Bring in the Arts Lessons in Dramatics, Art, and Story Writing for Elementary and Middle School Classrooms

Bring in the Arts is a teachers' book that offers a course in drama, art, and story writing for children in grades four through eight. Twenty lesson plans guide students from creating scenes in drama to writing and illustrating their own stories. The plans include simple and practical improvisations for the classroom, as well as suggestions for plays and exhibits of the children's artwork. The book assumes no formal training in the arts, and teachers will find it easy to adapt the plans to their own classroom needs. Improvisation is now considered by most teachers to be an integral part of children's education. When children are encouraged to play act, it enhances their ability and motivation to write as well. The methods Pam Walker outlines in Bring in the Arts will help teachers enable their students not only to improvise original scenes, but also to create unique characters and plots for their stories. Bring in the Arts was made possible by a grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and National Endowment for the Arts. The course has completed a successful pilot program and is already established in a number of schools throughout the country. Teachers in elementary and middle schools and those in education departments at the college level will find this book a valuable tool. The method taps honest feelings in students that lift their art and writing to new, previously unexplored, levels. Children are natural improvisers; they just need viable ways to begin. Bring in the Arts gives teachers the simple method exercises needed to bring spontaneity into the classroom.Walker, Pam Prince is the author of 'Bring in the Arts Lessons in Dramatics, Art, and Story Writing for Elementary and Middle School Classrooms' with ISBN 9780435086114 and ISBN 0435086111.