Improv in ELA Classrooms: A Pathway to Student Engagement and Creative Risk-Taking

Incorporating dramatic improvisation techniques into English/language arts (ELA) instruction can stimulate student participation and creativity by fostering a sense of safety in speaking up and reducing the tendency to overthink responses, according to educators.

“It gets them on their feet, using their imagination. Imagination feels a little ‘on the ropes’ in our society,” said Christian Goering, professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Arkansas College of Education and Health Professions. “I’ve never been part of an improv activity in a school that didn’t generate smiles and laughter. Maybe right now, the way school is in our society, that’s more important than ever.”

Lisa Marie Barker, director of improvisation initiatives at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education, emphasized that a core tenet of improv is the anticipation—and even expectation—of mistakes as a natural byproduct of human interaction. “We fail, cheerfully,” she said. “If facilitated effectively, [improv] can have good outcomes. If debriefed well, it can open up conversations related to psychological safety—to save face, preserve our humanity and leverage mistakes as beautiful, natural gifts people are giving to the learning community.”

Goering, a former high school English teacher and co-author of Joyful Literacies in Secondary English Language Arts, suggests that all teachers should take an improv class as part of their own education, as he did as an undergraduate student. “Being up in front of a group of students, being able to project your voice, and being ready to respond to whatever it is they say—and they say the craziest things—there’s a skill set there,” he said. “There’s a muscle that, as a teacher, I really appreciated and was quick to use.”

Goering noted that improv carries a social dimension that appeals to students, recalling that he got to know fellow students in his college improv class much better than peers in other subjects. “The dialogic nature of improv—what I say responds to what you said, back and forth—that’s what school should look like,” he said. “It opens up all kinds of doors for understanding and appreciation of differences.”

Improv also builds student agency, Goering said. “You’re going to see students come alive and do things they wouldn’t otherwise do,” he said. “The traditional ‘Yes, and’ activity is a great place to start if a teacher is new to improv and new to the context of using this in your class. … It’s a way to explore things with a lot more depth and a lot more authenticity.”

Barker, who also serves as executive director of professional learning and community education (PLACE) at the University of Wisconsin, took improv classes while working as a high school English teacher in California. “I ended up using the principles and practices of improv theater henceforth,” she said, adding that she wrote her dissertation on how improv can help teachers emphasize presence in the orchestration of whole-class discussions.

Barker cautioned that the use of improv can either be safe or “leave you feeling icky” if mistakes are not welcomed and celebrated, and if students are not given the opportunity to “save face” when making them. “In an ELA classroom, you can use improv games to imagine characters and places and dialogue that children can use in their writing. That is a home run,” she said. “It can open up conversations about ways children can participate with each other.”

To implement this effectively, an ELA teacher should establish group norms after playing a few improv games and then ask, “What did those games require of you?” she said. Ideally, the answer is something to the effect of, “Listening closely, building on ideas and laughing.”

“When people feel like they’re part of a community that cares about each other, they can take risks, do important work, and they can show up,” Barker added. “Attendance will be better, children will be ready to rock, see themselves as useful and belonging, and take on leadership roles. That, in and of itself, is engagement.”