facilitated with children in the elementary and middle school classrooms.

Teachers who continuously dramatize material will eventually discover their own strategies and

methods that best suit them and their students. The Selected Bibliography of titles on drama

education also provides additional resources for you to read and integrate into your own practice.

By no means are the session designs’ recommendations the only way or even necessarily

the best way to plan and facilitate drama. They are simply documentation of the methods I have

used in my own approaches to the stories and themes. Teachers who select other pieces of

folklore, contemporary literature for youth, or current themes can use these session designs as

models for planning and facilitating their own work. Also note that I use session design instead

of the more traditional term “lesson plan.” The latter, still prominent in education today, suggests

a regimented, instructional agenda predetermined by the teacher. Effective drama also relies on

careful planning by its facilitator, but session design suggests a more creative and fluid approach

both before and during a significant artistic event in the classroom.

Time and Space

How much time will it take to facilitate a drama session with my class?

A typical classroom drama session can range anywhere from thirty to sixty minutes,

depending on the way the teacher designs and facilitates the work. The grade level of children,
 23

and their ability to sustain focused attention on the material, should also be considered. A

maximum of thirty minutes for kindergarten through second grade is suggested; forty-five

minutes for third through fourth grades; and one hour for fifth through eighth grades. These

maximum time blocks are arbitrary. Some primary aged children, if engaged with the material

and the activities, can sustain interest for at least one hour.

If your class schedule permits no more than thirty minutes for drama, the session can be

designed and facilitated to fit the available time. Working under a time constraint sometimes

makes the session more “efficient” by motivating you to select the true essence of the story to

dramatize or idea to improvise. But never feel compelled to rush through material for the sake of

staying on schedule. A drama can be explored over two or more separate sessions if student

interest is sustained.

The average school day is a busy one. The daily schedule is usually regimented into

specific time blocks for specific content and activities. There is a lot of material to be covered by

a teacher and her students, especially in these unfortunate days of high-stakes testing. So how

can drama as “one more thing” be squeezed into the school day? The Introduction noted how

story drama with folklore relates to such curricular areas as social studies and language arts.

Time already scheduled for these subjects can include story drama as a novel teaching strategy to

explore academic material in a participatory and experiential manner. Teachers who value drama

personally or believe the art form offers intrinsic benefits for their children are more likely to

make drama a separate subject during the school day.

When is the best time during the school day to facilitate a drama session?

From my experience, the mid-morning hours of the school day are best for drama
 24

because that is when children tend to be most alert—a quality essential for the concentration

demands of improvisation. If drama is to be integrated with a regularly scheduled subject area

later in the school day (such as social studies), facilitating the session during that period is fine.

A time block immediately after an afternoon recess also works well for some groups; the

physical energies of children have had some release and their focus can be more easily

redirected. Drama, or any art for that matter, should not be substituted for the student’s recess

period. Resentment is observed in children, and their motivation for effective work is lessened.

If appropriate and as you feel comfortable, the “teachable moment” that occurs

spontaneously during a class day is worth pursuing with drama. This moment occurs when the

class’s interest in a particular topic is so strong that it deserves deeper exploration. If the content

of these stories or themes is relevant to a teachable moment, by all means pursue them.

Teachers often have no choice in deciding when their classes go to lunch, the media

center, school assemblies, or other special programs. They may meet concurrently with other

classes for reading groups or “buddy” programs during specific time periods. Bad weather or

half-day in-service programs may set an alternative schedule in motion. Nevertheless, when does

a drama session get scheduled? Realistically, whenever it’s possible and convenient.

How often should drama be conducted with my class?

In the best of all possible worlds, drama everyday should be the norm. In the real world, a

minimum of two drama sessions per week is acceptable. The teacher pursuing growth in

children’s dramatic skills may observe little change if drama is conducted only once a week. And

a drama “unit” pursued over one week’s time for the entire school year does little to develop

children’s skills in the art form. A sense of continuity and importance are established for children
 25

if sessions occur on regularly scheduled days and times, and the drama concepts and skills taught

in the sessions are reinforced when distributed throughout the year. Continued practice does

indeed lead to enhanced nonverbal and verbal expression in drama, along with such outcomes as

literacy skills (e.g., enhanced vocabulary, oral language development, enthusiasm and ideas for

writing), and person perception (e.g., perspective taking, social cognition, empathy) (Wagner,

1998). Continued practice, particularly with story drama, also develops such outcomes as

narrative comprehension and narrative production through interpersonal and intrapersonal

cognitive experiences, along with the exercising of mental imagery and thus development of the

imagination (Mages, 2006).

My classroom is small. How much space will I need for facilitating drama?

A lack of adequate space for drama is the one concern expressed most often by teachers.

Movement experiences appropriate for thirty children in a standard classroom space with desks,

tables, and chairs are obviously limited. But there are a few strategies that can be employed.

In primary level classrooms, an open space in the corner of the room is sometimes

available in addition to the desk or table areas. Not only is this effective for storytelling, it is also

suitable for some drama work. Depending on the physical activity needed in the improvisation,

children can work in the aisles of their room. If possible—and it almost always is—desks, chairs,

and tables can be pushed to the walls of the classroom to create a larger center space for

working. Rather than a general call for everyone to “Push back the desks,” ask children to

“Prepare the room for drama” and have students rearrange furniture a row or section at a time.

Another alternative is to seek available spaces within the school. Sometimes an empty

classroom with no furniture is available. By arrangement, the teacher can use an open area of the
 26

library, media center, music room, or multipurpose room when not in use. Though cafeterias,

gyms, multipurpose spaces, and outdoor playgrounds are available, these spaces are too large,

noisy, and distracting for young people trying to concentrate. An auditorium stage defeats the

purpose of informal work since the focus is on the process of creating, rather than on a finished

product for performance. Young children may misunderstand the ideas guiding improvisational

drama if their working space is a theatre.

There is a drawback to using a larger alternative space in the school. A different space

may create more classroom management problems for the teacher. But if the same guidelines

practiced in the classroom are observed in the alternate space, then children can maintain some

continuity to their ways of working.

Dramatizing a Story and Improvising with a Theme

How do I plan and prepare for a drama session?

The kind of planning and preparation you undertake for a drama session depends on your

particular objectives for the session. Is the purpose to enhance drama skills? To enhance ethnic

literacy? To develop community skills such as interpersonal support? When your particular

objectives have been clarified, then other decisions can follow.

For example, if one of your objectives is to introduce your students to Hispanic culture in

America, your research into the subject may include such topics as demographics, diversity of

nationalities, and immigration issues. The folklore of the culture is just one of several areas for

exploration, and dramatization of that literature is just one of several approaches to multicultural

and drama education. As you read folklore from a particular culture or ethnic group for
 27

classroom use, find selections that appeal to you. This will increase your own motivation for

preparing and facilitating its dramatization with your students.

You can choose to read the story aloud from a text, whether in a picture book format or

from an anthology of folk literature. But the most engaging practice is to share the material

through the oral tradition. There are several excellent texts that address methods of storytelling

(see the Selected Bibliography), and special considerations as they relate to story drama will be

explained later.

If the story or theme you’ve selected lends itself to dramatization—that is, if the action of

the characters can be interpreted physically, verbally, or both, and provides engaging activity—

brainstorm ideas for how it might be dramatized with your children. Each session design in this

book is organized into three major categories:

1. Framing: introductory activities to focus the children’s attention on the content of the

drama and to “mind set” them with a particular mood, line of inquiry, etc. Afterwards,

present the idea or share the story with children by reading aloud or retelling the

selection with any changes necessary for its dramatization.

2. Process: enactment of the story or idea by the students. At times, the teacher will play

a role in the drama to enhance the playing by children. At other times you will

facilitate the children’s improvisational work. There are many options available to the

teacher and her class for designing the session and the dramatization. More detailed

methods are described below.

3. Reflection and Assessment: contemplation on the ideas explored through the art form.

Provide time for reflection on the work, both from your point of view and the
 28

students’. Since assessment relates to the objectives, discuss the learning or

experiences that took place. Reinforcement of or elaboration on the content can be

conducted through follow-up social studies or language arts activities.

One of the most common problems for teachers new to drama is giving children

inadequate directions for their work. Practice aloud what you would ask or tell students so they

have specific tasks for more effective work. Imagine your class dramatizing the story and

improvising in your classroom space. Also imagine things that could go wrong. If you’re aware

of particular children who may not be engaged with the drama, then your directions can be re-

examined to describe not only what you would like children to do, but also what they are not to

do.

Framing

How does a drama session begin?

Music from the story’s country of origin is an excellent tool for establishing mood. Not

only can the music be played at the beginning of the session, it can also be played softly during

the presentation of the story and dramatization, if appropriate.

Visual materials shown before the story generate participant interest. Artifacts, crafts, and

other objects from the particular culture under study arrest a child’s visual attention. If these

materials are not available, large illustrations or projected images that relate to the content of the

story can be shared. Visual stimuli are particularly helpful for young children, children who have

difficulty with attention and participation, and children still learning the classroom’s primary
 29

language.

Video or DVD excerpts related to the theme of the session also generate intense interest.

The session design for Bullies recommends showing a media clip of young characters in verbal

and physical confrontation to illustrate the problems and tensions inherent with bullying.

Class discussion on a topic related to or suggested by the drama is also appropriate,

particularly if social issues (poverty, sexism, racism, etc.) are themes explored through

improvisation. Thought-provoking questions posed by the facilitator provide more student

involvement with the material than a lecture.

Gaming provides active physical participation, warm-up, and involvement from children.

A theme-related activity, such as the game of “Opposites” before Little Eight John (see Chapter

Five), or “Columbian Hypnosis” before Bullies (See Chapter Seven), may generate enthusiasm

for the session and its content.

The session designs for each drama will describe several strategies for framing

participant interest. Not all ideas have to be employed. Use only enough to capture the children’s

engagement, then proceed to the presentation of the story or theme.

How do I tell a story to children?

Books on storytelling advise how to take personal ownership of a tale and retell it with

effective vocal and physical technique. Most teachers are more effective storytellers than they

believe. Many already read aloud from picture books and novels for their classes. But when it

comes to retelling a story in their own words without a written text, many are reluctant because:

they feel it is easier to read the story from a written text; they feel it would take too much time to

prepare and commit the story to memory; or they feel inadequate as a storyteller.
 30

Professional storytellers advise against memorizing written folktales word-for-word. If

the material is presented by memory, the teller runs the risk of giving an artificial interpretation,

since it is the writer’s and not the teller’s voice that is being heard. There is also a chance that the

storyteller may forget a passage or important point, thus breaking continuity for the presentation.

Though memorization of the entire story is discouraged, key words, phrases, or passages

can be committed to memory, especially at the beginning and ending of the story, for a smooth

and exciting introduction and conclusion to the retelling.

If stories include dialect in written form (e.g., African American stories retold by Virginia

Hamilton), the teacher is advised not to re-create the dialect unless she feels comfortable doing

so. It may also be a matter of whether such attempts at dialect would be culturally insensitive to

children of color in the classroom. Obviously, artificial attempts at a Hispanic dialect by a non-

Hispanic for a Mexican American story might be embarrassing for children from the ethnic

group. When in doubt, use your own natural voice for all narration and dialogue. If a story is

written in a particular dialect, retell the tale in language comfortable for you.

Reading aloud from a book is a literacy behavior some teachers like to model for their

children. If you feel more comfortable reading the stories aloud from this book rather than

retelling them in your own words, I encourage you to do so. Besides, the cultural integrity of

selected stories will be maintained. There is value in hearing authentic tales collected by

anthropologists in the field (e.g., The Ram in the Chile Patch, Why Bears Have Short Tails);

those retold by authors of color (e.g., The Weeping Woman (La llorona), People Who Could

Fly); or those stories whose primary source is a citizen of the country from which it came (e.g.,

The First Monkeys). Reading aloud with expression also serves as good preparatory work for

storytelling without a text.

 31

Process

How is the story or theme dramatized and improvised by the group?

Just as the actor has two tools—a body and voice—dramatization and improvisation by

children can be done in two ways: non-verbally or verbally (or a combination of both). When

you’re planning specific methods of enactment for particular units of the story or theme, consider

whether the action suggested is better dramatized through movement or verbal improvisation or

both (see Two Modes of Dramatic Expression).

 32

TWO MODES OF DRAMATIC EXPRESSION

THE PLAYER’S
TWO MODES

BODY VOICE
NON-VERBAL VERBAL

Movement Verbal Improvisation

Pantomime/Mime Sound and Sound Effects
Images/Tableaux Discussion/Reflection
Gesture/Sign Language Writing (in Role)
Dance Scripted Monologue
Facial Expressions Scripted Dialogue
Protean* Hand Props Reading Aloud
Protean* Costumes Reader’s Theatre
Puppetry/Visual Art Chanting/Singing

* Proteus was a god who could change or transform himself at will. “Protean” refers to an
everyday object that can be transformed—a pencil becomes a magic wand; a large cardboard box
can represent a treasure chest or a boat; a large piece of neutral-colored fabric draped across the
shoulders becomes a cape or robe; etc. This term is borrowed from the Southeast Institute for
Education in Theatre.
 33

Movement: This may include everything from a simple gesture (such as begging),

to a character activity (such as eating vegetables in a garden or weaving a basket), to movement

as a character (such as shaping one’s body into a dog or parrot; moving across the space as a

member of royalty), and even the frozen enactment of action—a tableaux. Movement is used in

dramatization and improvisation expressly for nonverbal communication of action (see

Grandmother Spider Steals the Sun). This method is most suitable for young children. Older

children become more physically and socially self-conscious, and movement activity in front of

peers may be uncomfortable for them at first. If a community of trust has been established,

however, older students will feel free to explore movement and tableaux.

Verbal Improvisation: The spontaneous generation of dialogue is created in role as a

character and uses a scenario rather than scripted lines from a written play. With young children

(grades K-4), the teacher can facilitate and oversee their nonverbal activities without

participating in role. But if verbal improvisation is a key component of the dramatization, then

teacher participation, usually as a character, is essential. The facilitator can ask specific questions

in role, thus eliciting more dialogue from children. Left on their own to improvise, most young

children may be at a loss for words (“I don’t know what to say”). They may also feel the need to

repeat any dialogue word-for-word the way it was shared in the presentation of a story.

Encourage them to develop their own dialogue as long as it is appropriate to the character,

action, and setting.

Children in grades 4-8 may also need the teacher to participate in role when they first

begin dramatization but can be “weaned away” as they become more proficient at verbal

improvisation. Their oral language skills and social development may also permit more small-

group work for improvisation. Leaving them alone to plan their own scenarios and dialogue is a
 34

first step in developing independent work.

When directions for pair or small group verbal improvisation preparation are specific,

children tend to generate more effective work. Though some may perceive the detail as overly

prescriptive, the following is an example of what I model as clear guidelines for participants

working independently on a scene:

“You and your partner have approximately 10 minutes to prepare a 1-minute verbal

improvisation with your scenario. Make sure both of you know who says the first line in

your scene and what it is, and who says the last line and what it is. Don’t just talk about

it, actually get up on your feet and practice it a few times. Use any necessary items or

furniture pieces in the room for your scene, but if the items belong to someone else, make

sure you ask for permission to use those items. The dialogue you create should be

believable for the characters. Your job is not to entertain us; your job is to commit to the

characters in the scene and to understand them. Any questions? All right, go to work.”

After the group has developed a routine for verbal improvisation preparation, the directions can

become more general.

Another comment on giving directions is to acknowledge how the facilitator’s vocal tone

and dynamics can establish desired moods for the session. The directions above may appear dry

and mechanical, but they don’t have to be spoken that way. The facilitator’s voice can motivate

participants if directions are given enthusiastically, encouragingly, evocatively, excitingly,

mysteriously, challengingly, supportively, and so on, as the drama content suggests. Plus, be

conscious of such controlling teacher-directives to players as, “I want you to. . . .” This

preparatory phrase puts more emphasis on the teacher’s wants and needs, rather than on the

children’s participatory involvement. Alternative and more motivating phrases might include:
 35

“It would be exciting, I think, if we explored. . . .”

“I wonder what would happen if . . . ?”

“This might be an opportunity to see how drama can help us understand the character’s

problem.”

Non-verbal and verbal are the two basic modes for dramatic expression, but many

combinations, variations, methods, and techniques are possible with the human body and voice.

Jonothan Neelands and Tony Goode’s Structuring Drama Work (2000) is an excellent handbook

of forms for the drama facilitator’s reference, and many of the session designs in this book

employ their repertory of ideas.

There are only a small number of characters in a story and I have a large number of children

in my class. How do I get everyone involved?

Another way of phrasing this question is, “What are ways children may be grouped to

portray the characters in the story?” (see Sample Casting Structures for Drama)
 36

SAMPLE CASTING STRUCTURES FOR DRAMA

o – Facilitator x – Participants

ENSEMBLE x x x x x
All students play the same character or work x x x x
on the same action simultaneously; the teacher o x x x x x x
sidecoaches and/or plays in role; provides x x x x
maximum participation for all ages x x x x

PAIR PLAYING xx xx xx xx
Each student works with a partner in a two- xx xx xx
character improvisation or scene; pairs work o xx xx xx
simultaneously while the teacher sidecoaches; xx xx
provides maximum participation for all ages xx xxx xx

SPLIT HALF
Students are divided into two large groups with xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
each group playing a particular character or o
taking a “side.” The teacher sidecoaches and/or xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
plays in role

SMALL GROUPS xxx xxxx xxx

Three to five students work together on assigned xxx xxx
units from a story for sharing, or on different ways o xxx xxxx
of interpreting the same idea; the teacher facilitates xxxx xxxxx xxx
and/or plays in role; for third grade and up xxx xxxx

INDIVIDUAL ROLES x xx xx
Each student plays a specific character from a story x xx x x
with a large number of characters, or a different role o x x xx xxx
in a complex improvisation; the teacher facilitates x xx x
and/or plays in role; for fourth grade and up x x x x

SOLO xxxxxxxx
One student presents improvised or prepared xxxxxxxxx
material to peer observers; the teacher facilitates o xxxxxx x
and/or plays in role; for fifth grade and up xxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx
 37

Ensemble. Ensemble is a term used in this book to describe all children playing the same

character at the same time. For example, a story may have one main character at the beginning

or middle involved in some type of key action (such as Fatima weaving baskets in Fatima and

the Snake). Some stories may ask all children to play the same role through most of the

dramatization, such as Bear in Why Bears Have Short Tails. Each child, whether at a desk or in a

designated part of the room, is doing the same activity under the facilitator’s guidance. This

casting structure is most appropriate for young children because it provides maximum

participation and interest; it allows all children an opportunity to experience a character’s

development or primary action; and it explores all available roles within a story before choosing

a particular character for the rest of the dramatization.

Pair Playing. Each child works with a partner in a private, separate space. Each pair

works simultaneously on some unit of action from the story or theme. This structure is obviously

appropriate for improvisations that features two characters interacting with each other. For

example, one child may be playing a bully while a partner takes on the role of the target (see

Bullies in Chapter Seven). Each pair within the class improvises simultaneously, but for the sake

of time and interest, each pair’s work is usually not presented in front of others unless there are a

wide variety of scenes to observe.

Split-Half. Half of the class plays one character simultaneously while the other half takes

on a different role simultaneously. This differs from pair playing because one half serves as

observers while the facilitator works with the other half in the dramatization. For example, in

The First Monkeys, half the class is asked to portray rich nobility while the other half portrays

poor people. Roles are reversed to provide children an opportunity to experience both characters’

perspectives. In Taro and the Magic Fish, half the class portrays underwater creatures while the
 38

other half portrays an army. These two groups also participate simultaneously after observing

each other’s work.

Small Groups of Three to Five. Children are grouped with no more than five participants

to work on a particular unit of action within the story or theme. For example, in a class of thirty

children, there may be six groups of five children. Each group may be asked to practice a

particular portion of the story to dramatize, or to create a scene about a theme that will be shared

with others. Each group’s work is then presented in either the order that their units occur within

the story (see the session design for Living Newspaper), or randomly if no sequential order is

necessary (see the session design for I (Won’t) Pledge Allegiance). Since several independent

decisions have to be made in small groups, and negotiation skills are needed for group work to

be effective, this structure is better reserved for fourth grade and up. Third graders with some

drama experience in ensemble, pair playing, and split-half playing may be able to work

effectively in small groups.

Since groups of children must work cooperatively for a specific goal in the session,

encouraging or facilitating a mixture of genders and ethnic backgrounds within each group may

help children become more familiar with one another and obtain more positive attitudes toward

one another (Banks 1994, p. 244). Classroom drama is a collaborative art and depends on group

participation to succeed. The opportunities drama provides for developing group dynamics

suggest that the art form can serve as a vehicle for enhancing interethnic and gender relations.

Individual Roles. Each child has a specific role to play in the dramatization of the story.

This casting structure is usually reserved for stories with a large number of characters, for older

groups, and for groups with a substantial amount of drama experience. There is a significant

amount of preparatory planning and organization required for the distribution of roles among the
 39

class. The session design for Rabies utilizes individual roles, though each character has a varying

amount of dialogue to carry in the drama.

Solo. One child has a specific character to portray in front of other children serving as

observers. In The Weeping Woman (La llorona), one optional unit asks a child to portray the

character Luisa realizing the tragedy of the crime she has just committed. Personal Narrative

Monologues develops an individual’s autobiographical story for retelling in front of peers. This

type of “spotlighting” should be reserved for upper grade levels, for classes with a strong sense

of community, or for children with some experience in drama and risk-taking.

These are just six options for organizing children and distributing roles. The number of

characters in a story or unit of action may indicate which method is more appropriate. And since

characters enter and exit the action of the story, more than one casting structure can be employed

within a single session design. The children’s grade level and their amount of drama experience

may also determine which casting structures are used. Ensemble, pair playing, and split-half

playing are the easiest. Small groups of three to five, individual roles, and solo are more difficult

for younger or inexperienced children and make more facilitation demands on the teacher.

Facilitators should provide all children the opportunity to portray central characters,

regardless of gender or ethnic background. Utilizing stories with females in prominent roles

(e.g., The Weeping Woman (La llorona), Fatima and the Snake) will also lend inclusion to the

session. In formal theatre production, “nontraditional” or “color-blind” casting is a strategy in

current practice by many companies. Roles for a play are not necessarily cast according to the

character’s ethnicity or gender, but according to the sole criterion of the best actor for the role

(unless, of course, the play specifies that a character belongs to a particular gender or ethnic

group and should be cast accordingly). In story drama, this same principle might be followed,
 40

depending on the cultural and ethnic composition of children in each classroom. If there is one

Mexican American girl in the class, should she and she alone be given the opportunity to portray

the role of Luisa in The Weeping Woman (la llorona)? Not necessarily. If that child volunteers

for the role and appears eager to portray her, she could certainly be cast as Luisa. But if

educational equality and ethnic literacy are goals for a school program, shouldn’t any non-

Hispanic in the class, including a boy, be eligible for the role and possibly gain a new

perspective by portraying her? Most certainly. But couldn’t that Mexican American girl gain

confidence in her ability as a player if she portrays the role effectively? Perhaps. But what if her

cultural upbringing inhibits her from being so overt in front of a group? Then casting her in the

role may do more harm than good. But what if the teacher feels that her portrayal of this role

may enhance her self-esteem and develop more effective oral language skills? Then cast her.

As you can see, it’s difficult to prescribe any formulas or guidelines for casting. There are

multiple factors to consider, as outlined above. Award-winning drama specialist Betsy Quinn

notes that upper elementary and middle school students need preparatory explanations from the

teacher about the purposes of and policies for nontraditional casting in classroom drama. Group

acceptance of a student’s voluntary choice to portray any character is encouraged, especially

when a boy wishes to play a female role, or when white students volunteer to portray such

characters as African American slaves. Teachers are encouraged to use their own discretion and

judgment when casting children of any color for specific characters

How do I decide which child plays a particular role?

Depending on the way the distribution of roles is designed, children may volunteer to

play a particular role; they may be assigned a particular role by the facilitator; or within a small
 41

group, they may distribute the roles among themselves.

When volunteers are selected to play particular characters, the facilitator can readily

identify which children may have an interest for certain roles. But not all those who volunteer

may be proficient at playing. There is also disappointment expressed by the young if a certain

child did not get selected for a role. Those who do not volunteer may be the ones who could

benefit most from playing a particular character. As children are given more experience with

story drama, some may begin anticipating which role they would like to portray as the story is

told by the facilitator. Children may make their preferences overtly known as soon as the story is

over (and sometimes during the storytelling). The enthusiasm is refreshing but scattered, and the

teacher should make certain that the distribution of roles is handled strategically but fairly. After

being “mobbed” by children immediately after I finished telling a story, I began saying, “I’m

going to choose people who are sitting quietly with their hands raised for the roles.” Though it

was a blatantly manipulative tactic, they accommodated me quickly.

When a facilitator assigns a child a particular role, it is presented as an offer. The child

should be given the option to turn down a role; asking a child to play a particular character with

whom there is no interest may be detrimental to the dramatization. The teacher can offer the role

to a child who is excited about the character, thereby ensuring a more effective playing; or to a

child whom the teacher feels can benefit from playing a particular role. Rather than a generic

assignment such as, “Linda, you be the general from the opposing army,” you might rephrase the

invitation: “Linda, I’d like to see how you portray the general from the opposing army when you

confront Taro by the seashore. Are you willing to try that role?”

When children are placed in small groups of three to five, the facilitator may elect to have

children within the group distribute the roles among themselves. This is certainly an opportunity
 42

for group decision-making and consensus. But some conflicts could arise within a group over

“who plays what” if the group is not mature enough or has not had sufficient experience in group

process skills. (I have observed some small groups of boys play “Rock, Paper, Scissors” to

determine who would play which role.) Anticipate the problems that may arise and collectively

discuss how a group can go about distributing the roles equitably, democratically, and agreeably.

What role do I as the facilitator play in a drama session?

The teacher is always a facilitator of the session. She guides children through the process

of creating drama by organizing the decisions made both before and during the playing. The

basic tasks are no different than the teacher’s functions during any other subject taught in the

classroom: manage the session, present new information, guide the activities, lead a discussion,

ask rich questions, etc.

Sidecoaching, a term that refers to the facilitator offering verbal prompting or directions

to students as they dramatize and improvise, is a method of further guiding and enhancing

children’s work. For example, sidecoaching may mean offering directives as children pantomime

a particular activity, as in Fatima and the Snake:

“Pick up a long stick and show that you’re digging the earth for yams. Now try to

show through your face and body that it’s a very hot day, and you’d rather be

playing in the shade than working in the sun.”

Sidecoaching may also include suggestions, verbal encouragement, and assessment as children

are working:

“Wiping your forehead is a good way to show that you’re hot. What other things

can you do to cool down?”

 43

Teacher in role, or portraying a character from the story in the dramatization or a

character suggested by a theme, is important when the drama calls for facilitation of the session

as an active player with children. Playing a role is particularly encouraged when working with

younger children or novices to drama; when student involvement tends to be hesitant; and when

verbal improvisation is a critical component of the drama. Teachers in role assume selected

characters not because children won’t be able to portray them, but because children will become

more actively engaged with the playing when their own characters interact with the facilitator’s.

Children new to drama or those learning the primary language used in the classroom may feel

awkward and uncertain with dramatic tasks if left on their own to create characters and dialogue.

But when the teacher as a character asks questions in role and facilitates verbal improvisation,

children are provided assistance with expressing through language. With young children it is

particularly important for the teacher to state when she is and is not in role: “I’m going to play

the Fox now,” or “I’m not playing the Fox anymore, I’m me.”

Teachers new to drama are no different than some children in one regard: portraying a

character is sometimes perceived as difficult. I do not believe that teacher hesitancy is due to her

reluctance to participate or to appear foolish or childish in front of her students. As researcher

Peter Wright (1999) discovered from surveying his pre-service teachers, “the thought of doing

drama scares me to death.” Though teachers are not always able to articulate the real reasons for

their own anxiety, their discomfort may be rooted in a mistaken assumption: “I can’t act.” I reply

to that, “It doesn’t matter, because in drama, you aren’t ‘acting’ anyway. You’re exploring, or

you’re working, or you’re improvising, or you’re assuming a role in an informal classroom

drama, which is much different than performing on a stage.”

If you read to your children from picture books or novels, you might have played a role
 44

when you gave a character’s dialogue a little more feeling when you became personally involved

with the material. Teachers also adopt a personality in front of their classes that is much different

from the personalities they display with adult peers and family members. Technically, you’re

playing a role each day in your classroom, and you’re improvising every day with your students.

I’ve heard it reported in teacher education workshops that a teacher makes approximately two

hundred decisions of one kind or another each hour in the classroom—and I believe that number

exponentially increases for the facilitator of dramatic improvisation. The flexibility essential for

classroom instruction develops the ability to change and adapt at a moment’s notice. The ability

to think on your feet is essential to improvisation and a skill already possessed by most teachers

(Sawyer, 2004).

Do we dramatize the story or improvise the theme all at once, or one part at the time?

For most dramas it is helpful to divide the material into sections or units. Playing an

entire story nonstop without adequate preparation and planning invites disaster. By dramatizing

or improvising one or more units at a time, the players will be able to focus their creative

energies on the action with more detail. A unit playing can be determined using the following

guidelines: a major change in time or setting, the introduction of new characters, a new sequence

of action, or a different way to improvise and explore a theme. In the session design for The

Weeping Woman (La llorona), each unit of the story is dramatized for more detailed

development of characters and dialogue. Character work is first explored with all children

portraying Luisa in ensemble. The next series of units dramatize the entire story in small groups,

with each one responsible for developing their own portion of the tale. Assessment of the

players’ work after each unit also assists with the process of character development and deeper
 45

reflection on the material.

A complete playing is dramatizing a story from beginning to end without stopping. This

approach is strongly recommended after a story has been explored through unit playing first.

Once children have practiced and embellished each unit, the entire story can be dramatized with

minor prompting from the facilitator. Teachers are encouraged to walk children through the

action before putting all the units together. In the session designs for The Warning, The Ten

Farmers, and Rabies, the improvisation continues nonstop (if possible) in role to work toward a

climactic community decision.

Replaying a dramatization is another option if interest is sustained; if a different way of

dramatizing or improvising the action is explored; if assessment determines that children may

benefit from another playing by improving work in a particular area; or if children are rotated to

play different roles. Available time is the determining factor in whether a replaying is conducted

or not. But if student engagement is high, replaying a drama is encouraged—as long as children

continue to commit to the action and concentrate on their work.

The session designs for The Warning, The Ten Farmers, and Rabies are termed holistic or

process drama. Children are thrust into the dramatization of the story’s primary action without

presenting the story first. It is a method of allowing the action to unfold and taking the story in

directions determined by the children. The stories are used as springboards for exploration of

their themes, rather than dramatization of their story lines. The session designs themselves will

provide more detail on the holistic structure of dramatization.

How is the work observed by children in the classroom?

Depending on the casting methods chosen and the particular dramatization structure,
 46

work can be shared in one of three ways.

Unobserved with full participation means that all children are working simultaneously in

ensemble, pair playing, or individual roles. There is no audience because all children are playing

a role and involved with the dramatization or improvisation in some way.

Observed in an ordered sequence usually refers to small-group playing. In Grandmother

Spider Steals the Sun and Living Newspaper, for example, the entire class is divided into small

groups, with each group developing a particular unit of the story. Each group then shares its

work in front of the others in the order the units appear in the story, logically providing a

beginning, middle, and end to the dramatization.

Observed in a random selection generally refers to small-group work. In I (Won’t) Pledge

Allegiance, each group is asked to develop an improvised scene based on the possible characters

involved with the theme’s conflict. But the order in which each group shares is not critical, since

there is no linear format they must follow. Each group’s work stands independently from the

others.

Reflection and Assessment

What do I look for in the children’s work?

Assessment, of course, depends on the objectives established from the beginning. Each

teacher may have her own particular agenda for student achievement in such areas as drama

concepts and skills (e.g., oral fluency in verbal improvisation, sustaining a character, recall of

story line); personal and interpersonal behaviors (e.g., concentration on the task, volunteering for

a role, cooperation in a group); or related concepts and skills in social studies or language
 47

arts/literature (e.g., ethnic literacy, recognition of theme, identification of protagonist and

antagonist). Whatever the focus or purpose of the drama, assessment—which includes student

reflection—is an essential part of the creative experience.

