Our drama program at Waller Mill School is actually threefold. In a positive and productive mode we endeavor to provide the following benefits to our children:
Exposure to the Arts:
We endeaver to cultivate a love and appreciation for the fine and performing arts. We bring professional performances here to our students and travel to local performances frequently to enjoy, critique, learn, and grow. Furthermore, we give the students themselves ample opportunities throughout the year to discover and polish their own talents, and then help them to channel those creative gifts in the most positive way possible. These opportunities include art exposes, dinner-theatre, musical performances, talent show, travel show, original radio mystery, dance recital, and various grade level performances.
Alternative Instructional Strategies:
We use role-play and improvisation as instructional tools. With these vehicles we enhance, reinforce, or introduce any and all content areas. We do this, both, through our weekly pull-out program and our classroom collaborations, as well. We focus our class activities around academic SOLs, while applying performance and technical skills learned on the stage. These academic tools may include creative drama warm-ups used to develop free expression and team efforts, cooperative team structure for creating, planning, and/or writing scenes, applying dance and song to the learning of content material, improvising roles and scenes from our history, science, math, or literary studies.
The Nurturing of Life Skills:
The improvisational process sharpens skills in problem solving, decision making, listening, verbal and non-verbal communication, creative thinking, cooperative effort, organization, sequencing, reasoning, and critiquing. Through role-playing and improvisation we exercise and continuously strengthen the application of all of these abilities. Thus, the personal growth and confidence gained in our students become rapidly apparent. This hands-on approach to education, whether used in a 20 minute academic activity or in developing a full-length musical production, allows each student to learn and grow comfortably and at their own pace, while cultivating a constant sense of accomplishment.
