You don’t have to give up the writing curriculum you love to include drama. You can include drama and enhance your student's writing with these creative ideas.

Hi! My name is Danielle and I’ve homeschooled my kids from Pre-K through high school. Over the years I have found a lot of different ways to fit drama into our homeschool and now want to share what I’ve learned and continue to learn with you.

After many years of writing from prompts and learning from writers of the past, my kids were excited when they got the chance to choose what they wrote about. Giving them a chance to be creative in their writing can demonstrate their writing skills in a new way. They can apply all they have learned to something they are excited about creating.

This is a great time to fit some drama into your writing class with any or all of these ideas:

1. Create a commercial

2. Write a skit

3. Write a full play

4. Write a summary of a play

5. Write a description of a character

6. Write journal entries for a character in a play

7. Create a program

8. Present what you write with dramatic flair

Create a Commercial

We see commercials all the time. Sometimes they are an interruption, while other times they can be quite entertaining and really promote their product well.

Have students share the most memorable commercial they can think of and ask why they remember it. Then, follow these steps to help them create their own commercials. (After they’re finished, they can act them out.)

To make a commercial, students need to come up with a few ideas beforehand:

• Invent a new product by solving a problem

• Name the product

• Create a slogan for the product

• Create a jingle for the product

• Write the script for the commercial including all the elements created above

Find examples and more instructions in the Places Everyone! drama game curriculum.

Write a Skit

Skits are really short plays that can be written in little time but can be a lot of fun to create. Students can write their own or work with a partner. You can give them a scenario to get them started, or let them come up with their own storyline. After the skits are done, have students act their skits out to share their creative writing with the class.

Write a Full Play

Writing can be a lot of fun when working collaboratively with others. This one involves a little more time getting to know the storyline before writing the playscript but can be very rewarding. You can break students up into groups or have them work altogether, depending on the size of the class, to create the middle portion of the play A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

To help get you started, I have already written the first and last chapters into playscript form. This drama curriculum, How to Write a Playscript – A Christmas Carol, gives you the playscript, plus gives instructions for how to write the rest of the play.

Write a Summary of a Play

Maybe your students are already reading a play, but don’t have time to act it out. They can write a summary of the play to promote it or help others know what the play is about. You can then assess how well they understood the play and summarize a story based on their summaries.

Write a Description of a Character

When reading books and plays, we tend to get attached to certain characters as we follow the story. Students can enjoy writing a description of their favorite character in a play and sharing it with the class. They should include more than just a description of their outward appearance.

Have them describe the characters personality, history, and how they relate to other characters. Are they friendly and seem to care about others, or do they ignore the people around them? Are they shy or can they talk to anyone? Why does the student like this character? Would they say they have common traits with this character or are completely different? If times allows, they can act out a little bit to show everyone what their character is like.

Write Journal Entries

Students can pretend they are a character in their favorite book or play and write journal entries as if they are personally experiencing what the character experiences. For example, a student could pretend they are Alice in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. What would she log into her diary as she comes across each of the wacky characters she meets? This is a great way for kids to get creative thinking about what their character is thinking in these moments. It’s also fun to compare different students entries if they all write about the same character.

You can access the book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, for free on the public domain, or order the 30-minute play here and give your kids a chance to act out a scene or the whole play if time allows.

Create a Program

Writing comes in a lot of different forms. Writing is about communicating well with others. Have students create a program for a performance night or another event you may already have planned. They can create one in Word, Google Docs or on Canva. You can read How to Create a Program on Canva for help getting started, plus gain access to a free template.

Present with Dramatic Flair

If your students are already doing a lot of writing for your class, then maybe you can add drama simply by having them present what they are writing with dramatic flair. Whether it is poetry or they pretend to be an historical figure and present it as that person, dramatically presenting gives them depth in their presentation and builds confidence for future presentations.

You Can Fit Drama into Your Writing Class

You can fit drama into your writing class with these eight ideas:

1. Create a commercial

2. Write a skit

3. Write a full play

4. Write a summary of a play

5. Write a description of a character

6. Write journal entries for a character in a play

7. Create a program

8. Present what you write with dramatic flair

Looking for some more drama curriculum to fit into your writing class? Check out our Mock Trial curriculum and How to Write a Playscript curriculum to get started today!

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Thanks for joining us!

Danielle at homeschooldrama.com