During Reader’s Theater rehearsals, students get down to work, reading and rereading their scripts. Of course, since they are rehearsing for a performance, it is not perceived as tedious — it is fun!
As the students prepare their parts, it is the time for the teacher to be the director and a critical observer!
As the director, do not interrupt students during their rehearsal; rather, take notes and offer your comments afterward, preferably in private conferences with each student. This approach, which you can liken to a dress rehearsal, lets the students feel the flow of a performance without interruption.
This video demonstrates one approach to an in-class Reader’s Theater rehearsal:
Do you have Reader’s Theater video to share?
We’d love to see your dress rehearsals and performances in action! Leave a comment below if you’d like to send your video in to be featured on this blog.
In case you missed it, here are the previous Reader’s Theater posts:
- Reader’s Theater Day 1: Multiple Reading Opportunities
- Reader’s Theater Day 2: Echo-Reading
- Reader’s Theater Day 3: Choral Read and Table Read
In my last blog, I introduced Day One from a Five-Day Lesson Plan in Reader’s Theater. During this blog, I would like to focus on Day Two. As I mentioned previously, Day Two focuses on echo-reading. During echo-reading the teacher reads the script out loud, again, stopping after each time a character speaks. I call this an exchange: It can be a one-word response to a few-sentence monologue. The students repeat each exchange, hopefully mimicking (echoing) the dramatic expression, etc.
Day Two in a Reader’s Theater lesson can also include opportunity to focus on other parts of the script. Pointing out any stage directions in the script and discussing what they mean with regard to the character’s feelings and emotions builds understanding of how students should sound during readings. Here’s an example:
More Reader’s Theater Resources:
Hurricane Irene is fast approaching the United States and we’ve got preparation on the brain! Will you be affected by Hurricane Irene? Are you planning to teach your students or children about hurricanes and other natural events in light of recent occurrences?
Benchmark Education’s Early Connections series features this relevant e-book:
Check it out, FREE! We hope it helps you to discuss some of these delicate subjects with your students or children.
Best,
The Benchmark Education Team
At Benchmark Education, we pride ourselves on developing products and services of the highest quality to meet the needs of students and educators around the world. Our motto is “Building Literacy for Life” and every one of us is dedicated to this mission. We’d like you to meet the team that is driving our mission forward every day.
JENNIFER BOYLE
Education, like being a Cubs fan, is in my blood. Great-grandpa was the Chairman of the English Dept. at the university I attended; he wrote textbooks published by the company he owned. Lessons in English and Busy Work is among the titles from 1930. (The little girl pictured on p. 7 is my mom!) Grandma Betty held her first teaching position in Cicero, IL, the same district where I taught middle school over 80 years later. My dad was the principal of the elementary school I attended and my parents were both my eighth grade teachers… more
One of my first students was a fourteen-year-old nonreader, Tosca, who had never attended school a day in her life. Her family owned a circus. They were internationally nomadic, never staying in one place long enough to keep her in school. The challenge of teaching Tosca to read scared me to death.
“How does reading happen?” The answer to this question had until this point evaded me. I couldn’t remember much about when I was learning to read, save the myriad of books my mother would read to me. And so it was that Tosca’s reading program began with sharing books…more
I am a native Texan, born and raised in the beautiful city of San Antonio. My mother was a teacher and my father was a bank executive. They both valued education. So obviously my pursuit of the profession was encouraged. Thankfully, I had the same goal in mind. From an early age, I had been fascinated by languages, and I spent a year of college attending the National University of Mexico in Mexico City, then attending Trinity University in San Antonio to pursue a degree in Spanish, as well as a degree in Education. I have spent 27 years as a bilingual classroom teacher… more
Growing up in Illinois amid a family of educators, it could be said that my career in education was inevitable. My grandfather was the superintendent of a small community school, and both my grandmother and mother were school teachers as well. After an initial rebellion against the education profession (I tried 5 different majors in college), I couldn’t deny my roots any longer. I answered the calling and became a teacher!…more
KIMBERLI KERN
I was destined to be a teacher, or so my mother told me when I pushed my sisters against the wall of a room and shoved a book under their noses to make them read. As I grew up in the southeast Arkansas Delta (that’s the farming area near the Mississippi River, for those who are unfamiliar), I followed this destiny with similar zeal (though not nearly as violently)! I am not sure that I could help it though, as my father, mother, and one of my two sisters are all educators (my other sister is the odd man out; she’s an RN, but we let it slide) …more
It is such an honor to work in this field and interact with teachers, administrators, coaches, students, and anyone who shares our passion to build literacy for life.
