Saturday, October 4, 2014

Modifications

The best part about drama is that there is no one way to do it. Every single strategy that has been mentioned on this website can be modified to fit different exceptionalities, and to meet different grade levels. You can't think of these strategies as set in stone but rather pliable strategies that can be molded to fit whatever you need.
Here I will give you 5 examples of how to modify a strategy to either make it suitable for a younger/older grade, and for an exceptionality.

Voice Corridor
1. If you have a student with a physical disability that limits him/her from moving through the corridor, you can move the corridor past him instead.
2. For younger grades you can have the students just say 1 word that comes to mind, for older grades you can have complete thoughts and spend more time walking through the corridor. You could also have a written reflection afterwards.

Mirroring
1. If a student is unable to mirror the image because they can not flip the image in their head, then they can shadow instead. This is where they stand behind the person instead of facing them, and just do exactly what they are doing. When the first person raises their left hand, so would the shadow. Instead of how in a mirror if the first person is using their left hand, the mirror would use their right hand.
2. For older grades you could have the mirrors switch roles without any verbal communication. This would require the students to be very focused and to realize the mirror has gone off course and that it is time to start mirroring them.  For younger grades you could do a group mirror where everyone follows one person. 

Caption Making
1. If a student is unable to write you could scribe the caption for them or have them verbally give their caption.
2. For younger grades you could do a 1 word caption, for older grades you could try and do abstract captions that their tableau must be representative of.

Soundscape
1. If a student has no speech or language you can have the whole class use musical instruments or their bodies to make noise without voice.
2. For older grades you can ask each person in a group to do a different type of sound (musical instrument, voice, rhythm, etc), for younger grades you can have everyone making the same sound at different times.

Tableaux
1. If a student is in a wheelchair you could have the entire class do their tableau from a seated position, or only allow the top half of their bodies to be part of the tableau.
2. For younger grades just do a 1 step tableau where they freeze, for older grades you can do 3 step tableaus where they have to start at 1 move to another and another. A verbal explanation could be required too.

There you have it. 5 strategies modified for your convenience! Don't over think these things. Just do what works in your classroom. Everyone can participate in drama - it's mostly improv! So improvize when teaching :)

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