Page 67 - The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9 and 10: The Arts, 2010

OVERVIEW
Drama study at the Grade 9 and 10 level provides students with an opportunity to take on roles and to create and enter into imagined worlds. They learn in a unique way about themselves, the art of drama, and the world around them. Students engage in social interaction and collaboration as they create, perform, and analyse drama. Through informal presentations and more formal performances, students use drama to communicate their aesthetic and personal values.
Students develop their awareness and use of the elements of drama (role/character, relationship, time and place, focus and emphasis, and tension) to create drama works that are related to their personal interests and experience. In these courses, they will experience being performer, audience, playwright, technician, designer, and critic.
By communicating in both their real and imagined worlds, students acquire proficiency in listening, speaking, questioning, and problem solving. Through the process of taking on roles, students develop and express empathy for people in a wide range of situations. They develop the ability to interpret and comment on a range of drama works and activities and evaluate their own and others’ creative work.
The expectations for drama courses are organized in three distinct but related strands:
1. Creating and Presenting: Students use the creative process (see pages 14–16) to develop, produce, and perform drama. Through a variety of dramatic forms, students explore characters, issues, and feelings, both individually and collaboratively. Students use dramatic elements, conventions, techniques, and technologies for a variety of purposes.
2. Reflecting, Responding, and Analysing: In this strand, students use the critical analysis process (see pages 16–20) to reflect on their response to dramatic works and develop their understanding of how dramatic purpose is achieved. Students examine the social functions of drama, including how dramatic exploration promotes appreciation for diverse cultures.
3. Foundations: This strand is concerned with dramatic forms, conventions, practices, and skills. Students learn about the origins and development of drama and theatre arts and their influence on past and present societies. They learn to communicate by using terminology specific to creating and presenting in drama. This foundational study also introduces students to the significance of health and safety issues as well as a variety of protocols related to ethics and etiquette.
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DRAMA