1. to introduce you to Readers theatre as an extension of literature circle
2. to help you promote your book to other colleagues and teach your students to do the same 3. to create an opportunity for your book club to consider and discuss the inseparable connections across spoken, written and read words and to develop strategies for helping your own students to recognize and make use of these connections to enhance their literacy strengths and to build up those areas they have less confidence and experience with. 4. to connect fun and playfulness with purposeful activity.
Step one Check out the following sites in order to develop an idea of what you’re about to do and why. Book mark them if they work for you and if you find other, better ones, send them to Glynis to put on Moodle for everyone.
http://cosee-central-gom.org/ovweb/ships%20and%20shipping/readersrubric1.html ( this one’s an assessment rubric and you can do a whole lot better but it’s a start)
http://forpd.ucf.edu/strategies/RT.self.assessment.pdf (likewise this- only it’s for self
assessment)
“Educators have long elaborated on the benefits of using Readers Theatre and related strategies for increasing reading fluency and sight-word vocabulary, improving reading comprehension, providing opportunities to interpret dialogue and communicate meaning, and increasing awareness and appreciation of plays as a form of literature. For example, Harris and Sipay (1990) describe script reading as one of the most interesting oral reading activities for children, and Coody (1992) notes that script reading provides a context for purposeful reading. Through this interactive activity the students are energized, actively involved in responding to and interpreting literature (Sebesta, 1997). Readers Theatre reinforces the social nature of reading (Busching, 1981) and provides an opportunity for students of varying abilities to work as a team in a cooperative learning environment (Flood, Lapp, Flood, & Nagel, 1992; Trousdale & Harris, 1993). Because implementation includes many readings of the script, Readers Theatre promotes oral reading fluency (Carrick, 2000; Millin, 1996) and enhances students’ ability to understand and transform text (Stayter & Allington, 1991).” http://www.readingonline.org/electronic/carrick/
Step two
Choose a section from your book that meets the following criteria:
it’s a pivotal and dramatic section
it allows for every group member to contribute in a central way it does not need background information to make sense to an audience who is unfamiliar with it it gives us insight into the motivations and aspirations of the central characters it challenges us to think it can be read as a script in under five minutes
Step three Using the rule that you can leave things out but cannot add anything, turn the selection you have chosen into a script. In all cases, the nature of the books you are reading requires sensitivity and cultural awareness as you work the piece you’ve chosen into a performance piece. Talk explicitly to each other about those issues in the text that only become apparent and awkward when they are no longer written and read but spoken. Consider how you will hel your students to hold the same kind of critical conversations and to reconcile their concerns respectfully and honestly.