One elementary school teacher I interviewed found no purpose for documenting

children’s dramatic progress in written form: “If it’s not for grade, why bother?” Assessment

does not necessarily mean that checklists must be used to tally points for a cumulative letter

grade for children’s work in drama. But as that same teacher put it, reflection on the work will

“cement the knowledge” gained from the experience. The following strategies are some

recommendations for assessment.

The teacher as assessment instrument for drama provides personal perspectives to

children on their work. After the session, personal observations are offered on what the facilitator

saw and heard—effective work and work that could be developed in the future. Rather than

assess a child’s playing with an overall “Good,” point out specifics that made the child’s work

effective, such as “When you played the Magic Fish you shaped your body in a very unique way

to create an underwater creature,” or “Your dialogue flowed very well. I couldn’t hear any

hesitation in your voice—you were very confident with what your character needed to say.”

Continual verbal and nonverbal praise go a long way in motivating student work in drama.

Preparatory encouragement before an activity begins, sidecoaching during the playing with

positive reinforcement, and assessment of effective work after the dramatization, frame the

session with a supportive atmosphere.

Children should also be given the opportunity for self-assessment. Asking what players

enjoyed most about the session is a simple diagnostic for gathering positive experiences. But

children’s self-assessment can go further. Asking what players enjoyed or found effective about
 48

other players’ work begins the aesthetic response process. Once players have an understanding of

the challenges posed by improvisation, they may also begin to examine which portions of a story

or theme were difficult to enact, or which characters were difficult to portray—and why.

Asking players to reflect on alternative choices for the dramatization is another exercise

in enhancing critical thinking skills. Such questions might be, “If we were to replay the story

again, what might we do differently to make our work even more effective?” “When we

improvised this unit of the theme, we had a problem [specify: overlapping dialogue, loss of

concentration, etc.]. What could we do to solve the problem if we replay the drama?” “What part

of the story was most important and how can that be emphasized through another

dramatization?”

A student reflective journal for drama may provide children the opportunity not only to

exercise writing skills but also to privately voice their experiences as players. Among

practitioners, the perceived value of a written journal as an assessment instrument for drama is

mixed, but some teachers advocate its usefulness as a means of gathering individual student

assessment—a procedure difficult to pursue during whole class work.

Reflection on the issues explored in the drama is one of the most critical facets of artistic

assessment. Session designs such as Bullies, The Flops and the Uprights, and Living Newspaper

explore contemporary, complex social themes and thus merit a discussion on how these issues

impacts oneself and one’s communities. Teachers should not feel reluctant to ask tough

questions, but they should also work with students to generate tough answers.

Visual art work created by young children after the session may extend the creative and

artistic side of drama even further. Projects or content related to the cultural origin of the stories

are most appropriate. One drama practitioner teaches fundamentals of costume design to her
 49

children, and post-session art work focuses on the possible clothing and accessories that might be

worn by selected characters if the story were to be formally mounted as a theatre production. She

also finds art projects an effective means of reflection after drama since some of her non-English

speaking children cannot participate fully in discussion or write adequately in the language for a

journal entry.

Videotaping sessions for viewing by the children and for facilitator review may be

helpful if the objectives relate to the development of drama skills. Videotape may also be useful

for the teacher to assess her own facilitation of the drama, to have a more permanent record of

children’s work, or to research some component of classroom drama. Some classes find that the

video camera distracts and inhibits participation. Others find it a common piece of equipment in

our digital, multimedia age and take no notice of it. Some cultures or religions may object to

videotaping, and in some schools parental permission may be required to record children’s

images on tape.

Whether assessment in drama is rooted in state curricula or national standards, teachers

should examine if objectives, expectancies, etc., may be Eurocentric or incompatible with the

learning styles and everyday realities of children of color, particularly those whose primary

language is not that of the classroom. Standards for assessment exist as admirable goals for

drama programs, but if teachers maintain other agendas for their work, such as enhancing ethnic

literacy or building community, then assessment should focus on those related objectives.

Classroom Management

I’ve tried drama in my classroom, but some children cannot focus and become disruptive.
 50

What are some ways to manage the session?

Physical/spatial methods. Some teachers are reluctant to rearrange the desks, chairs, and

tables in their classrooms to provide adequate space for drama. Keeping the environment intact

helps establish a sense of security and “control” for them. Depending on the activity, some

dramas can be played easily with the desks and chairs in their regular places. Children working

while seated, standing next to their desks, or playing in the aisleways are other possibilities. In

some primary-level classrooms, an open area is provided for storytelling and other whole class

activities; this, too, provides a moderate amount of space for drama.

Eventually, teachers and children can develop a routine to “Prepare the room for drama”

by rearranging the desks, chairs, and tables to provide as much space as possible for more

physical activities. A facilitator’s call for “Circle center” or “Let’s come to community” means

all participants gather together standing in a circle in the center of the room. As long as children

can be seated on the floor in a circle or in an oval with adequate space between them, there is

enough room for drama.

Establish boundaries where children can and cannot work: “As you move around the

space as the Snake, stay away from under the desks and tables and work in the center area only.”

It is also worth spending time teaching children how to find their own space and “work in your

own space—a part of the room where you can stand in the middle or at the sides so that no one

will disturb you.” This will be utilized primarily for ensemble playing.

Also spend time teaching children how to move in slow motion. References to the

television and film effect, or modeling by the teacher, will help children grasp the idea. If the

teacher feels a planned activity has the potential for becoming too frenetic in “real time,” asking
 51

children to dramatize nonverbal activities in slow motion may prevent some management

problems from occurring.

If the teacher observes one or two individuals not focusing on the work, she can use the

standard techniques of establishing eye contact with children, walking toward them for

proximity, and touching them gently to monitor and acknowledge their inappropriate behavior. If

energies become diffused, there’s nothing wrong with stopping the session to ask children to join

hands “Circle center.” All then drop their hands and sit collectively to discuss the problem and to

negotiate what can be done to enhance engagement with the work.

Areas with too much space such as a multipurpose room, gym, or stage should be

avoided. Unless the teacher and students have developed an effective working relationship where

respect for boundaries is followed, larger spaces may not be as effective as the children’s own

classroom environment.

Oral/Aural Methods. A facilitator’s vocal tone and volume level are perhaps the most

effective means for influencing group dynamics. Some of the best teachers and classroom

managers of children I’ve observed speak in a gentle but confident, medium paced, moderately

soft voice. If motivation or energy in the group is needed, an enthusiastic voice can initiate the

work. If the energies are too high, the facilitator’s reduction of her own vocal volume and rate

can quiet the group. (These are, of course, ideal guidelines; depending on the group and the

teacher, the opposite might hold true.)

Developing a repertory of verbal signals helps the facilitator with directions and

management. Using such words or phrases as “Freeze,” “Relax,” or “Start bringing your work to

a close” after a group activity helps children bring closure to open-ended work. Children can be

taught to listen afterwards for the facilitator’s next set of directions. There is also more
 52

management established when the teacher uses what may seem obvious words for starting

children on their work: “Go” or “Begin.” These provide an impetus for purposeful activity.

Surprisingly, many beginning teachers don’t use these simple words to initiate the children’s

playing after a series of directions.

Sidecoaching can weave management measures with directions. For example, if children

are transforming from human beings to monkeys in The First Monkeys, if a burst of strange

noises from children is anticipated the facilitator might sidecoach, “Start changing your body,

without any sounds, from a human into a monkey; silently, silently, your body changes shape,

and you’re too scared to speak or make a sound.”

Musical instruments, such a small drum and tambourine work for some facilitators, but

they seem to lose their effectiveness with the group after prolonged use. The novelty of

instruments with unique sounds, such as an afuche or vibra-slap, is more useful as sound effects

rather than management devices for enhancing a dramatization.

Recorded music can be used as a signal for children to start and end their work. If the

music is related to the culture under study, or enhances the mood of the playing (e.g., somber,

comical, etc.), so much the better.

Visual Methods. Hand signals that indicate the group is to begin, end, or become quiet for

further instructions may work effectively if the group is fairly focused and responsive to the

facilitator. With more verbal groups, however, hand signals may be useless if children’s energies

become scattered and visual attention is not given to the teacher.

Flicking the room lights on and off can work as an attention signal. But like musical

instruments, the light switch may not be immediately accessible when needed. Dimming the

lights in the room, when appropriate to the session, creates a different environment and motivates
 53

through novelty.

Continually sweeping the playing space with your eyes and sending messages

nonverbally with your face are perhaps the best visual management measures readily available.

My personal method to regain children’s attention is a combination of the verbal and

visual. I call out “Gimme Five” with one hand raised. Children are instructed to end their

conversations, turn toward me, and raise one hand to acknowledge that they’ve heard me. Once

everyone is focused I then say, “Thank you—hands down,” and continue with the session.

It’s difficult to get some children committed to the drama. How can I encourage them to

concentrate on their work?

Despite various techniques and methods for getting children to concentrate, the bottom

line is to ensure that the dramatic material itself is meaningful and relevant. When meaning and

relevance are high, then engagement is enhanced and concentration in the work follows.

During a drama session, I wondered why one child had so much difficulty focusing on

the work after I repeatedly told her to “concentrate”. The answer became obvious when she

asked me, “Mr. Saldaña, what does ‘concentrate’ mean?” Some teachers ask their children to

“focus” or to get “on task” when they need them to concentrate. I use the phrase, “Think about

this and nothing else” as an initial way to get children to understand the concept and affective

behavior of concentrating.

Concentration in drama is enhanced when you provide specific directions for the activity.

Prompts such as “Be a mouse” or “Be sad” are inadequate and will lead to stereotypical work. In

one approach to formal actor training, the actor is taught that one cannot “be” something or “be”

in an emotional state. Instead, the actor is trained to do. Instead of saying, “Be a snake,” a more
 54

direct doing activity might be, “Shape your body as if it were a snake and explore ways you

might move across the space looking for something to eat.” Instead of “being sad,” ask the child

to do things that accompany sadness: “Show how your face and body might look after your pet

parrot has flown away, and walk back to your seat without any fake crying. Really try to focus

on how the character might feel. Go.”

Several of the techniques discussed in this chapter can enhance concentration in the

players. Providing visual stimuli related to the session, such as unique cultural artifacts or a

VHS/DVD clip, can motivate children’s interest in the content. Asking children to close their

eyes during some activities can shut out distractions, but not all children readily volunteer to

close their eyes. Asking children to work in their own space is another technique for enhancing

concentration, but is limited primarily to ensemble playing. Sidecoaching from the facilitator can

enhance the playing by verbally prompting, motivating, supporting, and encouraging children as

they participate.

Throughout this book the words play and work are used interchangeably. But each word

has different connotations for children, and word choice may also have an impact on resulting

concentration. “Let’s play out this story” creates a different frame for the dramatization than

“Let’s work on this story” or “Let’s explore the characters.” The facilitator’s tone and attitude

toward drama can be readily perceived by children. If drama is approached frivolously or as “a

good substitute for recess in winter” (Ritch, 1983), then children will not take the work seriously.

But if the teacher’s tone and attitude reflect a sense of value and purpose for the activity, then

children may be more committed to the tasks.

What are some common problems with verbal work?

No matter what grade level, children will vary in comfort levels when it comes to
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verbally improvising in front of others. Some of the most frequent problems encountered in

verbal improvisation stem from three causes:

The shy or inhibited child’s participation can be minimal or nonexistent. Facilitators can

encourage their participation through the use of narrow questions that solicit “yes,” “no,” or

other one-word responses leading to more complex answers through broad, open-ended

questioning techniques. Forcing the child to respond, or waiting an uncomfortable length of time

for the child to respond, may be detrimental to future participation. But for English language

learning children, the pause a teacher gives and the patience she demonstrates after her question

may be essential for ensuring participation.

Awkward group improvisation. When small groups are asked to develop an improvisation

there may be only a few who initiate dialogue and carry the scene. In some groups there may be

an erratic flow to the dialogue and hesitancy or uncertainty from some of its members. This may

not necessarily indicate that children are incapable of improvisation. It may be more indicative of

a weak or vague improvisation scenario they were asked to develop. I’ve observed that when I

ask children to develop a specific line that begins their improvisation, and a specific line that

ends it, they are generally able to verbalize most of what happens in-between.

Unconventional or inappropriate responses. The child who goes for a “quick laugh”

from others with a facetious response contributes to a disruptive atmosphere. Facilitators have

several options depending on what they feel is most appropriate at the time: stopping the session

to discuss the student’s believability and commitment; or encouraging the student to rephrase the

response in a more appropriate manner.

Some children may respond with an anachronism during a session. In a dramatization of

Taro and the Magic Fish, a story set during one of Japan’s early dynasties, when the underwater
 56

creatures appeared one of the children as a soldier in the army shouted “Sushi!”, causing other

children to laugh. That comment merited the stopping of the action to discuss the need to stay

true to the dignity of the tale. During the assessment that followed, I asked players about the

appropriateness of that response. Historic setting was forgotten for the moment (and was a

difficult concept for the child to grasp in the first place). We discussed how anachronisms might

inadvertently enter verbal improvisation with folklore whose action is set in an historic time

period.

What are some common problems in small group work?

Take time to discuss how to work effectively in a small group. Let children know what

problems may occur before they actually begin, and what solutions are available to them should

they encounter one of those problems.

If a small group appears to have difficulty generating an idea or reaching consensus, the

facilitator can hear what ideas have been generated thus far and offer suggestions for directions

or choices. Rather than mandate or select the best idea, the facilitator can suggest to the group,

“It sounds as if that last idea is the most playable in the time you have to work, and offers

everyone a chance to take on a role. Consider that one as you make your final choice.” Only if

the group has developed no ideas for playing should the facilitator offer a specific idea for their

improvisation.

When one group announces, “We’re ready,” while other groups need more time to

practice their work, the facilitator can ask that group to practice their scene again: “An

improvisation changes each time it’s done. Go through your scene one more time to make sure

everyone is participating and knows what everyone else is doing.” If the teacher can spend time
 57

with the group, she may ask them to share their work for her so she can offer feedback and

suggestions for clarifying the ideas presented in the scene.

The one group that may not be finished with their work when others are ready to share

should not be made to feel inadequate, nor should the rest of the class be made to wait while they

continue working. If the group states, “We’re not ready,” the facilitator can reassure the entire

class with, “I know you’ve only had a short time to develop these scenes, but let’s see what

you’ve created so far. Remember, this is not a performance, this is an improvisation.” If the

group feels reluctant to begin, the facilitator can either ask them to simply tell the class what they

had planned to share if more time had been available to practice; or provide time during the

session to work with the group while the rest of the class observes and offers feedback.

One “reality check” strategy I employ when multiple small groups work simultaneously

and independently is to get a quick status of their progress. When the allocated time for small

group work nears its end I call out, “Designate one person in your group to hold up the number

of fingers that represents the number of more minutes your group needs to work.” When fingers

are held up I scan them and, if necessary, take the average or most frequent number as the

remaining amount of time for small group work: “It looks like most groups need about three

more minutes. Keep working.” Eventually this becomes shortened to a routine call for “Number

of fingers, number of minutes,” and participants respond accordingly.

Language

How do English language learners or those with language dialects verbally improvise in

drama?
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Among English language learners (ELL), comprehension and oral response may be

inhibited if the session is conducted exclusively in English. Yet some studies in drama suggest

that second language skills can be developed through improvisational activities.

Wagner (1998) concludes from overviews of second language acquisition studies with

drama that the art form is “effective in improving competence in a second language” (p. 53). She

cites studies that observed, “second graders appear to have fewer errors, fewer error corrections,

and better oral production skills after ten weeks of drama games, storytelling, interviews, and

role play,” and that “Spanish speakers improved their English oral expression . . . in spontaneity,

fluency, vocabulary, articulation, variety of speech patterns, and reading readiness skills” (p. 54)

Hendrickson and Gallegos (1972) observed significant improvement in English language

proficiency from Mexican American children in grades 2 and 6 after a ten-week drama program.

In an informal report, Erdman (1991), an instructor of Spanish to elementary school students,

observed that memorization of dialogue for short but formal play productions assisted in grades

4-5 with student recall of Spanish dialogue months later. An improvisationally developed piece

with first graders using story drama techniques enabled them to recall their brief lines in Spanish

up to a year later. Shacker, Juliebo, and Parker (1993) combined both second-language

acquisition (French immersion) and social studies instruction through drama. The third graders

improved their oral language skills and vocabulary in French through experience with different

language functions in improvisation, plus they found exploring social studies through drama an

immensely positive experience.

Vitz’s (1984) eight-week program with a small sample of ESL (English as a Second

Language) southeast Asian immigrant children in grades 1-3 showed significant increases in the

group’s total verbal output. Stinson and Freebody (2006) worked with teenagers in Singapore to
 59

develop their English speaking competency (the language of instruction at all stages of

schooling) through ten one-hour process drama sessions. Statistical results from pre- and post-

tests with their treatment participants and a control group suggested that there was “noted

improvement in examination results for those who participated in the drama intervention” (p.

198). The researchers learned through follow-up interviews that the students “felt they had

improved self confidence, were aware that they were speaking more fluently and, interestingly,

reported that work in drama helped break down barriers across ethnic groups within their

classes” (p. 199).

Burke and O’Sullivan (2002), co-authors of Stage by Stage: A Handbook for Using

Drama in the Second Language Classroom, find that role play and play production with ELL

students enable them to work on pronunciation, oral language fluency, memorization of

vocabulary and key phrases, interactive dialogue, and nonverbal communication. Both published

scripts and originally developed works are used for performances in front of audiences. Kao and

O’Neill (1998), in Words Into Worlds: Learning a Second Language through Process Drama,

report that “Research findings document the value of drama in the development of competence

and confidence in using the target language. Positive attitudes to learning and an increase in

social and cognitive skills among students have also been noted” (p. 1). The use of dialogue in

dramatic simulations provides opportunities for authentic language applications in context. Kao

and O’Neill, however, argue against the use of memorized lines for play production and even

contrived scenarios for improvisation since their questionable outcomes leave ELL students

“semantically impoverished” (p. 8). The open-ended and unpredictable unfolding of process

drama is preferred since the

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focus is on the interactions and encounters among the participants, rather than on

the accuracy of their speech. Instead, fluency springs from the motivation to

communicate within the dramatic situation and from the emphasis on meaning.

Students involved in the rich variety of speech events that drama promotes draw

on all their linguistic and paralinguistic resources as they struggle to

communicate. (p. 20)

Limited English proficiency will, of course, affect the child’s verbal work in drama if

English language instruction is predominant in the classroom. School programs realize the

necessity of teaching English—the language of “access and success” in America (Finer, 1990).

But teachers must also value the child’s first language to enhance the non-English speaking

child’s self-esteem and self-concept, prerequisites to effective learning (Gonzalez, 1990;

Martinez and Dukes, 1987). One drama facilitator in California encourages the use of Spanish to

make drama an “unconditional” experience for her classroom’s children. Other facilitators report

that their middle-class Mexican American adolescents prefer not to speak Spanish or have little

knowledge of the language. The use of Spanish depends on the geographical and socioeconomic

area in which they are working, the age of the children, specific school mandates or programs,

and knowledge of the language by the facilitator and students themselves.

Drama specialist Betsy Quinn allows “unconditional” language use in her drama classes

and shares that there is a fascination from native English speakers for the first languages of ELL

children. As noted earlier, selected studies suggest that English or second language acquisition

may be enhanced through improvisational drama programs. Content that is relevant and

meaningful to the child’s cultural world motivates engagement with the material: “Drama allows
 61

participants to use language purposefully in a variety of situations and to accomplish a variety of

tasks” (Stinson and Freebody, 2006, p.196). Though his work was with secondary school grade

levels, Sanchez (1994) used international folktales in English with his ESL drama classes as

translation exercises and as opportunities for examining cross-cultural similarities. Allowing

children to use their first language or to code-switch (changing from one language to another

throughout oral speech in bilinguals) may make initial sessions an unconditional experience for

young people still learning the English language.

Bilingual educators Sarah Hudelson and Carlos J. Vallejo share that bilingual children

tend to be more cognitively flexible and creative than monolingual youth. In a safe environment,

these children are more readily able to deal with the ambiguous and unstructured. But for those

still learning the language used primarily in the school, the cognitive demands of code-switching

can lead to frustration (Shade and New, 1993). For teacher orientation to the mechanics of story

drama, linear structures may be best with which to start. Paradoxically, there is the need for all

students to have consistency and predictability while knowing that the teacher is also flexible.

Finally, preferences for linearity and structure increase the higher one scales the socioeconomic

ladder—across all ethnic groups.

Attempts to correct the speech (asking for clarity in articulation, correct pronunciation,

etc.) may be essential for adult performers in formal stage productions, but not essential for

process-oriented drama in the classroom. Some prominent African American educators

recommend that teachers help Black children distinguish between what is proper speech and

grammar at school and what is acceptable at home or in the community. Others disagree and feel

that the use of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) should be accepted

unconditionally in any setting. If the goal of multicultural education is to help children become
 62

aware of other cultures, the use of AAVE may be anachronistic if the African American child is

improvising a Native American story set in a particular geographical region and time period

(e.g., The Warning). But if that African American child is new to drama, demands for

“appropriate” speech and language may be inhibitors to initial participation. Drama practitioner

Betsy Quinn accepts whatever speech children bring into her drama classroom. Once trust has

been established, she guides them in making choices that will help make their characters

believable.

Language can be oriented and perceived as a right, a resource, or a problem, depending

on your perspective. According to the 2000 United States Census Bureau summary files,

approximately 11% of the population over age five feel that they speak English “less than very

well” to “not at all”—a moderately low percentage. But the U.S. Department of Education’s

National Center for Education Statistics reports that the national school dropout rate for foreign-

born students ages 16-24 is an alarming 44.2% (Johnson, 2007). Drama has the potential to

integrate a student’s first language plus the primary language of the classroom as both rights and

resources to explore the vast spectra of our global citizenry, and to honor those who can

communicate with others in more than one way.

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Part One

Improvisation with Ethnic Folklore

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Chapter 2

Stories from the Mexican and Mexican American Canons

In authentic Mexican and Mexican American folklore, religious content is prominent,

particularly Catholicism. Characters that might appear are priests, angels, the devil, and historic

religious figures. If the school administration and community are comfortable with religious

themes or content explored in class, then selected tales from the canons may lend themselves to

story drama. Supernatural motifs and folk beliefs are also included in some tales (skeletons that

fly, folk medicine, La llorona, etc.). Certain schools set policies restricting content that has

overtones of satanic worship and other forms of the supernatural. But consider that mainstream

western folk literature also includes supernatural elements (elves, witches, magic spells,

transformations, etc.). Teachers should ensure that double standards do not exist for multiple

canons of folk literature.

There are a few stories in Hispanic folklore that include excessive violence (e.g.,

drunkenness, gruesome murder). This, unfortunately, is not only fiction; it is also part of our

world today. Stories with this content provide immediate perception of truth in older children.

Not all stories have happy endings or poetic justice (see The Weeping Woman). Death, cruel

treatment, and anti-heroes can be found in several tales. But these stories can also be some of the

most exciting and playable ones. It is the teacher who must ultimately determine their

appropriateness for her class.

Teachers should also be aware of stereotypes that appear in some adaptations or

“watered-down” versions of authentic Mexican folklore sometimes seen in children’s picture

books. Not all young Mexican boys are named Pedro, and there is more to Hispanic culture than
 65

just fiestas.

The Ram in the Chile Patch (Mexico)

This tale includes the classic motif of the little triumphing over the big and has wide grade-level

appeal: K-4. During the telling, teachers should assume character voices for the Ram, Cow,

Dog, Cock (change to Rooster), Burro (change to Donkey), and Ant. The dramatization works

most effectively when the teacher plays the role of the Ram.

The story from Americo Paredes’ collection is reprinted with its original ending—

wickedly delightful for some adults but inappropriate for young children. The solution to this

problem is very simple and described in the accompanying session design.

This was a little boy who had a little patch of chile peppers. He tended it with the greatest care.

That was what gave him his livelihood. And then one day a little ram got into it.

So the boy began, “Little ram, little ram, get out of that chile patch.”

“You unmannerly boy, what are you about? Get out of here or I’ll kick you out.”

“Little ram, little ram, get out of that chile patch.”

“You unmannerly boy, what are you about? Get out of here or I’ll kick you out.”

Finally he did try to get the little ram out, and the little ram, instead of leaving, gives him

a kick and knocks the boy down. He struggles to his feet, and he goes away crying.

He meets a cow, and she says, “What’s the matter, little boy?” “Ay, ay, ay!” he says.

“The little ram knocked me down.”

“And why?”
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“Because he’s in my little chile patch.”

“Just wait. I’ll go get him out.”

The cow comes up, “Moo, moo, moo! Little ram, little ram, get out of that chile patch.”

“You big-horned cow, what are you about? Get out of here or I’ll kick you out.”

“Little ram, little ram, get out of that chile patch.”

“You big-horned cow, what are you about? Get out of here or I’ll kick you out.”

Finally she did try. She tried to hook him with her horns, but the little ram turned around

and kicked the cow out.

Then comes the dog, and he says, “I can get him out for sure.” And he begins to bark.

“Bow-wow-wow-wow! Little ram, little ram, get out of that chile patch.”

“You shameless dog, what are you about? Get out of here or I’ll kick you out.”

“Little ram, little ram, get out of that chile patch.”

“You shameless dog, what are you about? Get out of here or I’ll kick you out.”

The dog kept insisting and he got closer and closer, so the little ram gores him and leaves

him the same as the cow.

Then comes the cock. He begins to crow, and he says, “Little ram, little ram, get out of

that chile patch.”

“You big eared cock, what are you about? Get out of here or I’ll kick you out.”

Finally the ram gores the cock and leaves him there with his legs in the air, and he goes

away.

He kept on eating up the little chile patch, and the boy was very sad because his chile

patch was being eaten up. The burro comes, and he says, “Don’t worry, little boy, I’ll go get the

ram out.”
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The burro begins, “Little ram, little ram, get out of that chile patch.”

“You long-eared burro, what are you about? Get out of here or I’ll kick you out.”

“Little ram, little ram, get out of that chile patch.”

“You long-eared burro, what are you about? Get out of here or I’ll kick you out.”

At last the ram comes up close. He gores the burro and throws him out.

And the boy sees that his little chile patch is almost gone, when a little ant comes, and

then he says, “Little ant, little ant, if you would get the little ram out of my little chile patch for

me, I would give you a lot of corn.”

“How much will you give me?”

“I’ll give you a bushel.”

“That’s too much.”

“I’ll give you half a bushel.”

“That’s too much.”

“I’ll give you a kilo.”

“That’s too much.”

“I’ll give you a handful.”

“All right, then.”

So the boy went, while the little ant got the ram out, he went and started grinding the corn

so the little ant could carry it away without much trouble.

The ant went little by little, little by little, and climbed up one of his little legs. She

started to climb, and climb and climb until she got to his little ass. She stings him and the ram

jumps, it leaps and then begins to say, “Oh, my soul, oh, my soul! She has stung me in the hole!

Oh, my soul, oh, my soul! She has stung me in the hole!”

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And that is how they were able to get the little ram out.

Session Design for The Ram in the Chile Patch

Materials

chiles

picture or illustration of a ram

Framing

Begin with one or more of the following ideas:

1. Bring several chiles into class and ask students what they are and how they might taste.

2. Show a picture or illustration of a ram and discuss how its horns might be used as a weapon

and for protection.

3. Ask children how they might deal with a bully or with someone who steals something from

them.

Process

The Story

4. Read the story, but do not reveal the ending. Students will be asked to develop and improvise

a possible resolution to the conflict. Stop the telling after the burro has been kicked out of the

chile patch. Tell children you will reveal the outcome later in the session.

How the Ram “Kicks”

5. Inform students the teacher will be playing the role of the ram:
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“Since I can’t really kick you when we dramatize the story, what can I do to

pretend I’m kicking someone?”

Negotiate possible solutions with children and incorporate the most playable idea when needed.

(In one session the children came up with the idea of the facilitator stomping his foot on the floor

three times as the “signal” for getting kicked.)

6. Ask players how they might show they have been kicked out of the patch without hurting

themselves and others. Explore possible solutions with children and incorporate the most

playable idea when needed. (Slow motion rolling has been the idea generated most often.)

Practice this action sequence—”kicking” and “getting kicked out”—so that all are clear on the

process.

Practicing and Distributing the Roles

7. Ask players to find their own space in the room. Sidecoach them to take on and practice

movements for the following roles:

“Pretend you’re the little boy in the story. Hold on to a hoe or a small shovel and

start working on your chile patch. I imagine it might be pretty hot where he lives.

Show through your face and body he’s working hard in the hot sun and trying to

stay cool.”

Do not model or demonstrate these actions for children; otherwise, they may simply imitate

rather than create their own actions. Sidecoach what you find effective about their work:

“Without any sounds, shape your body as if it were a cow. Let me see through

your face and with a soft cow voice how the cow might confront the ram in the

chile patch.”

Share what you find effective about their work and continue as the remaining animals are
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created:

“Now take on the role of the dog. See how it would be different from the cow you

created. Show through your face and a soft dog voice how the dog might confront

the ram in the chile patch.”

Continue with the rooster and the donkey.

8. Distribute the roles among students. The little boy can be played by either one child (boy or

girl) or by a small group of three to five children. This decision will be based on whether the

teacher feels one child may benefit from playing the individual role, or whether a small group

would be best since drama may be new to the class. Once the boy has been cast, divide the

remaining roles (cow, dog, rooster, donkey) among the rest of the class so that preferably no

more than five children are assigned to each small group.

Guidelines Before the Playing

9. Determine specific “waiting areas” in the classroom for each small group. The ram will be

positioned where he can see all students as the teacher interacts with each group of children.

Review the guidelines for the dramatization, which may include: no physical contact; when the

signal for being kicked out is given, all should respond appropriately; listen attentively when the

teacher is working with one group; etc. The facilitator should also make certain to announce

when he is and is not in role.

Dramatizing the Story

10. The child or group playing the boy begins the dramatization by working on the chile patch.

The teacher enters as the ram and improvises in role with the boy. Introductory or conflict-

generating dialogue might be:

“Good morning, little boy. Mm, these chiles are delicious. I think I’ll eat them
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all up. This is my patch now, so you’ll have to leave.”

The ram may also wish to incorporate the repetitive phrase,

“You _____, what are you about? Get out of here or I’ll kick you out”

just before the end of the unit and the kick. As improvisation is completed with each group,

prompt the next group to enter the action. The teacher may want to ask each group of animals to

go to the little boy first to ask what’s wrong before coming to the ram. Improvise with the cow,

dog, rooster, and donkey.

Resolving the Conflict

11. After the donkey has been kicked out, drop out of role and bring the class together. Ask,

“How are we going to get the ram out of the chile patch?”

Discuss possible and playable solutions to the problem. Depending on personal values, violent

solutions may be unacceptable. From my personal experience, the solution developed most often

by children is collective intimidation toward the ram. Children agree to “gang up” and surround

the ram to show there is unity and strength in numbers. Older children sometimes generate the

idea of introducing a new character—one much bigger than the ram. When the class agrees on a

solution, the idea is dramatized. The teacher should make certain a satisfying resolution for

children is provided by the ram’s defeat.

Reflection and Assessment

12. Offer your observations of effective work from children.

13. Ask players what made it easy to improvise and what made it difficult. If possible, make

written notes of which children seem fluent with improvisation and which are not. This can be

one criterion for assessing drama work as it continues.

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14. Discuss why chiles, a prominent food item in Mexican culture, would be important enough to

become an element in a folktale.

15. If interest is high, reveal the “true” ending of the folk tale. I change the resolution by having

the ant sting the ram on its nose:

“After all, how can a ram kick its own nose with its own horns?”

Social Studies Follow-Up

1. Locate Mexico on a globe or map.

2. Discuss how chiles are grown and harvested.

3. Discuss how much a kilo and bushel hold. Compare the measurement systems used in Mexico

and the United States.

4. Discuss what countries and governments do when their land is taken or occupied by another

country or government. What are the reasons for taking land from or occupying another country?

Identify specific events from the past or present.

5. Discuss what a mercado is in Hispanic culture. Identify the kinds of items sold there and

improvise “a day at the mercado” with children playing vendors and customers.

