Dear Drama Diary,
I am having a very nice day, are you? I hope so.
Guess what, Diary? I
learned ANOTHER new drama strategy. This
one might be my very favourite of them all.
It’s so neat, you won’t even believe it!
It’s called corridor of voices.
For this strategy, the class is divided into two
groups. Each group forms a line. The lines face each other to create a sort of
hallway (or corridor). One person, or a
pair of people, will take on the role of a character(s) and walk through the
corridor. As he/she/they walk, the
students who are acting as the corridor walls speak. They voice any thoughts or feelings the
character(s) may be having. Corridor of
voices seems like a very beneficial strategy to use if the character is having
some kind of internal struggle or moral dilemma.
In class this week we were talking about bullying. Bullying is such an awful thing, I wish it wouldn’t
happen.
We used corridor of voices in two ways. First, someone walked down the corridor
acting as a victim of bullying. The
students forming the corridor had to make mean or negative comments and show
negative emotions. I’m really glad I didn’t
have to walk down the corridor. Some of
the things people were saying would have really hurt my feelings! Next, the same person walked down the
corridor. Again, they were acting as a
victim of bullying…BUT…this time the students on the outside shouted kind words
and showed positive emotions. The idea was to show what kind of negative
thoughts can go through your mind when you’re being bullied and how positive
thoughts and kind words can make a difference.
What a fabulous message!
I bet you can guess what I’m about to say now… another
cross-curricular connection! Corridor of
voices was connected to both the drama curriculum and the health
curriculum. Who would have ever thought
to put those two subjects together?
Obviously, from the description of the strategy, corridor of voices
could also be used in combination with the language curriculum. Students can take on the role of a character
experiencing an internal struggle or moral dilemma and work through some of the
thoughts he/she might be having. It is
an excellent activity for perspective taking.
The reason, Diary, why I said this is my favourite strategy
so far is because of a twist my instructor put on it. Like I mentioned, I was glad that I didn’t
have to walk down the corridor. I found
it intimidating to have my peers shouting things at me. My instructor suggested that maybe the
student playing the role of the character could wear a puppet on their
hand. This way, the comments being made
are directed at the puppet instead of an actual person. I just love that idea. It is an accommodation that allows everyone
to feel comfortable, which is so important!
Goodnight Drama Diary,
See you soon,
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