The aims are to:

• introduce drama as a subject
• give students a voice about the issue of bullying
• allow both teacher and students to gain knowledge of the group, and enable the teacher to see how students work together in different contexts
• introduce students to work based on a variety of stimuli
• help students develop skills in building a character
• develop students’ rehearsal skills.

By the end of this project, students are expected to:

• have gained knowledge of basic drama skills. In particular, students should be aware that a drama piece should have a beginning, a middle and an end
• have become more confident and be able to show their drama work to the class
• know more about their class
• be able to participate in discussions and evaluations
• be able to set personal targets in drama
• be able to role play, and understand that a character is different from themselves.

The skills covered in this project include (but are not limited to) addressing the audience, hot seating, prepared improvisation, role play, still image, thoughts aloud and thought-tracking.

The techniques which are covered in lessons in this project include:

• addressing the audience
• duologue
• freeze frame
• hot seating
• improvisation
• marking the moment
• mime
• performance
• proxemics
• thoughts aloud.

The key words which are used in this project include:

• addressing the audience
• duologue
• freeze frame
• hot seating
• improvisation
• marking the moment
• mime
• performance
• proxemics
• rehearsal
• self-evaluation
• thoughts aloud
• thought-tracking.

The text which students encounter during this project includes a diary entry, information about characters and a poem.

This series of lessons has cross-curricular links with Citizenship and English.

Students should be assessed in this project on the extent to which they:

• develop an understanding of the techniques
• create a character from written stimuli
• portray the character and perform their role successfully
• evaluate their work and that of others.

Web sites which could be used for further information on this topic include:

	Bullying Online

	Bullying at School

	DfES: Don’t Suffer in Silence

	Childline: Bullying

	Kidscape: Young People, Children and Bullying

This project meets the following recommendations from Drama in Schools (Second Edition) (Arts Council England, 2003). For a complete mapping, see Managing: Drama in Schools.

Level 3: Making

• Devise plays from a range of stimuli
• Respond to the use of drama techniques to deepen the role or understanding of the situation, eg hot seating

Level 3: Responding

• Reflect on the action taken by characters in the drama and consider alternative responses

Level 4: Responding

• Discuss the themes or issues in the drama and the way they were presented