Language Arts/Literature Follow-Up

1. Locate another folktale that uses a repetitive phrase throughout the story, such as “You _____,

what are you about? Get out of here or I’ll kick you out.” Discuss why repetition of an important

phrase is used in a story. If the tale lends itself to dramatization, improvise it with the class.

2. An original ending to this story drama was created by the class. Write or tell another possible

resolution to the problem for another new ending. Improvise this idea if it lends itself to
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dramatization.

3. Learn the Spanish language equivalents for the following English words: little, boy, ram, cow,

dog, rooster, donkey, ant. Dramatize the story again, substituting these Spanish words for their

English equivalents during the improvised dialogue.

A Parrot for Christmas (Mexico)

This story and its accompanying session design are recommended for grades K-3. Obviously, the

drama will be most appropriate before the Christmas holiday season, but I have dramatized this

work with children during the summer with “Christmas in July” as the motivating theme.

Puppetry is an integral part of the session design, but it is not essential for the story drama.

When retelling this story, the introductory passage on the background of the tale (the first

three paragraphs) can be deleted. The storyteller is advised to squawk like a parrot when

reciting the alphabet.

Years ago, while visiting the state of Nayarit, Mexico, I came across a real jungle. It would have

been a perfect setting for a Tarzan movie. Large tropical trees with heavy vines interlacing the

branches, monkeys peering through the leaves. I got out of the car to have a better look at the

wilderness, when, all of a sudden, I found myself surrounded by a flock of parrots. The

crackling, the whistling, the chatting were deafening. I was caught in a noisy flying rainbow of

yellow, blue and red feathers.

A couple of miles down the road was San Blas, a lazy little village along the Pacific

coast. I stopped in a cafe and promptly told a man, who was eating alone at the next table, about
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my experience in the jungle.

“These parrots are very important to us in San Blas,” he said. “Last year, they made the

difference between a happy or a sad Christmas for our kids.

Luis Rendon was the envy of all the children in town, last year. His pet parrot, Pepito,

was the talk of the town. Pepito followed his master wherever he would go, either perched on his

master’s shoulder or fluttering around. The parrot even went to school every day.

The kids were learning the alphabet and Pepito had learned his ABCs as well as any of

them. One could hear the bird in the streets as the children came out of school, ‘ABCDEFG.’

Two days before Christmas, disaster struck; towards the end of the school day a flock of

parrots flew by. It was too much for Pepito; he left Luis’ shoulder and joined those of his species.

Luis and all his little friends were heart-broken. The Christmas season is no time to be

heart-broken. There was no amount of candy and fruit that would make their Christmas a happy

one.

For Christmas eve, the teacher had prepared stories and songs and there was going to be a

party in the afternoon. The stories did not catch their attention and the children would not sing

the songs. What kind of a party would it be with a bunch of sobbing kids?

He decided to help them find Pepito. On their way to the jungle, they met a man who was

running towards town. He was very excited. He asked the teacher if some of his pupils were

missing. Upon hearing that everybody was accounted for, the man concluded, `Then there is a

new school over there in the jungle because I heard a whole class of children singing the

alphabet.’

They ran towards the jungle. They could hear the alphabet very clearly now

‘ABCDEFG.’ They made their way through the vines and reached a clearing.
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The children could hardly contain their excitement when they saw the branches full of

parrots. Pepito, like a band director, was leading the other parrots in the reciting of the alphabet.

Luis called Pepito. The parrot came down immediately on his master’s shoulder, pecking

at his ear gently in order to show how happy he was to be with him again. The other parrots,

imitating their new leader, Pepito, came down in a moment. All of a sudden, each child had a

parrot of his own, just like Luis.

The kids came back to town and had the greatest Christmas party ever. They sang

Christmas carols. The parrots sang the only song they knew, ‘ABCDEFG’.”

Session Design for A Parrot for Christmas

Materials

CD of Mexican music

CD player

twelve-inch dowel rods or six-inch craft sticks, one for each child

parrot puppet pattern on white cardstock, one for each child (see illustration at the end of the

session design)

scissors, one pair for each child

crayons, markers

masking or cellophane tape

one assembled (but uncolored) parrot rod puppet

photograph or illustration of a parrot

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Framing

Begin with one or more of the following ideas:

1. In role, speak Spanish to children as an elementary classroom teacher. Improvise such

dialogue as

“Buenos dias, niños. Vamos a cantar los ABCs, pero en Ingles.” (“Good

morning, children. Let’s sing the ABCs, but in English.”)

Lead children in the song. Step out of role and ask children,

“What language was I speaking?” “How did you know that?” “In what countries

is Spanish spoken?”

2. If Spanish is a language already used by children in your classroom, show them a photograph

or illustration of a parrot. Ask questions related to the bird:

“In what parts of the world would they be found?” “What do parrots eat?” “Why

do you think some parrots have multicolored feathers?”

3. Write the words Feliz Navidad on the board. Ask players,

“What language is this?” “What does it mean in English?”

4. Children can remain seated at their desks if space is limited while the teacher tells the story.

The teacher can walk throughout the classroom during the storytelling.

Process

Portraying a Parrot

5. Ask children to stand next to their seats:

“Without any sounds, shape your body as if it were a parrot.”

It is preferable that the teacher doesn’t model or demonstrate, otherwise children will merely
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imitate rather than create:

“Without any sounds and without disturbing anyone else, walk around your

desk/table as if you were a parrot on a tree branch. Let me offer you an imaginary piece

of fruit. Without falling, take it in your claw (your foot) and try to put it in your mouth

and chew on it. Now, in a soft voice, repeat what I say but change your voice to sound

like a parrot: ‘Pretty bird’; ‘My name is Pepito’; ‘Diga’ [‘Talk’].”

The teacher can improvise other short phrases. Ask children to be seated. Share what you found

effective about their work.

Parrot Puppet Construction and Manipulation

6. Distribute crayons/markers and parrot puppet patterns to each child. Show the assembled but

uncolored parrot puppet and ask children to color their own parrots as they wish. Allow time for

coloring and play Mexican music as children work. When all have completed their parrots,

distribute scissors and have children cut out their puppet patterns, then tape the dowel rods to the

back of the puppets with masking or cellophane tape. Advise children not to touch anyone else’s

puppet.

7. Teach children the word repose, which means “the puppet at rest.” Whenever the teacher says

“Repose,” all puppets are placed on the desks and hands are taken off the rods. Practice this with

the class a few times. Use the verbal signal if children’s energies become too focused on their

puppets.

8. All children share their parrot puppet designs with each other. If time is limited, all can sit in a

circle with the parrots facing out so everyone can scan each other’s work. The teacher can note

some of the design choices children may have made for their work such as pastels, primary

colors, shading, etc.

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9. Have children explore some of the movement possibilities with the parrot rod puppet.

Students, while seated, manipulate the parrot to simulate eating, walking on a branch, and flying.

Share what you find effective about their work. (If needed, the first part of the session can be

concluded here. Students are to keep their puppets in the classroom until the next session, when

they will be used in a dramatization of the story. Ask students to retell the story before the

dramatization if the session is continued another day.)

Portraying Luis and Pepito

10. Children take on the role of Luis. Ask students to place the parrot puppet on their shoulders

as they are taken through the following narrative pantomime:

“Gently stroke your hand across Pepito’s feathers. Give him a piece of fruit to eat

in his beak. Have him gently peck at your ear and it tickles you.”

Ask children to walk around the room with their puppets against their shoulders as you narrate,

“Walk to school. Pretend that other children are looking at you and Pepito and it

makes you feel proud to have a parrot as a pet. Walk back to your chair and be

seated. I’ll pretend to be Luis’ teacher and class will begin.”

In the Classroom

11. The teacher speaks to all children as Luis; improvise other dialogue and questions such as,

“Good morning, Luis. I see Pepito is here again today. Hello, Pepito. Christmas

will be here soon. What kind of present are you getting for Pepito? What kind

of presents do you want, Luis?”

Continue in role:

“Class, yesterday we were learning the alphabet. Everyone did very well, even

Pepito. I’d like to hear if Pepito remembers the alphabet song. Pepito, please sing
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along with me in that parrot voice of yours.”

The teacher sings the alphabet song; children should sing in their parrot voices. Break out of role,

if needed, and ask children to try the song again in parrot voices with the puppets manipulated to

move with each letter.

Pepito Flies Away

12. Out of role, explain to the class that they will dramatize that part of the story in which Pepito

sees a flock of parrots flying overhead and flies away with them. Ask children how this unit

might be dramatized, given the limitations of space in the classroom. Negotiate a solution with

children and practice it. The teacher using narrative pantomime might be one solution:

“As you walk back home with Pepito on your shoulder, you look up and you see a

big flock of parrots flying over you. Pepito starts to flap his wings and flies off

your shoulder. Running in place, you try to reach up for him as he’s flying away,

and call out to him to come back to you.”

Find a place for all puppets to be stored temporarily for the next unit.

A Sad Christmas

13. The teacher explains that students will be playing Luis coming to class the next day, sad that

his parrot is lost. Discourage what might be melodramatic crying from some children. The

following sidecoaching might be helpful:

“Using your face and body only, without any sounds or fake crying, come back to

your desk as if you’re Luis after he’s lost his parrot. Try to show how Luis might

be feeling. Begin.”

Observe and step into role as Luis’ teacher.

“Good morning Luis. You look sad, what’s wrong?”

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Encourage children to dialogue by answering your questions.

“Well, I’m sorry to hear about Pepito. But I’ve planned a Christmas party today

and we’re going to sing songs and play games; maybe that will make you feel

better.”

If children are committed to the playing, there will be negative responses. Continue in role:

“Christmas is no time to be sad. Why don’t we go to the jungle together and try to

find Pepito? Let’s all stand up and get in line. We’re going through some

dangerous parts of the jungle and I want to make sure I don’t lose anybody. Hold

hands and I’ll lead the way.”

Searching for Pepito

14. In a line, take children through the classroom, sidecoaching about the environments you

might be going through:

“Take high steps when you walk through this tall grass. Duck low to get through

these vines. Now be careful and walk slowly through this thick mud.”

15. At this point several options for dramatizing the ending of the story may be taken, but if

children develop their own idea, use theirs instead. The teacher in role sidecoaches that he hears

faint voices that sound like the alphabet song. Suggest that they are the only school in the area.

As the group gets closer to the parrot puppets (left in an area of the classroom earlier), the

teacher plants the idea that he sees the parrots singing in the tree. Tell children,

“Luis, call for Pepito and see if he’ll come back down to you.”

Sidecoach children to call for the parrot; they then get their own rod puppets and place them on

their shoulders. Return to the “classroom” and sing a Christmas carol—first as children, then in

parrot voices.
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Reflection and Assessment

16. Offer your observations of effective work from children. Focus on the players’ ability to

follow directions.

17. Ask students to describe how the puppets and themselves interacted throughout the playing.

18. Ask students how the story might be dramatized if people were used to play the character of

Pepito instead of puppets.

Social Studies Follow-Up

1. Locate the following on a globe or map: Mexico, the Pacific coast of Mexico, Nayarit, San

Blas.

2. Discuss how Christmas is celebrated in Mexico. How is it similar to and different from the

way Christmas is celebrated in the United States? Which Mexican Christmas traditions do

Mexican Americans maintain in the U.S.?

3. Discuss which cultures do not observe Christmas and why.

Language Arts/Literature Follow-Up

1. Locate and read Christmas folk tales from other cultures. Dramatize selected stories through

improvisation.

2. Describe the meaning of envy, a word used in the story. List and describe other emotions Luis

might have experienced. Develop original improvisations based on characters with these

emotions.
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3. Write or tell an original story about Pepito and Luis set during a different holiday (e.g., Easter,

Cinco de Mayo). Play out the story if it lends itself to dramatization.

4. Learn the Spanish-language equivalents for the following English words: Christmas, jungle,

parrot, alphabet, children, school, teacher. Dramatize the story again, substituting these Spanish

words for their English equivalents during the improvised dialogue.

5. Retell A Parrot for Christmas to a friend or family member, using the parrot puppet when

describing the character of Pepito.

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Pepito Puppet Pattern – enlarge to fit an 8 ½ x 11 inch sheet of white cardstock

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The Weeping Woman (La llorona) (Mexican American)

This story is geared for grades 6-8 and can be used with secondary school grade levels as well.

The session design is tailored for small-group work. A canon of Mexican and Mexican American

folklore would be incomplete without this melodramatic story. It is the most well-known tale

among the culture. It is also a violent tale. Sadly, the events leading to the main character’s

actions and death are all too possible in today’s world. This may be why the story drama is

meaningful to older children and adolescents. There are parallels to their own lives, particularly

with the large number of single parent homes and high divorce rate among families. Teachers

should not be afraid to explore such life issues with their children as school and community

standards allow. The story drama requires tremendous concentration and commitment from

young people. If played well, it can be a powerful experience.

Spanish Vocabulary in The Weeping Woman (La llorona)

barrio - neighborhood (usually poor)

borracho - drunkard

cantinas - bars

¿tú sabes? - you know?

pobrecita - “poor thing” (fem.)

¿verdad? - true?

niños - children

asesina - murderess (fem.)

Dios mío - my God

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Ay, pity poor Luisa. Back in the 1950s life in the barrio with her three little children was not

easy. Her husband, that low-life borracho, spent all his time in the cantinas of Nuevo Laredo,

leaving his family to fend for themselves in their miserable little home.

Luisa would always put her children first, feeding them whatever she could while she

herself went hungry day after day. To make money, she washed and ironed clothes for some of

the white ladies in Laredo. But Luisa grew tired and could only do so much, ¿tú sabes? Since

they paid little for her labor, Luisa even had to beg for money in the streets. A few would offer

whatever they could, but most ignored her or thought her a liar. And this was her life, pobrecita,

hard and cold.

One day after having been gone for weeks, Luisa’s husband returned. The children

rushed to their father, happy to see him, but Luisa kept back and said nothing. She prayed

silently that this time, this time, he would stay for good—but that was not to be. He had fallen in

love with another woman who lived across the border. So he told his family goodbye, packed his

clothes, and left.

Luisa stood silent while the children cried around her. The shock dried her throat and she

turned pale as a ghost. What was she going to do now? How could she take care of her children?

We try to go on, no matter what—but it’s hard, ¿verdad?

Luisa became poorer and more tired as time went by. And her eyes became emptier,

which frightened the children. Poor niños—no food to eat and a mother half gone from this

world.

One night she and her little ones were walking along the Rio Grande after a special mass.

Luisa gazed at the water and saw the moon and stars dancing on the surface. Then she looked at
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the sky and thought that her children would be better off in heaven: “They’ll be angels with God

and never know misery again.”

Luisa hugged her children tightly, tightly, then pushed them into the river to drown.

¡Asesina! She waited until she couldn’t hear or see them, then turned and walked away. Luisa

returned home, crawled into her bed, and pulled the blanket over her. “They’re with God now,”

she thought to herself, and closed her eyes to rest.

Luisa awoke in the middle of the night and felt like she had been reborn. She stretched,

smiled, and walked to her children’s bedroom to gaze at them while they slept, but there was

only an empty mattress on the floor. Then the memory and tragedy of what she had done came

upon her and she screamed in agony, “No!”

She ran along the river’s edge, crying and searching desperately for her babies. “Ay, Dios

mío,” she whispered through her sobbing, “What have I done? What have I done?” The moon

and the stars danced on the river’s surface. Luisa looked into the water and saw what she thought

were her own dear children reaching up to her for help. She cried in joy and threw herself into

the river to rescue them. . . .

Ay, pity poor Luisa. She, too, drowned in the waters of the Rio Grande.

They say if you’re by a river at night, you might hear what sounds like a weeping woman

along the banks. Some say it’s the wind; others say it’s the water. But some say it’s the ghost of

Luisa, La llorona, still crying and looking for her children to this day.

Session Design for The Weeping Woman (La llorona)

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Materials

CD of mood music (somber, solemn, minor keys) (La llorona is a folk melody from

Mexico and may be found in some collections of music from the country)

CD player

optional: black pieces of fabric (assorted lengths and sizes), adaptable as protean costumes for

shawls, hoods, skirts, capes, scarves, headbands

Framing

Begin with one or more of the following ideas:

1. Discuss the challenges when dramatizing serious stories in class. Ask students what demands

are required of them to make the drama effective.

2. Ask students,

“What would make a mother murder her children? What reasons could she

possibly have for killing them?”

Facilitate the discussion.

3. Ask students to describe what life in a barrio is like. Ask what kinds of people and conditions

would be found in a barrio.

4. Show pieces of black fabric and ask students what emotions or symbolic representations the

color may evoke.

5. The facilitator should model for students the serious tone needed for the dramatization by

retelling the tale with dignity and simplicity.

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Process

Understanding Luisa

6. Discuss the importance of everyone playing the same key role from the story regardless of

gender:

“One purpose of drama is to understand a character’s emotions and motivations

for action. So having everyone play the role of Luisa may provide some insights

you might not get by simply watching other people’s work.”

Mention that when we feel uncomfortable with a particular situation we sometimes try to “laugh

it off.” Challenge students to commit to the seriousness of the work and to be honest with their

actions.

7. If possible, dim the lights in the room for a more comfortable and secure space for pantomime.

Mood music played softly will also support the children’s work. Ask students to find their own

space, then to

“Choose one of the actions Luisa might be doing daily: ironing or washing clothes

by hand, preparing food, begging for money. Try to image in your mind the

emotions or physical state this character might be experiencing as she’s doing one

of these tasks. Maybe she’s ashamed to beg, exhausted as she’s ironing, or hungry

as she’s preparing food because it’s for her children only and not for herself.

Don’t be afraid to try a couple of ideas, and don’t worry about what anybody else

is doing. Work for yourself and by yourself. Begin.”

Observe the players’ work. Sidecoach, as needed, if students appear hesitant to participate or

seem uncommitted:

“If you’re stuck for an idea or find this hard to do, pretend you’re begging me for
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money to feed your children and show through your face and body that you’re

trying to get my sympathy. As I walk around the room, try to catch my eye and

make me feel as if I should offer you something.”

Walk around the space and interact with players; praise effective work and continue to

sidecoach. If desired, the facilitator can prompt:

“Keep working. I’m going to tap some of you on the shoulder. Verbalize a phrase

or sentence that represents what Luisa might be thinking or feeling at this time.”

Select a few or all players to respond. Ask players to relax and reassemble the students.

8. Discuss with players the ease or difficulty of committing to the unit above. As students raise

difficulties, the teacher can offer suggestions or find specific ways to help them concentrate on

their work. Also discuss what insights players made about Luisa’s life circumstances.

Division and Distribution of Story Units

9. Students are now divided into small groups of various sizes. The scenario outline below

describes the number of players required for each unit, casting suggestions, and the unit of action

each group is to dramatize. Facilitate the organization of the groups. Having each unit scenario

on a separate sheet of paper for players will save time verbally describing each group’s task.

Since Unit Four is particularly difficult to dramatize because of the seriousness and intense

commitment needed on the part of the players, the teacher may wish to select students (by

teacher assignment or student volunteers) for this particular one first. After this unit has been

cast, the others can be assigned to the remainder of the class. When “extras” are mentioned in

Units Three and Six, the number of students required is flexible to accommodate the number of

students in the class. There are seventeen opportunities to play a specific role (one for a boy,

seven for girls, and nine for the children). Keeping the genders of the children consistent from
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one unit to the next may not be necessary but may provide believability as the scenes are shared.

(The unit contents are suggested by the action of the story itself. Some classes with which I’ve

worked have added other units, such as a scene between Luisa and a priest, or Luisa’a husband

and the “other woman.” Depending on the number of students and the flexibility of the teacher,

other units that relate to the story or elaborate on the action can be added. An optional unit

between Units Five and Six is included if one girl feels comfortable doing solo work.)

a. UNIT ONE CAST: one girl (Luisa), three of either gender (the children)

SCENARIO: Develop a scene in which we first see the mother (Luisa) with her three children.

Set the scene at their home, perhaps during a meal. Show how their poor existence makes life

difficult for them. Mention how the father has not been home for several days. End the unit with

the children sent to bed, leaving Luisa alone.

b. UNIT TWO CAST: two girls (one as Luisa, one as a woman for whom she does laundry)

SCENARIO: Develop a scene in which Luisa delivers clean laundry to the woman’s home. Have

the two converse about Luisa’s problems with her family. End the unit with the woman

expressing sympathy but being unable to help Luisa.

c. UNIT THREE CAST: one girl (Luisa), extras (a flexible number of either gender)

SCENARIO: Develop a scene in which Luisa begs for money in the street. Show several

passersby as individuals or couples reacting to, talking with, or ignoring Luisa. End the unit with

Luisa leaving for home after all passersby have interacted with her.
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d. UNIT FOUR CAST: one boy (Luisa’s husband), one girl (Luisa), and three of either gender

(the children)

SCENARIO: Develop a scene in which Luisa’s husband returns home after a long absence. After

an uncomfortable and awkward time, he tells Luisa he is leaving her and the children for another

woman. Through pantomime and verbal improvisation, show how each family member reacts

and feels. End the unit with the husband leaving.

e. UNIT FIVE CAST: one girl (Luisa), three of either gender (the children)

SCENARIO: Develop a scene in which Luisa and her children are walking along the river.

Improvise what the family might be discussing at this moment of the story. Dramatize the

moment in which Luisa hugs her children and pushes them into the river. End the unit with Luisa

leaving for home.

[OPTIONAL UNIT CAST: one girl (Luisa)

OPTIONAL UNIT SCENARIO: Develop a scene in which Luisa wakes up after she has killed

her children. Dramatize the moments she sees the empty bed, runs to the river to look for her

children, and throws herself into the Rio Grande.]

f. UNIT SIX CAST: one girl (La Ilorona), extras (as modern-day youth)

SCENARIO: Develop a scene in which young people are by the river at night. Set the scene in

the present; suggest that the environment is eerie. La llorona’s crying is heard, but since no one

is seen the youth are scared off. End the scene with La llorona walking along the banks of the

river looking for her children.

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Practicing the Units

10. After groups have been organized and the scenarios distributed, review the guidelines for

practicing and sharing:

“Some of the most important things to do are to focus on the work, to make it

believable, and not to fall into the trap of trying to be funny or laughing

something off. You and your group have about fifteen minutes to develop these

scenarios through improvised dialogue. What you share with the rest of the class

should last about two to three minutes. Don’t just talk about what you’re going to

do and say; get on your feet and actually go through the improvisation a few

times. That way, you’ll feel more comfortable about your work. If you need to use

some of the chairs or other pieces of furniture in the room for your scene, go ahead and

do so. When we share these units, they’ll be presented in the order they occur in the story.

Any questions? [answer, as needed] Then let’s get to work.”

Optional Tableaux

11. If the facilitator anticipates that generating dialogue would be extremely difficult for the

group, an alternative to the dramatization may be to ask for tableaux—frozen, carefully

composed arrangements of people in a group whose placement, postures, facial expressions, and

other visual details capture the meaning or emotional intent of the unit. Once the group has

successfully completed and shared these tableaux, dialogue could be integrated with a replaying.

Optional Use of Black Fabrics

12. If fabric pieces are used, share with the group,

“There are also some black pieces of fabric that can be worked into the scene as
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tablecloths, shawls, veils, capes, scarves, wraparound skirts, many different

things. Try to incorporate at least one piece into your group as a costume

accessory or a scenic element to lend some unity to the whole dramatization when

we put it together.”

Preparation for Presentation

13. The teacher goes from group to group assessing progress and assisting, as needed. After time

allocated for the practice period, gather the class together and review the order of presentations.

Also give one final suggestion:

“When your group is finished with the improvisation, don’t tell us in any way that

the scene is over. One of the worst ways to end what could be an exciting scene is

to finish the last line of dialogue, then to break the mood you might have created

by turning to us and saying, ‘That’s it.’ The best thing to do is to freeze the action

in your scene, then walk slowly away from the area. That will be the cue for the

next group to begin their scene.”

Organize the groups in their order of presentations around the room. Review any last-minute

guidelines (avoid laughter, concentration, etc.). If possible, keep the lights dimmed in the room

to enhance concentration and establish mood. Facilitate the presentation of each group’s unit.

Reflection and Assessment

14. Ask students to share what they found effective about their own work, their group’s work,

and others’ work. The teacher offers her observations to the class on what she found effective.

15. Discuss the commitment achieved from students during the improvisation. Ask students what

techniques or strategies they employed to focus on their work. If the commitment was not always
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present, what were the reasons for losing concentration? Relate how an actor on stage, television,

or film might need this same kind of commitment for performance.

16. Discuss the character of Luisa. Ask students what new insights they may have made into her

motivations for action.

17. Discuss how the class might reorganize the dramatization to allow, with continuous practice,

development of the story into a finished product for performance.

18. If fabric pieces were used, discuss how their use contributed to the visual look of the

dramatization. Discuss how this might transfer onto the stage by scenic and costume designers.

Social Studies Follow-Up

1. Locate Laredo (Texas), Nuevo Laredo (Mexico), and the Rio Grande on a globe or map.

2. Survey people of Hispanic descent and ask if they have heard or know the story of La llorona.

Survey people from a different cultural background (White, African American) and ask the same

question. Draw an inference from the results. (Note: La llorona may be better known in the

southwestern U.S.)

3. This version of the story is set in the 1950s. Discuss the character of Luisa from a cultural and

feminist perspective. What is her role as a woman defined by traditional Hispanic culture? What

actions in the story support this? How might Luisa be perceived from a feminist point of view?

4. The problems and actions of Luisa are all too possible in today’s world. Discuss what social

institutions and agencies are in place today that might help someone with Luisa’s problems to

prevent these tragic events from occurring.

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Language Arts/Literature Follow-Up

1. Briefly retell the myth of Medea, whose husband, Jason, left her for another woman. Out of

revenge, Medea killed their children. Euripides, the Greek playwright, wrote a play about this

character and developed one of the most powerful lines of dialogue in dramatic literature. When

Jason cries in agony and asks Medea why she murdered their children, she hisses back, “Because

I hated you more than I loved them.” Compare and contrast the Greek tale with The Weeping

Woman (La llorona). Discuss how Medea’s and Luisa’s problems and motivations for their

actions are similar and different. Dramatize the Greek myth through improvisation.

2. This version of The Weeping Woman (La llorona) integrates a few Spanish words into the

English text. “Spanglish” is a slang term for this language combination. Discuss why people who

know both languages might combine words and phrases from both English and Spanish when

speaking in everyday conversation.

3. Ask two Hispanics who know the story of La llorona to retell it for you, and record each one’s

version separately. Ask how, when, or where they first heard the tale. Transcribe their stories and

the interviews. Write a report that discusses the similarities and differences between their

versions of the tale. Discuss why the similarities and differences may be present.

4. Transform the verbal improvisation of this session into a play by writing the dialogue as a

script.
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Chapter 3

Stories from the Native American Canons

Stories and legends told within Native American culture are not viewed as fiction. Active

learning and the dissemination of cultural knowledge occur during storytelling. Elements of

spirituality are also woven into many of the tales. If the facilitator approaches the Native

American story as fantasy, the sanctity of the stories is negated for the Indian child. Depending

on the specific tribe or nation, portraying selected gods or animals in a dramatization may be

taboo since it is perceived as embodiment of that god’s or animal’s spirit. Teachers should check

if such concerns might be held by the child’s particular tribe or family before planning and

playing the dramatization.

There is sometimes a mystique for non-Indians about the use of Native American

materials. The proper use of stories may vary from nation to nation. A Diné (Navajo) tour guide

in Arizona was explicit about the seasons when stories should and should not be told—winter

and summer, respectively. He also shared that there are some stories unknown to outsiders told

exclusively within the nation. When I asked a Cherokee storyteller in Tennessee about my use of

the tales for story drama, he did not find offense in anything I was doing with them, nor did he

prescribe any protocol for me to follow.

A White drama specialist shared that her non-Indian teacher colleagues are sometimes

leery of using Native American stories and music for fear of using the materials inappropriately

and offending their Native American students. As an example, I once unknowingly used

religious ceremonial music during a powwow drama session (see Grandmother Spider Steals the

Sun), when a student noted I should have used music targeted specifically for powwows. I
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attributed my mistake to ignorance and learned something new about the use of traditional

Native American music.

If you use materials from Native American culture, recognize that each tribe and nation

has its own distinctive set of cultural norms and patterns. The “generic” Indian does not exist.

Explore what makes the Hopi, the Choctaw, the Cherokee, the Pueblo, the Yakima, and other

tribes distinctively unique.

Why Bears Have Short Tails (Diné-Navajo)

This legend is easily dramatized by grades K-4 children. It is suitable as beginning material for

those groups with little or no drama experience. The facilitator plays in role as the Fox while

children portray the Bear.

Byrd Baylor collected the stories for her anthology from Native American children in

Arizona. This story is told by Sandra Begay, a Navajo, from the Tuba City Boarding School.

Fox was fishing in the river. When he had ten fish he put them on his back and walked off into

the woods.

Bear came along and saw Fox with the fish on his back.

“How come you have so many fishes on your back? How are you fishing those fishes out

of the water?”

Fox said, “It’s easy. You sit on the ice and put your tail in the river. The fishes catch onto

your tail and when you get up there will be all of those fishes just hanging on.”

“Thanks,” said Bear as he ran off toward the river. He didn’t know Fox was laughing as
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he went along through the woods with his ten fish.

Bear sat on the ice. He sat there a long time, waiting and waiting. He didn’t notice any

fish jumping onto his tail. All he noticed was that his tail was freezing. It hurt.

After a long time, Bear said, “I can’t feel my tail.”

He got up and looked. It was true. His long tail had frozen off. All he had left was a very

short tail.

Bear was angry. He gave up fishing and ran into the woods looking for Fox.

Fox was cooking his ten fish when Bear grabbed him.

Bear said, “You tricked me and my beautiful long tail froze off. So now I’m

taking you back to that river. I’ll throw you in and let you freeze.” “No,” Fox said. “Don’t do

that. If you let me go I’ll give you all my fish.”

So Bear let Fox go and ate all the fish himself and warmed his short tail by Fox’s fire.

Now all bears have short tails. That is how it happened.

Session Design for Why Bears Have Short Tails

Materials

illustrations of a fox and a bear

Framing

Begin with one or more of the following ideas:

1. Show illustrations of a fox and a bear. Ask children to describe their similarities and

differences; mention the differences between their tails.

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2. Ask players what might happen if a popsicle stick is abruptly pulled from a frozen popsicle, or

if a stem is removed quickly from an apple. Use this discussion to segue into the story.

3. Retell or read aloud the story to children.

Process

Creating Bear and Fox

4. Ask players to find their own space in the room, then:

“Shape your body as if you’re pretending to be a bear. Think about how it might

walk on the ground and begin moving slowly around the space.”

Observe players’ work and sidecoach, as needed.

“I’m going to pretend to be Fox fishing in the river. Without getting behind

anything in the room, try to show you’re hiding behind a tree watching me. When

I gather all of my fish, step out from behind your tree and we’ll talk.”

The facilitator, as the Fox, pretends to catch fish from the river with her paws and teeth. Observe

children as they “hide.”

Bear and Fox Dialogue

5. Enter the center of the space as the Fox. If children do not initiate dialogue the facilitator

might begin with an introductory line such as,

“Bear, is that you behind the tree?”

Improvise with children according to the exchange in the story. (It is not essential that the

dialogue be replicated exactly as it was retold.) The facilitator responds to those children who

may be initiating dialogue. If she would like certain children to have the opportunity to

improvise she can ask children who are silent such questions as,
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“Do you think you can eat all ten fish by yourself?” “What other things besides fish

do you eat?”

The facilitator may also want to assume such characteristics in vocal tone as slyness and

deception for the Fox. After the facilitator feels a suitable amount of dialogue has been

exchanged, she may proceed into the next unit, telling the Bears to dip their tails in the water and

wait for the fish to come.

Bear Gets Stuck

6. The facilitator drops out of role and sidecoaches to children:

“I’m not the Fox anymore. Walk over to your own space that will be the river

bank. Dip your long tail into the cold water and show through your face and body

how Bear might react to that. It’s a little uncomfortable, but think about all the

fish you’re going to catch. After waiting for a long time you start to get colder and

you try to do things to stay warm.”

Observe children as they work; reinforce effective actions.

