Dramatic Mentoring
The middle school students at Imagine South Lake (K – 8) use drama as a venue for teaching character education to younger students. The drama class meets daily for one semester. Middle school students read a story which illustrates positive character. They synthesize the character lesson and decide how they can retell it dramatically. This process allows the student to immerse themselves in character by engaging their thoughts, feelings and behaviors. The students make their costumes and divide up roles, working cooperatively to present their skits to kindergarten through fourth grade children once a month. In addition, the middle school and elementary students engage in dialogue about character at the end of the performance, allowing the older students to mentor the younger. The questions are designed to get the younger students to think about what really happened in the story and to help them determine how the story might apply to their lives. So this conversation not only encourages discussion about positive behaviors and attitudes, but it also fosters a sense of community between the different-age groups.