Discussion Dramas

When I taught at my former school, there was a colleague of mine whose classroom was so unengaging that it made me sad. She was teaching history; the subject that I loved so much, yet she simply had students read the textbook and fill in the blanks on worksheets. At the end of the year, the students were discouraged, bored and had learned nothing. It really hurt my heart. She is the kind of teacher that Wilhelm is talking about when he says, "instead of engaging in conversation and building understandings, teachers typically run recitations where only a few students participate by 'filling in' the blanks of the teacher's (or textbook's) prepared lecture" (p.169). This means that class discussions, if they exist at all, does not involve sophisticated thinking. As most students do, Wilhelm's students "wanted instead to engage in real learning, which one boy defined as, finding your own way. Trying stuff out until you get it. Voicing your own opinion. Defending your position using what you've learned. Listening to others" (p.169).

With this in mind, Wilhelm gives a final series of enactments called discussion dramas. Discussion dramas provide the opportunity for sustained conversation around an issue and a chance to consider and engage in alternative points of view. Many examples are given that will help teachers guide students through real, meaningful discussion on a topic or text.

In conclusion, Wilhelm argues, "other teachers will find enactments a way to enjoy their students, to teach them more powerfully, and to engage even those who may be resistant and reluctant. The documented learning potential of adding enactment to our teaching repertoires is enormous" (p.187). And for this I am truly grateful. Enactments will now be on the top of my list for teaching strategies.

Writing in Role

In Action strategies for Deepening Comprehension, Wilhelm gives feedback from teachers and students. One letter, written by Steven, was so interesting. Steven stated in his letter to Mr. Wilhelm, his teacher, "I liked how you said a couple of times that you will be my tenth-grade English teacher forever, and that's why you were so serious about it" (p.152). I love that concept. That we as teachers will forever be remembered by our students and, therefore, we have this one opportunity to make a positive difference. Being an educator in a student's life is a big deal and should be taken seriously. We can make a life long difference or cause some damage to a student's love of learning. This was indeed true for me in my 6th grade language arts class. My teacher, Mr. B, took his job so seriously and, in turn, changed my life forever. Through his care for me as a student and expertise in teaching, guided me to become a middle school teacher myself.

As we transfer the kinesthetic aspect of enactments into the writing process, a series of correspondence activities are given. They are defined as, "any kind of composing that is undertaken in a role. [They] are powerful because they provide the student writer with a persona, a purpose, meaningful information, a situation, and an audience - all of which help him or her compose."

As a child in my own home, I was taught to write letters of correspondence at a very young age. I wrote letters of apology when I messed up (daily or weekly), and letters of thanks for every gift I received. Letter writing is very common in a student's every day life even with the new technologies available on the Internet. Written communication is a natural activity and can be used to greatly motivate students to write after reading, especially when doing from a perspective other than their own.

Playing to Deepen Understanding of How Texts Work

As a good teacher, we want kids to learn to think for themselves. We want them to consider the points of view of the characters and authors and invite them to consider their own prejudices. Teachers work on so many different things, but according to Wilhelm (2002), "transformations in understanding is perhaps an educator's most important work" (p.137). When looking at a classroom example from Keene & Zimmerman, shared in Mosaic of Thought, these teachers focused on helping students move from simply reading the words of a text to actually understanding the root of it. This is not an easy task. After reading Wilhelm's book, I strongly believe that social interaction is necessary for true comprehension. In the real world, no one seems to completely understand something without working it out through discussion with someone else. Even as educators we are encouraged to not "go it alone", but to collaborate with colleagues on everything. It is disappointing when we see silent classrooms where students are expected to move a text from the surface level to deep understanding all alone. Wilhelm puts it well, in saying, "reading is a powerful way of expanding and transforming our understanding, but only if we have the willingness and the tools to see other points of view, reconceptualize our understandings, and change our thinking and behavior. Enactments can make that happen" (p.137). Teachers need the tools to guide students through this process and that is what Wilhelm is all about.

To further engage with a text, Wilhelm gives a variety of examples that will help students figure out and represent the literal and implied meaning of a text, as well as, intervene, reframe, recast, change and probe a text. These activities are so engaging that in Wilhelm's experience the students eventually run the lessons on their own, eager to engage in enactment strategies to understand any text. The examples that I find most interesting are those that involved using enactments in content areas, such as math and science. These subjects are not my personal strong suit because they always lack the creativity that I strive for in learning. Therefore, as a teacher, I shy away from teaching these subjects, as well. Wilhelm gives an example of using Mental Modeling in Action for teaching chemical reactions (p.142). As I read this example, a smile came to my face. If I could use this type of creative thinking it would motivate me as a teacher and my students. It was as simple as using an analogy to compare chemical reactions to the reaction people have to each other at a dance party. The example was genius!

Visualizing Meaning Through Image and Gesture

Every summer at Young Life camps across the country, a large group of high school and college students, along with adults, work together to create a frozen scene. As campers emerge from their cabins, they witness a still life portrait of the old west until the sound of a horn sends the characters into motion. After 90 seconds of motion, the characters are once again frozen in place. Campers are encouraged to walk amongst the scene and are then sent back to their cabins to put on their own costumes. This frozen depiction of a scene is called tableau; meaning visual presentation in French (Wilhelm, 2002, p.116).

Wilhelm uses tableau as a strategy for helping students visualize, perceive and consider after reading a text (p.119). The coolest part about using tableau to engage with a text is that it uses visual and kinesthetic intelligences that are normally not used in a classroom. From my years of teaching and from having my own son, I have learned how much the use of kinesthetic experiences is important for boys. Students understand a text at a whole new level when they are allowed to live through it. The most interesting part is how tableau can be used with non-fiction in all content area classrooms.

