Have your students identify dramatic structure within the context of a variety of different plays, movies or books. If you're reading a book as a class, have the students dissect that piece of literature. Students can also choose to dissect their favorite movie, play or book. Have students share their findings with each other in a group and ask the students to discuss whether or not the students' inferences are correct.
Take a story that all of the students know well, such as a fairytale like "Little Red Ridinghood" or "Hansel and Gretel." Write down the key points of the story on several index cards and lay them out in front of the students. Have students put the cards in order as they identify the different sections of the story, putting them with "climbing action," "resolution," and so forth. You can make it into a contest in which the quickest group to put the cards in order will "win."
Have students get together and write a short story together following this simple formula. The story doesn't need to be long, but must include all of the necessary steps to make a dramatic narrative "complete," according to the framework of dramatic structure. Have student groups share their stories with the rest of the class and ask the class to discuss whether or not this story fits the dramatic structure.
Have students in small groups make up a short story to act out, or use "scenes" from famous books or plays. Ask students to perform abridged versions of different scenes and ask the rest of the students to guess which part of the dramatic structure students are performing, such as the climax, resolution or falling action. Before the performing students reveal the answer, ask the students who are watching what clues were given that lead them to the decision they made.