When
you start teaching your students to learn how to push beyond their boundaries,
you then smile to yourself and say, “I did it!”
Being
a teacher for more than twenty years gave me an insight into what the students’
desire and need the most. Though I have always taught English Language and
Literature, I always believed deep inside that I should be adding more to the
grammar and fiction until I started applying Drama in education and training
theater skills. Though Drama and Theater are two different fields, I can only
say that they both made all the difference I wanted for my students at the Upper
Campus in the RFS.
Drama
and Theater are two practices that introduce the students into a world of
stories, where each one becomes a researcher of who we are as human beings. At
the time when Drama introduces the students to a wide range number of role-play
activities inside the classrooms, the theater prepares them to deliver their ideas
on the stage and in front of an audience. Academically, the students will
expand their vocabulary and become better writers and presenters in their
Language classes. They will expand their cultural awareness and start
appreciating history and philosophy in their Social Studies class. And they
will definitely start questioning and exploring new ideas in their Math and
Science classes. On the personal level, the students learn how to communicate
with others, work as team, build their self esteem, access emotions, along with
understanding and interpreting information, and learn how to start showing
positive energy.
I
am forever thankful that I work in a school, which encourages me to go further
in teaching the students through Drama and Theater how to think outside the box
and develop higher order thinking skills so that they can be open minded and
creative thinkers, who are ready to be future leaders. As a drama teacher, I
invite all teachers no matter what they teach to start using Drama in their
classrooms and enjoy the progress they can achieve on daily basis. I think it’s
about time we, as teachers, start thinking of the educational process as a
journey where our students can explore new learning approaches themselves at
the time when we keep on challenging ourselves to help all students learn how
to push beyond their boundaries.
Samah
Hussein/ Drama teacher and theater trainer
