How Do You Teach History Through Playwriting?
Playwriting provides a dynamic way to teach history. It involves students in the lesson so they don’t have to passively listen while you cover another chapter of history text. Follow these steps to bring history to life for your students through playwriting. Choose a grade appropriate topic for the play. Try battles from a major war, scenes from a famous historical figure’s life or a decision that changed the course of history. Prepare a project outline which includes the learning objective and the daily schedule the class should follow until the performance of the play, which you should restrict to 2 full class periods. The outline should also include the scenes of the play, the characters and the various student responsibilities. Assign background reading on the subject for homework the night before the class discussion. Have students create a chart that describes the five W’s for the subject – the Who, What, Where, When and Why – to submit the next day. In class, discuss the homewor
