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Engaging Students with the Drama Class Blog

By Brian D. Taylor, Project Editor, Pioneer Drama Service 

Brian D. Taylor is the project editor for Pioneer Drama Service, a published playwright and a former drama teacher.  Working with K-12, college and community theatre groups, he has a wide theatrical background with experience in directing, acting and technical theatre. 

So perhaps you’ve wondered whether you should start your own class blog.  But why start a blog for your drama class?  You’re already going above and beyond the call of duty to help your students succeed.  Why add more time and effort?  And, plus, you can’t teach drama online!  That’s preposterous!

It’s true.  Nothing will replace the teaching time you have in class with your students.  And, as with any teaching tool, a class blog is only going to be as useful as you make it.  For some of you, that may mean that a blog isn’t worth your time.  For many of you, though, a blog just may be that additional resource you’ve been looking for to help your kids succeed.

That’s how it was for me.  I was hoping to find a way to engage my students after class, when they go home and forget most of what I’ve told them that day.  I was hoping to give my most eager students additional content and challenges, while giving my less motivated and unorganized students a lifeline with the extra support they needed.  I was hoping to give parents the extra tools they needed to assist their kids at home.  I was also looking for a great way to share with my students all these cool, class-related resources I knew existed online but didn’t have time to go over in class.  For me, blogging was the answer.

And, honestly, though it took a lot of work to maintain, it ended up being a big time saver in a lot of ways.  When I was running my class blog, I rarely had to make extra copies of study guides, schedules, reading lists or you name it for students.  Everything was online!  I rarely had to explain homework directions or grading policies to a frustrated parent, desperate to help their kids at home.  Everything was online!  I rarely had to turn in detailed lesson plans for administrators.  Everything was online!  (Word to the wise:  The last point may need to be cleared with your administrator first.  I lucked out.)

So what should you put on your blog?  The most important thing you should be ready for when maintaining a blog is posting regularly updated content.  Without new content on a regular basis, your students are not going to be visiting your site.  At a minimum, you should be posting updates weekly if you want your students to check it regularly.  What you post is up to you and your particular curriculum, but it can range from simple, one sentence due date reminders to extended lecture notes or resources you didn’t have time for in class.  If you’re using the blog for play productions, the content can resemble a virtual callboard with posts announcing the cast list for the play, rehearsal schedule changes, important reminders and other announcements.

The class blog can also serve as a paperless homebase for your classroom.  I ran my blog almost as if it were an online-only course, with almost everything the students needed to succeed there at their fingertips, but they had the added benefit of having me teaching the material in class five days a week!

In my opinion, the most useful part of running a class blog is the ability to post links.  See what I did there?  Not only is that a shameless self-promotion for the publisher of my plays (Ha!  I did it again.  Sometimes, I can’t help myself.), but it’s also an example of how to use web links to direct someone to any website on the planet.  As a teacher, this tool can become an endless resource you can give your students for extra help at home.  Most blogs also have the option to add a list of permanent links in a side column.  You can use links to direct students in your lighting design class to that cool lighting glossary Altman lighting provides.  Or maybe you’re teaching how to apply stage makeup.  You don’t have time to demonstrate every type of stage makeup application technique in class so you want to send students to watch a video on applying facial hair.  It could be that you’re studying Hamlet or A Doll’s House or Pygmalion or The Importance of Being Earnest and want those students who have a tendency to leave their books in their lockers to have a script available whenever they need.  Be sure to also provide links to your important school-related web pages such as the main school site, online grade books, activities calendars and more.

Another way to get good use out of a class blog is to upload files.  If you cannot upload files directly into the blog, you can always upload files, including documents, spreadsheets, images, video and audio to Google Docs.  Google Docs can create a unique web address for each file you upload so you can easily link back to them from your blog!  This was tremendously helpful on my class blog.  I used Google Docs for almost all of the classroom handouts I gave to students.  I also found it to be an extremely helpful resource for students who struggle with reading, but needed to study the plays we were learning about, as I could download free audio book versions for many of the scripts we were reading and post them on Google Docs for the kids to listen to!  Similarly, Google Calendar can be used for your rehearsal schedule, so students have access to it at all times and any changes you may have to make will automatically be seen on their end.  Not only does this give the students an extra resource, but it also eliminates excuses for missed rehearsals or missing homework.

Of course, you want to put yourself in the students’ shoes.  Why would they take the time to visit your site?  Encourage traffic to your blog by keeping it interesting and fun.  As much as possible, try to maintain a professional, but casual and conversational tone in blog posts.  Encouraging classroom discussions in the comments section is another effective method as it engages your more social students while also giving you further insight into how well the students understand the material.  Likewise, few blogs will succeed without multimedia content.  You want to drive your teenage students to your site, so it’s very important to make good use of photos, audio and video.  Class-related web games are also helpful.  A useful online resource that my students absolutely loved is StudyStack, an online flashcard engine that will automatically turn your classroom study guides into fun study games.

Of course, it’s difficult to cover all of the specific how-to information on creating a classroom blog in a simple newsletter.  Many blogging services have useful tutorials to guide you through the process.  However, if you get stuck or have a question, I know my way around the most popular blogging services fairly well and I’m always happy to help, so don’t hesitate to email me with your questions.

With a bit of time and effort, the drama class blog can be an effective communication tool and an immensely helpful and engaging resource for your students.  And what teacher doesn’t wish she could do more for her students?