Dramatic Play the Right Way?

      Motivating students to read and write is a key part to the beginning of children’s literacy. We want to be able to nurture these students as much as possible so that they do not lose their love or motivation for reading and writing. From chapter 8, I personally found dramatic play to be an extremely important part to motivating and developing reading and writing within children. 

        As a child I remember having dramatic play areas in my kindergarten classroom. I was always drawn to that area of the room and always wanted to play with the cash register (because it was the best play job EVER). The play area always kept me intrigued and wanting to continuously play. I wanted to be able to experience the world around me the way that my parents and other adults did. Even when we did use the dramatic play area it never felt like we were at school having to learn, it felt like we were in entirely different world just for us kindergarteners.  I believe that by using dramatic play areas, if not daily at least weekly, helps students to make those worldly connections. As the textbook stated “children enjoy role playing in these situations because the activity includes meaningful experiences. In dramatic play, children are voluntarily participating in reading and writing.” 

  
            Dramatic play allows students to feel like grown ups and to feel important. It helps them to begin to understand how the world around them works through various staged settings. They can begin to see that learning to read and write is not a chore, but rather a way of life that allows for excitement and communication.  Dramatic play areas, while they are fun and engaging, do take a lot of planning ahead but the outcome of learning and experience is priceless. While in the book they said that dramatic play is best for kindergarten- second grade I feel you could use it all through out elementary school. Of course if used in an older grades it would have be modified, to more of a role-playing area then a dramatic play area. How are some ways you would incorporate dramatic play in your classroom? Do you think dramatic play is an effective strategy in motivating students and helping them to learn reading and writing? Did you ever experience a dramatic play area in your schooling?