The Most Wonderful Time of the Year…for Readers Theater!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, but let’s face it, students are restless. The holidays bring lots fun, excitement and anticipation. This time of year it can also be particularly difficult to hold students’ attention.

Student energy is high- and instead of fighting it, why not work with it?  We are long time fans of Reader’s Theater, especially around the holidays.

Reader’s Theater will help you to increase student motivation for learning and at the same time, help students practice essential skills. You can meet your classroom objectives and standards while having fun. And best of all, it can work at all grade levels and in all subjects!

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 necessary skills such as:

• fluency
• vocabulary
• reading confidence
• collaboration and teamwork

Readers Theater requires students to use common core higher level comprehension skills such as…

• Asking questions
• Making connections
• Analyzing
• Synthesizing
• Evaluating

Readers Theater can also help students learn content area subject matter.

Are you studying the circulatory system or the Revolutionary War? Are your students reading a novel? We’ve even done RT in math by using math poems! Older students can review content area material by working in small groups to create their own scripts.

You don’t need to be a theater director in order to use readers theater in the classroom. If you can guide students to understand what they are reading and help them read with expression, you can do this!

Reader’s theater is not a play or skit. You don’t need fancy props or costumes or sets. Students don’t need to memorize their lines. They practice reading orally by repeatedly reading a script that is at their level or that reviews content information.

Here are the steps to a successful Readers 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, Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse or Math Talk by Theoni Pappas.  Explore the poetry books available in your school or public library and allow students to choose their favorites.

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. You can divide content into different topics and assign each small group a topic.

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.If needed, introduce the material by building background knowledge and introducing vocabularYou might also want to practice reading with expression by giving students a few sentences to read expressively.

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 the script orally.

8. Teach students the secret to successful Readers Theater:  “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.

Have students stand in a line. Practice reading multiple times.  With each practice, add a step.

Here is a good order for what to practice: 

• 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. These are often best when written by students!
• 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. This is not required, but students love doing it and it increase the chance that they are paying attention to others so they know when to turn back around!
• Encourage students to look at and connect with the audience.

9. 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. We love the imagination and creativity of students and the ways they will rise to the challenge by creating scripts or perfomances that go beyond our expections. We hope that you will give it a try!

Happy reading!

Paula and Michele

Reference:

Allington, R. (2001). What really matters for struggling readers. New York: Longman.