These are defined with students in mind, so they know what they are studying and why, thus enabling them to develop an understanding of the direction of the work. They cover the whole project and indicate what the project intends to teach students. They can be used to answer questions such as:

• What are the goals for this project?
• What do you expect your students to be able to do by the end of this project?
• How are you increasing students’ understanding of drama through this project?

It is important to identify the aims with the students before you begin a project.

Learning outcomes indicate what students should know and/or can expect to have achieved by the end of the project. They are designed to keep you, the teacher, on track. They can be expressed, for example, as: ‘By the end of the work, students should know’, or ‘On completion of this project, students should be able to’. They can be used to help students demonstrate that they have learned and understood the objectives of each lesson and the aims of the project.

Skills and techniques are often confused. Skills are abstract elements of drama, and are usually learnt through practice, such as use of the voice. Techniques are the elements used in structuring the drama, such as marking the moment. Often the skills and techniques involve the same or similar activities. The skills that are covered during each scheme of work are listed under the ‘Skills’ heading; some will be new to students and some are revisited from previous work for development and clarification.

All the techniques listed on a project front page are key parts of a particular lesson in the project. However, other techniques may be developed implicitly over the project. These might include:

• action (ie the events that take place in a story)
• blocking
• character
• content (ie the themes and ideas)
• conventions (ie a common way of showing a technique)
• duologues
• evaluation
• freeze frame
• improvisation
• marking the moment
• movement, mime and gesture
• performance
• plot
• physical comedy
• rehearsal
• rhythm and pace
• role play
• space and levels
• spoken language (pronunciation and understanding of language)
• spotlighting
• thoughts aloud
• thought-tracking
• voice (tone, pace and volume).

To search the resource by technique, go to the Resources section.

Key words which are introduced or emphasised during the project are listed here. This list could be used during the whole group discussions at the end of a project to consolidate work and check students’ understanding. A full list of definitions is provided in the Resources section.

In GCSE specifications (such as Edexcel GCSE Drama 1699), the heading ‘Text’ refers to those resources (stimuli) which inspire the drama. This might include worksheets, poems, stories (fiction and non-fiction) magazine and newspaper articles, Web sites, music, objects/artefacts or pictures. Resources (eg materials which might be needed in a lesson such as video equipment) are listed where necessary in individual lessons.

In line with whole school and governmental policies requiring the students to be aware of the common elements of learning, cross-curricular links can open up new opportunities for working with other departments.

Information under this heading indicates how the project could fit with other subjects. You may wish to coordinate the project with other subject teachers to ensure cross-curricular coverage.

The aspects to look for when assessing students’ work in a project are listed here. The criteria are also used as benchmarks in students’ self-evaluations at the end of each project, so that students can assess how well they think they have done. It is worth emphasising the assessment criteria before the project begins. See Assessment for further information.

Web sites which could be used in the project or are sources of further information on the topic are provided here.