Sociodrama for the ninth grade of Firestone Junior High School

89 Pages·03.067 MB·English

by  Miller, Charles Albert

SOCIODRAMA FOR THE NINTH GRADE OF
FIRESTONE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
A Project
Presented to
the Faculty of the School of Education
The University of Southem California
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Science in Education
by
Charles Albert Miller
August 1950
UMI Number: EP46476
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TAw project report, written under the direction
of the candidate’s adviser and approved by him,
has been presented to and accepted by the Faculty
of the School of Education in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of Master of
Science in Education.
t U a ......
__
Adviser
Dean
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I THE PROBLEM AND DEFINITIONSO F TERMS USED . . . . 1
The problem................................. 2
Statement of the problem ................. 2
Importance of the study................... 2
Definitions of terms used .................... 4
II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE...................... 6
III PROCEDURE.......... 21
IV A PLAY IN NINETEEN ACTS........................ 28
Introduction ............................... 29
Scripts..................................... 31
The Evening Before School Opens ............... 32
First Day of School......................... 35
Fighting Within the Family ................. 38
A Visit to the Office................. 40
Unsatisfactory Notices ..................... 43
Losing "Steady” ............................. 43
Arguing with Parents....................... 47
Making Mistakes in Games .................... 49
Running for Office ....................... 51
Maria’s Weekend ............................. 54
Staying Too Long at Girl Friend's............ 56
An Angry Teacher........................... 56
4-i
CHAPTER PAGE
Death in the Family . . . . . ........... . . 61
Being Lectured To . . ............. * . * • * 63
Family Doesntt Approve of Boy Friend . . . . 66
Money Troubles....................... . 69
Holding Hands......................... 72
Boysf Manners.............. .............. 74
The Class President Has a Problem. . . . . . 77
BIBLIOGRAPHY . ............................. 79
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE PAGE
I Distribution of Student Problems with
Respect to Age and Sex . ..................25
II Distribution of Intelligence Quotients of
Students with Respect to Age and Sex . . • • 2?
SOCIODRAMA FOR THE NINTH GRADE OF
FIRESTONE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM AND DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED
The frictions of modern life caused a high percentage
of the American people to become misfits* Bullis^ contended
that life was comparable,to a huge sorting machine* Of the
product of this machine one per cent will become delinquent;
two per cent are feeble minded; four per cent enter mental
hospitals; eight per cent become seriously neurotic. The
remaining eighty-five per cent are mentioned as being compara­
tively normal* Furthermore, the armed forces discovered that
many who passed psychiatric screening broke down when sub­
jected to the pressure of military circumstance* It has been
common knowledge that, for most Americans, life has become
less demanding physically but much more demanding psycho­
logically. Simultaneous with increased need for emotional
stability in the individual there has been a breakdown of
many of the factors that create stability. Divorced parents
or employed mothers have been rendered less capable of creating
secure home life. God and church have not been the absolutes
they were once considered* Communities, in many regions, have
become temporary way stations for highly mobile populations.
*1
A H* E. Bullis, Human Relations in the Classroom,
Course II, p. 200.
2
War, threat of war, depression and boom have further charged
the psychological atmosphere* That the individual has needed
assistance has been recognized by the public as well as by
the schools and professional psychologists* The heed has
existed in every community, and the public school which is
in every community must be prepared to serve.
I. THE PROBLEM
Statement of the problem* It was the purpose of this
study (1) to determine the problems of ninth grade boys and
girls at Firestone Junior High School by a survey of the
students themselves as well as by an inquiry among teachers
as to what some of those problems might be, (2) to determine
some of the factors that might influence the problems, (3)
to write a series of sociodramatic scripts that would warm
the students up to a program of role-playing and discussion
of student problems, (4) to present some auxiliary activities*
Importance of the study* The faculty and administra­
tion of Firestone Junior High School have long been aware that
helping boys and girls to become better integrated has been a
major school responsibility. Yarious techniques have been
used with varying degrees of observed success. The Bullis
technique, which is used in Bullisf Human Relations in The
Classroom, has been considered to be one of the best available.
By means of this work boys and girls have been given (1)
keen insights into the functioning of the human mind, (2)
modern vocabulary for the verbalization of those insights/
and (3) many valuable vicarious experiences* On the other
hand, many of the stories used by Col. Bullis were based on
experiences which were too remote from the everyday life of
boys and girls. Many of the students found the vocabulary
complex. Numerous boys and girls have observed that they
would have preferred it if Col. Bullis1 stories had been
}
chapters of one long story. It has been concluded that if
the sociodramatic scripts that follow are to be successful, ^
the situations created must be representative of the problems
of the boys and girls who will use them. The selected prob­
lems would have to be such that the students would want to
explore them. Those who have used Human Relations in The
Classroom have discovered from experience that those who do
not wish to discuss problems will not do so. Coercion and
force have no place in the activities being presented. Need­
less to say, the problems should be such that teachers should ^
be willing to have them explored. Students take cues from
teachers. Disapproving teachers create shells around students.
The scripts and activities, which follow them, would have to
present increased opportunity for each adolescent to learn to ^
understand himself and others, retraining based on improved
understanding, and last, but far from least, emotional catharsis