Learning to Teach Drama: A Case Narrative Approach

This is a book for new teachers about putting drama education theory into practice and preparing for the contextual variables that lie ahead. It is the next-best thing to actual classroom experience, enabling readers to think through "What do I do if . . .?" scenarios and experience vicariously a broad range of teaching situations.

While there are many examples of teacher casebooks, Learning to Teach Drama is the first text written specifically for teachers of theatre/drama. Furthermore, these cases are written by novices, not experts, providing readers with authentic voices from the field. Eighteen case narratives are featured in all, representing the issues every beginning teacher faces: planning lessons, knowing students as individuals and as members of a group, establishing classroom climate, understanding the place of drama within the school community, and expecting the unexpected. These teachers also assist one another, comment on each other's cases, and effectively create a learning community. In addition, special "Extensions" sections prepared by the editors encourage readers to go beyond each narrative and relate the situations to their own teaching.