Using Drama in the Language Arts Classroom to Change Attitudes and Actions in an Urban Middle School, Mary Ann Buchan, The Ohio State University

 

     During my language arts student teaching assignment at Buckeye Middle School, I planned and taught a literature unit on the theme of bullying, using the young adult novel, The Revealers, by Doug Wilhelm.  One of my goals was to use dramatic inquiry as a pedagogical tool to increase comprehension of the novel and allow students to use critical inquiry to reflect on the subject of bullying in the middle school environment.  Through the use of reading, writing, discussion, drama, music and cinema, the seventh grade students were able to study the language arts class novel and explore its theme of peer acceptance and agency in the face of verbal and physical harassment from other middle school students.

 

     Buckeye Middle School is located in the south end of Columbus, Ohio and is part of the large urban school district, Columbus City Schools.  The school population totals 620, and 86% of the students receive free or reduced price lunches, indicating their families live in poverty.  This middle school (grades 6-8) is designated Academic Watch, indicating that under the Ohio Department of Education guidelines only one indicator out of ten was met during their last annual evaluation.  According to the school’s 2007-2008 annual report, 54% of the seventh graders gained proficiency status on the 7^th grade reading and writing portion of the Ohio Achievement Test. (www.ode.state.oh.us/reportcard).  In addition to academic challenges faced by the majority of the Buckeye students, there is also a high incidence of behavioral misconduct.  Last year (2007-2008) there were 3,823 discipline actions ranging from insubordination to violent actions resulting in expulsion. (Columbus Public Schools, Discipline Action Information Report, August 22, 2008).

 

     During the first week of my five-week student teaching tenure (where I planned and executed all phases of classroom instruction, management and assessment), I gave the students a survey on pro- and anti-social behaviors in order to assess the amount of “bullying” reported by the students in my morning and afternoon language arts classes.  I used the instrument titled The Peer Relations Questionnaire (http://www.kenrigby.net/questdescrip.htm) to anonymously measure students’ perceptions about themselves.  This instrument had students self-report about their bullying behavior, victim behavior, and pro-social behavior. Twenty-five percent of the students self-reported that they had engaged in serious bullying behavior.  Sixteen percent reported that they were victims of bullying behavior, and thirty-three percent of the respondents said they liked to help people who are being harassed “Pretty Often or Very Often.”   In a class discussion after the anonymous results were reported, many students said they thought that bullying was an appropriate topic for our class to study, because of its relevance to their lives and its widespread incidence at Buckeye Middle School.

 

     The young adult novel, The Revealers, was introduced to the language arts classes, and the class quickly discovered the book’s theme by reading the book’s cover, introduction, and opening chapter.  Students were informed that we would be using this book as a vehicle to study reading and writing, in addition to learning about social issues such as conflict resolution, bullying prevention, and ally behavior.  After the initial introduction to The Revealers, student wrote essays regarding the applicability of the book’s theme to their lives.  One student wrote, “Bullying is everywhere and its at our school too.  Lots of people fight and bother people but don’t talk about it.  Bullies are at home and at school.  We can learn more about it from this book.”  Because the students in my classes identified bullying as a common part of their school and sometimes home environment, I felt it was an appropriate topic to study, and The Revealers was listed by the Anti-Defamation League’s website as a recommended book for middle school students regarding this topic, (http://www.adl.org/education/curriculum_connections/winter_2005/ ).   

 

     Dramatic inquiry is a valuable tool for reading and comprehending literature for students, and it was my goal to experiment with new techniques for using drama in a student teaching setting while completing my Master’s degree in Middle Childhood Education at The Ohio State University.  Although I had used some forms of drama in my past student teaching internship at Clinton Elementary School, I had not used dramatic inquiry as described by Edmiston & Enciso (2000). They state that, “The social imagination of classroom drama can be integral to students’ engagement with and interpretation of texts.  As teacher and students read together they can use drama strategies to step inside and outside of texts,” (p. 133).  By using this teaching method I hoped to further the students’ understanding and empathy regarding bullying behaviors, as well as develop a way to more deeply understand and relate to a literary text.   