Just like all the enactments in Wilhelm's book, their are many different variations of tableau that allow students (and teachers) to never get bored. Wilhelm did state that with all the different enactment options it is important not to continue to use one after the students have mastered it, but to continue to challenge them with continued new ones.

Learning to Read Deeply Enough To Gain Expertise

In Mosaic of Thought, Keene and Zimmerman give an example of students doing a research project. While working with one girl, it was evident that she had so much information that she didn't know what was truly important to include. She was a novice in her topic and needed an expert's help. James Gee also discuses the idea of a novice learning from an expert with the idea of enculturation. The article by Lea & Street explains the academic literacies model as being literate in a particular genre of expertise. In order to promote literacy development, students need the opportunity to practice what they are learning with experts. All of these examples tie in with Wilhelm's chapter on using the Mantle of the Expert enactment activity. Activities in this enactment group motivate students to read at a deeper and different level in order for them to gain the same knowledge that experts have. They start to see the real purpose behind the reading, instead of simply a school assignment. The information becomes real knowledge for themselves instead of class work to quickly be forgotten. Wilhelm writes, "the point of all reading, and of all learning activity, is to change our understanding and, as a result, our ways of thinking and being in the world" (p.98). Through his enactment of mantle of expert, he expects students to "become 'novice experts' who 'take on' the language and strategies of the expert" (p.98). The phrase mantle of the expert means that students will step into another's shoes.

While working with my gifted students, we had many different activities that asked them to "become" experts in any area of interest and create activities to complete while in that expert role. Using Wilhelm's enactments would have helped my unit to have so much more clarity and motivation.

Students from Wilhelm's class have the following to say about mantle of expert enactments (p.100):

"It really made me understand...I just didn't get it when I [heard or read] about it"

- Christine

"School is about facts - mostly boring facts - drama is about making facts exciting because you add the feelings...Drama takes facts and asks how they might have been different or how the facts might affect you or someone else and how all that would feel. That's why I like drama."

 - Mike 

Deepening Understanding of Characters and Concepts

In order to deepen understanding while reading, Wilhelm uses a series of enactments called hotseat. Hotseat is described as, "enactment techniques that intensifies role playing by putting students on the spot so they can be addressed, advised, questioned, and so forth. This strategy invites students to hone their ability to analyze characters, infer, elaborate, and think on their feet" (p.82). There was so many variations to the hotseat activity that changes things up and keeps students interested. They can interact as pairs or in a large group. They take turns asking questions and being in the hot seat. All students are engaged and involved the whole time. Before entering into a hotseat activity it is obvious that time and effort have been taken in the classroom to build relationships among the students and the teacher to ensure that kids feel safe enough to improvise. Wilhelm also focuses on stopping to reflect with students often throughout the activity (p. 83).

Hotseating provides an opportunity for students to dig deep and use higher level thinking skills. As one teacher puts it, "I want no 'right there' questions". Teachers shouldn't simply expect students to restate the literal understanding of the text, but to dig deep into the characters. Not only are students, role playing other characters while doing hot seat, but they are also relating it back to their own lives. While role playing they have the freedom to use their own life and experiences to improvise and respond for the character. The specifically like the idea of having another student being the inner voice for the character in the hot seat. This leads to a great class discussion about why we don't always say what we are actually thinking.

A final variation of the hot seat is called personification. This activity is different and interesting for all content areas. In personification, students play the role of concepts or ideas (freedom, force, electricity) instead of characters. This lends itself to being a very interactive way to learn in all content areas.

Getting in Role: Reading and Learning from Various Points of View

When I want to get my children to do something I ask them to pretend they are some kind of animal, or do a silly move, or sing a song, or be the parent. Each time they become so engulfed in the playing that they don't mind doing what I ask. My favorite is when they pretend to be the parent. Through their acting I can see what they truly understand and have learned from my husband and I. They are comprehending more that we know and it is through acting it out that I can see this the most. My children are only 2 and 4 years old. I didn't read a book to learn how to do this, but I simply thought I was being a creative parent. None the less, according to Wilhelm, enactments are simply this: "imagining to learn". The same thing that I do with my own children can be done in the classroom to get kids involved in reading a text. It is so engaging that they don't even realize they are learning. In his book, Wilhelm quotes a fellow colleague who says, "It was as if the drama helped enact a rite of passage and transformation in how they read and how they were affected by their reading." (p.58). With enactments, students begin to see how they are apart of the story. In the article we read on transactional literature, the author states that reading does not occur until the reader reads it. It is only words and it becomes a story with meaning after the interaction with the reader. Enactments help to do this; bring the story to life to create meaning.

This chapter outlines specific strategies to be used in the classroom. It is a book that you would refer to daily throughout your teaching career. Each strategy has many different parts and forces students to use higher level thinking skills to understand the text. They are not simply recalling facts at a knowledge level, but tapping into prior knowledge to build comprehension. Through the strategies they: enter a role, respond to situations through a perspective, enliven the story and facts, infer, elaborate, and reflect (Wilhelm, p.61). By doing this through acting students get deeper then they would alone on a piece of paper.

I love how these activities make learning more social than the average classroom. It brings the real world into class and encourages collaboration. Many of the enactments ask students to play the role of someone in real life (a writer, photographer, reporter, police officer, etc.) By doing this, students are expected to research and learn what these people do actually know. The role playing piece gives a whole new sense of motivation to research and learning.