“After waiting all day in the cold you start thinking that maybe Fox wasn’t being

truthful with you, and you start to softly, quietly get a little upset. You decide to

go have a word with Fox and you try to get up, but you’re stuck. You try pulling

and pulling but you’re stuck. Look behind you and see that your tail’s frozen in

the water. Try to pull . . . pull . . . and you’re out. Look behind you and see that your

beautiful long tail is stuck in the frozen river. Think about how Bear might feel
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and start walking slowly and silently around the space, thinking to yourself how

you’ve been tricked. I’m going to come back into the playing as the Fox. Let’s see

what kind of conversation they have. Remember to respect each other’s space, so

no physical contact.”

Bear Confronts Fox

7. The facilitator initiates the dialogue as she enters the action:

“Hello, Bear. Did you catch any fish?”

Improvise with children as they dialogue with the facilitator. Rather than acquiesce quickly to

their demands for the fish, the facilitator might choose to extend the dialogue by asking them

questions, such as

“How long were you waiting in the river?” “Why didn’t you just wait for the ice

to melt?”

When the facilitator senses enough dialogue has been exchanged, and Bear’s threats have

become the strongest, she offers Bear the fish and asks players to sit down by the fire to warm

themselves.

Reflection and Assessment

8. Discuss the emotions the Bear might have experienced in the story as children

portrayed them. Extend beyond the basic descriptions of “mad” and explore when Bear

might have felt “foolish,” “worried,” “satisfied,” etc. Ask players what emotions or

thoughts might have been running through Fox’s mind as she talked with Bear at the
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beginning and end of the story.

9. Share with players what the facilitator observed about their verbal improvisation. Assess their

fluency with language, the appropriateness of their dialogue for the character, and their ability to

respond to facilitator questioning.

10. Assess the children’s nonverbal work, particularly as they were portraying Bear by the river.

Social Studies Follow-Up

1. This same story has been documented in the Cherokee canon of legends. Locate on a map

where the Diné (Navajo) and Cherokee nations are located. Discuss how and why this story is

present in the two tribes’ story canons.

2. This same story has also been found in the folklore canon of Norway. Discuss how and why

this story is present in two areas (Arizona and Norway) with such wide geographical distance

between them.

3. Discuss what kinds of climate and natural environment are needed for this story’s action to

occur. Discuss how geography and environment might influence the development and content of

a story or legend.

Language Arts/Literature Follow-Up

1. Discuss the characters of Fox and Bear. Write lists of adjectives that describe each one’s

physical characteristics and personalities. Dramatize the story again with children as Fox and

the facilitator as Bear.

2. Discuss the difference between dialogue and narration. Identify which portions in the story
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are dialogue and which portions are narration.

3. Read other “why” or “how” stories from the Native American canons. Discuss why all

cultures have developed these types of stories to explain why or how things came to be.

Dramatize those tales that lend themselves to improvisation.

Grandmother Spider Steals the Sun (Cherokee)

This Cherokee legend from a tale reported by James Mooney in the 1890s is rich with “why”

and “how” stories: how the sun and fire came to the Cherokee, why the possum’s tail and the

buzzard’s head are bald, and how the art of pottery making was taught.

The session design, tailored for grades 3-5, utilizes powwow dance and movement as

methods of dramatizing the story. No verbal improvisation is required but dialogue or narration

can be incorporated, if desired.

In the beginning there was only blackness, and nobody could see anything. People kept bumping

into each other and groping blindly. They said: “What this world needs is light.”

Fox said he knew some people on the other side of the world who had plenty of light, but

they were too greedy to share it with others. Possum said he would be glad to steal a little of it. “I

have a bushy tail,” he said. “I can hide the light inside all that fur.” Then he set out for the other

side of the world. There he found the sun hanging in a tree and lighting everything up. He

sneaked over to the sun, picked out a tiny piece of light, and stuffed it into his tail. But the light

was hot and burned all the fur off. The people discovered his theft and took back the light, and

ever since, Possum’s tail has been bald.

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“Let me try,” said Buzzard. “I know better than to hide a piece of stolen light in my tail.

I’ll put it on my head.” He flew to the other side of the world and, diving straight into the sun,

seized it in his claws. He put it on his head, but it burned his head feathers off. The people

grabbed the sun away from him, and ever since that time Buzzard’s head has remained bald.

Then Grandmother Spider said, “Let me try!” First she made a thickwalled pot out of

clay. Next she spun a web reaching all the way to the other side of the world. She was so small

that none of the people there noticed her coming. Quickly Grandmother Spider snatched up the

sun, put it in the bowl of clay, and scrambled back home along one of the strands of her web.

Now her side of the world had light, and everyone rejoiced.

Spider Woman brought not only the sun to the Cherokee, but fire with it. And besides

that, she taught the Cherokee people the art of pottery making.

Session Design for Grandmother Spider Steals the Sun

Materials

pieces of Native American pottery (preferably Cherokee)

CD of American Indian powwow music

CD player

DVD/VHS of Native American powwow dance

DVD/VCR player and TV monitor

Framing

Begin with one or more of the following ideas:

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1. Show pottery pieces and ask players or discuss how pottery is made.

2. Turn lights off in the room and ask players what life on earth would be like without the sun.

3. Have students watch Native American dances on video. Discuss how dances grow out of the

stories in some Native American cultures.

4. Read or retell the legend.

Process

Powwow Dance

5. The dance movements described below were performed at a powwow I attended in Chinle,

Arizona. Read these field notes aloud to participants and use it as a guide for the first activity:

“Drums were beaten in a steady rhythm while a group of men sang. All the

dancers, men and women, adults and teenagers, stood in a large circle. The

facilitator of a tribe, who represented his people, started moving inside the circle

along the dancers. He shook hands with each person whom he passed. As soon as

a person shook his hand, the dancer would get behind the facilitator to form a line

that arced around the circle of people. This continued until he had shaken hands

with everyone standing inside the circle. There was a sense of respect as hands

were shaken; some nodded their heads slightly to acknowledge the facilitator.

Everyone moved forward to the beat of the drum, two steps with one foot, then

two steps with the other, back and forth throughout the dance. When another

circle had been completely formed everyone broke out of the circle formation and

into their own area in the middle. Some people extended their arms as if to

simulate flight. They still moved in the two-step pattern but each person began to
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rotate slowly—those with their arms extended looked as if they were flying gently

through the sky. An announcer called out over a loudspeaker, ‘Ay-hah! Lookin’

good, dancers!’ These movements continued until the drums stopped beating.”

6. The facilitator portrays the leader of the dance described above and walks children through the

movements and patterns described. After the dance has been explained and practiced in units,

each component is put together for the entire opening ceremony. Powwow music played

throughout will enhance the work. A cue for all to complete the dance at the end may be the

facilitator calling out,

“Ay-hah! Lookin’ good, dancers!”

Dramatizing through Dance

7. Explain to players that the dramatization of the story uses movement rather than dialogue.

Also explain that the way the story will be dramatized is not a replication of the way Native

Americans may do it. The main objective is to explore how improvised dance and movement can

be used to tell a story, much like American Indian dances that are rooted in stories and legends.

A Dance of Darkness

8. Without music, have players find their own space in the area. Ask them to simulate moving

and groping in the dark, squinting rather than closing eyes completely so that children do not run

into each other. Ask players how their movements might change with music and become more

symbolic, abstract, or dancelike:

“What might a ‘dance of darkness’ look like? As the music plays, experiment

with some movements around the space, but don’t bump into other people. Work

for yourself and by yourself. Go.”

Observe and assess.

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Small Group Character Dances

9. Divide players into five small groups and assign each group one of the following roles: Sun,

Fox, Possum, Buzzard, and Grandmother Spider. Members in each small group collaborate to

create a group dance that represents their character:

a. SUN GROUP: Create an active sun that can move across the space, when needed.

b. FOX GROUP: Create a dance that has movement qualities of the character and indicates the

sun’s existence on the other side of the world.

c. POSSUM GROUP: Create a dance that shows off a bushy tail, going to the sun, placing it in

their tail, and having their bushy tail burned off.

d. BUZZARD GROUP: Create a dance that shows them flying to the sun, placing it on their

head, and having their head feathers burned off.

e. SPIDER GROUP: Create a dance that shows them making a clay pot, weaving a web to the

other side of the world, stealing the sun, and returning from the other side of the world.

Small groups practice for approximately ten to fifteen minutes, then share their work with other

groups in the class. Music played throughout the practice and sharing time will help children

with the spirit of the piece. The facilitator and groups offer responses to what they found

effective plus any suggestions for more effective work, if needed. The facilitator can work with
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each group while the others in class observe.

10. Organize the small groups around the space and combine the units together so each group is

aware of its entrance into the action. Begin by walking students through the sequence of actions

suggested by the story. Have the Sun begin its dance in the center, then move to one side of the

room, still in role as the Sun; bring the Fox into the action and have the group indicate the Sun’s

existence; next, have the Possum enter and move toward the group portraying the Sun; practice

how the two small groups interact when the Sun is being stolen by the Possum; do the same for

the Buzzard. Then bring Grandmother Spider into the action and have the Sun brought to the

center of the space. The remaining groups (Fox, Possum, and Buzzard) enter as the people, once

groping in darkness and now celebrating the light. Facilitate the movements that might be

created at this portion of the dramatization. Ask players to provide a way of bringing closure to

the dance. (In actual sessions, some have suggested I call out “Ay-hah! Lookin’ good, dancers!”

as the cue for players to stop dancing and create a frozen tableau or picture of all groups around

the Sun.)

Dancing the Story

11. Combine all units developed thus far into a nonstop storytelling dance with music playing

throughout. Begin with the opening powwow dance, which turns into the people groping in

darkness when the facilitator calls out, “Ay-hah!” At a predetermined point, the players move

into their small groups with the Sun in the center. The dance proceeds as practiced above to its

end.

Reflection and Assessment

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12. The facilitator offers observations on the players’ work. Focus can be placed on the students’

ability to follow the sequence of actions for the dramatization, and on the players’ movement

qualities.

13. Ask players to discuss their own comfort with dramatizing this story nonverbally. Discuss

how the dramatization could incorporate narration or dialogue if it were to be replayed. Discuss

how this informal dramatization could be developed into a more formal product for sharing with

another class.

14. Discuss the purposes of dance in Native American culture. Ask what forms of dance exist in

other cultures today.

15. As time and interest allow, replay the dramatization with each small group portraying a

different character.

Social Studies Follow-Up

1. Discuss the pottery-making techniques of a Native American culture in your region. Examine

the design motifs on the pottery and other crafts. Discuss the symbolic significance of the motifs.

2. Discuss why a spider became a prominent character in some Native American legends.

Speculate why Anansi the Spider also became prominent in African folklore. Discuss whether

there are any connections between the two.

3. Locate regions in the United States where the Cherokee currently live. Discuss nineteenth-

century history of the Cherokee to examine the reason for their spread across several states in the

country.
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Language Arts/Literature Follow-Up

1. Read stories from the works of Joseph Bruchac, Michael Lacapa, Jamake Highwater, or other

Native American writers. Dramatize tales that lend themselves to improvisation.

2. Read stories from other cultures that tell of the sun’s origin. Compare those versions to the

Cherokee legend to discover similarities and differences between the characters and their actions.

Dramatize these origin stories in class.

3. Read stories from other cultures that describe why animals have certain characteristics (e.g.,

why Buzzard’s head is bald, why Possum’s tail is no longer bushy). Discuss why people created

“why” stories for animals and nature. Dramatize those stories that lend themselves to

improvisation.

The Warning (Laguna Pueblo)

This haunting story foretells the arrival of Spanish explorers on the western American continent.

It is only one of many stories that describe White settlers arriving in this country. The story ends

abruptly and does not go into the violent history that followed.

The session design is tailored for young people in grades 4-8 with some experience in

verbal improvisation. Unlike other session designs, this one is not as structured since it relies on

decisions by the group and facilitator to direct the action. The story is intended as a stimulus for

examining the thoughts and feelings of these Pueblo villagers as they faced a moment that would

change their lives forever.

When I was a little boy, my grandfather told me that a long time before the white people came to
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this country, there were no other villages near the pueblo of Old Laguna. There was no way to

travel but by walking on trails that wound along the sides of mountains and forests.

Those were dangerous days, because our Indians warred with many other tribes. They

fought with bows and arrows. Old men made strong bows and sharp arrows. The young men

used them in the hunt and in war.

There were tribes who sometimes came and carried away the food, grain, pottery, and

other belongings of the people. The young men of the village would be away at war for many

days. Often they would return with captives. Sometimes the young men never returned.

There were many caves under the Laguna village. One of these caves was under the

center of the plaza. To this cave the Indians went to pray and at evening often sang to the spirit

who lived far below.

Often, after a time of prayer and singing above this cave, the old men would listen at a

small opening. This opening led to a hollow place under the earth. The men often received

messages there. A voice would tell them what was going to happen.

One night, old Es-cha-ya listened. Everybody was quiet for a long time. At last the old

man sat up.

“I hear strange things tonight,” he said. “I hear men talking. Their shoes are hard. I hear

their steps. They call to others. They laugh. They carry strange knives, hard and sharp, but not of

stone. Their faces, white and hairy, are not those of our people. They will come among us. They

will live in our country. They have things to harm us, but we can keep their harm away. Do not

wear their hard shoes that make noise with every step, or our young men will never run again.

Do not eat their soft food. If anyone should, his teeth will fall from his mouth.”

At this time, the people went away to their homes for the night. The old ones continued to
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listen at the cave. When morning came, all the young men were called from their beds. They

were told to make a sacred dancing place over the cave and cover it from sight. The young men

did as they were told.

It was not long before the Spaniards came, wearing beards and hard shoes. They never

knew how the village of Laguna had been warned of their coming.

Session Design for The Warning

Materials

CD of Native American flute music

CD player

Framing

Begin with one or more of the following ideas:

1. Ask students what a prophecy is and how one might be given.

2. Ask students

“What would you and your family do and how would you feel if you were told

you had to leave your home tomorrow because someone else was forcing you out

and moving into your house?”

3. Ask students what they know of the clashes between White invaders and Native American

tribes in early United States history.

4. The facilitator, dropping into role as Es-cha-ya, tells the class there is danger approaching their

village. The facilitator tells children the warning given to him from the cave spirit. (If this
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teacher in role strategy is used, proceed directly to 6 under “Process.”) Depending on the

approach the facilitator takes with the session, telling the story may not be essential if the

children are thrust immediately into the playing by the facilitator as Es-cha-ya. If the story is

dramatized in a conventional manner, the facilitator may wish to stop the story immediately after

the prophecy is revealed to allow students to speculate on the outcome.

Process

Creating a Community

5. Establishing a sense of community and equipping students with knowledge about the tribe’s

way of life would be helpful for the playing. Discuss daily existence in the lives of the Pueblo

Indians from the past and specific tasks mentioned or implied in the story (e.g., constructing

bows and arrows, making pottery, farming, hunting, taking care of those wounded in battle). Ask

students to share specific daily tasks of the people to generate more ideas for playing. With

music playing softly, ask each child to choose a particular task to undertake:

“Finding your own space and working silently, begin pantomiming the task

you’ve selected as part of your daily routine.”

Observe and sidecoach in role:

“That’s a fine bow you’ve made; it will be good for the next battle.” “Plant the

seed deeply or it may not grow.”

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Stepping out of role, tell the group to continue their work, but to

“show through your actions, your face, your body, that something is wrong.

Things don’t feel right, and there’s a strange sense inside you that something bad

is about to happen.”

Observe the work, then call the tribe together.

Debating What Actions to Take

6. The teacher, in role, facilitates a tribal village meeting with all players to discuss the warning

he received from the cave spirit. Through strategic questions and improvised dialogue to

children’s responses, focus on the implications the prophecy has for the tribe’s way of life and

their future. The primary goal is to get students to debate and think carefully about actions and

consequences rather than to make hasty decisions:

“When the strangers come, what shall we do?” “Should we greet them peacefully,

fight, or leave our home before they arrive?” “What danger might we face?” “If

we leave, where do we go?”

As a player responds, affirm or counter the suggestion or idea with supportive commentary or

additional ideas for reflection:

“But if we fight, how can we protect ourselves from their long, sharp knives?”
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“Not all of us may be willing to sacrifice our lives for that.” “We’ve already lost

many of our finest men and women in the wars.” “Yes, that would be a way to

keep the children safe.”

7. The facilitator, in role as Es-cha-ya, persuades the people to spend the night reflecting on the

choices put forth by the villagers and to wait by the cave for advice. Dropping out of role, the

facilitator asks children what insights or discoveries may have been made about the Indians

confronting this problem and themes that may have been generated from the village meeting.

Discuss the “fight-or-flight” nature of people, and how the possibilities for action by the Pueblo

may be more complex than simply fighting or leaving.

The Cave Ceremony

8. Discuss the importance of the cave and cave spirit to these people. Ask students to select a

designated area in the room as the opening to the underground cave. Discuss how the Pueblo

may have paid homage to the cave (based on what the story shares and what anthropology

records). Working as facilitator, assist the class with developing a ceremony that honors the cave

spirit through physical actions, dance, chanting, or singing. Again, the facilitator decides if the

need for historical accuracy merits the selection of culturally-specific rituals, but the primary

goal of this unit is to focus on the belief system of the people. This open-ended unit is

preparatory work to the closure of the session. Depending on the class, small-group work might

be more time-efficient. If possible, dim the lights in the room. Groups of four to five students are

given approximately ten minutes to develop a brief ceremony from their “family” that honors

and evokes the cave spirit. Groups may be given a theme for their work, such as “Homage from
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the Pottery Makers,” or “Honor from the Bow and Arrow Makers.” Before each group shares

their ceremony, the teacher facilitates a whole-village ceremony that will bring each villager

together around the cave opening, and informs the players ahead of time that after the final

ceremony he will become Es-cha-ya and provide the final set of instructions. Encourage the

group to be as silent as possible during the final moments. One group at a time then shares its

prepared ceremony, finishing with the entire village ceremony.

Silent Meditation

9. Immediately after the village ceremony, the facilitator drops into role as Es-cha-ya and says,

“Spirit of the cave, your people are listening. We will sit and try to hear your

words. We will sit and open our hearts to what you would have us do and not

what we want to do. We will wait patiently and listen in silence. You have given

us a warning, but tell us what we are now to do.”

Allow for one minute of silence. If a student begins to speak, motion for quiet or ask for silence

in role.

Reflection and Assessment

10. When the facilitator determines that the group has reached its maximum tolerance for

listening, he drops out of role and tells students to relax. Ask if they were able to concentrate on

listening to the cave spirit and what they believed it told the people of the village to do. Discuss

why the Pueblo Indians in this village placed so much importance on the cave spirit for guidance.

11. Ask players what feelings the people might have experienced when they first heard the

warning and dealt with the approaching danger.

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12. Discuss recent or current events that involve countries at war over invasions or land disputes.

Ask students to compare the plight of the Pueblo described in the story with contemporary

political situations, noting the similarities.

13. If the ending of the story was withheld from players, share the last few paragraphs of The

Warning. Ask players what choice they think the people in this story made and what history

records.

Social Studies Follow-Up

1. Locate on a map where the Pueblo Indians lived before the arrival of Spanish colonists.

2. Discuss why certain Indian tribes were at war with each other in earlier centuries.

3. Report on particular historical accounts of Native American tribes who confronted White

settlers new to the continent. Focus on incidents of tribes forced to relocate as the United States

territory expanded. Use improvisation to dramatize these encounters between the United States

government and selected Indian nations.

4. Select a particular Native American tribe in your region, and research and discuss its spiritual

beliefs and practices.

5. Examine and discuss contemporary news accounts of Indian tribes and nations in dispute with

federal and state governments. Compare how the disputes are handled today and how they were

handled during various periods of history.

Language Arts/Literature Follow-Up

1. The spirit in the cave provided a warning to the tribe. Write a prophecy poem to the
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American people of today.

2. Write an imaginary account of a White settler seeing a Native American Indian for the very

first time. Then write an account of a Native American Indian seeing a White settler for the very

first time. Focus on physical descriptions of the people and the first impressions, feelings, and

fears one might have about seeing the other. Compare the two points of view. Improvise various

ways two people from different cultures may react toward each other when meeting for the first

time.

3. Read Scott O’Dell’s Sing Down the Moon (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1970). The action

of this novel is set centuries later than the first encounter depicted in The Warning. Discuss to

what degree O’Dell’s depiction of the Indian characters, their dialogue, and their actions may be

culturally sensitive or offensive to contemporary Native Americans. Discuss what is needed by a

non-Indian writer who wants to develop a culturally sensitive work about Native American

people. Find selections from the novel that lend themselves to dramatization and improvise the

scenes in class.
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Chapter 4

Stories from the Asian and Pacific Islands Canons

There are twenty-nine distinct subgroups of Asian Pacific Americans, and it is difficult to

profile such a vast body of folklore from so many countries. For example, in Japanese folklore

appropriate for children, interactions between humans and animals are prominent, and cultural

values influence character action and story structure. Vietnamese stories, fables, and folk

poetry—some pieces thousands of years old—are still shared today in the oral tradition. There

are some sophisticated themes, life lessons, and cultural knowledge contained in Vietnam’s body

of prose and poetry, a canon that loses some of its delight in translation. The Philippines have

been influenced strongly by centuries of Spanish colonization. Some folktales from this country

exhibit a unique blend of European and Asian motifs. The First Monkeys deals with an animal

prominent in the country, yet also features a spiritual character reminiscent of Hispanic

Catholicism.

Teachers searching for material from Asian and Pacific Island cultures may find more

authentic tales in collections compiled by anthropologists and folklorists, rather than picture

books intended as children’s literature. Contemporary fiction by such writers as Lawrence Yep

provides dynamic and relevant material for Chinese Americans. Contemporary literature for

children also explores the “newcomer” role of Asian Pacific immigrant children, and several

titles profile the problems some may encounter at school.

The First Monkeys (The Philippines)

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The story below is retold rather melodramatically with several vocabulary words beyond the

comprehension of most young children. It is reproduced as originally published, and teachers

are advised to retell this story in their own words. The First Monkeys has an intriguing and very

playable story line. Grades K-4 can dramatize the folktale, and children from the upper grade

levels may develop more in-depth characterizations for the nobility. The accompanying session

design is tailored for children new to drama.

Long, long ago, King Ramos ruled over the island kingdom of Basuanga. He was harsh to his

subjects to the point of being cruel and a despot. His queen possessed similar traits which did not

endear her to the people.

They were naturally a very rich couple. The palace in which they lived was a huge

complex, filled with the most beautiful and expensive furniture in the world. As King Ramos and

his spouse loved good food, their storerooms were filled with different foods and imported

wines.

A confirmed gourmet, King Ramos threw grand receptions, where all manner of

delicacies were served. But he and the Queen being status conscious would invite only the

nobility who matched their rank as rulers. These people, well fed and looked after by the

generous hosts, became their friends. These invitees often dined and wined at the palace but they

had no idea that the King was a heartless monarch who was cruel to the core and the Queen was

not the lovable person that she appeared at these lavish parties.

King Ramos loved these grand receptions. One day he and his Queen were hosts of a

festive party that went on for the whole day. A number of tables were laid with the richest foods

and viands and the choicest wines. Since it was a whole-day affair, and the weather was good,
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the generous hosts had the tables removed to the palace garden. The guests had a whale of a

time, eating and carousing even as the Romans used to, in hoary times. There was laughter and

merriment all around.

An old decrepit woman somehow appeared on the scene. Bent with age and clad in rags

she hobbled around the tables, begging for food and alms. Nobody took any notice of her. Those

that did only tried to shoo her away.

Finally, the miserable hag approached the table around which the King and his cohorts

were dining and wining. Folding her hands, she pleaded, “Please, Sire, give me some food. I am

famished and starving!”

The Queen, sitting beside King Ramos, saw the beggar woman and became very angry.

She shouted, “Who admitted you to the palace garden? Beggar woman, away with you! Don’t

you know this reception is for the nobility only, not for beggars like you?”

This harsh repartee somehow provided amusement to the guests around the table. They

guffawed. One of them threw a spoon at the old beggar woman. Others followed suit, laughing

all the while. The poor beggar woman dodged the spoons as these fell in her direction.

King Ramos was entertained by this game and exclaimed, with glee, “Keep it up, my

friends! The first guests to hit the hag on the head will receive a prize.”

The old woman was in a fix. She knew not what to do—the spoons hitting her all over.

Nobody could come to her rescue. The cruel fun at her expense went on, the merry-makers

hardly suspecting that this crass apathy would cost them dearly.

The scene changed all of a sudden. Before the very eyes of the King Ramos and his

merry-making guests, the old woman disappeared, vanishing into thin air, as a shaft of blinding

white light struck her. The revelers, amazed at this phenomenon, saw that in the same instant, she
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was replaced by a beautiful woman, dressed from head to toe in shimmering white. A halo

surrounded her lovely face but it shone with such a glare that the beholders could barely look at

her.

The lady in white had not appeared on the troubled spot for nothing. She had a mission to

fulfill. In righteous anger, she addressed the assembled guests, “King Ramos and guests, you are

despicable, cruel-hearted people, indeed, the scum of the earth. None among you has a kind heart

or any feeling of compassion. You have been born as privileged people but you don’t deserve to

be humans. Hence, you—all of you—will be transformed into animals. But, it is decreed, that

you will be special animals—the ones that resemble humans and can also behave like men.”

The lady having pronounced these words, a more strange phenomenon took place. The

selfsame spoons that had been wildly thrown at the beggar woman, rose up, flew like darts and

hit King Ramos, the Queen and their guests on their buttocks with such force that they cried in

pain.

This was not the end of the dire punishment. The clothes of the men and the dresses of

the ladies changed to long hair covering their bodies. Their hands grew longer and were also

covered with hair—the fineries having vanished in a trice. Instead of walking on two legs, they

ambled around, and the only sound they could emit in their new state was “Kur . . . kurr . . .

kurrraa.”

Looking at each other, and realizing how ugly they had become, they ran in a body to the

nearby forest, where their companions were wild pigs and deer. They and their progeny lived

there ever since. These were the first monkeys in the Philippines.
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Session Design for The First Monkeys

Materials

illustration of a monkey

illustrations of the affluent/nobility and the poor

Framing

Begin with one or more of the following ideas:

1. Show an illustration of a monkey and discuss its characteristics. Discuss how the animal is

similar to and different from a human being.

2. Show illustrations of the affluent and poor. Aside from wealth, discuss the differences

between being rich and poor. Ask students how the everyday lives of people with different

incomes and statuses separate them socially.

3. Discuss the possible consequences of those who treat others cruelly or mockingly.

4. Retell The First Monkeys with a more age-appropriate vocabulary.

Process

Transforming into a Monkey

5. Ask players to find their own space in the room. Practice the transformation from a person of

nobility into a monkey:

“First, create a posture that suggests you’re a king, queen, or other member of

royalty. Without any sounds and without disturbing anyone else in the room,
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shape your body to create a monkey.”

Observe and assess.

“Come back to human form as a member of royalty. Let me count from one to

five. As I count, slowly change your body from human form to a monkey shape

without any sounds.”

Slowly count from one to five and observe the players’ work.

“Now let’s see what happens when you softly change your voice from human

speech and language to monkey sounds as you’re changing your physical shape

from royalty to the animal. What are some things these people might be saying to

themselves or to each other at this point in the story?”

Solicit ideas from players and encourage them to select or improvise with suggestions offered.

Lead children through the complete transformation from human posture and language into

animal shapes and sounds. Have all players gather together to assess the work.

Portraying the Nobility and the Poor

6. Discuss the attitudes of the nobility toward the poor as illustrated in the story. Ask players to

describe the feelings and reactions the royalty might have upon seeing a poor person. Ask

players how the poor would feel and react to the nobility’s reaction. Divide the class into split-

half groups; half will portray the nobility while the other half will portray the poor. Those who

are members of royalty are asked to stand on one side of the room while the half playing the poor

are on the other side. Sidecoach to the nobility that they are to imagine getting dressed for the

King and Queen’s reception:

“Put on your finest robes, hats, jewelry, and shoes and think about the fine

banquet you’ll be attending. First, think how a member of the nobility would walk
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across the space. Show through your face, body, and movement how your

character might proceed to the banquet. Go.”

Observe and assess. Ask players portraying the poor to find their own space on the floor in the

center of the room:

“Position and shape your body as you think someone who’s very poor might sit.

Without any sounds, try to show they’re hungry, tired, and that life is very hard

for them. Begin.”

Observe, sidecoach as needed, and assess the players’ work. Ask players portraying the poor to

move to one side of the room and remain seated as if they were alongside a road. Ask players

portraying the nobility to walk across the space and demonstrate a possible reaction to the poor

people by the side of the road. Reinforce that no physical contact is to be made between the

groups. Children in upper grade levels might improvise comments or dialogue with each other

during this unit (e.g., begging for money, comments on the smell of the poor). Allow verbal

work as long as players’ remarks are appropriate to the characters. As time allows, ask each split-

half group to reverse roles and play through the same actions described above. Assess the work

and discuss the reactions and remarks that may have emerged from the playing.

Improvising the Reception

7. Discuss what members of the nobility would eat at King Ramos’ reception (e.g., fresh fruit,

fish, special dishes of the country) and what topics of conversation would be raised (e.g., the

food, their land, wealth, servants, each other’s clothing, jewelry). The facilitator informs players

he will play in role as King Ramos and speak with children as if they were at the reception. Ask

players to pantomime eating some of the food items mentioned above. Utilize the topics children
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mentioned, and ask closed- and open-ended questions to solicit language from children:

“That’s a beautiful robe. Is it new?” “Look at all that jewelry. Are those diamonds

you’re wearing?” “What shall we do with all the poor people in the kingdom?

They are such a nuisance.”

Improvise with children and assist them with their verbal characterizations of arrogant nobility.

The Old Woman at the Banquet

8. The facilitator selects two children to portray the King and Queen. The facilitator plays the

role of the Old Woman. Discuss what dialogue might occur between the Old Woman and the

Queen (as outlined in the story), and the initiating line of dialogue from the King for the guests

to throw things at the Old Woman. Ask players to suggest some sort of gesture or action the

facilitator can make to show she has changed into the woman surrounded by the halo, and a

gesture that begins the transformation of the nobility into monkeys. Finally, discuss how the

playing will come to an end once the transformation has been completed (e.g., the monkeys

freeze in place; the monkeys move to one side of the room and huddle together). Once these

decisions have been made and reviewed, the unit is played.

9. Reinforce to children that during the final unit of playing, no physical contact is to be made

with the facilitator, and no things are to be actually thrown. The facilitator steps out of the circle,

announces she is in role, and begins begging the nobility for food. Improvise with children as

they initiate dialogue and solicit oral responses from the guests. Approach the Queen and King

and dialogue according to the decisions made above. Improvise the final decree by the woman

with the halo and make the gesture or action that transforms the humans into monkeys.
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Reflection and Assessment

10. Assess the final unit of the dramatization, focusing on the players’ ability to follow directions

and adhere to the decisions made by the group.

11. Discuss how movement and language or sound were used to create the characters in the

story. Ask players to describe why some physical and verbal choices are more appropriate than

others when creating characters from a story.

12. Discuss how the tale is not only a story of how monkeys came to be, but also a warning to

those who are cruel to others. Discuss why the wealthy rather than the poor were selected for

those who were changed into monkeys.

13. If time permits, replay the final unit of the story with different children recast as the King and

Queen and a child as the Old Woman.

Social Studies Follow-Up

1. Locate the Philippines on a globe or map.

2. Discuss the language(s) spoken in the Philippines by the majority of its citizens today.

3. Discuss the Spanish colonization of the Philippines. Examine what influences the European

and Asian cultures had on this country.

4. With older groups, discuss the overthrow of the Philippine government under Ferdinand

Marcos. In what ways does The First Monkeys parallel the historic event?

5. Discuss how wealth and poverty affect human relationships and relationships between

countries.
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Language Arts/Literature Follow-Up

1. Read The First Monkeys from Victor Montejo’s The Bird Who Cleans the World and Other

Mayan Fables (Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press, 1991). Compare the story from the

Philippines with Montejo’s version from Guatemala. Describe how the origin of monkeys is

similar in these two stories, and discuss why such similarities might be present in stories from

these two countries. Dramatize Montejo’s version of the story in class.

