Romulus and Remus

What is the best way to teach ancient history to a class of Year 4 students? This was a dilemma which I faced at a school who asked me to focus my drama workshops on the Romans. Personally, what interests me about history is not so much the dates and facts but the people and stories behind the events. Bringing ancient history back to a personal and emotional level felt like the best way to engage these students, and so the workshops on Romulus and Remus were born! Cross-curricular work is much more prevalent in the primary curriculum; utilising your drama skills to teach other subjects can not only be refreshing for your teaching but can also be engaging and refreshing for the students learning. This series of workshops could be used either as an introduction or as a support to a longer project on the Romans.

Learning objectives

This scheme is linked with the Primary National Curriculum history and drama objectives. Through it I aim to teach the students:

• To explore the story of the beginning of the Roman empire using drama techniques and their questioning skills, selecting relevant information to feed into their drama (history NC KS2 4a and 4b and 5a and 8a)
• To use character, action and narrative to convey story, themes, emotions and ideas in their explorations of the Romulus and Remus story (English NC KS2 4b)
• To use dramatic techniques to explore characters and issues within the story of Romulus and Remus e.g. conscience alley, still images, thought tracking and role play (English NC KS2 4c)
• To evaluate how they and others have given ideas, developed work and shaped their overall drama (English NC KS2 4d).
  

Students will learn:

• That they can explore a dilemma using role-play, conscience alley and ‘angel and devil’
• That they can take on a role and use vocal and physical skills to show how they are feeling
• To say what they thought was good in their drama and what they need to improve next time
• That they know the details of the story of Romulus and Remus
• That they know what a still image and narration is and can take part in a performance using these drama techniques
• That they can say what was good about their own and others performances and what needs improving
• That they know what mime and thought tracking are and can use them in their exploration of a character, emotions and situation
• That they can perform in role and keep in role most of the time, using the correct physical skills to show emotion
• That they can use their vocal and acting skills in order to build and sustain a convincing argument
• That they can take on and perform a role using their vocal and physical skills
• That they know what a thought circle is and can take part in one in role
• That they can evaluate their own performances and others, setting targets for improvement
• That they know what a vocal collage is and how one is used
• That they can show a role in a still image using their physical skills
• That they can evaluate their own and others progress throughout the whole module

Number of lessons: 5