Transcending Traditional Boundaries Through Drama: Interdisciplinary Teaching and Perspective-Taking
Date
2000-06
Authors
Samaras, Anastasia P.
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Abstract
We conducted a self -study of drama integration with an emphasis on teaching perspective taking in a new interdisciplinary course. Our work employs a theoretical model of coming to understand the self through others or in Vygotskyan (1981) terms, from interpersonal to intrapersonal knowledge. One of our main aims was to determine how disciplines could be interwoven to enhance students’ personal development, as well as our own. We envisioned drama integration as more than a list of activities that could include teaching the ethic of care and empathy. Teaching and learning would be in a circle wider than self - in a collaborative network with a synthesis of our diverse experiences to provoke our students to pull down or even shatter their fences. Outcomes included: students’ utilization of drama in their career goals, finding our humanness, and knowledge of self and others. As professors, we uncovered our commonalties while renewing our individual passions. We discovered that drama could serve as an international language to communicate the need and value of human diversity while bridging many disciplines and careers.
Description
From "Exploring Myths and Legends of Teacher Education," the Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices, July 23-27, 2000.
Keywords
Interdisciplinary teaching, Drama