 

     According to Edmiston (2010), “In dramatic inquiry, adults and young people, working collaboratively, use dramatic improvisation to negotiate, create, and embody the social spaces of imagined scenarios in which significant learning about life and literacies can take place as people act as if they are elsewhere,” (p. 6).  In order to help students comprehend the young adult novel in a deeper way, questions were asked of the students after the first few chapters were read that were higher level (of Bloom’s Taxonomy) thinking.  Instead of just focusing on facts regarding the book’s plot or major characters, students were asked to write about why characters were acting a certain way or to hypothesize about what would happen next in the subsequent chapters based on what they had previously read.  To prepare for dramatic inquiry students were asked to write monologues as if they were a character in the novel about different question topics posed by the teacher.  Students were required to take what knowledge they had gathered about their character and extend it to what they think that character might think or say in a certain situation.  This assignment was new to the students’ history, as they had not done any previous type of writing assignment of this manner.  Two examples of the students’ monologues are displayed in Appendix A.  This assignment allowed the students to think as a character from the book, and I noticed that many students picked a character that they identified with in some way.  The follow-up assignment (after reading more of the book) was to re-position themselves with another book character that had another viewpoint from their first one.  Many of the characters in The Revealers are students who are either bullies or victims in the middle school environment.  I encouraged the students to choose a book character that was different from their first character when they wrote their second monologue.  For example, if the first monologue was written from the viewpoint of Russell, the protagonist who is the target of the bully, Richie, the second monologue should be written from the voice of Richie or one of the other students who was a bully at Parkland Middle School (the novel’s locale).  It was my goal that the students would use these monologues to enter the world and thinking of their characters.  In Process Drama and Multiple Literacies (Schneider, Crumpler, & Rogers, 2007) K. Kelley had her class write journal entries as if they were characters from the book, Watsons Go To Birmingham. As K. Kelley writes in “I’m a lot like her”: Entering the World of Others Through Process Drama”:

 

     Jenny’s line of thinking is her own, but it is based upon her knowledge of Joetta and her world.  Jenny’s response goes beyond a low-level connection      and builds in an emotional understanding of her character. the simulated journals provided a space for the Joetta character group to connect with their      character and enter another’s world.  These types of connections set the stage for the Joetta character group’s participation in both process drama      devices that were a part of the instructional plan for this unit.  (p. 77)

 

      My students began their journey toward using dramatic inquiry by first exploring what it means to put yourself in the position of a book character and think about what their thoughts, feelings and opinions would be about a particular subject.  By repositioning the students into thinking about characters unlike themselves, the students gained new insights and awareness about bullying and its consequences.

 

     From the student reports and the orientation weekend that I attended at the beginning of the school year, the children at Buckeye Middle School live in a culture of violence and the concept of physically fighting as a way to protect your honor is a common premise.  Many students have written in their journals about the commonplace fights that they have participated in, along with the fights that their parents and other family members have enacted.  One difficulty that students seem to have when reading The Revealers is understanding why the victimized students in the book do not fight back more at their school.  Because our class was in email contact with the book’s author, Doug Wilhelm, this was one question which the students decided to ask to help them better comprehend the book and its theme of non-violent intervention as a response to bullying. Mr. Wilhelm replied that the victims in his book were much less powerful than the bullies, both physically and in number, so that even though they try a few times to retaliate with violence, they realize the futility and danger of continuing this tactic.

 

     The class’ first foray into dramatic work came in the form of more formal, structured drama activities.  In order to learn more about non-fighting responses to bullying, our class participated in an imaginary contest sponsored by the Martin Luther King Center which asked middle school students to write and present dramas that represented the song lyrics of “Hero” by Superchick (Appendix C).  Our class had studied the concept of ally behavior which is when students seek to support disenfranchised students in order to create a more caring and concerned middle school environment.  The song, “Hero,” portrays four different distressed young people who are faced with life crises due to bullying, low-self-esteem, or other problems.  The song advocates supporting these students in order to acknowledge their pain and provide assistance to them.  In an attempt to make the project seem like a “mantle of the expert” activity, I divided the class into groups and then gave them the following exercise: We were all to pretend that the Martin Luther King Center had commissioned middle schools across the country to submit videos of students demonstrating nonviolent, ally behavior.  The students were divided into heterogeneous, mixed ability groups of 2-6 students, and they were given much latitude to portray using drama the song verse of their choosing. After the presentations the class had an improvised press conference where the members of each drama were asked questions by the remainder of the students who role played as reporters.  Students were “in character” as the reporters asked them questions about their situations and characters. Their dramatic presentations were videotaped and viewed by the class the following week. 

