The Centre of the Drama Butterfly

The words The Dramatic Artist appear at the centre of the drama butterfly to emphasize the following ideas:

• The overarching goal of the drama curriculum is to support, nurture, and inspire the growth of every student as an artist and as an artful learner.
• The student is at the centre. Students’ own feelings, perceptions, ideas, and expressions are integral to the drama experience and must be valued, explored, and celebrated within the learning community. Drama provides a holistic context for learning and gives students opportunities for active and creative responses to what they know. It helps students to organize information, interpret ideas, gain new insights, and work with others. Through dramatic play, for example, students "live through" imaginary experiences in order to explore and test their own feelings, perceptions, and ideas about the world.
• Every student is an artist, one whose growth and learning are best fostered within rich, open-ended, participatory drama experiences.

As students grow as artists, they become better communicators, learning to listen to and empathize with different points of view, to think imaginatively and critically, and to express themselves confidently. In drama, students learn to communicate effectively in verbal and non-verbal ways. Through such experiences, they learn to connect with the world and tap into their own creative capacities. Students in drama move toward becoming articulate, creative, artistically literate adults, the kinds of citizens who will truly enrich their own lives and the lives of their future communities.

The Wings Working Together

As one looks from the centre of the drama butterfly to the wings, a new set of relationships emerge. Each wing represents one of the essential learning areas into which the general and specific drama learning outcomes are organized. While the body of the butterfly evokes a holistic view of the student as a dramatic “player” or as a dramatic artist, the wings articulate a range of learning outcomes that collectively support a path to comprehensive, balanced, and developmentally appropriate learning in drama.

The essential learning areas are

• Drama Language and Performance Skills
• Creative Expression in Drama
• Understanding Drama in Context
• Valuing Drama Experience

Although each essential learning area presents a distinct set of learning outcomes, their achievement is not intended to be realized in isolation. Just as real wings work synchronously with each other, the essential learning areas are intended to function in an integrated way. Rich thematic drama experiences will invariably integrate learning outcomes from two, three, or all four essential learning areas.

The Wings Individually

The organization of learning outcomes into distinct, interrelated learning areas, or wings, is intended to give a clear outline of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes students are expected to demonstrate at various grades. Each of the four areas contains the following components:

• Essential learning area: A statement summarizes the overall learning intent of the area or wing.
• General learning outcomes (GLOs): The GLOs are broad statements that identify the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that students are expected to demonstrate with increasing competence and confidence from Kindergarten to Grade 8.
• Specific learning outcomes (SLOs): The SLOs detail learning expectations for students at either a specific grade or a range of grades.