Do you need some lesson plan inspiration to kick up the interest and engagement in your classroom? Reader’s Theater will help you to increase motivation for learning while practicing essential skills. You can meet your classroom objectives and standards while having fun!
According to national reading expert Richard Allington, in order to increase reading skill:
- Students need to read a lot
- Students need to read material they can read independently
- Students need to learn to read fluently
- Students need to develop thoughtful literacy
The best way to build fluency is to repeatedly read independent level material. Fluency and comprehension are closely linked. Word by word reading does not provide personal fulfillment and little comprehension. If we don’t understand what we are reading, we don’t enjoy reading. If we don’t enjoy something we tend not to do it. The bottom line for all reading research is the more we read, the better we read.
Reader’s Theater builds:
- fluency
- vocabulary
- reading confidence
- collaboration and teamwork
Reader’s Theater also requires students to use higher level comprehension skills such as…
- Asking questions
- Making connections
- Analyzing
- Synthesizing
- Evaluating
Depending on the script you choose, Reader’s Theater can also help students learn content area subject matter. Think of a script about the circulatory system, or the Revolutionary War.
Reader’s theater is not a play or skit. There are no props or costumes or sets. Students do not memorize their lines. They practice reading orally by repeatedly reading a script that is at their reading level. Because Reader’s Theater involves oral reading without the extra time consuming activities of designing sets, and memorizing, it can be done much more frequently that a play production.
Here are the steps to a successful Reader’s Theater lesson:
1. Select material. Scripts can be plays from a book, a basal reading series, or that are found on-line. Poems work well for shorter Reader’s Theater practice. Almost any poem can divided into parts for different readers. Students love to perform from classic poetry books from authors such as Shel Silverstein or Jack Prelutsky or from poetry books that connect to content areas such Bone Poems by Jeff Moss or Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. Explore the poetry books available in your school or public library.
Students can also work alone or in small groups to write their own scripts based on a novel they have read or subject matter they have learned in a content area.
2. Prepare scripts. You may want to highlight parts for younger children. Consider taping scripts to construction paper for stability. Prepare a director’s script for yourself.
3. Introduce material by build background knowledge and introducing vocabulary.
4. Have students read the script silently. Silent reading should always precede oral reading.
5. Ask students to find words they need help with. Tell them the words.
6. Assign parts, have students read their parts and highlight them.
7. Read through script orally.
8. Stand and get ready to move. Teach students about “The Magic Box.”
Have students stand and place their arms out in front and sideways, not touching anyone or anything. This is their “ Magic Box.” In Reader’s Theater, they can perform any action or gesture as long as they stay within their “Magic Box. ” This technique allows students to move, within limits and helps with physical and behavior management.
9. Have students stand in a line. Practice reading multiple times. With each practice, add a step. Here is a the order
- Read for oral fluency
- Read for oral expression- have students choose particular words for emphasis. Vary tone (sad, serious, amused etc.), volume, rate, pitch, etc.
- Read for facial expression. Have students practice making appropriate expressions.
- Read for gestures. Students have a tendency to partially do gestures, such as half a wave. Teach students to do full gestures, such as a three second wave. With gestures, go big or go home!
- Add physical movement such as bending and turning. Remember to stay in “The Magic Box.”
- Add introductions and conclusions.
- Add “turn- arounds.” This means when a character is not in the scene, they turn around with their back to the audience. When the character re -enters the scene, they face the front again.
- Encourage students to look at and connect with the audience.
Constantly monitor volume. Encourage students to project. Stand at the back of the room and see if you can hear them. Teach them that your hand to your ear means you can’t hear them. Don’t let them put their scripts on the floor or cover their faces with them. Talk to students about where the sound goes if your head is facing the floor! This is a great life skill for future public reading or speaking.
10. Invite an audience! This might be as simple as the rest of the class, the class next door or a school employee such as the principal or a literacy coach.
11. After the performance, take a bow. This builds confidence in oral reading and public speaking!
Reader’s Theater is a wonderful strategy for building skills while engaging students. Have you used Reader’s Theater? We’d love to hear about your experiences or answer your questions.
Happy reading!
Reference:
Allington, R. (2001). What really matters for struggling readers. New York: Longman.
Fun idea! I’m going to have to figure out how to use this with homeschooling. My 2nd grader reads well, but she really needs to work on presentation when she reads. This sounds like a fun way to do that 🙂
Hi Jenny, Reader’s Theater is so much fun. You could use poem books, such as Shell Silverstein, and have her practice reading them outloud and then give a “performance.” There is also a series of books for beginning readers called Poems for You and A Friend. It is VERY common for second graders to read words well but need work on fluency. Reader’s Theater works on fluency because you read things over and over again until you are very fluent.