 

     After the drama I gave the students a reflection survey to allow the students the opportunity to express their opinions about working with drama in their language arts classroom.  Thirty two of thirty four students responded that they liked doing drama: it was fun, interactive, creative, and allowed them to work in groups.  In spite of acknowledging their nervousness about learning lines and being in front of people in a public speaking manner, they almost unanimously expressed the opinion that drama helped them learn more about characters and what they think and feel.   As Cordova (2007) states, “Students could understand how the characters felt because the characters’ experiences were so similar to their own experiences in school and life,” (p. 127).  In class discussions after this drama activity students who once thought the characters in the song were “really messed up” came to realize that painful situations at school such as bullying can build up and result in more desperate actions such as suicide or violence. 

 

      Participation in drama activities that involved the theme of bullying continued in our classroom, but became centered on dramatic inquiry instead of more traditional theatrical configurations.  As our class continued reading The Revealers my educational goal was to have the students become more involved and engaged in the text.  As Edmiston & Enciso state, “To promote deep engagement and rich interpretation of texts, teachers and students will position one another as colleagues who are together exploring the meaning of texts,” (2000, p. 133).  During our class reading of the novel, I would insert dramatic inquiry at key points in the text, allowing the students and myself to enter the world of the text at the Strategy 4 level as mentioned in the Edmiston & Enciso (2000) text: “Teacher and students interact as if they are other people,” (p. 149).

 

      One of our class forays into dramatic inquiry revolved around the characters Bethany DeMere (the beautiful and popular girl at Parkland Middle School who bullies other students) and Russell Trainor (the protagonist who has several conflicts with Bethany).  I took the role of Bethany and had a conversation with a student who role played Russell.  It is interesting to note how involved the class became during this verbal exchange that was improvisational and not pre-scripted.  Several other students jumped in to become other students at the school, and everyone who was in the discussion played a role from the book.  After the dramatic inquiry we talked as a class what the students’ reactions were.  Many students longed to have a chance the following day to go into role, and the students who had portrayed characters said that they had experienced thoughts and emotions as if they were the character.  As Edmiston & Enciso (2000) suggest, “The students must agree to interact as if they are other people and must agree about the particular social problem they are considering.  Students can think and feel from inside characters’ positions—students will be doing what all good readers do,” (p.150).  Only a few students had to be reminded of the difference between imagining that they are speaking and reacting as their character as opposed to thinking and reacting as themselves.  The students needed clarification that this can be very different from one another.  Our class discussed the issue of power, and this theme was the emphasis of the dramatic inquiry that we did.  Bethany’s character had traditional power that exists in middle schools: her family was wealthy, she was beautiful, above average academically, and she was one of the most popular girls in the school.  Russell’s character had very low power; he had few friends, was awkward and unconfident, and he did not feel he any outstanding talents or gifts.  Dramatic inquiry allowed students to experience the inequitable use of power by a student high on the social ladder, along with the sensing the frustration of being disenfranchised as a less powerful and harassed student.

 

     I thought it would be especially helpful for the students who had identified themselves with bullies during the bullying questionnaire had the opportunity to experience dramatic inquiry as if they were a victim.  Students’ monologue writing and letters they wrote to the fictitious Revealer internet site (part of the book’s plot is that three victimized students organize a “hotline” school website where bullied kids can have a voice and share their stories) seemed to improve and become more insightful after our lessons that involved dramatic inquiry.  During a second dramatic inquiry lesson that involved characters from The Revealers who had different forms and amounts of power, several students who role played in the activity said they experienced the frustrations of having little power or the frustration of not having their power respected.  This dramatic inquiry exercise centered on the father of one character who is a wealthy, successful lawyer who is pressuring the school principal to have the protagonist and his friends censored, because of their reporting the bullying behavior of the lawyer’s daughter.  Many students took part in this dramatic exercise as the principal, attorney, the three students (the protagonists of the book), and the lawyer’s daughter (who is lying about the other students) all took part in a conference in the principal’s office.  Because of the newfound agency of our classroom in using drama, many students were eager to try role playing, and the class was engaged and insightful in our post-activity discussions.  As Johnston writes, “Children with strong belief in their own agency work harder, focus their attention better, are more interested in their studies, and are less likely to give up when they encounter difficulties than children with a weaker sense of agency,” (2004, p. 41.)  