2. Read tales from other Asian and Pacific Island cultures which feature a monkey as a central

character. Describe why a monkey might be portrayed as a lowly character in some stories, and a

loveable yet powerful character in others. Dramatize stories that lend themselves to

improvisation.

3. Find the definitions for some of the following vocabulary words used in The First Monkeys

(arranged in the order they appear in the tale): despot, endear, complex, imported, confirmed,

gourmet, receptions, delicacies, status, conscious, invitees, monarch, lavish, viands, carousing,

hoary, decrepit, alms, cohorts, famished, repartee, guffawed, crass, apathy, revelers,

phenomenon, righteous, despicable, compassion, privileged, decreed, selfsame, dire, ambled,

progeny. Replay The First Monkeys or develop original improvisations in which several of these

vocabulary words are integrated into the dialogue.

4. Discuss how oral language use and vocabulary for people with higher incomes might be

different from those with lower incomes. Discuss what social conditions might influence the way

we speak.
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Taro and the Magic Fish (Japanese)

Folktales do not have to be ancient in origin. A Japanese American student from Washington

State shared this story with me. He mentioned it was “made up” by him and his grandparents

when he was little. The story incorporates cultural elements from Japan and motifs from other

Japanese folktales. The story and its accompanying session design are appropriate for grades 3-

5. Puppetry for the sea creatures can play an intriguing role in its dramatization, but the session

design uses people for the underwater life.

Mie (pronounced mee-ay), a term used in the story, derives from the Japanese Kabuki

theatre. A mie is a stylized, carefully composed, statue-like moment of tension. After a complex

sequence of movements and gestures, the Kabuki actor creates a climactic pose that is

nonrealistic and suggestive, paying attention to every physical detail, including the face. Imagine

a picture of a triumphant warrior after a fierce battle with his sword lifted in the air; his other

arm extended outward; his legs in a tense lunge; and you have an example of a mie.

Taro, Japan’s greatest general, was separated from his army during the last great battle.

Tired, hungry, and thirsty, he wandered along the shores of the ocean desperate for help.

He tried to drink the salty water but spat out the bitter taste from his mouth.

Turning his attention to food, Taro scouted the water in hopes of finding a creature for

survival. A golden glimmer came toward the surface and Taro readied himself to strike. When

the fish came closer, Taro grabbed the creature from the water and was about to eat it when the

fish cried, “Honorable Lord! Please—spare my life!”

Taro dropped the fish in amazement on the wet, sandy shore. “A talking fish?” he thought
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to himself as he trembled. The fish began scuttling in desperation and begged, “Great Lord!

Throw me back in the water, please, and 1 shall repay the kindness!” Taro, afraid that a severe

test of faith was in store, picked up the fish and threw it into the ocean. The creature, grateful for

its life, came to the surface and said, “I thank you, great general. If you need me, call, and 1 shall

be there for you.” The fish swam deeply into the blue water and disappeared.

During this haunting episode, Taro did not see the opposing general and his army

advancing toward the shore. Taro heard the sound of armor, and when he turned to look, a

mighty force a hundred strong was marching, swords in hand. Taro panicked and did not know

where to turn. But he remembered the promise of the creature he saved, and prayed that the fish

would keep its word.

“We meet once more,” said the opposing general. The army came to a halt and stared at

Taro’s exhausted body. “Are you ready to die?” Taro raised his arms and announced to the

soldiers, “Fools! You think a hundred men can stop the mighty Taro? The power I have is so

great it can even command the creatures of the ocean!”

The army laughed at such foolish babble. “Surely he’s gone mad,” whispered one soldier

to another. “Enough!” cried Taro. “Behold! Fish, 1 command you—rise to the water’s edge!”

The creature saved by Taro was listening to the man, swam to the surface, and created dazzling

mie with its fins, tail, and mouth. The opposing general laughed and attributed it to nothing more

than coincidence. “Witness!” Taro cried. “Life of the ocean, I command you—rise to the water’s

edge!”

At that moment, the millions of creatures that inhabited the ocean came to the surface at

the magic fish’s command. The army gasped at the octopi, sea horses, eels, and jellyfish that

danced mie hauntingly on the water’s surface. Taro then turned to the men and said, “More?
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Behold the final charge. Fish, I command you—dance in the air!” Millions of creatures jumped

out of the water and began swimming in the sky. The soldiers, believing now in Taro’s

incantations, dropped their swords in horror and fled from the bizarre sight. Even the opposing

general himself outran his swiftest man. “There is evil magic here! Retreat!”

Taro laughed as the army disappeared from his sight. He turned to the creatures

inhabiting the sky and gently spoke, “Fish, I thank you. Return to your home.” The ocean life

dropped into the water with a mighty splash and swam to its lower depths. But the magic fish

remained and bowed to Taro. Taro returned the courtesy.

“We have saved each other—and that makes us equal,” the fish said. “But I will repay the

debt with a final gift.” Two seahorses brought a small treasure chest from the ocean and placed it

at Taro’s feet. “Pearls?” thought Taro. As he opened the chest, the magic fish explained, “Inside

are the greatest gifts I can give you at this time—fresh water, food, and a pillow for your

comfort. For what good are riches of the world if the body, mind, and soul are not nourished?”

The magic fish disappeared into the ocean, never to be seen again. Taro drank, ate, and

rested on the pillow, reflecting on the wisdom of the creature that saved his life.

Session Design for Taro and the Magic Fish

Materials

small drum

illustrations of ancient Japanese warriors and underwater life

CD of Japanese flute or Kabuki music

CD player
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Framing

Begin with one or more of the following ideas:

1. Show illustrations of ancient Japanese warriors. Discuss the early dynasties of Japan and the

battles fought for power.

2. Show illustrations of unusual and exotic underwater life

3. Play Kabuki music from Japan. Ask players from which country they believe the music to be;

if they respond correctly, ask “How do you know that?”

4. Explain the term mie and how it resembles a “still picture” or an actor’s dynamic pose from

the Japanese Kabuki theatre. Ask for volunteers from class to model poses for the class as the

facilitator guides them. Also explain kata (pronounced kah-tah), the Kabuki theatre term for

stylistic gesture. Ask students to demonstrate.

5. Present the story. Playing Kabuki or Japanese flute music softly under the retelling is an

effective method of creating a sense of period.

Process

The Warriors’ Mie

6. Ask players to find their own space in the cleared room. Describe the mie as explained in the

introduction to “Taro and the Magic Fish,” or as demonstrated during the Framing:

“When you hear the drumbeat, pose yourself as if you’re a Japanese warrior with

a sword—no movement, just a frozen picture.”

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Observe and assess.

“Now try a different pose shaping your body in a completely different way.”

Ask players to explore a different mie with each drumbeat the facilitator makes. Experiment with

a few more poses, sidecoaching as needed:

“Make your legs part of the mie”; “Don’t forget that your face should also be part

of the mie.”

Ask players to relax and assess their work.

The Underwater Creatures’ Mie and Kata

7. Ask players to think about one of the creatures in the story that could have emerged from the

ocean, and tell students to

“Begin shaping your body to create that creature and move slowly through the

room as if you were under water—slowly, slowly without touching anyone else.

Explore how your hands and arms can gesture as a sea creature. These expressive

gestures in Japanese Kabuki Theatre are called kata.”

Observe and assess. Again, ask players to shape themselves into several mie as underwater

creatures, accompanied by drumbeats. Observe and assess. Ask players,

“What did you do to make the underwater creature’s mie different from the

human soldier mie?” “Describe the qualities of your kata.”

Distributing the Roles and Practicing the Units

8. Organize the class into split-half groups, one group as ocean life, the other as soldiers. Select
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or ask for one volunteer from each group to portray the magic fish and the general of the

opposing army (neither role should be gender-specific). The facilitator will portray Taro. Work

with the child selected to play the magic fish as the children portraying the soldiers and other

creatures sit at the side and observe.

9. The facilitator and child as the magic fish review the scenario for the first part of the story.

Establish the central part of the space as the shore and practice how the fish will enter the action,

what dialogue will be exchanged, and how the fish will leave the action.

10. Direct the army group to find a way of entering the action of the story. If the facilitator is

comfortable, the child selected to play the general can beat the drum to bring the army into the

action (the central space of the room). Children sometimes suggest using kata and mie as they

approach the area. Organize the group so they are on one side of the area (the shore). Review

with the child portraying the general the basic sequence of action and dialogue between Taro and

him.

11. Practice the next unit in which the magic fish appears and creates kata and mie for the army.

Then practice the unit in which all the creatures enter the action on their side of the room (the

ocean) and form their kata and mie on the water and in the air. Organize how and where the

children portraying the soldiers will go when they retreat and their portion of the dramatization is

completed.

12. The facilitator works with the children portraying the creatures, practicing how they will

return to the sea and leave the action. The children portraying the magic fish and two seahorses

are then guided through their unit of action for bringing the treasure chest to Taro.
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Dramatizing the Story

13. Ask players if there are any questions before the units are assembled for a complete playing.

Review any cautionary guidelines and notes for an effective playing (e.g., no physical contact,

maintain believability, and commit to the drama). If possible, play Japanese music softly to

enhance the mood for the playing.

14. The facilitator enters the action as Taro, thirsty and hungry, searching for water and food.

The units, as practiced above, are then played through nonstop for the dramatization.

Reflection and Assessment

15. The facilitator offers his observations to children on their believability and commitment to

the playing. Mention the level of seriousness and integrity maintained throughout the drama.

16. Discuss how movement played an important part in the dramatization. Ask children how easy

or difficult it may have been to use their bodies for the playing. Discuss what kind of training

might be needed for an actor portraying these characters on a stage.

17. If interest is high, replay the story incorporating suggestions mentioned during the

assessment. For maximum learning, ask players to switch roles for the second playing so that

soldiers now become creatures and vice versa.

18. Discuss how the story might be dramatized if puppets were used instead of people for

creatures. If interest is high, have children create their own rod puppets for the underwater life

and dramatize the story in a future session.

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Social Studies Follow-Up

1. Locate Japan on a globe or map.

2. Discuss how the story’s ending has an environmental theme. Discuss countries or cultures that

consider the environment a prominent part of their existence.

3. The story’s action does not mention a specific time period in Japanese history. Discuss when

Japan was at war during its early dynasties. What were the motivations for these wars?

Language Arts/Literature Follow-Up

1. Read excerpts from Katherine Paterson’s The Master Puppeteer (New York: Thomas Y.

Crowell Co., 1975). Discuss the life of a puppeteer in Japan’s Bunraku theatre, as depicted in the

novel. Dramatize scenes from the work that lend themselves to improvisation.

2. Watch a videotape of traditional Japanese theatre forms, such as Kabuki or Bunraku. Discuss

how the styles of these theatre forms are different from the styles usually produced in the United

States. Discuss how Taro and the Magic Fish might be staged as a Kabuki or Bunraku

presentation. Dramatize the story again, incorporating selected elements (movement, sound

effects, etc.) from the traditional Japanese theatre.

3. The character of Taro is featured in other Japanese folktales. Locate and read these stories.

Taro and the Magic Fish was created by a Japanese American family that selected and combined

elements from traditional Japanese stories and the Japanese Kabuki theatre. Find elements or

motifs from authentic Japanese tales that found their way into this story created in the twentieth

century. Dramatize those stories that lend themselves to improvisation.

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The Ten Farmers (China)

The approach to this story for children in grades 4-8 is holistic. The tale is used as a catalyst for

improvisational story creation rather than dramatization, much like the session design for The

Warning in Chapter Three.

This improvisational session asks children to think about the nature of good and evil.

The facilitator assumes a role not included in the story—a monk. The character is used in the

session to set the problem in motion and generate discussion and debate. The direction the story

takes depends on the children’s decisions. The facilitator plays a critical role in extending and

challenging children’s thinking and assumptions. What may appear as an abstract, philosophical

session is actually a drama woven with tension and a surprise ending for the participants.

Many years ago there were ten farm workers, who were all traveling together. They were

surprised by a heavy thunderstorm, and all took refuge in a half-ruined temple. But the thunder

drew ever nearer, and so great was the storm that the air trembled about them, while the lightning

flashed around and around the temple in a great circle.

The farmers were all badly frightened, and decided that there must be a sinner among

them, whom the lightning was trying to strike. To find out which one of them it might be, they

agreed to hang up their straw hats outside the door. He whose hat was blown away would have to

go outside and let himself be struck by lightning.

But one of the ten farmers protested. “Surely not one among us is without some sin,” said

he. “But if anyone of us is without sin, surely that innocent man has no fear of death.” But the

others would not listen to him.

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No sooner were all the hats outside, than one of them was blown away. Sure enough, it

was the hat of the one farmer who had protested. Then all the others laughed, and pushed the

unlucky owner out of doors without pity. But as soon as he had left, the lightning ceased circling,

and struck the temple with a crash.

For the one that the rest had pushed out had been the only really good person among

them, and for his sake the lightning had spared the temple. Thus the evil nine farmers had to pay

with their lives for their cruelty to their companion.

Session Design for The Ten Farmers

Materials

CD of continuous thunderstorm sound effects

CD player

Framing

Begin with one or more of the following ideas:

1. If the class has had some experience with story drama, explain that this session will be

approached differently:

“Instead of me telling a story first, this time the way the story progresses and ends

will depend on where you take the action. The setting, characters, and problem

will be presented to you as we work through the session, but the way the story

ends depends on the kinds of decisions you make as we go on. Listen carefully
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because later I’ll be playing a role that will help you get the information you need

to push the drama forward.”

2. Prepare the room for drama to permit work in the center area. Play the CD of thunderstorm

sound effects; if possible, dim the lights in the room. Ask players what kinds of moods are

evoked by these effects.

3. It is suggested that the story not be shared with children at the beginning of the session but at

the end. The facilitator uses the story-line as the framework for improvisation to explore the

themes of good and evil.

Process

Escaping from the Rain

4. Ask players to get into small groups of four or five. If the class is open to forming small

groups with a mix of boys and girls, encourage them to do so.

“Each person in your group is a member of the same community that works on a

farm. You might all be related, like a family, or perhaps you’re just good friends

who work together. You’ve been working the land in China, but you’ve gotten

caught in this terrible thunderstorm. No umbrellas, nothing to hide under; it’s just

you and your group in an open field. With each group working in its own space

and without any talking, show through your face and body how fierce the storm is

and how you might try to protect each other from the rain. Go.”
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Observe the work and sidecoach, as needed, reinforcing that no verbal work be done and

encouraging serious commitment to the activity. As the sound effects continue, sidecoach to

players,

“Walk slowly throughout the room with your group, showing that the rain,

thunder, and lightning are overwhelming and you’re trying to find a place to take

shelter from the storm. Again, no sounds; let your movements and face say what

you might be thinking and feeling.”

Once commitment is observed, sidecoach,

“Through the pouring rain your group spots a small building nearby. Show how

you would react at seeing a place to take shelter. Come inside and take refuge.

Wipe the water off you and try to get dry. I’ll be stepping into role soon. Talk to

each other to see if everybody is all right.”

Observe the dialogue exchanged between students.

The Monk in the Temple

5. The facilitator now takes on the role of a monk who takes care of the temple. The basic goal is

to evoke an aura of mystery and tension by the character’s demeanor and vocal tone. What

follows is an example of the kind of dialogue I used with a group of fourth graders:

“Who are you? What are doing in this temple? Answer me.”

Listen to children’s responses and improvise in role to whatever questions they may ask. Some

may ask about the facilitator’s character. He can respond that he is a monk who is in the temple
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for meditation. After introductory dialogue has been exchanged, or if some children generate

responses that are inconsistent with the seriousness of the piece, the facilitator can respond

coldly,

“This is a sacred place. It will keep you safe from the storm and you’re welcome

to stay. But reverence and respect will be shown here. Please be quiet while I

meditate.”

Good versus Evil

6. The facilitator sets himself away from the group as if in meditation. The facilitator then sighs

deeply or moans as if in pain. The intent is to spark attention and curiosity from the students. The

monk turns to the children and states,

“There is . . . an evil presence here. I feel it. Some of you have done something

very wrong. And the thunderstorm is punishment for your wickedness. But the

evil ones are mixed with the good, and it’s difficult to feel which ones are which.

I have thought a lot about what is good and what is evil. Have you?”

The facilitator improvises with children on the nature of good and evil. Depending on the grade

level, some children will use specific examples from their own experiences rather than discuss

the subject on an abstract, philosophical level. The facilitator, however, should not be hesitant to

ask complex questions to get children thinking about the “grays” of good and evil:

“How do we know a person’s good?” “What makes people evil?” “How can

someone be good and evil at the same time?”

Continue this discussion until an appropriate stopping point has been reached.
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Choosing the Evil Ones

7. The facilitator may break the discussion abruptly and re-spark interest by saying,

“Silence. Silence. I am feeling something new. The evil ones must be removed.

For the sake of the good, the evil ones must leave. The evil ones must face the

fury of the thunderstorm outside so the good can be protected inside the temple.

Otherwise the lightning will destroy us all. Who will leave? Who are the evil ones

in here?”

If children begin accusing each other (with imaginary or actual reasons) the facilitator can

counter their accusations with,

“Were you there?” “What may be evil to you may be good to someone else.”

“The evil ones can disguise themselves as good people.” “Why are some so quick

to accuse and some so silent?”

The purpose of the facilitator’s challenges is to assist players with seeing the complexities of an

issue. Above all the facilitator should not demean a student’s response, but probe the issue or

response even further by examining several points of view.

8. If whole group discussion becomes unmanageable, the facilitator can steer the discussion into

small groups by suggesting,

“You came into this temple as families and friends. Is there one or more in your

group who is evil? Who will leave to face the fury of the thunderstorm so the

good can be saved? The lightning is getting dangerously close and we have little
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time left.”

The facilitator suggests that each group should decide who among them will leave the temple. As

the groups discuss among themselves, the facilitator can circulate among the children, in role,

ensuring that respect is maintained inside the temple. Tension can be added by such sidecoaching

in role as,

“The thunder is getting louder; we must make our decisions soon.”

9. When the facilitator observes that small groups have reached some kind of decision (and some

groups may not have reached any decision, which is acceptable), the facilitator then asks each

group to explain to the others who has been identified as evil and why. Group response and

reasons will vary. Some may have been accused and selected by others. Some will openly admit

to their “evil” and volunteer to leave. Others may choose to maintain their bond, leave the temple

together and face the consequences. (In one session, the entire class decided that the monk was

evil and he should be the one to leave.) Whatever choices have been made by the groups should

be accepted.

Revealing the Consequences

10. Those identified as evil are escorted by the facilitator to one side of the room. They are

asked,

“Are you ready to face the thunderstorm?”

Student responses are acknowledged by the facilitator, and they are told to sit “outside” (the side

of the room) and await their fate. The facilitator returns to the ones who remain in the temple and

asks them,

“Do you feel that the evil is gone?”

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After listening to student responses, the facilitator then concludes the session:

“From my master’s teachings I learned a story about good and evil.”

The facilitator then shares the tale of The Ten Farmers with the group, pointedly referring to

those who stayed inside the temple as the ones who will be destroyed by lightning.

Reflection and Assessment

11. The focus of assessment for this session is primarily reflection on student feelings rather than

assessment of drama skills. The facilitator announces he is out of role as the monk and asks the

entire class to sit in a circle. Ask players for their initial reactions to the ending of the story. The

ones expelled from the temple and those who remained inside may each have different reactions.

12. The facilitator shares some of the remarks or comments he recalls from children’s dialogue

about the nature of good and evil. Assess what children may have gained through their

discussions about the complexities of the topic.

13. Ask players to describe how they felt about the character of the monk:

“When I was playing that role, what thoughts or feelings ran through your mind

when the monk challenged your opinions and responses?”

14. If traditional story dramatization has been conducted with the class, ask players to describe

how this method of improvising the story was different from dramatizing a story they heard first.

15. Discuss possible directions or alternative endings the improvisation might have taken.

Discuss how player and facilitator choices influence and affect the structure of drama.
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Social Studies Follow-Up

1. Locate China on a globe or map.

2. Identify the primary religion practiced in China. Discuss how The Ten Farmers may reflect

aspects of the culture’s religious/spiritual beliefs.

3. Identify historic or contemporary figures who are generally portrayed as or considered good

(humanitarian, philanthropist, etc.) and evil (notorious, criminal, etc.). Specify the personality

characteristics and actions that contribute to their reputations. Identify historic figures who may

be considered good by some people yet evil by others (e.g., Christopher Columbus from different

cultural perspectives). Identify why their personality characteristics and actions may be

interpreted differently. Finally, discuss why some people may hold differing opinions about

historic figures (e.g., Why do some people revere Adolph Hitler? Why do some condemn Rev.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?).

Language Arts/Literature Follow-Up

1. Discuss irony as a literary device. Identify what is ironic in The Ten Farmers.

2. Discuss the characteristics of a protagonist and antagonist. Relate how the problem or theme

of good versus evil in literature is realized through characters or situations.

3. Write an original story or poem on “Good and Evil,” based on the discussion and

improvisation generated from the dramatization. Dramatize those works that lend themselves to

improvisation.
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4. As school policy allows, compare The Ten Farmers to the Biblical story in John 8:1-11

(casting the first stone). Discuss the similarities and differences between the two stories.
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Chapter 5

Stories from the African and African American Canons

It is important to distinguish between the canons of African and African American

folklore. They are distinctively different in content and tone, and both should be explored in the

story drama experience.

African folk tales adapted for children’s literature tend to focus on selections featuring

animal characters. Although this provides playable material for story drama and wonderful

possibilities for movement, stories with humans and animals interacting are also available in the

canon. Males are prominent in the folklore, and storyteller Mary J. Kelly feels that the authentic

tales are filled with symbolic sexuality and excessive violence (see Fatima and the Snake).

Kelly also shares that African American folk tales seem to have transformed the violence

found in African folklore into trickery and cleverness, representing the spirit of an oppressed

people wanting to rise above their circumstances. There is ironic humor and pathos in some of

the stories, and tales of slavery provide some of the most dynamic and playable material for story

drama (see People Who Could Fly).

Early documentation of African American folklore was conducted primarily by White

folklorists, and collections of these stories and anecdotes are written in language considered

stereotyped and racist by today’s standards. Renowned African American storyteller Augusta

Baker shared at one of her concerts, “We have never said we were ‘gwine t’ do’ anything.”

Interpretations and retellings of poignant and humorous stories from this canon by such African

American writers as Virginia Hamilton and Julius Lester blend a contemporary flavor into their
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versions with careful attention to dialect and rhythmic language. These adaptations are perhaps

more suitable for today’s children.

The focus on African American literature should not rest exclusively on tales of slavery

and oppression. Kelly shares, “It’s important that we learn to exchange those positive things

about our cultures.” The study and use of stories, particularly by African American children, are

encouraged to enhance cultural knowledge of their legacy.

Fatima and the Snake (Ghana)

C. K. Ganyo, a dance instructor and a native to Africa, told this story to student Kenneth Bass

who told it in one of my classes. I told it to a group of children and teachers in New Orleans and

one of the arts specialists, John Lehon, transcribed the story for documentation. The African

American children with whom I worked may have passed this story on to other children and

adults in Louisiana. Such is the nature of the oral tradition. As with all stories passed from one

teller to another, Fatima and the Snake is retold based on how John and I recalled and reshaped

it.

This tale from Ghana is rich with symbolism but appropriate for grades K-3. It is both a

cautionary and rite-of-passage tale and a story that explains the origin of snake bracelets.

In Ghana they tell of a girl named Fatima. She was not a patient one, and she often did not obey

the rules her mother asked her to follow.

When Fatima was weaving baskets her mother would say, “You must be patient as you

twist and press the grass into place, or the basket will be no use to anyone.” But Fatima did not
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like weaving baskets, especially in the hot sun. She wanted to play in the cool shade of the trees.

So Fatima hurried through her work, and the basket had many gaps where things could fall

through. Her mother frowned when she saw what Fatima had done and said, “Why can’t you be

more patient? You have wasted your time and this fine grass on a useless basket that won’t hold

a thing.”

When Fatima was sent to the field to dig yams, her mother warned her to work slowly

and carefully with the pointed stick because it could easily pierce the yam and ruin it. But Fatima

did not like to dig for yams. She wanted to get out of the hot sun and play in the cool shade of the

trees. So she quickly and carelessly dug the yams, and many were broken. Her mother sighed

when she saw what Fatima had done and said, “Why can’t you be more patient? These yams are

all in pieces; now we cannot eat them. You must learn to listen to what I tell you.”

When Fatima would help her mother pierce and string beads for necklaces her mother

would say, “You must be careful as you push the point through the bead or the bead will split

and be ruined.” But Fatima wanted to finish quickly so she could play in the cool shade of the

trees. Many beautiful beads were broken as she hurried through her work. Her mother shook her

head when she saw what her daughter had done and said, “Fatima, you have broken more beads

than you have on the necklace. Why aren’t you more patient about your work?”

And Fatima said, “I don’t want to work, I want to play in the cool shade of the trees.”

“Fatima, you’re too little to go into the jungle by yourself. There is too much danger in

there. Stay home where it’s safe.”

But Fatima did not obey. When her mother was busy cooking, Fatima ran into the jungle

to play. She walked through thick grass, hanging vines, and prickly bushes. When she stopped

she realized she was lost. On a tree branch above her there appeared a strange creature she had
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never seen before. It was long, round, and made a strange hissing sound. It lowered its head

toward Fatima and said, “Hello, little one.”

“Hello,” Fatima said softly, still uncertain of this strange creature. “What are you?”

“The humans call me Snake.”

“I’ve never seen a . . . snake before,” Fatima said, fascinated by the slowly moving beast.

The snake said to her, “Would you like to feel my skin?”

“Oh, yes,” she said. Fatima reached out to touch the scaly hide and shuddered, “It’s cold

and rough.”

“Would you like to feel my tongue against your cheek?”

“Oh, yes,” said Fatima. The snake slithered closer and licked her face with its quickly

darting tongue. She giggled and said, “It tickles.”

“Would you like to feel my big, white teeth?” “Oh yes,” said Fatima. She reached inside

the snake’s open mouth to touch the long, white fangs. But when her hand was inside, the snake

snapped its jaws, pierced Fatima’s wrist, then slithered quickly back onto the tree branch above

her. Fatima let out a scream as she saw her own blood spill to the ground. She ran through the

jungle crying for help, and by luck alone returned to her own village. By the time she reached

home to tell her mother what had happened, Fatima fainted from the snake’s poison running

through her body.

Fatima was sick for many days. She tossed and turned with endless dreams as her mother

kept watch by her side. And while Fatima was recovering from the poison, her mother made a

bracelet and coiled it around her daughter’s wrist.

When Fatima awoke from her fever she felt her mother hugging her closely. They kissed
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each other, both glad Fatima was alive. Her mother said, “While you were asleep I made this

bracelet to remind you of the dangers out there.” Fatima saw that the bracelet coiled around her

wrist looked just like a snake. And it helped her remember there are dangers in the world, and

she should listen to the wisdom of her mother who had already faced them.

Session Design for Fatima and the Snake

Materials

aluminum foil sheets, cut into twelve-inch lengths, one for each participant

snake bracelet made of aluminum foil

illustration of a snake with large fangs

Framing

Begin with one or more of the following ideas:

1. Discuss why we have rules to follow; explain how adults set most rules because of dangers

children may not know.

2. Show an illustration of a large snake with fangs and ask about the potential danger.

3. Show the aluminum foil snake bracelet and ask children how this piece of jewelry may have

originated.

4. Retell the story. (One technique I saw a storyteller employ with this tale is to mold and shape a

piece of aluminum foil into a snake bracelet as the story is told. By the conclusion of the story,

the bracelet is coiled around the storyteller’s wrist.)

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Process

Portraying Fatima

5. For initial activities children may work seated at their desks or seated in their own space in a

room cleared of desks and chairs. Players will portray Fatima while the facilitator portrays the

mother. In role as the mother, tell children,

“Fatima, here are strips of dried grass. Start working on weaving your basket, but

go slow. Because if it’s not woven tight then the basket won’t be any good. Now

get to work.”

Announce that the facilitator is out of role as the mother and sidecoach players on their weaving:

“Pick up strips of dried grass and show through your hands that you’re trying to

make a basket. But remember that it’s hot outside, so try to show you’re weaving

a basket while you’re trying to stay cool.”

Observe the players’ work and assess.

“As Fatima went on with her weaving she got more and more careless. Now try to

show you’re weaving a basket while it’s hot and you’re really not too interested in

doing this work.”

Observe and sidecoach what you find effective.

6. Announce that the facilitator is now the mother. Encourage dialogue from children by setting

up a conflict and asking questions:

“Fatima, let me see your work. Why, look at this basket, it’s got holes all through
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it. Why didn’t you take your time like I told you?”

Proceed to the next unit of play:

“If you can’t do well at weaving, let’s get you started on digging for yams. Pick

up that long stick. Poke through the dirt until the yam comes loose then pull up

the yam. But poke the ground slowly and carefully, or else you’ll pierce right

through it. I’ll come back to see how many you’ve dug.”

Announce that the facilitator is out of role and sidecoach players as they work:

“Show through your arms and hands that you’re using the stick to dig for yams.

But also try to show how hot it is and that you’d rather be playing instead of

working.”

Observe and assess.

“Now show through your actions that you’ve pierced and broken several yams.

Try to show how Fatima might be feeling after her mother told her to be careful.

I’m coming back now as your mother: ‘Fatima, let me see how many yams

you’ve dug. Oh, Fatima! They’re all in pieces. Why didn’t you listen to what I

told you?’”

Dialogue with children as they initiate responses.

7. Continue with the same sequence and exchange described above for stringing the beads.

Encourage children to work for detail in their pantomime as they string beads onto thread.

8. With all players out of role discuss what feelings might have been experienced by Fatima and
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her mother after these three failed attempts.

Lost in the Jungle

9. Discuss the playing of the next unit between Fatima and Snake. Ask players to walk around

the space as you sidecoach them into the jungle:

“Begin walking through the room as if you’re sneaking away, glad that you’re

free from all the work you have to do. Show through your face that you’re looking

around at new things you’ve never seen before, and show through your body that

you’re walking through tall grass and low hanging vines.”

Observe and assess.

“Now show through your face and body that you don’t know where you are, that

you’re lost, that it’s starting to get dark and you’re worried.”

Ask players to gather back in a circle. Share what was effective about the work.

Fatima Meets the Snake

10. The facilitator now portrays Fatima while the children portray the Snake. Ask players how

the character might be created through movement; practice whatever formation they suggest.

Encourage the Snake to move around the space slowly and hiss softly. Ask players how dialogue

might be exchanged between Fatima and the Snake—one person at the head of the Snake

speaking? all parts of the Snake? Adopt whatever the group decides. Review the sequence of

actions made between Fatima and the Snake (feeling the skin, the tongue against her cheek,

biting the wrist). Ask players how these three actions might be dramatized without physical

contact and practice what the group decides. Decide where and how the Snake will “enter” and
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“exit” the space during the unit for a sense of beginning and closure to the unit.

11. The facilitator prompts the Snake to enter the playing area. Fatima dialogues with the Snake

accordingly. (The dialogue exchange from the story may be used as a model for improvisation,

but by no means does it need to be adhered to faithfully or committed to memory.) When Fatima

is bitten, the facilitator reacts accordingly and leaves the playing area while the Snake exits the

area. Drop out of role, gather players back into a circle and assess their work as the Snake.

Fatima Dreams

12. Discuss the next unit of play: children, as Fatima, will come to the facilitator as the mother

and tell their story of what happened in the jungle, making sure they tell the story in Fatima’s

agitated state. Discuss how the players might “lose consciousness” as Fatima did without hurting

themselves or each other when they drop to the ground. Encourage slow motion and practice the

sequence before dramatizing the unit. Also encourage children to “lose consciousness” gradually

rather than dropping rapidly to the floor. Dramatize the unit with the facilitator prompting

through questions:

“Fatima, there you are—where have you been?” “There’s blood on your wrist,

what happened?” “What’s wrong with you—why are you so sleepy?”

13. As players lie on the ground, step out of role and softly sidecoach children to imagine what

Fatima may be dreaming:

“Lie still and quiet. Think about all the things Fatima did on this day, all the

things she worked on, touched and felt, and try to mix them up together like

dreams sometimes do.”

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Allow some silent time for players to image Fatima’s dream.

