Primary School Drama

Lesson Plan Ideas For Math With Videos and Drama

It seems as if creativity and eccentricity has no place in a lesson plan for math. One teacher, Ms Kay Toliver, who originally worked in Primary School 72 in East Harlem, New York, has managed to change all that, and her ideas are beginning to spread to other educators, and she has won a Presidential Award for her creative ideas. A math lesson plan, for Ms Toliver, is likely to include songs, costume and drama - and her pupils absolutely love it. Drama is a great way to engage your students' imaginations and interest, and if you are able to put on a costume and put a bit of fun into your lesson, your students certainly won't be bored. When you lesson plan for math, put on your out-of-the-box creative hat and see what you can do.

Here are a few quick suggestions to help you create a dramatic lesson plan for math:

Costumes and alter egos. Teaching geometry? Turn yourself into Pythagoras (with the help of a large bedsheet) and enlist your class to help you discover your theory. Use songs and rhymes. If you look online, you can easily find tapes and CDs to help children learn times tables and simple algebra principles. A lesson plan for this will need a bit of preparation on your part creating the codes (hint: you can make an easy invisible ink by dipping a quill pen in potato juice. It doesn't have to be, if you use a video. It's very easy to make a mistake when using a video in class, whether the video has been slotted into a lesson plan for math or a lesson plan for another subject area. 

Would be Performers have several options they can study drama at university or choose one of the top 23 drama schools in England that are members of the CDS.

Child performers maybe able to make the transition, from child actor to adult, without having to go to drama school. Blag Youth Theatre in Rickmansworth to landing a first class job in a secondary school in Hertfordshire, she also outlines other routes into becoming a drama teacher.

'My passion for drama began in my early teens, when I joined Blag Youth Theatre. I left school with 3 A-levels (Theatre studies, Music and English Lit.) in 1998. During the following 3 years I worked with a variety of different aged children running outdoor adventure activities. I then made the decision to become a secondary school teacher and to go back to university; so in 2004 I started a PGCE in drama at Chester University. Once I completed this year I started as an NQT (Newly Qualified teacher) at a school in Hertfordshire - Once I had done one year at this school i was a fully-qualified teacher of drama!!

If you have a drama degree already and wish to teach drama then you can either apply to do a PGCE, like me or a GTP. A GTP is a school based qualification where you work in a school for a reduced salary until you qualify.

If you have a degree in another subject then you can still become a drama teacher but may have to do a short course to convert your specialism.'

Dance is a great form of exercise, and when reinforced at school with other key topics such as human biology and healthy eating, children learn how to be healthy, and more importantly want to remain healthy. Of course a healthy and active child makes for a great student. It has been proven that exercise increases energy levels and a child's concentration span. Other life skills that a performance led dance workshop may encourage are those skills such as team building and cooperation. An after school dance club may not be the only way to provide such a fundamental confidence builder. Dance can also underpin knowledge in other subjects, such as geography, history and religious education. Many schools study themed weeks throughout the academic year, including foreign countries & cultures and siginificant periods in history. Take the graceful and ancient dance form of Kathak. You could even take native dance styles such as Flamenco, Salsa or even Morris dancing to bring different countries unique cultures to life for children.