 

     Having used dramatic inquiry to deepen their understanding of the characters and plot of this young adult novel has resulted in students being more willing to have discussions about the text that involve critical thinking.  There has been more enthusiasm in the writing assignments involving the book, and more students are participating in the literature discussions.  Written assignments have been longer, more in-depth, and of a deeper level than previously noted.  The students have said that they feel they know more about the characters of this book, because they have used drama to explore the novel in a deeper and more complex manner.

 

     The culmination of this literature unit on The Revealers and the theme of bullying came with the students writing letters to their school’s imaginary anti-bullying website.  One student wrote of her newly found empathy for students who are victims of bullying.  She wrote that she is making a point of talking to and acting friendly toward a girl in the school who is frequently harassed by other students.  This student’s ally behavior will hopefully be an example that other students will notice and duplicate.  On the last day of the unit the students attended a live videoconference in our classroom with the book’s author, Doug Wilhelm.  He was broadcast from Vermont and spoke live with the students about the book and their reactions to it.  In an email from the author after the videoconference, Doug Wilhelm wrote, “It was obvious that your students had thoroughly read and contemplated The Revealers.  Their insightful questions and attentive behavior during the videoconference was exemplary, and please have them email me with any further questions they may have about the story,” (Wilhelm, Email correspondence, May 5, 2009.)  It is my belief that my language arts classes were more involved in and engaged with the literary text, because of the role that drama played in the pedagogical processes I used to explore this book and the topic of bullying.  As Encisio and Edmiston (2000) conclude:

 

          Drama brings our interpretations of texts to life as words on the page become worlds to inhabit, experience, and interpret.  Drama allows us

          to step inside and outside texts together.  Because drama allows teachers and students to interact as if they are the characters in texts drama

          facilitates student engagement and promotes richer and more complex interpretations.  (p. 152)

 

The use of drama activities in the classroom and specifically with the use of dramatic inquiry has allowed my language arts students the opportunity to use their imaginations to experience a book in a way that have not previously encountered in their more traditional reading classroom.  While less than half of these students have achieved proficiency on the Ohio Achievement Test reading instrument, and many of them self-report they are not good readers nor like to read, during the five week unit on The Revealers, these same students enthusiastically read and interpreted a young adult novel.  It is my belief that their newfound sense of competence and successful interpretation of this novel are in part due to their acquisition of deeper levels of understanding from the use of dramatic inquiry.  The insights they gained from this process carried over into their writing and comprehension about The Revealers, and it also gave them a forum to discuss and explore a topic that is relevant and important to their lives.  In the culturally responsive classroom where social justice is an underlying framework, it is my hope that as Murray advocates, “Strong drama practitioners with social justice aims provide students with frameworks for knowledgeable, informed imagination work,” (2007, p. 148).  Hopefully, the language arts students will not only read The Revealers in a more deeply committed manner, but they will also think about bullying and its impact in their lives and have a more conscious consideration of their responsibility when it comes to middle school behavior.  

 

References

Buckeye Middle School, Columbus City Schools, State Report Card (2007-2008). [Data File]. Retrieved from http://www.ode.state.oh.us/reportcard

Buckeye Middle School, Columbus Public Schools, Discipline Action Information Report, August 22, 2008.

Cordova, C. (2004). The dilemma of the bystander: Using literature, art, drama, and poetry to deepen understanding. In J. Schneider, T. Crumpler, & T. Rogers (Eds.), Process drama and multiple literacies (pp. 123-138). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Edmiston, B. (2010, in press). Using dramatic inquiry as a literacy tool.

