Drama Literacy Resource

After 3.5 years of tapping into childrens' love of Creative Drama to motivate and inspire them to read and write, Drama Studio Teacher- Owners Julie and Louise have produced a resource for teachers to use directly within their classrooms, any time that suits you.

The Primary School teachers that we worked with referred to it as Drama Literacy and we called our teaching Videos - Over To You  

Introduction To The Drama Literacy Process

DRAMA LITERACY WINTER TRIAL 

FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOOLS WHO HAVE NOT YET HAD A TRIAL THIS ACADEMIC YEAR

A set of 3 lessons for Lower, Middle and Upper Primary to choose from.

COMPLETE THE FORM BELOW TO REQUEST THE TRIAL

 

Drama Literacy Trial

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The Over To You Story 

 

 "All children were able to access the literacy activities

 at their own level. Using drama as a stimulus for

writing in this way is like sprinkling some pixie dust

into your classroom. You can almost sit back and watch

the magic happen. The children are more engaged and

motivated to complete their writing; and there isn't

that 'writer's block' that many children have because they

already came to their jotters full of ideas." 

The resource is excellent!

Natalie Brodie, West Lothian

 

Drama Literacy

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" We have found it an incredibly powerful tool to use with the children and we are looking forward to using again this session." Ailidh Wilson, Highgate PS, Carluke

 

"It is great to see something well prepared and engaging across the primary years. I have found it a real stimulus for writing as all the pupils have loved getting out of their seats and being involved in the lesson. No matter their confidence or ability in writing or drama, they are well supported to produce some lovely creative texts." Dan Woodcraft, Valley PS, Kirkcaldy

 

"After championing Drama Literacy to the rest of the school following the pilot last year, I’m delighted that all classes from P2 to P7 are now engaging with the content in Module 1 and the reports from teachers are hugely positive." Rognavald Martin, Brae School, Shetland

 

"The resource was extremely user friendly. The instruction videos were clear and concise and made delivering the pilot very easy.Having the guidance of the learning intention and key skills associated with the lessons made it clear to the children what they were aiming to achieve and to myself and my PSA on how to support and deliver the content." Laura Dow, Cults PS, Aberdeen

 

"It has been great to have the support of the resources which have given me more confidence in using scenarios with the children which then can lead onto a variety of writing genres." Suzanne Milne, Hermitage Park PS, Edinburgh

 

Click here to read other comments from teachers and their students who have been using the Drama Literacy Teaching Videos    

Our work at Canal View Primary School in Wester Hailes, Edinburgh was followed by a series of Pilot studies during 2021-2022 to enable teachers across Scotland to evaluate the resource. 

Highly positive Pilot evaluations have been returned to us and we have been further building it throughout the past year.

Schools now implementing the lessons across the Primary stages have consistently returned very positive feedback from both teachers and students.

Using key drama techniques to introduce popular topics and creative storylines, we prompt pause points throughout the videos for an Over To You! This is the time for students to enact the scenes for themselves,  incorporating their own ideas and to do the embedded Literacy tasks where appropriate and to write their own stories.

They will then share their work to the class or to a partner re-engaging with the presentation and physical aspects of Drama.

IN SUMMARY THE FORMAT IS DRAMA>LITERACY EMBED >DRAMA (SHARE/PRESENT)

This FULL CIRCLE format is the KEY ELEMENT that propels Literacy motivation and raises Attainment as students see Literacy tasks not simply as an Add-On but an integral part of the lesson

 

THE FORMAT - *KEY TO SUCCESS*

Consistently exposing your students to the format, reinforcing their interactive skills and making sure the Literacy elements are always EMBEDS and not simply add-ons is key, even when a writing task is at the end of the Drama Lesson. 

               

Julie and Louise Present 

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 Students Watch   

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Students Enact Scenes 

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Students Share Writing

Park Bench P7

  AVAILABLE NOW IN DRAMA LITERACY 

 

The Resource consists of 3 Modules for use throughout the Academic Year currently available to use with Primary 1/Reception -Primary 7/Year 6. 