“The poison in your body might be making your brain think funny thoughts, but

your mother is holding you and taking care of you while you’re sick. You’re

getting better each day, and one day, finally, you wake up.”

The facilitator as the mother dialogues with all children as Fatima:

“How are you feeling, sweet one?”

Encourage players to tell you what they “dreamt.” After dreams have been shared, tell children

that, while they were asleep, you made them a bracelet to remind them of the Snake and the

danger it can be. Close the dramatization by affirming that the mother loves Fatima very much

and is glad she’s alive.

Reflection and Assessment

14. Ask players which portions of the dramatization were enjoyed most.

15. Share with children what observations the facilitator made about their work. Offer what was

effective about their dramatization with emphasis on dialogue.

16. Ask all children to construct a snake bracelet out of a piece of aluminum foil. Roll or fold the

foil square into a single length and shape one end like a snake’s head. Coil the snake around the

wrist to hold it in place.

Social Studies Follow-Up

1. Locate Africa and Ghana on a globe or map.

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2. Discuss the people of Ghana and their culture.

3. Discuss how the oral tradition and folklore in Africa are used to pass accumulated knowledge

and wisdom from one generation to the next. Discuss why stories were used to transmit this

knowledge rather than transmission of the knowledge solely through factual statements.

Language Arts/Literature Follow-Up

1. This story was collected from an oral source and, to the author’s knowledge, does not exist

elsewhere in print. Retell this story to another friend to keep the story alive and spreading in the

oral tradition.

2. Compare this story to Little Eight John (in this chapter). How are Fatima and Little Eight

John’s characters and problems similar? different?

3. Discuss the messages and themes this story makes to its audience.

4. Ideas for what Fatima might have dreamt were discussed during the playing. Write a fantasy

story titled “Fatima’s Dream” and draw an illustration to accompany it. If possible, dramatize

these dream stories in class.

Little Eight John (African American)

This story from the Aswell et al. collection has been slightly revised in word choice but not in the

original sentence structure or grammar. This African American cautionary tale is deliciously

humorous and poses challenges to players on establishing environments—time and place—and

depicting specific consequences through action.

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The story can be dramatized in ensemble or small groups, depending on the age of the

children and amount of drama experience they have had. Ensemble play (with the facilitator as

Little Eight John’s mother) may work best for grades 2-3, and small groups for those in grade 4

with some previous drama experience.

Once and long ago there was a little black child name of Eight John. He was a nice lookin little

boy but he didn’t act like he look. He a mean little boy and he wouldn’t mind a word the grown

folks told him. No, not a livin word. So if his lovin mama told him not to do a thing, he go

straight and do it. Yes, spite of all the world.

“Don’t step on no toad-frogs,” his lovin mama told him, “or you bring the bad luck on

your family. Yes you will.”

Little Eight John he say, “No’m, I won’t step on no toad-frogs. No ma’am!”

But just as sure as anything, soon as he got out of sight of his lovin mama, that Little

Eight John find him a toad-frog and squish it. Sometime he squish a heap of toad-frogs.

And the cow wouldn’t give no milk but bloody milk and the baby would have the bad ol

colic.

But Little Eight John he just duck his head and laugh.

“Don’t set in no chair backwards,” his lovin mama told Eight John. “It brings the weary

troubles to your family.”

And so Little Eight John he set backwards in every chair.

Then his lovin mama’s cornbread burn and the milk wouldn’t churn. Little Eight John

just laugh and laugh and laugh cause he know why it was.

“Don’t climb no trees on Sunday,” his lovin mama told him, “or it’ll be bad luck.”
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So that Little Eight John, that bad little boy, he sneak up trees on Sunday.

Then his papa’s taters wouldn’t grow and the mule wouldn’t go. Little Eight John he

know how come.

“Don’t count your teeth,” his lovin mama she tell Little Eight John, “or there come a bad

sickness in your family.”

But that Little Eight John he go right ahead and count his teeth. He count his uppers and

he count his lowers. He count em on weekdays and Sundays.

Then his mama she whoop and the baby got the croup. All on account of that Little Eight

John, that badness of a little ol boy.

“Don’t sleep with your head at the foot of the bed or your family get the weary money

blues,” his lovin mama told him.

So he do it and do it sure, that cross-goin little ol Eight John boy. And the family it went

broke with no money in the poke. Little Eight John he just giggle.

“Don’t have no Sunday moans, for fear Ol Raw Head Bloody Bones,” his lovin mama

told him.

So he had the Sunday moans and he had the Sunday groans, and he moan and he groan

and he moan.

And Ol Raw Head Bloody Bones he come after that little bad boy and change him to a

little ol grease spot on the kitchen table and his lovin mama wash it off the next mornin.

And that was the end of Little Eight John.

And that’s what always happens to never-mindin little boys.

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Session Design for Little Eight John

Framing

Begin with one or more of the following ideas:

1. Discuss with children the consequences for not following the rules set by parents. Discuss why

we sometimes do what we are told not to do.

2. Discuss superstitions and how they came to be. For example, ask why some consider it bad

luck to walk under a ladder. What might the consequences be?

3. Play a game of Opposites. The facilitator calls out words or phrases and children are to do

exactly the opposite. Things that might be called out are: “sit,” “say ‘yes’,” “stand still,” “look at

me,” “don’t touch your nose.” Conclude the game with “stand up” and tell children the game is

completed.

4. Read or retell the story. If the facilitator reads the story as written directly from the book,

share that the language is based on what was considered by the writer during the middle of the

twentieth century as rural folk dialect.

Process

Establishing the Setting

5. Discuss how time and place—the setting—can be established through dramatic action and/or

dialogue. Ask how a farm setting might be depicted through physical actions. Have players

dramatize their suggestions nonverbally in ensemble. Next, discuss and dramatize how evening

can be depicted through nonverbal and verbal methods.

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6. Have all players find their own space in the room. In ensemble (or, in pairs with each set

assigned one of the actions below), ask players to find solutions for dramatizing the following

consequences of Little Eight John’s behavior:

a. milking a cow and discovering the milk is bad

b. taking care of (or portraying) a baby sick from colic

c. showing that your cornbread is burnt

d. churning milk that will not turn to butter

e. discovering potatoes that won’t grow

f. trying to get a mule to move

g. having the whooping cough

h. taking care of (or portraying) a baby sick from croup

i. losing your money or having no money

Observe and assess the players’ work. As needed, help children find solutions to portray the

actions.

Unit Playing of the Story

7. Divide players into small groups of three or four. Although a small group composed of both

boys and girls may assist with casting according to gender, same-gender groups are also

appropriate. It is not essential that Mama be played only by girls, or that Little Eight John be

played only by boys. Assign each group a unit of action in the story to dramatize according to the
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order they occur in the story. Members of each group distribute the roles among themselves.

Discourage students from portraying objects (e.g., a stove, chair, tree).

a. UNIT ONE: After Mama warns Little Eight John not to step on toad-frogs, he does it anyway.

The cow gives bad milk and the baby gets colic.

b. UNIT TWO: After Mama warns Little Eight John not to sit backwards in a chair, he does it

anyway. The cornbread burns and the butter will not churn.

c. UNIT THREE: After Mama warns Little Eight John not to climb trees on Sunday, he does it

anyway. His father’s potatoes do not grow and the mule will not move.

d. UNIT FOUR: After Mama warns Little Eight John not to count his teeth, he does it anyway.

His mother gets the whooping cough and the baby gets the croup.

e. UNIT FIVE: After Mama warns Little Eight John not to sleep with his head at the foot of the

bed, he does it anyway. The family loses their money.

Provide players ten minutes to develop their scenes through pantomime and verbal

improvisation. Facilitate the presentation of the scenes in the order they occur in the story.

Assess the effectiveness of each group in dramatizing the required action.

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The End of Little Eight John

8. Discuss how the final unit of the story might be dramatized. Ask players to share ideas for

how the character Ol Raw Head Bloody Bones might appear and be created (ensemble, small

groups, etc.). Encourage children to develop a vocal characterization as well, but advise them

that a noise does not have to be loud to be scary. Facilitate the enactment of children’s ideas.

9. Discuss how Little Eight John’s transformation from a boy to a grease spot can be portrayed.

(The following is suggested as one way of dramatizing the final unit, but if children develop

another idea use theirs instead. Divide players into pairs, one portraying Little Eight John and the

other portraying Ol Raw Head Bloody Bones. Discuss how children portraying the creature can

approach their partners, transform them into grease without any physical contact, then leave.)

Once the ideas have been discussed, dramatize the unit: The facilitator as Mama warns Little

Eight John not to have the “Sunday moans.” Children portraying the boy do the opposite; their

partners as the creature approach Little Eight John and transform him into a grease spot. The

facilitator as Mama sees the “grease” and wipes it with an imaginary rag. Have players reverse

roles and replay the unit.

Reflection and Assessment

10. Discuss the ability of children to dramatize the settings (environments) and actions depicted

in the story.

11. Assess the ability of players to work independently in pairs and small groups. Discuss what

dynamics contributed to effective group work.

12. Discuss why Little Eight John did the opposite of what he was told. What reasons did he
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have for being contrary?

Social Studies Follow-Up

1. List the elements in this story that depict the setting. What components of rural farm life are

mentioned in the tale?

2. Discuss why this story exists. What purpose might it have served when it was created?

3. Compare the characters of Ol Raw Head Bloody Bones and the Snake (see Fatima and the

Snake in this chapter) as figures used to frighten or warn children. Discuss other cultures that

have such characters in their folk literature and discuss why people create these characters.

Language Arts/Literature Follow-Up

1. This version of Little Eight John was written to capture a sense of rural folk dialect. How

would the story change if it were rewritten in Standard English with correct grammar and

spelling? What would be gained? What would be lost?

2. Compare this story to Fatima and the Snake in this chapter. How are Fatima and Little Eight

John’s characters and problems similar? different?

3. Discuss the use of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) today. Examine why it

exists and why it is used in conversation. Compare AAVE to Spanglish spoken by some

Hispanics. What do the two languages have in common?

4. Read selected stories from Virginia Hamilton’s The People Could Fly (New York: Alfred A.

Knopf, 1985). Discuss what choices Ms. Hamilton makes with language to create a unique

writing style for retelling the folktales. Dramatize those stories that lend themselves to
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improvisation.

People Who Could Fly (African American)

Grades 5-8 can explore dramatizing Julius Lester’s dynamic retelling of this African American

folktale. Particular challenges to the group are maintaining commitment, a serious tone during

the dramatization, and the enactment of people flying.

If the facilitator reads this story as written, a preparatory discussion about the writer’s

use of the term “nigger” is essential. Teachers are encouraged to use their own judgment when

explaining the term’s historical context, the writer’s choice of the term in this story, and whether

the word is appropriate or not in the dramatization.

It happened long, long ago, when black people were taken from their homes in Africa and forced

to come here to work as slaves. They were put onto ships, and many died during the long voyage

across the Atlantic Ocean. Those that survived stepped off the boats into a land they had never

seen, a land they never knew existed, and they were put into the fields to work.

Many refused, and they were killed. Others would work, but when the white man’s whip

lashed their backs to make them work harder, they would turn and fight. And some of them

killed the white men with the whips. Others were killed by the white men. Some would run away

and try to go back home, back to Africa where there were no white people, where they worked

their own land for the good of each other, not for the good of white men. Some of those who

tried to go back to Africa would walk until they came to the ocean, and then they would walk
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into the water, and no one knows if they did walk to Africa through the water or if they drowned.

It didn’t matter. At least they were no longer slaves.

Now when the white man forced Africans onto the slave-ships, he did not know, nor did

he care, if he took the village musicians, artists, or witch doctors. As long as they were black and

looked strong, he wanted them—men women, and children. Thus, he did not know that

sometimes there would be a witch doctor among those he had captured. If he had known, and

had also known that the witch doctor was the medium of the gods, he would have thought twice.

But he did not care. These black men and black women were not people to him. He looked at

them and counted each one as so much money for his pocket.

It was to a plantation in South Carolina that one boatload of Africans was brought.

Among them was the son of a witch doctor who had not completed by many months studying the

secrets of the gods from his father. This young man carried with him the secrets and powers of

the generations of Africa.

One day, one hot day when the sun singed the very hair on the head, they were working

in the fields. They had been in the fields since before the sun rose, and, as it made its journey to

the highest part of the sky, the very air seemed to be on fire. A young woman, her body curved

with the child that grew deep inside her, fainted.

Before her body struck the ground, the white man with the whip was riding toward her on

his horse. He threw water in her face. “Get back to work, you lazy nigger! There ain’t going to

be no sitting down on the job as long as I’m here.” He cracked the whip against her back and,

screaming, she staggered to her feet.

All work had stopped as the Africans watched, saying nothing. “If you niggers don’t want

a taste of the same, you’d better get to work!”

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They lowered their heads and went back to work. The young witch doctor worked his

way slowly toward the young mother-to-be, but before he could reach her, she collapsed again,

and the white man with the whip was upon her, lashing her until her body was raised from the

ground by the sheer violence of her sobs. The young witch doctor worked his way to her side and

whispered something in her ear. She, in turn, whispered to the person beside her. He told the next

person, and on around the field it went. They did it so quickly and quietly that the white man

with the whip noticed nothing.

A few moments later, someone else in the field fainted, and, as the white man with the

whip rode toward him, the young witch doctor shouted, “Now!” He uttered a strange word, and

the person who had fainted rose from the ground, and moving his arms like wings, he flew into

the sky and out of sight.

The man with the whip looked around at the Africans, but they only stared into the

distance, tiny smiles softening their lips. “Who did that? Who was that who yelled out?” No one

said anything. “Well, just let me get my hands on him.”

Not too many minutes had passed before the young woman fainted once again. The man

was almost upon her when the young witch doctor shouted, “Now!” and uttered a strange word.

She, too, rose from the ground and, waving her arms like wings, she flew into the distance and

out of sight.

This time the man with the whip knew who was responsible, and as he pulled back his

arm to lash the young witch doctor, the young man yelled, “Now! Now! Everyone!” He uttered

the strange word, and all of the Africans dropped their hoes, stretched out their arms, and flew

away, back to their home, back to Africa.

That was long ago, and no one now remembers what word it was that the young witch
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doctor knew that could make people fly. But who knows? Maybe one morning someone will

awake with a strange word on his tongue and, uttering it, we will all stretch out our arms and

take to the air, leaving these blood-drenched fields of our misery behind.

Session Design for People Who Could Fly

Framing

Begin with one or more of the following ideas:

1. Provide a brief overview of slave ownership in early United States history.

2. Discuss what associations are made with the ability of people who can fly.

3. Discuss what players need to do for an effective dramatization of a serious piece of literature.

4. Read aloud Julius Lester’s version of the story, or retell the tale in your own way for the

players. (Be conscious of whether to include or delete “nigger” from the story.)

Process

Defying Orders

5. Discuss what it means to be defiant. Ask players how slaves might have felt before refusing to

carry out an order from their owners. Ask what might be done physically and vocally to portray

defiance of an order. The class then reviews tasks slaves were forced to perform (both indoors

and outdoors). Ask players to get into groups of two or three. Allow players within their own

groups to select who will portray the owner(s) and who will portray the slave(s). Address the
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issue of “color blind” casting (see Chapter One) and reinforce that one’s own ethnicity does not

have to be a factor in casting appropriately. Then ask players to select one of the tasks discussed

earlier that the slave(s) will be ordered to perform. Once these decisions have been made,

provide further directions for playing:

“Your group will be presenting a 15-second scene. It can begin with the owners telling

the slaves to do the tasks you’ve selected. The slaves will defy the orders, and that might

generate a reaction from the owners. The scene can end with the slaves still not carrying

out the task. Fifteen seconds of dialogue and tension are all you need.”

Remind the group of guidelines for this scene: no physical contact (pushing, hitting, etc.)

between characters; no harsh or inappropriate language (profanity, racist terms); and

commitment and believability to the characters. Reinforce the idea that tension is not necessarily

created by what is said, or through loud and angry voices, but by how it’s said and shown. Allow

players approximately five minutes to prepare, then facilitate the sharing of their presentations.

Assess the players’ ability to follow established guidelines and generate tension in their brief

scenes.

Discussing the Characters’ Emotions

6. Discuss what the specific consequences may have been for the actions portrayed in the scenes,

based on the story’s general description of outcome. Ask players what motivates and

characterizes those who abuse control and those who defy that control. Ask what circumstances

may have existed for the slaves in the field as depicted in Lester’s story that kept them from

defying orders before then. Focus on why no one rescued the pregnant slave the first time she
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was whipped. Discuss whatever emotional states may be raised through discussion, such as

hopelessness, fear, or apathy, and how they relate to the slave characters.

Creating the Characters’ Daily Lives

7. Discuss what specific field crop is the setting for the story, and what tools or human activities

would be needed for working on it. Ask players to line themselves in columns in the space,

similar to the way a crop might be planted, and begin working on the crop. Sidecoach imagery

that motivates players to depict the outdoor heat:

“Working as believably as you can, without playing for laughs, and committing to

the action as hard as you can, show through your actions that you’re working on

this crop and trying to stay cool on this hot, hot day. Try to show through your

face the glaring sunlight, the sweat that drips into and bums your eyes; through

your body show the physical labor you’re undertaking. Through your silence there

is much that is not said. Try to imagine what these people must have been

thinking about as they were working hard on this day, and the feelings these

circumstances generated within them. Using your body and face alone, try to

recreate this scene from long ago.”

Observe the action and allow time for players to commit. If necessary, the facilitator can walk

around the space and sidecoach in role to the players:

“Get to work, if you know what’s good for you. This ain’t no time to be lazy; we

got this whole field to take care of before sundown.”

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If desired, the facilitator can prompt out of role,

“Keep working. I’m going to tap some of you on the shoulder. Verbalize a phrase

or sentence that represents what your character might be thinking or feeling at this

time.”

Select a few or all players to respond. Ask players to relax. Discuss whether believability and

commitment were evident in the work.

Creating Special Effects

8. Ask players to negotiate and agree on the “strange word” spoken by the young witch doctor

that gave others the power to fly. Next ask the group how whipping and getting whipped might

be pantomimed. If possible, develop a sound effect to accompany the gesture of whipping. (In

one session the group agreed the whip would be cracked three times in a row as all vocalized a

synchronized “sss” sound with each strike.) Then ask how the action of flying might be depicted

in a dramatization of the next scene, given the limitations of space in the room. Discuss possible

solutions to this problem and enact them with the whole group. Develop a method of bringing

closure to the scene when all fly away at the end of the story (e.g., where players will stop, the

final line of dialogue to end the scene).

Casting and Dramatizing the Story

9. Select volunteers or assign players to portray the pregnant slave, the young witch doctor, and

the other man who faints. The facilitator may choose to play in role as the man with the whip, or

assign a student to portray the character. Practice and run through the action of this unit in

Lester’s story before dramatizing it “from beginning to end with no stops.” After the

dramatization, assess the work. If player interest is still evident, recast the characters and replay
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the unit.

Reflection and Assessment

10. Discuss the players’ ability to maintain a serious tone and commitment to the playing.

11. Explore the slaves’ emotional reactions at various points throughout the story. Ask players if

any of these same feelings may have been generated within themselves when they portrayed the

characters.

12. Ask players to reflect on and identify personal situations in which we or others are “slaves”

to authorities or controlling factors in our lives. What methods can be employed to counteract

these authorities or controlling factors?

13. Ask players what scenic elements or special effects would be needed if this story were to be

dramatized on the stage or in electronic media. What technical challenges await the scenic artist,

director of photography, and visual effects designer?

Social Studies Follow-Up

I. Examine on a globe or map the passages across the Atlantic Ocean from Africa to the United

States that might have been used by slave ships in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

2. Define and discuss diaspora. Review major cultures from history that have experienced

diaspora.

3. Examine the historic events of civil unrest and interethnic relations in America during the late

1960s (the period Julius Lester wrote and first published this story). Discuss how that era may

have influenced Lester’s writing and tone of People Who Could Fly, and why the story was also
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relevant to the late 1960s (and today).

4. Ask players to reflect on other historic or contemporary contexts of oppressed people. In what

ways could the content or theme of the story be relevant to other countries or time periods?

5. Ask players to describe what motivates humans to action when they feel their personal rights

are violated, or when they feel “enough is enough.” What human qualities or material objects

give a person power to control or make that person feel superior to others? How might that

power and control be lessened, overthrown, or taken away by the controlled and powerless?

Improvise original scenarios on these themes developed by the class.

Language Arts/Literature Follow-Up

1. Read other stories from Julius Lester’s collection, Black Folktales (New York: Grove

Weidenfeld, 1970). Dramatize such tales as Why Men Have to Work.

2. Compare Julius Lester’s version of People Who Could Fly with Virginia Hamilton’s title story

in The People Could Fly (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985). In what ways are their versions of

the stories similar and different?

3. Discuss flying as a symbol or metaphor. Ask students what emotions or meanings are evoked

by the fantasy of humans with the ability to fly. Search for folktales from other cultures that

include the flying motif. Compare the symbolic interpretation of flying from these folktales to

the connotations of flying from People Who Could Fly.

4. Discuss sympathy (feeling sorry for someone else) and empathy (feeling the same emotion as

someone else). Examine passages in People Who Could Fly that may evoke sympathy and/or

empathy from its readers. What choices does the writer make with description, dialogue, and
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action to generate sympathy and/or empathy?

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Part Two

Improvisation with Contemporary Themes

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Introduction

Drama for both children and adults has recently explored how the art form can be used as a

medium for exploring personal, social, cultural, and political issues. Contemporary children’s

literature and recently developed techniques by such visionaries as Brazilian theatre artist and

activist Augusto Boal provide participants opportunities to critically examine our communities

within the world. The goals are to understand the complexities of social life and to change things

for the better by recognizing oppression in its covert and overt forms.

The session designs in Part Two unabashedly venture into the personal and social

territories of participants’ worlds through allegory and realism. Most teachers acknowledge that

their classrooms are more than spaces for learning the traditional school curricula; they are

microcultures for learning life lessons. Rather than deny or skirt the issues, sensitive and socially

conscious teachers will address them head-on. Children as young as third grade, under the

guidance of the teacher, can comprehend and use such terms as racism, sexism, and homophobia.

I encourage facilitators to explore the ideas in Part Two but, like any good practitioner will

caution when working with young people, “Don’t open a door you can’t close.” These session

designs are also appropriate for pre- and in-service teachers as participants learning about the art

form and for their culturally responsive professional development.

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Chapter 6

Communities in Conflict

These session designs—The Flops and Uprights, Rabies, and I (Won’t) Pledge

Allegiance—use literature as the basis for the dramas, but the improvisational work is based on

their social themes rather than linear storylines. The characters are part of communities in

conflict, and the tones of the dramas range from the satirically comic to the devastatingly tragic. I

firmly believe that we cannot know what it takes to develop community until we know what can

fracture it. Class discussion on interpersonal relationships and group dynamics during the

Reflection and Assessment portion of the session is vital.

The Flops and the Uprights

Bunny ears are essential for this session, and can be purchased at novelty stores, costume

companies, or built from construction paper. The headgear functions as a conduit for the players

to voice their underlying feelings and stereotypes about the “other.” The characters and tensions

for this material are inspired by the children’s book Leo the Lop by Stephen Cosgrove and Robin

James (Serendipity Communications, Ltd., 1977). In the story, Leo is a bunny whose ears flop

down, unlike other “normal” bunnies whose ears stand upright.

The Flops and The Uprights in this session represent whatever groups the players may

choose to focus on. Though the facilitator frames it as a debate between the poor vs. the rich,

thus becoming a session about social class, players may also weave in other dichotomies such as

People of Color vs. Whites, lesbians/gays vs. straights, immigrants vs. nation-born, etc.
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Facilitators should be open to taking the session and its emergent in-role tensions in whatever

direction the group chooses. This session design is written for upper elementary children and

above, but can be modified for younger children.

Materials

bunny ears, one set for each participant

gray ball cap

bunny tail (fake fur ball)

large sheets of paper

markers/crayons

optional: carrot and celery sticks on a silver tray

Framing

Begin with one or more of the following ideas:

1. Warm-up with a connection activity. In a large, open area with players standing, ask them to

group together with other people who share similar features or social traits, for example:

a. “Get together with others who are almost the same height as you are.”

b. “Get together with others who have kind of the same eye color as yours.”

c. “Now get together with others of your same gender.”

d. “Get together with others who seem to have the same skin color as you.”

e. “As much as the number of people will allow us, get together in groups of 5.

Groups of 4. Groups of 3. And groups of 2.”

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2. Seated in a circle, participants discuss how similarities and differences were used in the first

warm-up activity to achieve the goal.

3. Introduce the term vertical hostility and its reference to oppressing others because they are

perceived as both different and “lesser than” oneself—e.g., men disliking women, Whites

disliking People of Color, the rich disliking the poor. The group with perceived higher status is

the agent of oppression, and the group perceived “lesser than” them is the target of oppression.

Ask players to provide examples of vertical hostility, e.g., “In what ways might the rich oppress

the poor?”

Process

Distributing the Roles

4. Distribute bunny ears to each player. If the ears available come in a variety of colors, do not

permit players to select the color of their choice. Emphasize that when we’re born we have no

choice as to our physical features. Divide the class into two split-half groups—randomly is best.

One group will portray The Uprights whose ears stick straight up. The other group will portray

The Flops, and their ears flop down. Each group proceeds to its own designated side of the room.

The Uprights should have more space than The Flops.

Tableaux in Role

5. Inform players to prepare their spaces appropriately with chairs and other room furnishings.

The Uprights lounge at a country club called The Meadows. (Optional: The Uprights have a

silver platter of carrot and celery sticks to munch on.) The Flops hang out at a place called The

Hole. As the participants set up their own spaces, they brainstorm what topics or concerns their

respective groups would discuss. Depending on the size of the entire group, ask players to cluster
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into subgroups of 2-3. Ask each subgroup to create a tableaux that shows their status—The

Uprights at the country club lounging by the pond in The Meadows on the weekend; The Flops

in The Hole after a hard day’s work. After 3-5 minutes of preparation, all players observe each

subgroup’s tableaux and share with others close by what they perceive and infer. Discuss how

the images may suggest social class. If time permits, spotlight a few tableaux by asking them to

come to life with dialogue.

How the Other Half Lives

6. The facilitator “hires” The Flops as pool attendants and gardeners to work at The Meadows for

an afternoon. They enter The Meadows to do their jobs, but are given strict instructions not to

talk to The Uprights while The Flops work. The Uprights are asked to converse among

themselves as they feel characters with their status might. After a few minutes of overheard

conversations, The Flops are given their pay (optional: a carrot or celery stick) and they return to

The Hole to talk about their day.

7. The facilitator invites The Uprights to go “slumming” and escorts them to The Hole where

they can overhear conversations among The Flops. The facilitator cautions The Uprights to stay

amongst themselves and not mingle with the “riff-raff” during their few minutes there. The

Uprights then return to The Meadows and share what they overheard.

Mr. O’Possum

8. During The Uprights’ conversation, the facilitator, now in role as Mr. O’Possum, visits The

Hole and introduces himself as a social activist who wants to make working conditions and life

better for The Flops, and volunteers to serve as a liaison for their concerns. He asks the literate

ones if they could write with markers some of their concerns on paper for a meeting later in The

Grove.
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9. Mr. O’Possum visits The Uprights and introduces himself as an advocate for The Flops. He

expresses a few of the concerns voiced by them against The Uprights, and asks if they would be

willing to participate in a meeting to hear their concerns and to share their own concerns about

The Flops. Paper and markers are given to them to write down some of their issues.

Bringing Both Sides Together to Dialogue

10. In-role, Mr. O’Possum speaks to everyone:

“One of my jobs as a community activist is to bring bunnies together from various hops

of life to voice their concerns and to dialogue about the issues. I appreciate your

willingness to meet on neutral ground here in The Grove. I know that tensions are a bit

high, but I trust that there’ll be no ear-pulling or tail-biting while we lay all our carrots on

the table. May I ask you to please assemble yourselves in The Grove so The Flops and

The Uprights can talk with each other? And just to make sure we all have some

breathing room, I’d like to ask everyone to make certain they’re a respectable distance

from each other.”

11. When groups have assembled, ask The Uprights to share their concerns about The Flops first,

“uninterrupted. To make this community meeting successful, we have to be

willing to listen. The Uprights will have about 3-5 minutes to voice their

concerns, and I hope you’ve already chosen representatives to speak for your

group.”

The Uprights share their concerns about The Flops. Next, The Flops voice their concerns about

The Uprights. Then announce:

“Dialogue is an exchange of ideas and concerns done with respect. Who would

like to begin this discussion about what you’ve heard? I believe we have about five or
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ten minutes before it starts to get dark in The Grove.”

Listen as the two groups dialogue with each other and intervene, as necessary, if debate becomes

too heated. The bunny tail can be used as a “talking stick.”

12. Ask The Flops and The Uprights to return to The Hole and The Meadows, respectively, to

share with others of their own kind what concerns they heard from the other group.

13. In-role as Mr. O’Possum, announce to the entire group:

“Fellow rabbits, time for our networking is drawing to a close. I know many of you have

baby bunnies at home that need attention, so let me ask you to discuss with your group

where you think matters should go from here. What’s the next step? What are the

answers to these problems I’ve heard you voice? My job is not to solve your problems

but to find ways to empower you to help yourselves. Where do we go from here?”

Facilitate whole group dialogue or observe how subgroups of Flops and Uprights discuss matters

between themselves.

Reflection and Assessment

14. All players remove their bunny ears and everyone is out of role. Discuss the dynamics of

interactions that occurred between The Flops and The Uprights. Ask players to share personal

insights on how their own attitude, value, and belief systems wove into their roles.

15. Discuss how the fantasy of the drama parallels contemporary social life.

16. If a copy is available, read Leo the Lop to participants. Ask players to describe how Leo is a

victim of horizontal hostility (oppression from members of one’s own cultural group). Discuss

the themes of the story and how they transfer to daily life.
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Rabies

This story is geared for adolescents with some experience in holistic, improvisational drama and

the ability to focus on serious subject matter. The tale presents a harsh picture of rural 19th

century Cajun life, but whether it is true or intended as a parable is uncertain. Nevertheless, the

drama provides an opportunity for facilitators to employ allegory. Rabies, in this dramatization,

represents our contemporary society’s struggle with and fear of euthanasia and/or HIV/AIDS.

The drama demands strong concentration from participants and critical guidance and decision-

making by the facilitator. The story is not shared with participants until after the session is

completed.

Often told as a true story by the old people back in the days before T.V.

The story of a young girl who became rabid was told to us as children. A mad dog had

come into the community. All animals were terrified. Mules and horses ran in fear as the dog

made his way down the dusty wagon road that followed the banks of Bayou Blue.

A small boy was playing by the bayou side. The rabid dog was almost upon him before

he was snatched up by his older sister who was fishing near him. She was able to outrun the dog

and climb a fence. The dog lunged at her but could not reach her. He only succeeded in ripping

the hem of her long dress.

The dog went on down the road and was shot and killed by a vigilant farmer. The dog

had bitten other animals and they were killed and buried. The burial hole was deep, for the fear

of La Rage (Rabies) was great. There was no cure for one who was infected, only death.
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Some time later, the valiant teenage girl who had saved her little brother from the mad

dog became ill. She was nervous, highly excitable and irritable. The sight of water caused

spasms of the throat when she attempted to swallow (Hydrophobia). Upon being questioned it

was discovered that she had bitten off loose threads from her torn dress. The belief is that she

had a sore or open wound in her mouth or on her lips and thus the virus of rabies was introduced.

There had been only one case of any human affected by rabies having recovered without

treatment and that was in 1971.

Louis Pasteur perfected the rabies vaccination and it was first used in 1899. This

unfortunate girl was infected shortly after the Civil War—long before the Pasteur treatment.

Knowing that she had at most five days to live before the agonizing spasms would kill

her, there was nothing they could do but to destroy her. The old people knew that soon the

excitability would give way to uncomfortable irritability and that she would go mad, biting

anyone who came near her.

In those days a person with La Rage was approached by strong men bearing two

mattresses. The sick person would then be pressed between the mattresses and smothered until

dead. This was the fate of the teenage heroine. She had saved her little brother, but no one could

save her.

