Teaching Literature at Key Stage 3 and 4

Drama

Approaches to Modern Drama

Many of the approaches to Shakespeare outlined above would be equally applicable to modern drama – and, again, the emphasis should be on the plays in performance.

Key Stage 4
For many pupils in key stage 4, Arthur Miller or J.B. Priestley may be standard fare, and there are issues raised by these writers in terms of social, cultural and historical contexts – particularly given the ways in which pupils' understandings will be assessed. The post 16 material on this website gives some useful activities that address these areas and the material produced for the National Theatre regional production of The Crucible shows a sequence of activities which engage pupils with context, as well as involving them in them in the writing and performing of a 'missing scene'. This material is available on http://www.stagework.org.uk.

Key Stage 3
In Key Stage 3 a key area is subject knowledge – English teachers often seem to lament the lack of quality Key Stage 3 Drama. There are established classics like Willy Russell's Our Day Out, but many oft used texts – e.g. Frankenstein – are adaptations of novels, not originally written plays. An activity for student teachers might therefore be to investigate what drama texts are used at Key Stage 3, by some research in their placement schools. Another idea would be to look at the plays published by Nelson Thornes as part of the Connections series (http://www.connectionsplays.co.uk). As a way of developing subject knowledge, student teachers (in groups) could be given one of these plays to explore, presenting their findings to the group on issues such as the suitability of the play for Key Stage 3 and potential teaching ideas and opportunities. This shared group knowledge could be taken into placement schools – certainly many English teachers would be glad of new inspiration and ideas in this particular field.