33.046 - An Exploration of the Dialogical Possibilities for Drama and Performance for Diverse Learners

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

In this symposium, we aim to enrich our understanding of how drama can engage broad numbers of students in their learning. We draw from data from four distinct qualitative studies conducted with students at the elementary, middle and secondary levels. Applying such varied theoretical ideas as transcultural literacy, Bakhtin's scholarship on the philosophy of language, and multimodality and embodied learning, our presentations explore the affordances of drama and performance-based learning for diverse learners, in particular, focusing on those students who have been disenfranchised or otherwise disengaged from their learning. Together, these papers illuminate what we can learn about students through their involvement in drama so that educators, in turn, can create dramatic pedagogies that facilitate broad participation, investment and learning.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Arts and Inquiry in the Visual and Performing Arts in Education

Chair

• Anneliese Cannon, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Papers

• Learning Words to Talk Back: Using Drama to Teach Academic Language - Anneliese Cannon, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Mapping Cultural Imaginaries in Immigrant Children's Dramatic Engagements - Linda Coggin, Indiana University; Stacy Peñalva, Indiana University; Carmen L. Medina, Indiana University - Bloomington

• Staging Equality With Dramatic Inquiry: Teachers Changing How They Mediate Learning Using Classroom Drama - Brian W. Edmiston, The Ohio State University - Columbus; Kathleen Farrand, The Ohio State University - Columbus

• Multisited Ethnography: English Language Learners in High School Drama Classrooms - Burcu Yaman Ntelioglou, Brandon University

Discussant

• Erica Rosenfeld Halverson, University of Wisconsin - Madison