Session Design for Rabies

Materials

fabrics and materials for protean costumes

CD of instrumental Cajun music

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CD player

optional: VHS video of Belizaire the Cajun and VCR/TV monitor

Framing

Begin with one or more of the following ideas:

1. Discuss how the content of today’s session requires concentration and maturity for its serious

subject matter.

2. Ask participants to explore what kinds of occupations would most likely be seen in a small

rural community in the late 1800s. Write the roles on the board and assign/cluster people into

groups accordingly. Make certain one group is a family with a young daughter and son (the

daughter should be a participant willing to assume a pivotal role in the theme drama). Ask

participants to give their characters appropriate names.

3. Show participants the fais-do-do (a Cajun dance social) excerpt from Belizaire the Cajun and

solicit historic knowledge from participants about the ethos of Cajun culture or late 19 th century

American rural life.

4. Explore how protean fabrics/costumes can be used to create a sense of period dress for

participants while period music plays throughout.

Process

A Young Girl’s Heroism

5. Stage in slow motion, with slow or somber Cajun music playing in the background, the

initiating incident of Rabies with participant volunteers. This Cecily O’Neill method of “raising

the curtain” sets the drama in motion:

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A young girl rescues her younger brother from a rabid dog by climbing over a

fence. They barely escape when the dog bites into and tears the girl’s dress. The

rabid dog is then shot by a farmer. The girl bites the torn fabric threads off her dress

with her teeth.

6. Ask participants, in role as townspeople, to “spread the word” about the heroic deed of the

young girl. The girl returns to town and is greeted as a hero with a fais-do-do.

The Diagnosis

7. (The facilitator covertly gives a slip of paper informing the participant playing the young girl

that, in the next scene, she is to take a drink of water during the medical examination but choke

on it.) Participants are asked to observe a scene between the facilitator and the young girl. The

facilitator, in role as the town’s healer, examines the young girl by asking her how she feels and

diagnoses any symptoms. He offers her a drink of water and she chokes on it.

A Community in Danger

8. The facilitator, in role as a healer, calls together a town meeting (without the young girl

present) to discuss his medical examination. Her throat spasms from water are signs of

hydrophobia, a symptom of rabies (“La Rage”). She has contracted the incurable disease and will

soon become a danger to the community. A discussion is facilitated on what should be done with

her; the healer generates tension, raises points, and asks difficult questions to force townspeople

to consider all sides of the issue:

“What would you do if she was your own daughter?”

“There’s so little we know about the disease—only that it’s fatal. Just don’t touch

her blood, her spit, or her sweat.”

“Isn’t killing her to put an end to her suffering also murder?”

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“Exiling the family won’t solve the problem—it’ll only spread it elsewhere.”

The healer tells the community that it has five days to decide what to do before the girl goes

completely mad.

8. Arrange townspeople into two columns facing each other and ask them to create individual

tableaux that represent how they feel toward the young girl now. The young girl walks slowly in-

between the columns as the townspeople voice their thoughts aloud. (If the participant can

assume characteristics of someone with the early stages of a disease—slight trembling, head

twitching, etc.—so much the better). Out of role, discuss the perspectives of the townspeople and

the young girl.

The Family’s Struggle

9. Create and arrange a home space for the young girl (who will lie in restless sleep), her brother,

and their parents. The facilitator asks observing participants to offer the characters what might be

discussed in the privacy of their home. Initiating lines of dialogue are solicited to begin a scene,

such as:

BROTHER: This is all my fault.

FATHER: They’ve got no right to tell us what to do.

MOTHER: Why are we being punished like this?

Ideas are generated then taken up by the family members for an improvisational scene. If

necessary, the facilitator, as healer, can enter the scene to examine the young girl and speak with

the family about their concerns. Bring the scene to a close when an appropriate moment is

sensed.

10. Out of role, discuss with the participants how their perceptions of the problem may have

changed in response to the scene.

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The Final Decision

11. The healer calls the townspeople together (without the young girl) to ask for their final

decision to resolve the problem, and facilitates the action with the group. For example, if various

ideas are presented, they are offered up for a vote (perhaps by secret ballot). The family may

offer their own solution, such as temporary self-imposed exile until their daughter’s suffering is

over. If there is no community consensus, then the healer offers them “our ancestors’ way” for

dealing with rabies (taken from the story):

“. . . a person with La Rage [is] approached by strong men bearing two

mattresses. The sick person [is] then . . . pressed between the mattresses and

smothered until dead.”

If the community chooses this option, the final scene is enacted in an abstract, stylistic manner or

through tableaux.

Reflection and Assessment

12. Discuss what rabies in this theme drama might represent in today’s world.

13. Discuss participant’s responses to the content and emotional demands of the improvisation.

14. Disclose when the cure for Rabies was discovered (1899). Discuss how the story reflects the

hardships, culture, and ethos of Cajuns from the late 1800s, and the story’s parallels to

contemporary issues.

15. Assess the group’s ability to remain focused on and committed to the serious tone of the

improvisation.

I (Won’t) Pledge Allegiance

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This process drama for upper elementary children and middle school youth explores themes of

patriotism, nationalism, citizenship, and the influence of the media. The scenario adapts and

employs the basic conflict and story-line of Avi’s popular novel, Nothing But the Truth. In this

particular session, one child declines to say the Pledge of Allegiance, and the small, isolated

classroom incident soon turns into a national news story.

Some young people, due to religious or political beliefs, decline to recite the Pledge and

are permitted with impunity. Emphasize that, in this drama, the resistant student does so for

personal reasons. Some teachers may perceive this as a session with a subversive or unpatriotic

agenda, but the improvisational journey actually generates rich dialogue and deepens the

reflection of what it means to be an American citizen.

Materials

American flag

CD music (American traditional)

CD player

crayons or markers

pencils, pens

newsprint

cellophane tape

notepad (hand prop)

cell phone (hand prop)

“official” U.S. stationery, one page for each participant

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photo of the current President of the United States

teacher’s reference: Avi’s Nothing But the Truth (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991)

Framing

Begin with one or more of the following ideas:

1. Ask children to draw images on newsprint that suggest “America” as a topic for their artwork.

Play traditional American music as they draw. Post the artwork on the wall and discuss the

meanings of the pictures they created.

2. Ask what it means to be an American. What cultural elements are unique to the country?

3. Ask children to interpret the symbolism of the U.S. flag (e.g., the colors, the number of stars

and stripes).

Process

Refusing to Pledge

4. Ask everyone to stand, face the American flag, and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Ask

participants why they automatically followed the instructor’s directions (if all did; if one or more

children did not, segue into the improvisation below). Show Avi’s book, and explain how this

session is adapted from the conflict and story-line of the novel.

5. Establish a school classroom environment (desks, chairs, backpacks, etc.) using materials in

the room. Ask what might happen if one person, for personal and political reasons, deliberately

refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Select one student to decline saying the Pledge as it is

recited by the rest of the class. The facilitator, in role as the teacher, enacts an improvised
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conflict situation between her and the resistant student, incorporating the ideas generated by the

group. For example:

TEACHER: Why didn’t you say the Pledge, young man?

STUDENT: Because I don’t believe in it.

TEACHER: It doesn’t matter what you believe. As an American, you’re supposed to

recite it.

STUDENT: I didn’t want to.

TEACHER: I’m going to have to call your parents about this.

Continue improvising until appropriate closure. Drop out of role and discuss the work that

emerged.

The Story Spreads

6. Establish a school playground or cafeteria environment in the room and ask participants to get

into small groups of 2-3. Dismiss students for recess/lunch and ask them to discuss among

themselves what just happened in class. The facilitator, carrying a notepad and camera, drops

into role as a newspaper reporter writing a story on school safety, but overhears the children

talking about the classroom incident and interviews selected groups. The facilitator gets on her

cell phone, calls her newspaper editor, and tells her she has a different story to submit.

The Media Spin

7. Out of role, the facilitator asks what types of headlines or captions might appear in the local

newspaper, and how other papers around the country might pick up the story but give it a

different “spin.” Ask players to continue working in their small groups and to write on newsprint

large headlines that might appear in these newspapers. Have a member of each group display and
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call out the headlines. Discuss how the story is unfolding and progressing. Share how the conflict

in Avi’s book now becomes a national media event.

The Story Escalates

8. Ask participants to brainstorm other ways the story could be adopted and presented in

different media formats: TV and radio news, TV talk shows, press conferences, web site pages

and e-mails, etc. and list these on the board. Next, brainstorm the people at various levels

involved with this story: the resistant student, his parents, the school’s teacher and principal,

journalists, TV talk show hosts, a city mayor, a state governor, veterans, Congress, etc. and list

these on the board. For purposes of closure, however, reserve the character of The President of

the United States for the very end of the session.

9. In participants’ small groups of 2-3, players use the brainstormed lists to decide which

characters to portray, and in what types of scenarios related to the story. Suggest that some may

structure their improvisations as on-camera interviews or talk show scenes in addition to non-

media scenes (e.g., the resistant student and his family at dinnertime; the principal talking with

the teacher after the news story makes national headlines). Also provide options to write instead

of enact (e.g., the creation of an e-mail or web site text).

10. Assist students with their selections of characters, settings, and improvisation scenarios.

Provide 10-15 minutes of practice time to develop a 30-second to one minute scene, or one page

of written text. Share the presentations developed and discuss how they complicate and enrich

the story. Focus particularly on the resistant student’s responses to the media attention.

The President Gets Involved

11. Place a photo of the current President of the United States on the wall and ask what might

happen when the President gets word of the incident. Brainstorm and enact the improvisation
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scenarios students suggest (for example, the President visits the school to talk with the resistant

student). Or, using blank stationery with the Seal of the United States at the top of the page, ask

students to write a letter to the resistant student as if they were the President. Select a few

volunteers to read their letters aloud.

Reflection and Assessment

12. Reflect on and discuss the issues raised by the session. Ask participants for their

understanding of patriotism and what it means to be an American citizen. Discuss the concepts as

they applied to today’s work.

13. The facilitator assesses how children worked in the session with a focus on concentration,

character, and dialogue.

14. Discuss what kind of new Pledge the United States could create for its citizens. Ask students

to write and read aloud a few original works.

15. If digital cameras are available for student use, ask participants to take photos that represent

the themes: “American” or “citizenship.”

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Chapter 7

Drama for Social Change

These session designs—An Introduction to Sculpting and Images, Respect and

Disrespect, and Bullies—are based on and adapted from Augusto Boal’s groundbreaking work in

theatre of the oppressed (Saldaña, 2005a). The goal of these dramas is to enhance children’s

awareness of their interpersonal conflicts in the classroom and on the playground, and to

strategize tactics for dealing with oppressive actions.

An Introduction to Sculpting and Images

The goal of this session design is to explore basic concepts of personal and interpersonal

oppression through sculpting and images. The ideas are based on Augusto Boal’s Image Theatre

techniques, but the content has been adapted for young children. There are times when words

cannot adequately express what we wish to say. Thus, non-verbal images can communiate and

clarify our innermost thoughts. An Introduction to Sculpting and Images is recommended before

progressing to the next two session designs, Respect and Disrespect and Bullies.

Materials

“thought balloon” cardboard cut-out

“Image and Sculpting Guidelines” reference handout (see end of the session design)
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Framing

Begin with one or more of the following ideas:

1. Write on the board and ask children to explain, or define for them, oppression and power;

clarify and expand, as needed. Ask children for examples of oppression from their daily lives.

2. Write on the board and define images and sculpting. Explain and demonstrate how images are

formed by sculpting oneself and others. The facilitator demonstrates with a child how to sculpt

by moving the person’s body parts, by mirroring or modeling for them (especially for facial

expressions), “magnetizing” the movements (i.e., with no physical contact, the sculptor’s hand is

a magnet that attracts the partner’s body part toward a particular direction), and by verbalizing

what is desired.

Process

Sculpting Techniques

3. Review the “Image and Sculpting Guidelines” with participants. Ask children to find a partner

and practice these sculpting techniques.

4. Children find a different partner with whom to work. Ask one partner to sculpt the other into

an image of power. After the sculptures have been created, sculptors observe the work. Children

go back to their partners, and the other sculpts the partner into an image of oppression; sculptors

observe the creations.

The “Thought Balloon”

5. The facilitator introduces the “thought balloon,” usually seen in cartoons, and asks what its

function is (to reveal the unspoken thoughts and feelings of the character). The facilitator sculpts

herself into an image of oppression and asks for a child volunteer to hold the thought bubble over
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her head. Ask children to brainstorm what the character’s thoughts and feelings might be;

reinforce that their ideas should come from a first-person perspective (“I feel . . .”), and not the

third person (“She’s thinking that . . .”).

6. All children, seated in a circle, create their own images of oppression. The facilitator goes to a

selected number of children with the thought balloon over his/her head and asks others what the

character might be thinking or feeling; again, reinforce that their ideas should be phrased in the

first person.

Images of Oppression

7. Ask players to get in groups of twos or threes. The person in each group whose name is first

alphabetically will be the oppressed while the others are the oppressors. Ask each group to create

a group image that shows the oppressor being oppressed by the others. Reinforce that, for the

safety of all, there should be no physical contact among group members. The facilitator goes to

each group and holds the thought bubble over the oppressed person’s head and asks others

observing to voice his/her thoughts and feelings. It may also provide insight to occasionally hold

the thought balloon over an oppressor’s head to generate his/her thoughts.

Reflection and Assessment

8. Ask children to comment on the work today and how it parallels what might happen in daily

life.

9. Ask children, “What is the opposite of oppression?” Close by asking all children to sculpt

themselves individually into an image that is the opposite of oppression (e.g., joy, happiness,

power).
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IMAGE AND SCULPTING GUIDELINES

 Ask for the other person’s permission to sculpt

him or her.

 Don’t pull on the person’s clothing.

 Sculpting can be done by moving and shaping the

other person’s body; by demonstrating what you
want the sculpture to do (especially for facial
expressions); “magnetizing” the movements you
want the sculpture to do; or by verbally
describing what you want the sculpture to do.

 Respect the sculpture by moving him or her gently

into the image.

 The sculpture has an obligation to hold the image

the sculptor has created, unless it causes physical
discomfort. Sculptures can “shake out” and relax,
when necessary, but should return to the image.

 Since it’s difficult to hold an image, others should

respect the sculptures by not disturbing them
physically or verbally.
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Respect and Disrespect

This session design examines, in both realistic and abstract forms, the concepts or respect and

disrespect, and how we shift from one to the other depending on our interactions. It also

provides children with a basic vocabulary for articulating the dynamics of oppression. Like the

session design above, the ideas for this session derive from the Image Theatre work of Augusto

Boal.

Materials

teacher’s reference: Augusto Boal’s Games for Actors and Non-actors, 2nd edition (New York:

Routledge, 2002)

Framing

Begin with one or more of the following ideas:

1. Write on the board the following terms that will be used in this session: oppression, oppressor,

oppressed, power, inclusion, exclusion, respect, disrespect, images, sculpting, dynamize.

2. Players stand in a circle and sculpt themselves individually into an image of oppression; next,

ask for an image of power. Explain how an image is dynamized by moving it slowly from one

image to another. Ask students to move from their images of power to oppression then back to

power, each cycle on a count of five. Discuss what changes were observed physically and

perhaps emotionally as the images were dynamized.

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Process

Images of Oppression

3. Students stand in a circle. The facilitator calls out the following words and phrases, and each

student creates an image simultaneously; they are encouraged to look around at the different

interpretations: “happy,” “alone,” “I got a hundred on my spelling test,” “What did I do wrong?”

“She thinks she’s ‘all that’.” Assess the work.

4. Students, in pairs, now construct images to the following word and phrases: “enemies,”

“friends,” “You can’t play with me,” “respect,” “disrespect.” Assess the work.

Machine Images

5. Introduce The Machine of Rhythms (from Boal’s Games, pp. 94-96). Facilitate the

construction of a “generic” machine and instruct how people join in one at a time with a

repetitive motions and sound effects. Ask children to first construct the inside of a computer.

Next, ask for a cafeteria machine and then a playground machine; share observations.

6. Participants construct a machine of “disrespect” with movements and phrases. Ask students to

remember where they are and what they are doing. Discuss what was observed in the

“disrespect” machine.

7. Next, construct a “respect” machine; ask for supportive, respectful sounds/phrases and

movements. Ask students to remember where they are and what they are doing. Discuss what

was observed in the “respect” machine and how this differed from the “disrespect” machine.

8. Ask students to return to their original places in the disrespect machine and move and make

the sounds. Slowly dynamize them into the respect machine; dynamize back to the disrespect

machine, then forward to the respect machine.

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Reflection and Assessment

9. Discuss what students needed to do to transform from one machine to the other, and what they

might have noticed as they transformed. Discuss what keeps students from respecting others; ask

why people disrespect others.

10. Play the grouping game from “The Space Series” (Boal’s Games, pp. 127-129, number 2).

Ask participants to group together by twos, fives, threes, fours, then sixes. Assess whether there

is rapid assembly in choices, or whether there is gender division and social “cliques” that prevent

quick assembly into groups. Replay the game after a discussion and assess if the time taken to

assemble is shorter.

11. For advanced groups, also explore the Boalian games “Complete the Image” (Games, pp.

139-140) and “Carnival in Rio” (Games, pp. 104-105).

Bullies

This session is based on Augusto Boal’s Image Theatre work explored in the session designs for

An Introduction to Sculpting and Images and Respect and Disrespect, and introduces

participants to Forum Theatre—an improvisational form of drama that provides players

opportunities to explore various options for resolving conflict situations.

Many schools have recently implemented awareness and action programs for coping with

bullying, and this session design for upper elementary and middle school youth is just one

contribution to what should be a comprehensive plan for children, teachers, and parents.
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Materials

“thought balloon” cardboard cut-out

“Forum Theatre – Our Activating Scene” handouts, one for each participant (see end of the

session design)

teacher’s reference: Augusto Boal’s Games for Actors and Non-actors, 2nd edition (New York:

Routledge, 2002)

optional: video-tape excerpt of a bullying scene from a film or television program

Framing

Begin with one or more of the following ideas:

1. Warm up the group with Augusto Boal’s game, “Colombian Hypnosis” (Games, pp. 51-55). In

pairs, one partner (an agent) holds her hand in front of and 12 inches away from her partner’s

face (a target). When the hand is moved slowly in various directions and levels, her partner must

move his body so that his face is 12 inches away from his partner’s hand at all times. Sidecoach

how the game is used to explore the dynamics of power and oppression. Reverse roles and

replay. Then each partner holds his/her hand in front of the other partner’s face at the same time

and both move simultaneously—sometimes in different directions. Discuss the experiences of

power and control generated from the game.

2. Show a video-tape excerpt of a bullying scene from a film or television program and discuss

the interpretations made by the players. Ask players to define bully and victim—respectively, the

agent of oppression and target of oppression.

3. Discuss guidelines for the drama, if appropriate for the particular group:

“Although we’re exploring the theme of bullying and its physical and verbal violence,
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you’re reminded not to physically harm anyone when playing in role, and not to use

language that may offend some of those in the group. Even though violence and

profanity might happen during an actual encounter with a bully, we need to agree to

protect each other’s safety in this classroom.”

Process

Bullying Tableaux

4. Ask players to get in pairs (preferably in a combination of same- and mixed-gender groups) to

develop a tableaux that shows a bully taunting another student (for a group of three, have two

bullies taunting one student). Typical settings might arise, such as the playground or school bus.

For the activating scenes to be developed later, those who feel more comfortable verbally

improvising should portray the bully. Half of the groups display their tableaux simultaneously as

a “sculpture gallery” while the other half walks around and observes the creations. Ask observers

to create titles or a line of dialogue appropriate to the tableaux as the “thought balloon” is held

over a few characters. Switch groups so the other half presents/observes.

5. Discuss what thoughts and feelings may go through the target’s mind when bullied. Then

discuss the possible roots of or motivations for the agent’s (bully’s) actions.

Activating Scenes

6. In the same pairs, players develop a 15-second “activating scene”—improvised dialogue

between characters with appropriate movement that illustrates a high conflict situation without

resolution. Players are encouraged to plan and outline their work on the “Forum Theatre — Our

Activating Scene” template at the end of this session design. Provide 10-15 minutes for

development. Two sample scenes that were developed by fifth graders include:
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I Got it First

(FIRST BOY and GIRL reach for a ball at the same time)

FIRST BOY: Gimme.

GIRL: I got it first.

FIRST BOY: No you didn’t.

GIRL: Yes I did, I got it first.

FIRST BOY: Well, fight for it, then.

GIRL: I don’t wanna fight.

(SECOND BOY enters)

SECOND BOY (to GIRL): Wuss.

GIRL: Shut up!

SECOND BOY: Wuss.

(GIRL pushes SECOND BOY)

SECOND BOY: Wuss!

(SECOND BOY grabs the ball; he and the FIRST BOY walk away)

They Do Not Mix

(a BOY on the floor, reading; a GIRL circles around him)

GIRL: That spiked hair and those shorts do not mix.

BOY: Why do you care?

GIRL: Because I couldn’t help noticing that you look like a freak show on ice.

BOY: Bet you have front row tickets.

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GIRL: At least I’m allowed into the arena.

BOY: Just back off

GIRL: No.

BOY: I like my hair and my shorts mixed together.

GIRL: Fine.

(the GIRL walks away)

BOY: Fine!

Forum Theatre

7. Players then present each activating scene to the rest of the group. Scene titles are listed on the

board for reference. Next, have participants vote for the one or two scenes with which they most

identify (not necessarily the “best performed” ones), and explore possible solutions for the target

to employ to stop the agent’s bullying. In Forum Theatre, the activating scene is re-presented

then discussed with the group to clarify the conflict and dynamics of the characters’ interactions.

The scene is replayed, but this time a volunteer participant replaces the target (only) and

improvises his/her solution to resolve the conflict or cope with the situation. The agent/bully may

or may not be influenced and affected by the new tactic. After this tactic is explored, which may

or may not work, a second participant steps in as the target and tries a different tactic. Depending

on the age group of children and improvisational skills of the players, the facilitator may have to

step in role as the agent/bully. Keep in mind that most children’s solutions may be nothing more

than verbal taunts exchanged with the bully, which would only escalate the conflict. Encourage

players to explore a variety of tactics aside from bullying back.

8. As an extension to the session, “hot seat” one of the players portraying a bully and have

participants ask him/her questions (e.g., “Why did you hurt her?” “What’s your family like at
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home?” “What kind of grades do you get at school?” “What do you want to be when you grow

up?”). Discuss the interpretations participants made from the interview, and what insights might

have been gained about the bully. Then, “hot seat” a target and interview him/her.

Reflection and Assessment

9. Summarize the tactics players developed to cope with bullies in the activating scenes explored.

Discuss the tactics’ effectiveness or ineffectiveness for the particular situation.

10. Review school policies in place for reporting bullying, the consequences of bullying, and

where to go for help.

11. Reflect on the participants’ ability to cooperatively plan and improvise in activating scenes,

and their ability to identify the thoughts and feelings of the agents and targets of oppression.
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FORUM THEATRE – OUR ACTIVATING SCENE

The first names of people in our group are:

____________________, ____________________, ____________________
The protagonist (the oppressed) will be portrayed by: ____________________
The antagonist(s) (the oppressor(s)) will be portrayed by:
____________________, ____________________
In our activating scene, the protagonist will be oppressed by the antagonist(s) in
this way:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
The first line of dialogue or the first action in our activating scene will be:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
The last line of dialogue or the last action in our activating scene will be
(remember to leave the oppression unsolved):
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
The title of our activating scene is:
__________________________________________________________________

Try to make your activating scene 15-seconds long.

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Chapter 8

Reality Drama

The last three session designs—I Woke Up Angry, Living Newspaper, and Personal

Narrative Monologues—are ventures into, for lack of a better term, the process drama version of

“reality theatre” (Saldaña, 2005b). Personal experience, non-fiction, and autobiography serve as

content for these dramas, and the authenticity of our life experiences and life stories shared with

others can connect us as a community. These final sessions bring this book to its full spectrum:

from the dramatization of our folkloric past, to the dramatization of our contemporary selves.

I Woke Up Angry

This session design explores the destructive and constructive applications of our emotional,

intrapersonal, and interpersonal intelligences in everyday living. It is inspired by Riana

Duncan’s illustrated children’s book, When Emily Woke Up Angry (New York: Barron’s,

1989). The goal is to explore participants’ intrapersonal awareness of their own emotions,

specifically related to anger. Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence (1995) describes how

humans become “emotionally hijacked” when such negative states as anxiety or stress impede

our ability for productive thought and action. I Woke Up Angry introduces players to the basic

processes of anger and its management by labeling the emotions involved and exploring how

they originate in everyday contexts.

Materials
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chalkboard and chalk

Framing

Begin with one or more of the following ideas:

1. Write “anger” on the chalkboard. Ask children what the word means and other words similar

to it (e.g., “mad,” “furious”). Ask a few children to relate personal stories of what makes them

angry and what happens as a result of anger.

2. Read only the first three text pages from When Emily Woke Up Angry (or, retell the text

below):

One morning, Emily woke up angry. “You’ve gotten out of bed on the wrong side,” said

her mother. But Emily could only see one side of bed to get out of and that made her

even angrier. She didn’t want to wash her neck or behind her ears. She didn’t want to

eat her breakfast. “You had better run outside and cool off,” said her mother, “and come

back when you’ve stopped being angry.”

3. Explain the anger generation process: Anger is a secondary emotion, meaning that a different

(primary) emotional state must precede anger (for example, we get embarrassed first, then we

might become angry; we get sad first, then we might become angry). Illustrate through a

chalkboard graphic:

SAD ANGRY
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Process

The Anger Process

4. Discuss how Emily may have woken up angry, but something had to have happened before to

get her to that emotional state. Ask players to brainstorm what might have happened to Emily

before she went to bed or while she was sleeping to make her wake up angry. Help players by

labeling the probable emotions to the situations children develop:

“If Emily got into a fight with her best friend and they weren’t speaking to each other,

then maybe she might have felt ‘lonely,’ and that could have made her angry.”

List these primary emotions on the chalkboard.

5. Ask all players to find their own space (either next to their desks, or in a space of their own in

a room cleared of furniture against the walls). The facilitator then asks all children to shape their

faces and bodies from one emotion to the other through suggested actions:

“Show me through your bodies and faces, as believably as you can, Emily feeling sad

that she didn’t pass her spelling test. Pretend you’re holding onto that graded test and

looking at all the mistakes you made. Now, slowly, change that sadness into anger. . . .

And relax.”

“Let’s try another primary emotion: Shape your body and face into Emily embarrassed

because she’s being teased. Try to bring as little attention to yourself so you’ll be left

alone. Now, slowly, change it to the secondary emotion, anger. . . . Relax.”

After several emotional changes have been practiced, the facilitator is strongly encouraged to

tell children to

“Stand up and shake your body; shake off that anger and come back to yourself now.”
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Before the Anger

6. If the group is a lower grade level, the facilitator can play in role with young children to solicit

dialogue from them. Taking one or two of the situations children brainstormed for Emily, the

teacher assumes the peer or adult role as the children, in ensemble, play Emily. A scenario might

be improvised like this:

“Be seated on the floor. Let me take on the role of Emily’s mother, and all of you are

going to be Emily. Raise your hand if you have something to say to me as your mom.

One of you said maybe Emily got angry because her mom started yelling at her to clean

up her room, and didn’t listen to why Emily couldn’t do it. So, Emily became

‘frustrated.’ Make sure you try to show that as we improvise, and work seriously. I’m in

role now as Emily’s mom: ‘Emily, look at your room! Didn’t I tell you to clean up this

mess, young lady?!’”

Upper grade levels, in groups of 2 or 3, can be given 5 minutes to prepare a 30-second verbal

improvisation that shows Emily and another character interacting before she got angry. Discuss

and assess the work after a few scenes are selected for presentation, with emphasis on labeling

Emily’s primary emotions and the circumstances leading to them.

Reflection and Assessment

7. Gather all participants standing in a circle. Ask children to identify actions they can take to

help “shake off” anger (e.g, count to ten, breathe deeply, sit and rest). Facilitate and enact each

idea provided.
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8. Discuss how we can keep ourselves from getting too angry and hurting someone else or even

ourselves. What can we do, as individuals, to make ourselves aware of how we’re feeling before

we get too angry and keep from becoming emotionally hijacked?

9. Discuss how awareness of one’s own emotions is an important part of developing

Intrapersonal Intelligence. The ability to be in touch with your own emotions might also develop

“empathy” for Interpersonal Intelligence.

Living Newspaper

The 1930s U.S. Federal Theatre Project’s “Living Newspaper” program staged dramatizations

of current news events for audiences—sometimes accompanied with biting social commentary to

supplement the factual reportage. Today’s news stories—whether in print, broadcast, or online—

provide rich material for classroom reading, improvisation, and social critique. In my own work

I have found that local stories, rather than national and international news, lend themselves

better to dramatization. Other criteria for news articles that generate effective drama include:

articles with multiple people referenced or interviewed; an unresolved problem or issue; a sense

of story-line to the article; and matters of importance or relevance to the participants. Each 1-2

paragraphs of a news story generally function as a unit for pair or small group dramatization.

This session works best with groups that have had basic introductory work in verbal

improvisation and concentration, commitment, and believability. The facilitator should be

flexible to accommodate different approaches to the story—e.g., as a news conference, TV news

broadcast, radio/TV talk show. With older groups, explore how different print publications—e.g.,
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The New York Times, The National Enquirer, Time Magazine—might approach the same story

with its own unique slant.

Below is a fictional news story, one that composites the types of articles that might be

used for dramatization. The numbers at the beginning of a section indicate a unit with a playable

scenario or an idea for improvisation.

Homeless Youth Shelter Faces Closure

by Rianna Lowenstein

(1) Homespace, a youth shelter in the city dedicated to assisting runaway and homeless

kids for the past five years, may close its doors permanently within the next two weeks if

adequate funding sources cannot be secured.

“We’ve been operating in the red for months already,” sighed Homespace director and

social worker Matthew Williams, “and it looks as if the financial help we need is not on the way.

(2) We had to let go of our full-time teacher last month because there was just no money to pay

her.”

(3) Private and corporate donations have decreased over the past year, forcing

Homespace staff to budget their meager state and grant monies for the bare essentials to keep the

shelter’s doors open at its rented property.

“It’s frustrating,” said senior staff counselor Rita Jenkins, “when we have to turn away

these poor kids because there’s no more beds. We can barely afford to feed the kids we’re taking

care of now.” (4) Volunteers have solicited food donations from the community and stocked the
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Homespace kitchen as best as they can, but available resources have been tapped to the

maximum.

(5) The Jensen Foundation, formerly one of Homespace’s largest annual contributors

since the shelter’s beginning, unexpectedly withdrew its support for the current fiscal year.

Administrators for the foundation declined to comment on their decision, merely to say that there

were other urgent priorities for funding.

Homespace, a short-term residential unit for homeless teenagers located in mid-city, is a

simple but comfortable facility with 30 beds—a drop in the bucket when you consider that there

are an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 teens living homeless in the U.S. today.

(6) “I’m really, really worried,” said one young runaway who wishes to remain

anonymous because her family is searching for her. “If Homespace closes, I have nowhere to go,

no family who can help me.” Rita Jenkins has been counseling the young teen for a traumatic

incident, and says that “Now is not the best time for this place to shut down. This girl—and

everyone else in here—needs a lot of help before we can even think of shutting down.”

(7) One of the homeless youths turned away, a 16 year old boy who calls himself

Sundance, said that he and his friend Moondog haven’t eaten a decent meal in three days.

“We’ve been pullin’ stuff from fast food dumpsters and trash cans—leftover burgers and fries,

but it’s not always fresh.” Moondog added, “And the people around here don’t wanna give up

their spare change when you ask ‘em for some. Homespace doesn’t have any food, so what can

we do?”

(8) “They’re a nuisance to the neighborhood,” says Paul Thomson, longtime elderly

resident of the area where Homespace has operated for the past five years. “These young punks

are just lazy, looking for a free handout from anyone they can con, and trashing the place for
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decent, hardworking folks who live here.” Thomson and his wife, Evelyn, say they are afraid to

leave their home at night for fear of getting robbed by homeless youth roaming the area.

(9) City police regularly patrol the Homespace neighborhood looking for suspicious

activity among teens. Sergeant Denise Ortega is sympathetic to the young people’s plight, but

must also uphold local ordinances, which include no loitering. “Me and my partner would rather

talk to the kids to get them some help, rather than arrest them because they have no place else to

go.”