 You can see what's available in each Module below.

 

CLICK HERE FOR THE OVERVIEW OF MODULE 1 TITLES  

CLICK HERE FOR THE OVERVIEW OF MODULE 2 TITLES

CLICK HERE FOR THE OVERVIEW OF MODULE 3 TITLES 

CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONS TO THE RESOURCE FOR 2024-2025

 

 Read Here About How Teachers Are Currently Accessing And Implementing The Resource

 

 

PRICES TO TAKE PART IN 2024-2025

HALF YEAR  PAYMENTS NOW APPLICABLE -REGISTER AND START NOW

You can take part as a Whole School or as an Individual Teacher.

 

SCHOOL HALF YEAR PRICES

 

 INDIVIDUAL TEACHER HALF YEAR  PRICES 

 

 Let us know if you are a small school as this can affect quoted prices.

 

 

 

READ BELOW THE STORY BEHIND THE RESOURCE CREATION
 

Many children struggle with Literacy, particularly writing and we found in our research that they often describe feeling overwhelmed by the technical aspects of it - the grammar, vocabulary, punctuation, spelling and content for creative work. Edinburgh Headteacher Ann Moore asked us if we could use Drama to help them overcome these barriers and so the project began.

 

 
 

 

Development  

Prior to lockdown  DS teachers Julie and Louise  had been working for 3.5 years of work at Canal View Primary School in Wester Hailes Edinburgh introducing Drama Literacy. We had been asked to tap into the students' love of Drama and to use this to help them with writing and reading elements of Literacy. 

It was an incredible learning experience for everyone involved but so dynamic that we we felt we had to share it and to trial our findings with other teachers, hence the Pilot. 

Teachers taking part in the Pilots have been  given access to Video Lessons delivered by us. The students watch the video and receive detailed instructions for their "Over To You" activities throughout. Teachers pause the video when the class has to do the activity and organise their classes to get started.

Students are also given writing tasks about the Drama lesson or to use within it. For younger students this is very often linked to drawing pictures and writing simple captions. They usually enjoy these activities, talking in pairs and to the class about their work, continuing the spoken element, adding value to it and developing a good and positive attitude towards writing.

Upper school lessons also embed writing tasks right within the activities themselves, demonstrating purpose and real reasons to write. From our work at Canal View this interactive type of written work was hugely beneficial in changing attitudes to writing and inspiring children to write.

Below you will find details and examples of the resource, pilot evaluations where you can read how teachers found using it and the reaction of their students!

Ultimately we want to build a responsive resource for students and teachers which uses classroom Drama to impact on student attainment in writing and reading as well as in talking and listening.

If you have any questions about the resource please get in touch - info@thedramastudio.com

Julie McDonald

      

 

Teacher Pilot Evaluations

Spring 2023 Pilot Evaluations and Examples of Work

Evaluations June 2022

      Upper School Evaluations      

Lower School  Evaluations 

 

 

We also asked for ongoing informal feedback which can often be just as valuable as a more formal assesssment. Her you can see the ongoing photo Tweets, comments/feedback emailed to us and photographs. Click on the links below to view:

Upper School Informal Feedback   

 Lower School Informal Feedback

Lorne Street School - Edinburgh -  Evaluation

 

You can also see video clips and photos on our Twitter page   https://twitter.com/dramastudioedin

 

Summary Of Key Points Made From Feedback On The Pilot Lessons So Far

1. It is user friendly for both teachers and students. Students have been very enthusiastic about the lessons and teachers have found the format easy to use.
  
2. Teachers have found that the engagement with the Drama activities has carried over into writing activities which is exactly what has been intended.  
  
3. Outgoing and shy students alike have responded well to the format and settled into it. It has also been reported that students with behavioural issues have coped fairly well as have mixed age groups in composite classes. It has been mentioned that after the Covid months the activity has linked well to Health and Wellbeing. Children have liked the routine and format of the presentation.
 
