TeachersFirst's Dramatic Arts and Dance
Discover resources in this collection to infuse drama and dance into your lessons. This curated list includes musicals, readers theater, dance instruction, and more. You may find it helpful to use ideas from this list to plan your physical education and language arts lessons. This list includes resources for all grades.
See our complete collection of acting, plays, readers' theater, and dance resources.

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myShakespeare - Richard Clark and Greg Watson
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): england (51), literature (219), plays (28), shakespeare (91)
In the Classroom
This site is a must-have for teachers of Shakespeare! Engage students by sharing the video performances to help students understand key events during any of the plays. Share and point out the glossed (bold) words to help students understand difficult language. Find the tool for glossed words in the top menu to turn it on and off. Have students answer the comprehension questions as a formative assessment for their self-reflection and to guide your lesson planning. This site is perfect for use in remote classrooms or as a flipped learning activity. Assign portions of the text to students to read before class discussions. Using myShakespeare in this way offers many tools for students to view the material in different formats as they complete the reading. Use Flip, reviewed here, to enhance student learning throughout your Shakespeare unit by asking clarifying questions and have students post video responses. Extend learning further by asking students to create short video explainers of different scenes of the play using Binumi, reviewed here.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Drama Toolkit - DramaToolkit.co
Grades
K to 12tag(s): acting (19), plays (28), readers theater (10)
In the Classroom
This site isn't just for drama teachers; it offers many ideas for use in all classrooms. Take advantage of the games section to find team-building, getting to know you, and listening skills activities. For example, use the game "Change Places If..." within a variety of academic topics. In math class, use the prompt for students to change places with others when they hear the correct answer to a problem within a series of answers or change places if they can share a tip for a problem-solving activity. When teaching social studies, play this game to have students change places if they can provide information on a date in history or tell a fact about a famous person. Use this same game as a review activity when preparing for quizzes and tests. Another set of activities helps students work on voice and dialogue skills. Use these ideas to promote students' oral reading skills. Use Flip, reviewed here, as a video recording tool for students to assess their reading improvement by asking them to read a passage before participating in voice and dialogue activities, then again after these lessons.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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ArtsAlive.ca English Theatre - National Arts Centre
Grades
8 to 12tag(s): acting (19), design (85), plays (28), shakespeare (91)
In the Classroom
Use a projector or interactive whiteboard to present this outstanding site to your students. Students of drama, English, history, art, and architecture will find something of interest. Although the site is text heavy in places, you could employ a tool like From Text to Speech, reviewed here, for the interview transcripts to help weaker readers access information. Have students choose a category (design and production, playwright's corner, Shakespeare's plays, acting, etc.) of interest to investigate. Group students by interest. Within their small groups students can jigsaw, each taking a different facet of the category to learn about. After that they can put together a mini-presentation using one of many TeachersFirst Presentation tools reviewed here. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, Vevox, Animatron, Renderforest, and Presentious. Once everyone is done studying their categories, suggest producing a play by one of the scriptwriters from the group.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Drama Resource - Creative Ideas for Teaching Drama - David Farmer
Grades
K to 6This site includes advertising.
tag(s): acting (19), back to school (63), bullying (53), digital storytelling (138), stories and storytelling (36)
In the Classroom
Use this site as the starting point for individual or group projects. If you are looking for ways to get students more involved with history lessons, drama may be just the thing. Take advantage of the free lesson plans included on the site. Use lessons and activities as part of your storytelling unit, for beginning of the year activities, or to promote higher level thinking skills. Have students create their own mini-drama moment: upload a photo they have taken and add voice bubbles for dialog using a tool such as Phrase.it, reviewed here. Have students create animated movies online demonstrating different drama techniques using Kizoa, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Shakespeare Study Guide - formerly known as Shake Sphere - Michael J. Cummings
Grades
6 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): feudalism (2), hamlet (9), julius caesar (5), literature (219), macbeth (9), midsummer nights dream (4), plays (28), romeo & juliet (8), romeo and juliet (4), shakespeare (91), sonnets (6)
In the Classroom
Make this all inclusive site available to your students on your webpage so they can look up words they do not know, etc. There are so many resources available that you could divide your class into groups and have each group research a different play or sonnet. Along with resources for Shakespeare's writing there are resources for Feudalism, Kings and Queens, castles, stage directions and drama terms, and so much more. To help differentiate, look at Shmoop's Literature page, reviewed here.; scrikk to the bottom of the page and click Shakespeare.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Drama in the ESL Classroom - Jessica Davis
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): acting (19), creative writing (120), plays (28)
In the Classroom
Use this site as the starting point for group projects like having the students write and produce their own play(s). This is a great find for gifted students as well as students studying any modern language as the play writing and acting techniques can easily be adapted. Challenge cooperative learning groups to create videos of the plays they write and produce then edit and save them using using wevideo, reviewed here. Share the videos on a site such as TeacherTube reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Elizabethan & Jacobean Drama - Nicoleta Cinpoes
Grades
9 to 12tag(s): elizabethan (12)
In the Classroom
The timelines alone are a goldmine. Set students to work connecting political, social, and religious background with the rich drama of the 16th-17th century and you can have a fascinating blend of humanistic study.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Kennedy Center Digital Resources - Formerly ArtsEdge - Kennedy Center
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): african american (105), baseball (32), civil war (127), comics and cartoons (48), dance (25), folktales (33), greece (26), habitats (83), immigration (63), literature (219), mexico (29), musical instruments (42), myths and legends (21), native americans (85), painting (57), surrealism (2)
