Art & Dramatization

Art and dramatization provide children with stimulatin means to further their understanding of a story. To depict a character or scene creatively in a drawing or skit is to express an interpretation. For instance, before drawing an ogre in "Jack and the Beanstalk," students have to pause and consider whether they think that the ogre is primarily bad and frightening or dull-witted and funny. These decisions will, in turn, have a bearing on how they answer such interpretive questions as Why isn't Jack afraid of being eaten by the ogre? or Does Jack return to the ogre's castle because he enjoys outsmarting the ogre or because he wants to punish him?

Dramatizing a literary selection helps students connect with unfamiliar situations, empathize with characters, and understand relationships between them by experiencing a story in concrete ways. For example, by acting out the scenes in which Jack trades the family cow for the old man's magic beans and shows the beans to his mother, children present their interpretations of all three characters. In the process, they address such important questions such as Why does the old man offer to trade the beans for the cow? Does Jack agree to trade because he is clever or because he is young and very trusting? Why isn't Jack worried about disobeying his mother?

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