Lesson - Return to School: Addressing Trauma

CODE offers the following guiding principles/practices for the development of a socially just, forward-thinking drama and dance classroom under times of health restriction and in response to traumatic learning contexts.

For example, the ability to stop climate change is not exclusively dependent on STEM subjects. We will not save the world by focusing with laser-like focus on science, technology, engineering and math without also developing highly refined creative imaginations honed to explore all possibilities. We will need personal and social responsibility to implement what we invent. The only way to move forward together after COVID is to ensure that students have access to all of the ways of knowing and experiencing the world. 

Recognize that there is bias within the arts. All board documents on the well-being and social and emotional health of returning students should include all four of the arts in the curriculum, not just one or two of them. Explore whether or not the arts are equally resourced in your school board and are supported equitably by Instructional Leaders and/or Consultants.  If not, why not? Does your board list the arts in alpha order or in a priority sequence? Do watch and then share widely the York Region DSB video on YouTube: Five Ways to be Culturally Relevant and Responsible in the Arts. 

Understand that it is academic bias that supports the notion that some subjects are more academic than others, not research. In fact, retention of learning is lengthened when any content is delivered integrated with drama in particular. Mariale Hardiman

There will be critics of arts education...actually they are not just concerned about the arts, they actually fear the arts. They fear that the arts are not rigorous enough [and if not qualified] will deliver arts education in a half-hearted way passing on those values that the arts are not important and a waste of time. (Eric Jensen, 1998)

Children will embed those values systems into their own psyche so that when entering high school they will choose arts classes with the mistaken belief that ‘this will be a bird course’ and I don’t need to do much to get a high grade. However in the hands of a qualified teacher, students will quickly learn that arts classes are indeed rigorous and equally demanding as our conventional academic disciplines. (Carmelina Martin, Dance and Drama Educator, 2014)

Although our arts curriculum was last revised in 2009, it has become a model for countries around the world such as Australia. Do not assume that the dance and drama in education are the same as dance and theatre in the world around us, live or on social media. We are educating students, not training artists, although the artists of tomorrow may very well be ignited by experiences in dance and drama with you.

Dance as an art is not only about learning steps, just as math is not limited to adding and subtracting. It is about creating movement to communicate ideas with your body. All of us, regardless of body size, shape, flexibility, strength and coordination can speak with our bodies. Dance as an art focuses on creative process, critical thinking and the sharing of feelings and ideas. “Embodied learning” is when the body, mind and soul are all actively engaged at the same time.

Elementary Scope and Sequence Dance 

Drama is not imitation of the superficial or always putting on a performance. It is about role-playing, students speaking their truth, and bringing stories to life. It is about exploring issues and problems, solutions and possibilities. The pedagogy of drama in education is connected deeply to theatre, but drama in our classrooms is about so much more than “putting on a play”.

Elementary Scope and Sequence Drama

Both the Dance and Drama curriculum are about high academic standards, creative process, and critical thinking. Understand that dance and drama disciplines are forms of embodied learning and cognition.

This is a misunderstood art form in the education system, even from 'dance people' who have been 'trained' physically in the private studio/conservatory setting. The creativity framework is not well understood in dance. It needs modelling and in some cases, re-education, especially if the teacher is a product of poor modelling and experiences in their former elementary and secondary education in dance, even if they received such education which in many cases is still inconsistent provincially. Teachers need to embody their own learning by experientially exploring instructional templates to better understand the creativity framework and this art form.

Every discipline has a language, a specific vocabulary that allows one to describe and explain what it is they are teaching and observing for assessment purposes. This needs to be a critical component of teacher education so that the dance/drama curriculum documents are accessible and easy to understand. The learning of this very specific dance and/or drama vocabulary is necessary to facilitate meaningful assessment practices because teachers need the language of the discipline to scaffold the learning and effectively observe, describe and assess the learning when it is occurring in children.

Drama and dance will be particularly useful for helping teachers recreate community in their classrooms and to support their students. Develop safe ways of greeting one another, showing support for one another, and managing the complex range of post-isolation emotions with new practices and routines. There are community building resources on our website.

• Building A Classroom Community Through Character Education - Grade 1 Drama
  In this unit, students will participate in a variety of drama activities that explore the Character Education traits of Kindness, Respect, and Empathy. Students will tell personal stories and use tableau and movement to represent these stories and examples of these traits. Students and teacher will engage in whole group role play to problem solve and explore the perspectives of other characters to deepen their understanding of kindness, friendship and helping others.

CODE's Games & Warm-ups offer many examples of activities that can support building an "ensemble" (literally, a "together").

A primary focus of  drama and dance teachers is to ensure that the classroom is safe emotionally and socially for all students. We know that our students are only truly safe when the most vulnerable students feel safe. When they feel secure, they can engage deeply in the creative process, explore their emerging thoughts and feelings, share their critical thinking, and respond supportively to the ideas and work of their classmates. The complex emotional world of the students can be safely explored through being one step removed by the safety of being in role in both dance and drama.  

“Social-Emotional Learning is a process being prioritized across the globe intended to provide students with the knowledge, attitude and skills needed to understand and manage emotions, to confront challenges and make responsible decisions by being self-aware, socially aware and confident—in essence, preventative mental healthcare.”  SEL, 2020

In 2022, CODE completed a two-year review of all of its resources, some dating back to the 1990s, with a focus on equity and current pedagogy. We have removed resources whose approaches may have caused harm and identified those which required revision.

We continue to create new resources and respond to immediate social justice needs. CODE believes that anti-racist education is the responsibility of every teacher from JK to Grade 12.

We have begun the work of assembling our resources that deal with issues of social justice and tools that will support educators in addressing the complex needs of students in a hub called Addressing Oppressions through Drama and Dance.

Our economy has suffered greatly during social isolation and many students will have experienced this first-hand. Others may remain completely unaware. There are eleven Financial Literacy dance and drama resources on our website. These two may be useful for self-reflection as well for classroom teaching of dance and drama.

• Financial Literacy and Inequities in the Distribution of Wealth - Grade 4 Drama and Financial Literacy
  Through role play, students will experience the patterns of the distribution of wealth and privilege and examine the inequities and injustices that this economic structure produces. While in role, students will explore the challenges that cultural/political leaders face in trying to distribute wealth, as well as what they as citizens can do to work toward creating a more just economic system.

• Financial Literacy and Making Choices - Grade 5 Dance and Financial Literacy
  Using a variety of resources, students will explore the impact and implications of personal choices. They will consider the media’s role in the choices people make. Students will use the elements of dance in a movement piece to communicate the power of addiction and addictive behaviour.

As CODE's Financial Literacy writing project took place in 2011, they do not currently align with the Ontario Math curriculum expectations for Financial Literacy. The revision of these resources for better alignment is a priority for CODE's resource revisions, but the value of the units in addressing wealth inequality and class-based understandings of society is still clear.

Trauma is an issue faced in Indigenous communities throughout Ontario long before COVID. Focus on unlearning and relearning our history, challenging systemic racism and injustice wherever it exists, and teaching drama and dance without appropriation.   

Please use our In A Good Way Resource and CODE'S Call to Action. CODE works in active and respectful partnership with the First Nations, Metis and Inuit Education Association of Ontario www.fnmieao.com