In the Classroom
Search this site for a topic that you are teaching in your class. Share the lesson on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Better yet, make the video or slideshow a learning station for students to watch in small groups. This site is so wonderful and HUGE, that after students are one with the resources you have for them, you may want to allow them to explore on independently or in small groups for a specific interest of theirs.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Reader's Theatre Scripts and Plays - Colleen Gallagher
Grades
1 to 9Editor's note: There is one group of links (to sites that start with "hometown.aol") that no longer work. Since this is only a small portion of the site, TeachersFirst continues to list the resource for its many GOOD links. Roll your mouse over the links before clicking and check the address in the gray bar at the bottom left of your screen. Don't bother with the hometown.aol links.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): readers theater (10)
In the Classroom
Mark this one in your favorites, then let student groups select from scripts to record their own audio podcasts or create a Thinglink, reviewed here, of a tale, illustrated with a selection of copyright-safe images or student drawings. Or have students make a high-tech excerpt from a reader's theater script by creating avatars to read each part using Voki, reviewed here. Sequence the embedded conversation bits on a class wiki so viewers can enjoy the performance by clicking through them in order. These wiki excerpts could be used to "advertise" an upcoming performance or a featured literary piece.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Creating Dramatic Monologues from Grapes of Wrath - Alisa Soderquist
Grades
9 to 12tag(s): writing (302)
In the Classroom
This site works on so many levels from teaching what a monologue is and how it suits a particular character in literature to researching primary sources and understanding what they tell you. This is a good group project that could work for other novels as well as The Grapes of Wrath. Try using an online digital recording tool such as Podomatic (reviewed here)for students to record and share their monologues as a podcast.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Art of Teaching the Arts - Annenberg Media
Grades
9 to 12tag(s): creativity (91)
In the Classroom
This is a professional site rich in ideas for any teacher looking for new ideas or a jump-start to teach the arts. Make this course your personal goal for summer break or a collaborative professional development group.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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English Renaissance Drama - Anniina Jokinen
Grades
9 to 12tag(s): elizabethan (12), renaissance (32)
In the Classroom
Have students "become" one of the rival playwrights after researching the times and the playwright might be interesting. Perhaps students could do a panel discussion or write a blog entry as their "playwright." Don't miss the Introduction section to get valuable information about the theaters and the staging conventions of the time.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Applied and Interactive Theatre Guide - Toni Sant
Grades
9 to 12The top of each site will give you a brief overview and then there is a row of book sources that you can purchase (clicking on them will take you to Amazon). Scroll down past those for the wealth of the site.
In the Classroom
Setting up for a direct link to one of the main areas like History of Theatre will allow your students a veritable feast of areas to choose from. They can look from ancient Greek theatre to marionette puppets to magic-lantern shows. Theatre in Education and WWW Resources and Links are also very useful to the classroom teacher.If you teach Humanities, Radical Theatre is a good source for some of the epic, theatre of the absurd, and Guerrilla Girls art. Steer away from Drama Therapy, Hacktivism, and Psychodrama.
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The Living Playbook - Randy Dixon
Grades
2 to 12One of the useful things about this site is the list of terms at the beginning of it, which give you and your students a common vocabulary when acting out scenes or plays. The site is actually a simple --and very long-- scrollable page (plain vanilla by today's standards). The games start with the title "The Playbook" about a tenth of the way down the page. This site also solicits more games as you think of them, so it is a way for students to get involved in thinking of new ones to play and, therefore, send to the creator of the site.
tag(s): acting (19)
In the Classroom
Try a game a day or offer these as idea-generators for students giving classroom presentations during your drama unit. Give extra credit for those who write their own ideas for submission to the site. Your "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" fans will want you to share this link on your teacher web page for them to use at home, as well. Parents would appreciate the link for creative ideas for birthday parties with the younger set. If you run a drama club, this site will keep you busy for years!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Educational Theatre Association - EdTA
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): acting (19)
In the Classroom
Going to the Eduction under the resources tab and scanning down the topics will provide you with a lot of information. They are selling their stamped goods, of course, but the goal of the site is to let people know about the society and provide support for those who teach drama. It is also a great place to network and they have programs for middle school as well as high school students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Multicultural Theatre in Music - Iris R. Davis
Grades
4 to 6tag(s): diversity (35)
In the Classroom
The joy of units offered like this is being able to use them in their entirety or pick, choose, and adapt to your own classroom needs. If your language arts series includes a theme on creativity or drama, this is a natural extension of that theme.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Monologue Archive
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
If you are beginning podcasting in your clases, monologues could provide some material for your students to try. Consider creating a collection of monlogues on a certain theme or a "monologue of the week" podcast for your literature or drama class.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Aaron Shepard - Aaron Shepard
Grades
1 to 8tag(s): folktales (33), plays (28), readers theater (10), stories and storytelling (36), writing (302)
In the Classroom
Click on Aaron's RT Page to find scripts for plays and tales you can use in the classroom. Use this website to find hints on how to dramatize the literature or folklore you're studying in the classroom. ESL students will find using Reader's Theater particularly helpful as they can read, speak, and listen to the materials and have more chances at comprehension. Similarly, students who are visual or oral learners will benefit from the multi-sensory presentations.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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