Edmiston, B. & Enciso, P. (2000). Reflections and refractions of meaning: dialogic approaches to classroom drama and reading.  In Flood, J., Lapp, D., Squire, J., & Jensen, J. (Eds.) The Handbook of Research on Teaching and the English Language Arts. New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan.

Johnston, P. (2004). Choice words: How our language affects children’s learning. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Rigby, K. (1993). The Peer Relations Questionnaire. Retrieved from  http://www.kenrigby.net/questdescrip.htm

Schneider, J., Crumpler, T., & Rogers, T. (2006). Process drama and multiple literacies: Addressing social, cultural, and ethical issues. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Wilhelm, D. (2005). The revealers. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Words that heal: Using children’s literature to address bullying. (2005). Anti-Defamation League Curriculum Connection. Retrieved from 

     http://www.adl.org/education/curriculum_connections/winter_2005

 

 

 

 

Appendix A

 

Examples of Student Monologues

Catalina

   Why do the mean girls think they need to make fun of me all the time?  They don’t know me.  All I want to do is go home to the Philippines ‘cause I miss my mom.  That Bethany thinks she is so much better than me.  Why does she need to treat me wrong just to make herself look good? I’m a person too, just like them.  I don’t deserve this.

 

Elliott

     I hope I don’t get picked on today.  I’m tired of getting thrown into lockers or having my backpack taken from me.  The boys pushed me around in gym yesterday.  I hope they leave me alone in the locker room.  I wish I could stay home and not go to school.  I’m scared.

 

Appendix B

Song Lyrics

HERO By: Superchick

 

No one sits with him, he doesn’t fit in,

But we feel like we do when we make fun of him,

'Cause you want to belong, do you go along?

'Cause his pain is the price paid for you to belong

It’s not like you hate him or want him to die,

But maybe he goes home and thinks suicide,

Or he comes back to school with a gun at his side,

Any kindness from you might have saved his life...

 

TAG: Heroes are made when you make a choice...

CHORUS:

You could be a hero,

Heroes do what’s right,

You could be a hero,

You might save a life,

You could be a hero, you could join the fight,

For what’s right, for what’s right, for what’s right...

 

No one talks to her, she feels so alone,

She’s in too much pain to survive on her own,

The hurt she can’t handle overflows to a knife,

She writes on her arm, wants to give up her life,

Each day she goes on is a day that she is brave,

Fighting the lie that giving up is the way,

Each moment of courage her own life she saves,

When she throws the pills out, a hero is made...

TAG: Heroes are made when you make a choice...

CHORUS:

You could be a hero,

Heroes do what’s right,

You could be a hero,

You might save a life,

You could be a hero, you could join the fight,

For what’s right, for what’s right, for what’s right...

 

No one talks to him about how he lives,

He thinks that the choices he makes are just his,

Doesn’t know he’s a leader with the way he behaves,

And others will follow the choices he’s made,

He lives on the edge, he’s old enough to decide,

His brother who wants to be him is just nine,

He can do what he wants because it’s his right,

The choices he makes change a nine-year-old's life..

TAG: Heroes are made when you make a choice...

CHORUS:

You could be a hero,

Heroes do what’s right,

You could be a hero,

You might save a life,

You could be a hero, you could join the fight,

For what’s right, for what’s right, for what’s right...

 

Little Mikey-Dee was the one in class

Who everyday got brutally harassed

This went on for years

Till he decided that never again would he shed another tear

So he walked through the door

And grabbed the .44 out of his father's dresser drawer

He said 'I can't take life no more'

And like that a life can be lost

But this ain't even about that

All of us just sat back and watched it happen

Thinking its not our responsibility

To solve a problem that isn't even about me

This is our problem.

This is just one of the daily scenarios

In which we choose to close our eyes

Instead of doing the right thing

If we make a choice and be the voice

For those who won't speak up for themselves

How many lives would be saved, changed, rearranged?

Now it's our time to pick a side.

So don't keep walking by not wanting to intervene,

Cause you just want to exist and never be seen.

So lets wake up, change the world

Our time is now.

 

You could be a hero - (Our time is now) heroes do what’s right

You could be a hero - (Our time is now) you might save a life

You could be a hero - (Our time is now) you could join the fight

For what’s right, for what’s ri-ight...