4. Teachers have enjoyed the opportunity of being able to observe individual students during the sessions.
  
5. Time -wise, some teachers have completed both Drama and written Literacy tasks at one sitting while others have split the lessons or re-capped on another day to do the written aspects.
 
6. Some teachers have reported internet connection issues on occasion but most people have been able to continue to complete the lessons. 
  
7. Many teachers have remarked that they have felt more confident to approach teaching Drama in the classroom for themselves and have tried out their own ideas as a result. In this way they have mentioned that format naturally embeds a teacher training element to it. 
  
8. Teachers have asked for more classroom games which we can provide with future lessons.
 
9. Teachers have asked if we can produce more Drama Literacy lessons like these.
 
 
While we are delighted to have received such positive and insightful responses to these Pilot lessons, the background work that preceded these is worth considering so that teachers can see how their students are likely to progress. 
 
 
THE WORK AT CANAL VIEW PRIMARY SCHOOL
 
We worked will all the classes at some point over this period and took extensive film footage. We also had a "study group class" that we worked with throughout so that we could measure progress closely with one group to chart more specifically the impact of Drama intervention and writing attainment.
 
Below is sample footage of how this went from when we started with this particular class in Primary 3 (March 2017) until Primary 6 before lockdown set in. 
 
 
Study Group Starting Spring Term 2017 - Primary 3
 
 
 
 
Study Group In Primary 4 
 
                                                               
 The Body Topic -  Skeletons 
 
    

 

**A leap in Progress Made in P4 - Look at the writing in The Old Lighthouse story just over one year after the start up Troll stories in P3  with Drama intervention.**                                                                                                                                                                                                          

 
 
 
 
   Study Group In Primary 5
 
 
 
 
Testing Our Video Lessons For The First Time With P5 Study Group and P7

 

In addition to the weekly sessions Louise and I provided at Canal View we also sent class teachers Video Lessons similar to those used in the Drama Literacy Pilot so that we could test this kind of resource and see how teachers would find it (without us actually being in the room - apart from on screen) and how it would impact on writing. Below is the writing from these video lessons from our Study group in  Primary 5 and also from another P7 class.

                           Video Example and P5 Study Group                               

      

Click here for teacher evaluations of these Video Lessons   

 

P7 Evaluation Of Park Bench Video Lesson  

Student Writing From Park Bench P7

 

Writing Case Studies From Our Work At Canal View PS

 

 

Primary 6 Drama Literacy Study Group March 2020

In March 2020 just before lockdown we did a Cold Write with the P6 Class that we have been working with as a Control Study since they were in P3 as part of assessing our Drama Literacy and Attainment implications.

We briefed the children in advance that they would be writing their own piece the following week so that they had time to think about their content.

We asked them to think about what makes a good story/account from the reader's point of view and to recall all the exercises we had been doing over the years in Drama to help with this.

We discussed good ways of using words and description, drawing the reader in, surprising them, using humour etc.

The content would be completely theirs but they could use ideas from Drama stories and from their own real life events.

The story could a personal account like a Diary or as a narrative, a letter or whatever form they choose.

We explained that the teachers would not be able to help them with ideas and could only encourage them and take a look at how they were doing.

The students were very motivated by the idea and on the day of the writing they were all excited and focused in a way that neither we nor the class teacher had expected.

We only managed to complete with some of the children as many were absent at the time due to Covid issues but here is what we got. Some of the pieces are quite dark and tell what is almost certainly a personal story.

The engagement in this task was like nothing we had seen before. They were all very committed to it, so much so that one days when Louise and I weren't there they opted to carry on with the stories rather that do other activities that would normally have seemed more appealing to them.

Click Here To View Writing From That Cold Write    (Note that some pieces were incomplete due to Covid closure)

 

Below is some video footage from that Cold Write which shows how focused the children were

 
 
 
Canal View Teacher Comments On Our Work There In The Video Below
 
 
In 2018 the Canal View teachers identified the Drama Literacy work we had been doing there over only one year was a key player in the School Improvement Plan.