Dramatization of poetry as strategy in an anger management programme for adolescent girls

Abstract

Adolescence is a turbulent time and a critical transformational phase during which major physical, emotional, cognitive and social shifts occur. The objective of this study is to explore ways in which female adolescents can acquire anger management skills. The study proposes that emotional competency is cultivated as a result of the neurological plasticity of the brain and by applying learning material based on the work of scholars in the fields of neuroscience and Applied Drama. Adolescence is an opportune time for girls to learn emotional competency skills as the incomplete development of the prefrontal area of the brain makes them more inclined to risk taking and less aware of logical thinking processes. The study indicates that anger floods the body with secretions like cortisol and adrenaline, blocking logical thinking. Angry incidences can have destructive consequences for relationships. The empirical study includes discussions of training levels for anger management, such as the identification of anger-related emotions and anger styles, understanding anger, and curbing angry expressions through assertive communication. As anger management is a practical aptitude, the empirical study applied selected Process Drama conventions (as modes of Applied Drama), specifically role play, tableaux, Mantle of the Expert and dramatized poetry. The benefit of these conventions lies in the facility with which they can alternate between dual modes of engagement and learning content. Process Drama launches the workshops’ participants into a make-believe world in which they can identify with a situation from the inside out while simultaneously observing the situation from the outside in, a phenomenon called metaxis. The female adolescent, while protective of her social relationships, can safely enter a fictitious world and face the problems raised by anger without jeopardizing her privacy or dealing with real-life emotions. The convention of dramatized poetry enabled creative expression as the participants wrote their own poems to personalize their insight into their need for anger management. While the methodology was being practised, it was also assessed. As the outcomes of the learning objectives were the participants’ responsibility, I could assess during the activities if they accommodated learning objectives in their biography. In this study the participants were, for example, not able to fully utilize the skill of assertive communication. The integrity of the methodology of Process Drama for girls was affirmed when it was successfully combined with the principles of brain-based learning. The literature review and the outcomes of the empirical study confirmed that Process Drama adheres to the principles of brain-based learning which is, inter alia, physiological, social and emotional, and occurs in tandem with the developmental phase of the participant. The research study is the culmination of various disciplines and an endeavour to present a multimodal anger management programme that incorporates the adolescent female on a cognitive, emotional and physical level, and in a sound collaborative environment.