Introduction

Using drama in the classroom is drama in education. It is looking at using drama as a tool focusing on the process rather than the product. While theatre skills are always being developed this process driven perspective is easily adaptable both in theatre classrooms as well as content area classrooms as well.

CCNY’s Drama in Education Overview

Drama in Education EDCE 7700A is a foundational course for The Graduate Program in Educational Theatre at The City College of New York (CCNY). It is the first class that candidates take along with the co-requisite Artistic Lab I EDCE 7600A. The latter is a course that introduces candidates to graduate school, the importance of building a network, and the larger arts education community in NYC, as well as the pedagogy and practice of Drama in Education. 

It is important that candidates are trained to think about bringing their own identity to their work. In reimagining what it means to provide tools for an emerging practitioner in arts education through a social justice lens, Chris Emdin’s “The Five C’s of Reality Pedagogy: Cogenerative Dialogues, CoTeaching, Cosmopolitanism, Context, and Content” has influenced changes in the way the course is taught and how work is assigned. This Open Educational Resource (OER) has been created in response to two primary needs in the field: making sure these resources are accessible and bringing more BIPOC voices into arts education.  The intended audience for the course is graduate-level preservice theatre teachers, teaching artists, and anyone interested in using drama as a teaching tool in their pedagogical practice, professors interested in using the materials to teach drama-in-education, another content area teachers using the arts as a teaching tool integrated in their practice. All these stakeholders were considered when designing the curriculum.  

Accessibility Statement

This course allows candidates to develop as artist educators by creating a culturally sustainable learning environment and by making the course’s content accessible by creating multiple types of learning experiences. Candidates will build the classroom culture through ensemble building and opportunities to share their personal histories. They will also receive various forms of formative assessments including co-teaching opportunities, presentations, and writing assignments.