LEARNING TO ACT ACTING TO LEARN - CHILDREN AS ACTORS, CRITICS, AND CHARACTERS IN CLASSROOM THEATER

The present study investigates the experiences of 17 children-all desi gnated by school evaluators as ''remedial'' readers-as they interprete d and performed text through classroom theatre. Through participant ob servation, audio and video recording, artifacts, and interviews, the p atterns of children's text interpretation were analyzed to show how th ese children learned to take on the roles of actor, character, and cri tic in planning, performing, and evaluating their performances. As act ors, the children were provided with opportunities to shoulder the ''m antle of expertise,'' experiencing the creative and critical features of a dramatic curriculum. As critics, the children learned to emphasiz e the roles of rules, resources, and the bases for common knowledge in their dramatic interpretations. As characters, they shifted perspecti ve from self to other through voice, physical action, and connection t o other characters. This year-long study details how these children mo ved from a perception of drama as uninhibited expression much influenc ed by media experiences to a perception of the bounded and negotiated nature of theatrical production influenced by careful text interpretat ion.