This comprehensive handbook, divided into two distinct sections, is a valuable resource for both primary and secondary drama teachers. The first section looks at methods for using drama strategies in different ways to explore the work taking place in the classroom. These are broken down into separate headings: supporting teaching and learning, thought and talk frames, supporting and improving writing, making and exploring images.
There are some really good ideas here – not merely well-documented tips that everyone's already familiar with. I particularly liked the section looking at written work as this can be an area sometimes lacking in drama handbooks. There are also suggestions for using the strategies to stimulate various types of conversation in preparation for written work, and also looks at providing motivation for written tasks by making them purposeful and directed at a responsive audience. All information is linked to the relative strategies in section 2, so you can see how each approach works in practical terms.
The second section looks at the individual strategies and although you may well be familiar with some of these, there are some good follow-on ideas and next steps that would add another dimension to the tried-and-tested, as well as comprehensive instructions for setting up the various strategies and ideas for linked activities and variations on the themes. I loved the ideas on improvisation and the Freeze If… activity, and I feel the collaborative nature of the ‘Collective Role’ ideas, requiring close attention to other members in a group, could be especially helpful for encouraging pupils to fully participate and concentrate on a given activity, becoming part of the group dynamic.
Also included here are suggestions for ways you can incorporate drama across the curriculum, to deepen understanding and bring relevance to what is being taught – so not just for drama teachers, and the author is keen to flag this point – that this is a book intended to lift the perception of drama strategies being seen as exclusively for drama lessons, and presents them more generally as teaching and learning strategies.
That said, this is a great book for every drama teacher to keep on their bookshelf, created by an expert in the field, with something to offer even the most experienced in the profession.