Simulation and Character Ownership in Secondary Dramatic Literature Education

This case study by Josh T. Jordan examines whether role-playing and simulation techniques can improve high school students' mastery of theme and dramatic structure in Arthur Miller's The Crucible. The author, a teacher of American Literature in a Texas high school, applied three techniques during a drama unit: assigning each student a consistent character to read aloud throughout the play, periodically asking students to choose what a character should do next, and substituting students' names for character names during plot discussion. The study is framed around Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) 2 and 4, which address literary theme, character, and dramatic structure.

The central finding is that grades during the drama unit were measurably higher than in other six-week units and, notably, that special education students performed within about five percentage points of general education students. Students' average drama unit test score was only about 2 points below their yearly average, a pattern the author describes as unusual. The data draws on daily grades, quizzes, and exams for roughly 150 juniors at a school with a high proportion of economically disadvantaged and Hispanic students.

The methodology is a single-classroom case study comparing unit averages within one school year. The author identifies several limitations: the school changed grading software and the prior year's student-level grades were unavailable, so no true control group exists; the sample of special education students is small, with fewer than 20 in the author's classes; and the findings come from one teacher and one school. The author concludes that these techniques show promise for secondary dramatic literature instruction, while acknowledging that stronger conclusions would require replication across additional schools and a controlled comparison.