Developing creativity through drama

Creative teachers support their pupils in exploring a wide range of non-fiction texts, in print and multimedia forms, during literacy sessions and across the curriculum. They recognise the imaginative possibilities offered when children become interested in information they are listening to, reading and watching, and know that writing and presenting in role are powerful ways of helping children understand the content and forms of non-fiction texts. This chapter explores how to teach non-fiction texts creatively, providing opportunities for speaking, hearing, watching, drawing, reading and writing these texts for real purposes and real audiences. Creative teachers recognise the importance of engagement, motivation and playful interactions in children’s encounters with information text, so that affective aspects of these texts are explored, as well as factual elements. In addition, such teachers do not see textual genres as fixed and unalterable, and so they recognise and encourage boundary crossing between genres when appropriate.