(10) Director Matt Williams acknowledges that Homespace receives numerous

complaints from hostile neighbors. “They want us to pack up and get out of here. Some people

living in this ‘hood would rather see these kids die than get the social and medical services they

so desperately need.”

(11) Lilypad, a 16 year-old girl who appears six months pregnant, was given top priority

for one of Homespace’s limited number of beds. But the father of her child, a thin 17 year-old

boy called Bearcub, voluntarily sleeps outdoors at night in the alley behind the Homespace

facility. “As long as she’s OK,” says Bearcub, “I can tough it out. She’s got my baby inside her,

and they come first.”

Materials

copies of a dramatizable newspaper story or article with the units numbered (see sample article

above), one for each participant

pencils
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Framing

Begin with one or more of the following ideas:

1. Ask questions about or discuss relevant issues suggested by the forthcoming newspaper story

or article.

2. If there are any accompanying photos for the news story, discuss what the people in them

might have been thinking, feeling, or saying just before or at the moment the photo was taken.

Process

Reading the News Story

3. Distribute copies of the news story or article to students with the sections/units pre-numbered

by the facilitator. Have the class read the story aloud, exchanging readers for each unit.

(Alternatively, experienced or older groups can work as a class to determine the appropriate unit

divisions on their own as they read the story aloud.)

Creating Photographs

4. If a news story has no accompanying photographs, ask players,

“If a photojournalist had been present throughout this story, what photographs might

have been taken to accompany each unit? Who would have been in them? What would

they have been doing or saying?”

As players suggest photograph ideas, ask for volunteers to form the number of people needed for

each photo/unit. Possible photos and events not directly mentioned but inferred from the news

article are also possible. Provide 2-3 minutes for each group to create a tableaux representing its

assigned photograph about the news story. Each group then shares its tableaux, with observing
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participants developing possible captions for each photo. Other questions from the facilitator

could include:

“What kinds of emotions or internal thoughts do the body language and facial

expressions suggest?”

“What do you think was said by or to these people at the moment this photo was taken?”

Assess the work and discuss what insights may have been made about the issue or the people

involved.

Devising Unit Improvisations

5. Select a few units from the story and discuss the possibilities for extracting/adding characters,

constructing a scenario (i.e., what the scene is “about”), and playing the conflict or tension. For

example, in the “Homeless Youth Shelter” news story, Unit (1) could involve director Matthew

Williams confronted by a landlord for overdue rental payments for Homespace; Unit (5) could

portray executives and board members from The Jensen Foundation debating whether or not to

fund Homespace for another year. Discuss how this kind of improvisational work will be what

players will develop with their assigned units from the story—a 30-second to one minute

vignette that is verbally improvised and shows a “slice of life”; a linear “beginning, middle, end”

is not necessarily needed.

6. If the number of participants in each photo group lends itself to dramatizing or improvising

upon their assigned unit of the news story, the casting is complete. If needed, redistribute the

participants so that there is a minimum of two players to dramatize each unit of the news story.

7. Provide players 10-15 minutes to develop their scenes. Strongly encourage specific beginning

and ending lines for their improvisations. Circulate among the groups to assist, as needed.
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Encourage groups to “get on their feet” and practice the scene several times, not to just sit and

talk about it. End the practice period when it seems as if all groups are ready to share.

The Living Newspaper

8. Arrange the groups in a circle structure around the room, so that they are numbered

sequentially according to their assigned units. Have each group arrange chairs or other

properties, as needed, in the space for their presentations. The facilitator recommends:

“When you’re finished with your improvised work, don’t say ‘That’s it.’ Just freeze

briefly and look toward the next group to give them a non-verbal cue to begin their

scene.”

9. Have each group present its scene in predetermined order. The facilitator intervenes or

facilitates only when needed (e.g., if a group loses commitment to the action).

10. End the presentation with all groups returning to and creating their original tableaux of

photos simultaneously.

Reflection and Assessment

11. Reflect on the issues raised by the news story, such as the multiple or contradictory

perspectives from the people involved, the complexity of the problem, possible solutions, or

speculation on the outcome. Explore the rights and responsibilities of community citizens

suggested by the story.

12. Assess the dramatization, focusing on such goals as concentration, commitment to the

playing, and believability of action.

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13. Depending on the grade level of the participants, discuss how this news story might be

presented as a TV news show feature, or told by a different newspaper or magazine with a

particular journalistic “slant.”

14. For additional ideas on interpreting and improvising newspaper stories and articles, see

Augusto Boal’s Legislative Theatre (New York: Routledge, 1998), pp. 234-246.

Personal Narrative Monologues

This session design takes participants through the process of developing an original monologue

derived from their personal experiences. Selected practitioners of both educational drama and

formal theatre have recently explored the creation of original work rooted in the lives of

everyday people. Such genres as “performance ethnography” and “ethnodrama” (Saldaña,

2005b) ground their content in the authentic representation of participants. Sometimes, the

participants themselves tell their own stories for an audience. At other times, a playwright,

researcher, or an acting company will interview people and develop a performance piece from

the transcripts. This form of “reality theatre” provides deep ownership for the teller of his or her

own tale. Storytellers advocate that the sharing of our lives in narrative form builds a strong

sense of community. As the saying goes, “You can’t hate someone when you know his or her

story.”

Materials

pencils/pens

writing paper
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video excerpts of monologues or personal stories on VHS/DVD

VCR/DVD player and TV monitor

optional: audio recorder and cassettes

Framing

Begin with one or more of the following ideas:

1. Play excerpts from monologues and personal stories on video. Discuss the elements of the

stories (e.g., beginning, middle, end; tension) and their performances (e.g., use of voice, gesture).

2. List on the board or distribute copies of the following stimulators for personal stories. This is

just a recommended list; ask for other possible stimulators from the group, but be cautious of

getting too personal (e.g., the death of a loved one). Anything told should be “true” as the

participant experienced and remembers it. The following stimulators are adapted from Donald

Davis’ Telling Your Own Stories (Little Rock: August House Publishers, Inc., 1993):

Talk about:

 a time when you got into trouble for something you were told not to do

 a time you broke something that belonged to somebody else

 a night your parents never found out about

 a time when you were tricked or lied to

 the time you realized you were no longer a “child”

 a time you felt triumphant with an accomplishment

 the first person you ever had a crush on

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More mature participants (such as pre- and in-service teachers) who wish to go into deeper areas

can talk about one of these encounters:

 your first or earliest encounter when you became aware of your race or ethnicity

 an encounter with someone who discriminated against you because of your race or

ethnicity

 an encounter with someone of the opposite sex when you had a disagreement rooted in

gender issues

 an encounter with someone you knew who came out as a gay/lesbian (or, an encounter

when you, if gay/lesbian, told someone about your sexual orientation)

 an encounter with a homeless person (or, an encounter with someone when you yourself

were homeless)

 an encounter with a disabled person (or, an encounter with someone else if you yourself

are disabled)

 an encounter with an elderly person (or, the first time you perceived yourself as “old”)

 an encounter with someone whose language or speech you could not understand

 an encounter with someone over spiritual beliefs and spiritual disagreement

 an encounter with someone who called you a name that offended you

 an encounter with a supervisor or teacher who exerted his/her power over you

Process

The Story’s “First Draft”

3. Each participant selects one of the prompts above that stimulates a personal story. Participants
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select a partner and simply share their stories with each other privately. If possible, each story

should last no longer than 3-4 minutes. For assessment, each partner shares what he/she enjoyed

the most and what may have been unclear about the other’s story. Before leaving, each partner

shares with the other: “The next time you tell your story, make sure you. . . .”

The Story’s Details

4. Participants switch to a new partner and each one retells his/her story for the other, this time

paying attention to conjuring as much sense imagery as possible for the listener (e.g., describe

visual/aural details) and referring to the emotions involved with the people in the story.

Participants well-versed in anthropology or ethnography can be encouraged to focus on cultural

details,

“those small things that are a part of the culture you’re talking about that not too many

people may know.”

Time: 3-4 minutes for each story. For assessment, each partner shares whether he/she was able

to get a mental picture of the environment for the story, and whether the emotions of the teller

were clear. Partners brainstorm the best beginning line and ending line for each story.

(Discourage “That’s it” as an ending line.) Before leaving, each partner shares with the other:

“The next time you tell your story, make sure you. . . .”

The Story’s Structure

5. Participants switch to a third new partner and each one retells his/her story for the other, this

time paying attention to the structure of the piece—i.e., its beginning, middle, and end; and its

flow for the listener. Time: 3-4 minutes for each story. For assessment, each partner shares what

was most effective in the telling of the other’s story, and what emotional responses may have

been evoked. Partners brainstorm with each other the titles for the stories shared.
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Gestural Motifs

6. Before the next cycle of storytelling, gather all participants and stand in a circle. Explain that

just as a story has content motifs, or thematic elements that may reoccur throughout a narrative,

tellers can use gestural motifs—a physical hand gesture or body action purposefully chosen to

symbolize some aspect of the story. The gestural motif might accompany the beginning and

ending line, and/or be repeated selectively throughout the storytelling to reinforce a thematic

element. Participants simultaneously explore and practice a possible gestural motif with selected

passages from their stories to incorporate into the next telling.

A Storytelling Concert

7. The facilitator organizes the participants into small groups of 3-5, gathered with people who

have not heard each other’s stories, if possible. Each group assembles itself in a private area and

shares their stories as an informal “storytelling concert.” Each teller should stand in front of the

seated listeners, or sit in a different way from others, to give the presentation a sense of occasion.

Participants offer each other suggestions for the transfer of the stories into print.

Documenting the Story

8. Individually, each student now writes his/her personal story on paper as if it were told in the

first person as a monologue. If time allows, allow the story to “rest” for a day, then come back to

it and revise it, paying attention to cultural details, sensory images, emotions, tension, and

structure.

Reflection and Assessment

9. As time allows, have each participant share his/her written story by reading the text.

Brainstorm the type of play the story might suggest.

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11. With the teller’s permission, dramatize the story or a portion of it through improvisation if

the events lend themselves to enactment.

12. Record a participant’s personal narrative, transcribe it, and develop it into a monologue for

someone else to perform.

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References

Introduction

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Banks, James A. Multiethnic Education. 3rd ed. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1994.

Cornett, Claudia E. Creating Meaning through Literature and the Arts: An Integrated Resource

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Gardner, Howard. Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century. New York:

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Greenwood, Janinka. Weaving the Dawn. In Universal Mosaic of Drama and Theatre: The IDEA

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Goleman, Daniel. Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Books, 1995.

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Saldaña, Johnny. Longitudinal Qualitative Research: Analyzing Change through Time. Walnut

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Stefanakis, Evangeline Harris. Multiple Intelligences and Portfolios: A Window Into the

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Narrative Comprehension and Narrative Production. Research in Drama Education 11.3,

329-340.

Martinez, Ruben, and Richard L. Dukes. Race, Gender and Self-esteem Among Youth. Hispanic

Journal of Behavioral Sciences 9(4), 427-43, 1987.

Neeland, Jonothan, and Tony Goode. Structuring Drama Work: A Handbook of Available Forms

in Theatre and Drama, 2nd ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Quinn, Betsy. Letter to author, 1 May 1994.

Randolph, Tracy Joy. Letter to author, 2 May 1994.

Ritch, Pamela. A Good Substitute for Recess in Winter: Some Elementary Classroom Teacher’s

Perceptions About Creative Drama: An Informal Report. Children’s Theatre Review

32(4), 3-8, 1983.

Sanchez, Gilberto. This Hard Rock. The Drama/Theatre Teacher 6(3), 12-17, 1994.

Sawyer, R. Keith. Creative Teaching: Collaborative Discussion as Disciplined Improvisation.

Educational Researcher 33(2), 12-20, 2004.

Shacker, Deborah L., Moira F. Juliebo, and Douglas Parker. Using Drama in the French

Immersion Program. Youth Theatre Journal 8(1), 3-10, 1993.

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Shade, Barbara J., and Clara A. New. Cultural Influences on Learning: Teaching Implications. In

Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives, 2nd ed., edited by James A. Banks and

Cherry A. McGee Banks, 317-31. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1993.

Stinson, Madonna, and Kelly Freebody. Modulating the Mosaic: Drama and Oral Language. In

Universal Mosaic of Drama and Theatre: The IDEA 2004 Dialogues, edited by Laura A.

McCammon and Debra McLauchlan, 193-200. Ottawa: IDEA Publications, 2006.

Vallejo, Carlos J. Interview by author. Tape recording. Tempe, AZ. 14 February 1994.

Vitz, Kathie. The Effects of Creative Drama in English as a Second Language. Children’s

Theatre Review 33(2), 23-26, 1984.

Wagner, Betty Jane. Educational Drama and Language Arts: What Research Shows.

Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1998.

Wright, Peter. The thought of doing drama scares me to death. Research in Drama Education

4(2), 227-237.

Chapter Seven

Saldaña, Johnny. Theatre of the Oppressed with Children: A Field Experiment. Youth Theatre

Journal 13, 117-133, 2005a.

Chapter Eight

Goleman, Daniel. Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Books, 1995.

Saldaña, Johnny. Ethnodrama: An Anthology of Reality Theatre. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira

Press, 2005b.
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Selected Bibliography

Drama with Children

Bailey, Sally Dorothy. Wings to Fly: Bringing Theatre Arts to Students with Special Needs.

Rockville: Woodbine House, 1993. A handbook of techniques and ideas for children

with cognitive and physical disabilities.

Bissinger, Kristen, and Nancy Renfro. Leap Into Learning! Teaching Curriculum through

Creative Dramatics and Dance. Austin: Nancy Renfro Studios, 1990. A variety of

activities for primary grades that explore such areas as language arts, science, and social

studies.

Boal, Augusto. Games for Actors & Non-actors, 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2002.

Geared for adults to examine social change, but many of the games can be adapted for

youth for the same goals.

Booth, David, and Jonothan Neelands, eds. Writing in Role: Classroom Projects Connecting

Writing and Drama. Hamilton, ON: Caliburn Enterprises, 1998. Various practitioners

share how writing is incorporated into their drama work with all ages of youth.

Bowell, Pamela, and Brian S. Heap. Planning Process Drama. London: David Fulton

Publishers, 2001. Excellent, systematic guide to the development and organization of

improvisational process drama sessions.

Brown, Victoria, and Sarah Pleydell. The Dramatic Difference: Drama in the Preschool and

Kindergarten. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1999. Excellent, practical handbook of

stories and session designs for young children.

Burke, Ann F., and Julie C. O’Sullivan. Stage by Stage: A Handbook for Using Drama in the
 230

Second Language Classroom. Portsmouth, NH Heinemann, 2002. One of the few

resources for English language learners; some good introductory improvisational

activities but emphasizes performance.

Cattanach, Ann. Drama for People with Special Needs, 2nd ed. London: A & C Black

(Publishers) Ltd., 1996. A collection of exercises and activities for the physically,

learning, and emotionally disabled, abused children, and other populations.

Chapman, Gerald. Teaching Young Playwrights. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1991. Step-by-

step methods and practical suggestions for generating play scripts from young people.

Gangi, Jane M. Encountering Children’s Literature: An Arts Approach. Boston: Pearson

Education, 2004. Includes an excellent overview of literature for children with related

dramatic activities.

Grady, Sharon. Drama and Diversity: A Pluralistic Perspective for Educational Drama.

Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2000. Excellent teacher’s reference for exploring race,

ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, and disability through improvisation.

Heinig, Ruth Beall. Improvisation with Favorite Tales: Integrating Drama into the

Reading/Writing Classroom. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1992. Practical and playable

methods of dramatizing classic western folk and fairy tales with young children.

Jensen, Eric. Arts with the Brain in Mind. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and

Curriculum Development, 2001. Overview of brain-based learning and teaching as they

relate to arts education and their benefits for children.

Kelin, Daniel A. II. To Feel as Our Ancestors Did: Collecting and Performing Oral Histories.

Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2005. For upper elementary and middle school children;

creating devised work from interviews with elders and adults; many practical teaching
 231

strategies.

Kempe, Andy, ed. Drama Education and Special Needs: A Handbook for Teachers in

Mainstream and Special Schools. Cheltenham: Stanley Thornes (Publishers) Ltd., 1996.

Collection of essays on working with various special needs youth.

Kao, Shin-Mei., and Cecily O’Neill. Words into Worlds: Learning a Second Language Through

Drama. Stamford, CT: Ablex Publishing, 1998. Geared primarily toward adults learning

a second language; well documented research of a drama project.

Manley, Anita, and Cecily O’Neill, eds. Dreamseekers: Creative Approaches to the African

American Heritage. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1997. Essays on African American

themes and content in process drama with grades K-12 youth.

Miller, Carole, and Juliana Saxton. Into the Story: Language in Action through Drama.

Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2004. A resource of ten lessons for dramatizing and

exploring the themes of selection children’s picture books such as The Polar Express and

Peter and the Wolf.

Neelands, Jonothan, and Tony Goode. Structuring Drama Work, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 2000. For advanced facilitators of drama with children; a compendium

of structures for drama sessions with guidelines and examples of their use.

O’Toole, John, Bruce Burton, and Anna Plunkett. Cooling Conflict: A New Approach to

Managing Bullying and Conflict in Schools. Frenchs Forest: Pearson Education Australia,

2005. Program description of drama as an intervention strategy to reduce school bullying

among children and adolescents.

Ressler, Paula. Dramatic Changes: Talking About Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity with

High School Students through Drama. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2002. Resources
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and narrative with selected plans for exploring homophobia and lesbian/gay identity with

adolescents.

Rohd, Michael. Theatre for Community, Conflict & Dialogue: The Hope Is Vital Training

Manual. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1998. Designed for junior and senior high school

programs, Rohd provides an excellent and comprehensive overview of techniques for

exploring social issues through theatre and classroom drama.

Rubin, Janet E. Teaching About the Holocaust through Drama. Charlottesville: New Plays, Inc.,

2000. Resource book on themes about the holocaust and various methods of exploring

those themes dramatically.

Salazar, Laura Gardner. Making Performance Art. Charlottesville: New Plays, Inc., 1999.

Alternative forms of dramatic process and presentation with contemporary material.

Salazar, Laura Gardner. Teaching Dramatically, Learning Thematically. Charlottesville: New

Plays, Inc., 1995. Narrative overview of holistic drama approaches including teacher-in-

role.

Smith, J. Lea, and Herring, J. Daniel. Dramatic Literacy: Using Drama and Literature to Teach

Middle-Level Content. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2001. Practical handbook on

children’s literature as a stimulus for drama with upper elementary and secondary school

groups.

Sternberg, Patricia. Theatre for Conflict Resolution. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1998. A

manual of exercises and improvisations that explore the nature and origins of conflict;

examines conflict within and between races, genders, adolescents, etc.

Sternberg, Patricia, and Antonina Garcia. Sociodrama: Who’s in Your Shoes?, 2nd ed. Westport:

Praeger Publishers, 2000. For teachers with drama experience; an approach to

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improvisation with the players’ personal and social issues.

Taylor, Philip. Redcoats and Patriots: Reflective Practice in Drama and Social Studies.

Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1998. A junior high school social studies teacher in New

York City reflects critically on his practice and that of his students; an engaging narrative

on action research.

Wagner, Betty Jane. Dorothy Heathcote: Drama as a Learning Medium, revised edition.

Portland, Maine: Calendar Islands Publishers, 1999. A detailed and engaging description

of the teaching methods of British drama facilitator Dorothy Heathcote.

Wagner, Betty Jane. Educational Drama and Language Arts: What Research Shows.

Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1998. An overview of quantitative and qualitative research

in the field; useful for advocacy and literature reviews.

Storytelling

Alterman, Glenn. Creating Your Own Monologue, 2nd ed. New York: Allworth Press, 2005.

Baker, Augusta, and Ellin Green. Storytelling: Art and Technique, 2nd ed. New York: R. R.

Bowker Company, 1987.

Collins, Rives, and Cooper, Pamela J. The Power of Story: Teaching Through Storytelling,

2nd ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1997.

Davis, Donald. Telling Your Own Stories. Little Rock: August House Publishers, Inc., 1993.

Rekulak, Jason. The Writer’s Block: 786 Ideas to Jump-Start Your Imagination. Philadelphia:

Running Press, 2001.

Sawyer, Ruth. The Way of the Storyteller. New York: Viking Press, 1947.
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Literature for Children to Dramatize

General Folklore Collections

Moroney, Lynn, and Shed, Greg. Moontellers: Myths of the Moon from Around the World.

Flagstaff, AZ: Northland Publishing, 1995.

Siegen-Smith, Nikki, and Lodge, Bernard. Songs for Survival: Songs and Chants from Tribal

Peoples Around the World. New York: Dutton Children’s Books, 1995.

Mexican and Mexican American

Atkin, S. Beth. Voices from the Fields. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1993.

Lachtman, Ofelia Dumas, and Delange, Alex Pardo. Pepita Talks Twice / Pepita habla dos

veces. Houston: Piñata Books, 1995.

McDermott, Gerald. Musicians of the Sun. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997.

Mora, Pat, and Mora, Francisco X. Listen to the Desert / Oye al desierto. New York: Clarion

Books, 1994.

Soto, Gary, and Martinez, Ed. Too Many Tamales. New York: PaperStar, 1993.

Native American

Ancona, George. Powwow. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1993.

Bruchac, Joseph, Bruchac, James, Aruego, Jose, and Dewey, Ariane. How Chipmunk Got His

Stripes. New York: Puffin Books, 2001.

Hayes, Joe, and Sather, Kay. Soft Child: How Rattlesnake Got Its Fangs. Tucson: Harbinger

House, 1993.

King, Thomas, and Wales, Johnny. Coyote Sings to the Moon. Potland, OR: WestWinds Press,

2001.
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Moroney, Lynn, Ata, Tea, and Reisberg, Mira. Baby Rattlesnake. San Francisco: Children’s

Book Press, 1989.

Asian American

Levine, Ellen, and Björkman, Steve. I Hate English! New York: Scholastic, 1989.

Ricorvits, Helen, and Swiatkowska, Gabi. My Name is Yoon. New York: Farrar, Straus &

Giroux, 2003.

Surat, Michele Maria, and Mai, Vo-Dinh. Angel Child, Dragon Child. New York: Scholastic,

1983.

African American

Coles, Robert, and Ford, George. The Story of Ruby Bridges. New York: Scholastic, 1995.

Giovanni, Nikki, and Collier, Bryan. Rosa. New York: Scholastic, 2005.

Hoffman, Mary, and Binch, Caroline. Amazing Grace. New York: Dial, 1991.

Krull, Kathleen, and Diaz, David. Wilma Unlimited. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace & Co.,

1996.

Myers, Walter Dean. Monster. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999.

Shange, Ntozake, and Sporn, Michael. White Wash. New York: Walker and Co., 1997.

Jewish Life and the Holocaust

Gallaz, Christophe, and Innocenti, Roberto. Rose Blanche. Mankato, MN: Creative Editions,

1985.

Koons, Jon, and Schindler, S. D. A Confused Hanukkah. New York: Dutton Children’s Books,

2004.

Yolen, Jane. The Devil’s Arithmetic. New York: Puffin Books, 1990.

Zemach, Margot. It Could Always Be Worse. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1976.
 236

Immigration

Freedman, Russell. Immigrant Kids. New York: Scholastic, 1980.

Hest, Amy, and Lynch, P. J. When Jessie Came Across the Sea. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick

Press, 1997.

Tan, Shaun. The Arrival. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2006.

Interethnic Relations

Berenstain, Stan and Jan. The Berenstain Bears’ New Neighbors. New York: Random House,

1994.

Morrison, Toni. Remember: The Journey to School Integration. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.,

2004.

Seuss, Dr. The Sneetches and Other Stories. New York: Random House, 1961.

Gay Parents

Richardson, Justin, Parnell, Peter, and Cole, Henry. And Tango Makes Three. New York: Simon

& Schuster, 2005.

Valentine, Johnny, and Sarecky, Melody. One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dads. Los

Angeles: Alyson Publications, 1994.

Willhoite, Michael. Daddy’s Roommate. Boston: Alyson Publications, 1990.

Homelessness

Bunting, Eve, and Diaz, David. December. San Diego: Voyager Books, 1997.

Bunting, Eve, and Himler, Ronald. Fly Away Home. New York: Clarion Books, 1991.

War and Conquest

Bunting, Eve, and Himler, Ronald. The Wall. New York: Clarion Books, 1990.
 237

Tsuchiya, Yukio, and Lewin, Ted (trans. Dykes, Tomoko Tsuchiya). Faithful Elephants. Boston:

Houghton Mifflin, 1988.

Yolen, Jane, and Shannon, David. Encounter. San Diego: Voyager Books, 1992.

Bullying and Violence

Blume, Judy. Blubber. New York: Dell Publishing, 1974.

Bunting, Eve, and Diaz, David. Smoky Night. San Diego: Voyager Books, 1994.

Bunting, Eve, and Frampton, David. Riding the Tiger. New York: Clarion Books, 2001.

Kraus, Robert, Aruego, Jose, and Dewey, Ariane. Noel the Coward. New York: Windmill

Books, n.d.

Lorbiecki, Marybeth, and Diaz, David. Just One Flick of a Finger. New York: Dial Books, 1996.

Moss, Peggy, and Lyon, Lea. Say Something. Gardiner, ME: Tilbury House Publishers, 2004.

The “Sissy”

de Paola, Tomie. Oliver Button is a Sissy. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979.

Fierstein, Harvey, and Cole, Henry. The Sissy Duckling. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002.

Newman, Lesléa, and Ferguson, Peter. The Boy Who Cried Fabulous. Berkeley: Tricycle Press,

2004.

Ross, Tom, and Barron, Rex. Eggbert: The Slightly Cracked Egg. New York: G. P. Putnam’s

Sons, 1994.

Emotions and Emotional Intelligence

Curtis, Jamie Lee, and Cornell, Laura. Today I Feel Silly & Other Moods That Make My Day.

New York: Joanna Cotler Books, 1998.

Kachenmeister, Cherryl, and Berthiaume, Tom. On Monday When It Rained. Boston: Houghton

Mifflin Co., 1989.

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Kraus, Robert, Aruego, Jose, and Dewey, Ariane. Boris Bad Enough. New York: Windmill

Books, 1976.

Kroll, Steven, and Davenier, Christine. That Makes Me Mad! New York: SeaStar Books, 2002.

Tan, Shaun. The Red Tree. South Melbourne: Thomas C. Lothian Pty. Ltd., 2001.

Wood, Audrey, and Wood, Don. Quick as a Cricket. Wiltshire: Child’s Play Intl. Ltd., 2004.

Multicultural and Multiethnic Education

Adams, Maurianne, Lee Anne Bell, and Pat Griffin, eds. Teaching for Diversity and Social

Justice: A Sourcebook, 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2007.

Banks, James A. An Introduction to Multicultural Education, 3rd ed. Needham Heights, MA:

Allyn and Bacon, 2001.

Banks, James A., and Cherry A. McGee Banks, eds. Handbook of Research on Multicultural

Education, 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003.

Bigelow, Bill, et al., eds. Rethinking Our Classrooms, Volume One. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking

Schools, 1994.

Bigelow, Bill, et al., eds. Rethinking Our Classrooms: Teaching for Equity and Justice, Volume

Two. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools, 2001.

Carnes, Jim. Us and Them: A History of Intolerance in America. Montgomery, AL: Southern

Poverty Law Center, 1995.

Darder, Antonia, Rodolfo D. Torres, and Henry Gutiérrez. Latinos and Education: A Critical

Reader. New York: Routledge, 1997.

Delpit, Lisa. Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom. New York: New

Press, 1995.
 239

Donaldson, Karen B. McLean. Through Students’ Eyes: Combating Racism in United States

Schools. Westport, CT: Praeger Press, 1996.

Esquith, Rafe. There Are No Shortcuts. New York: Anchor Books, 2003.

Esquith, Rafe. Teach Like Your Hair’s On Fire: The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56.

New York: Penguin Books, 2007.

Fox, Dana L., and Short, Kathy G. Stories Matter: The Complexity of Cultural Authenticity in

Children’s Literature. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 2003.

Freire, Paulo (trans. Donald Macedo, Dale Koike, and Alexandre Oliveira). Teachers as Cultural

Workers: Letters to Those Who Dare Teach. Boulder, CP: Westview Press, 1998.

Gay, Geneva. Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research, and Practice. New York:

Teachers College Press, 2000.

Holmes, Robyn M. How Young Children Perceive Race. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1995.

hooks, bell. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York:

Routledge, 1994.

hooks, bell. Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope. New York: Routledge, 2003.

King, Edith W. Meeting the Challenges of Teaching in an Era of Terrorism. Mason, OH:

Thomson, 2006.

Mathias, Barbara, and Mary Ann French. 40 Ways to Raise a Nonracist Child. New York:

HarperCollins Publishers, 1996.

McDermott, J. Cynthia, ed. Beyond the Silence: Listening for Democracy. Portsmouth, NH:

Heinemann, 1999.

Molina, Huberto. Empowering the Second-Language Classroom: Putting the Parts Together.

San Francisco: Caddo Gap Press, 1997.

 240

Oakes, Jeannie, and Martin Lipton. Teaching to Change the World, 2nd ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill

College, 2002.

Price, Clement Alexander. Many Voices, Many Opportunities: Cultural Pluralism & American

Arts Policy. New York: American Council for the Arts, 1994.

Shor, Ira. When Students Have Power: Negotiating Authority in a Critical Pedagogy. Chicago:

University of Chicago Press, 1996.

Sleeter, Christine E. Multicultural Education as Social Activism. New York: SUNY Press, 1996.

Smith, G. Pritchy. Common Sense About Uncommon Knowledge: The Knowledge Bases for

Diversity. Washington, DC: AACTE Publications, 1998.

Tiedt, Pamela, and Tiedt, Iris. Multicultural Teaching: A Handbook of Activities, Information,

and Resources, 7th ed. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 2006.

Timpson, William M., Raymond Yang, Evelinn Borrayo, and Silvia Sara Canetto. 147 Practical

Tips for Teaching Diversity. Madison, WI: Atwood Publishing, 2005.

Periodicals in Multicultural Education

Multicultural Perspectives

National Association for Multicultural Education

5272 River Road, Suite 430

Bethesda, MD 20816

Phone: (301) 951-0022

www.nameorg.org
 241

Rethinking Schools

1001 Keefe Avenue

Milwaukee, WI 53212

Phone: (800) 669-4192

www.rethinkingschools.org

Multicultural Education

3145 Geary Blvd.

PMB 275

San Francisco, CA 94118

Phone: (415) 666-3012

www.caddogap.com

Multicultural Review

14497 N. Dale Mabry #205

Tampa, FL 33618

Phone: (813) 264-2343

www.mcreview.com

Organizations

American Alliance for Theatre & Education

7475 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 300A

Bethesda, MD 20814
 242

Phone: (301) 951-7977

www.aate.com

The professional association for artists and educators serving young people through theatre

education

Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed

PO Box 31623

Omaha, NE 68131-0623

www.ptoweb.org

A network of artists, educators, and activists using critical pedagogy and theatre for social

change, based in the tenets of Paulo Freire and Augusto Boal

National Association for Multicultural Education

5272 River Road, Suite 430

Bethesda, MD 20816

Phone: (301) 951-0022

www.nameorg.org

Professional association dedicated to the development of culturally responsive curricula and

educational equity

Southern Poverty Law Center

400 Washington Ave.

 243

Montgomery, AL 36104

Phone: (334) 956-8200

www.splcenter.org

Non-profit legal and educational resource center for civil rights, including its Teaching

Tolerance programming

EdChange

41 Baker Street East

St. Paul, MN 55107

Phone: (651) 291-1102

www.EdChange.org

Educators dedicated to professional development, scholarship, and activism to promote diversity,

social justice, and community growth

GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network)

90 Broad Street

2nd Floor

New York, NY 10004

Phone: (212) 727-0135

www.glsen.org

Organization dedicated to insure that all school members are valued and respected, regardless of

sexual orientation or gender identity/expression

 244

Teaching for Change

PO Box 73038

Washington, DC 20056-3038

Phone: (800) 763-9131

www.teachingforchange.org

Book and media distributor of multicultural education materials for teachers and students
 245

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