We are so excited to share our experiences and insights with you. We hope you’ll visit us regularly, read along, comment, and become part of our community!
Sincerely,
The Benchmark Education Team
I was destined to be a teacher, or so my mother told me when I pushed my sisters against the wall of a room and shoved a book under their noses to make them read. As I grew up in the southeast Arkansas Delta (that’s the farming area near the Mississippi River, for those who are unfamiliar), I followed this destiny with similar zeal (though not nearly as violently)! I am not sure that I could help it though, as my father, mother, and one of my two sisters are all educators (my other sister is the odd man out; she’s an RN, but we let it slide) …moreIn a follow-up to his May 11 Education Week piece, “How to Improve Teacher Quality? Treat Teachers Like Individuals,” Greg Gunn, a venture partner at City Light Capital, wrote about the intersection between technology and differentiated instruction on Education Week’s Futures of School Reform blog. One statement in the post shocked us as much as it had Mr. Gunn. Gunn quotes a prominent educator who says that “teaching and learning is a human process, and there is no place for technology in it.”
In some ways, this educator’s got it right; technology can’t replace or even mirror the human touch of an experienced and dedicated classroom teacher who has the unmatched compassion, discipline, adaptability, and wisdom to customize her curriculum to meet the needs of her students.
However, there is no question that technology is a tool that can help even the most exceptional teachers to support and improve classroom lessons. Every day, we see firsthand and hear about teachers using computers, interactive whiteboards, iPads, podcasts and more to illuminate and build on classroom instruction.
Let’s take differentiated instruction, the subject of the Ed Week article. The job of a teacher (already hard) has become even harder as teachers are asked to take each learning objective and customize it to the needs of every child in the classroom. Our best 21st century technologies do just that, offering diverse paths to learning, from something simple like a change in font or voice to something more complex like progressively more sophisticated activities and lessons.
What are your thoughts? What was your best teaching moment using technology?
Response to Intervention—identifying students who may be at risk of falling through the cracks either in reading or in math—is redefining education. However, the challenges that exist in implementing RTI for math can be significantly different than those for reading.
In this video, Lynn Fuchs, a senior advisor from the National Center on Response to Intervention, talks about these differences. She reflects that reading intervention is, in some ways, more straightforward because learning in the early years provides the building blocks for later comprehension and fluency, whereas math knowledge can follow a more indirect path including fractions, geometry, calculus, and measurement that don’t all naturally emanate from one another.
It’s no surprise that teachers are leading the charge on innovative interventions for struggling students. For example, to support the RTI framework in math specifically, Gabrielle Smith from Etna Elementary School brought an iPad into her classroom and used an application to test math facts among her students, making it fun to practice facts over and over again while storing children’s scores and progress.
Have you used RTI for math or solely for reading? What’s been your take on the similarities and the differences?
This summer, how about starting a book club among your staff?
Thomas Hoerr, a Head of School in Missouri, started a summer book club almost 15 years ago among his faculty to build a sense of community and inspire professional development over the summer. The books clubs are optional, run predominantly by the teachers, and based around a school wide interest or goal. The books they have selected run the gamut from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings to Emotional Intelligence.
You may even be able to begin this year. As Mr. Hoerr says, it doesn’t even have to be a book to get started; it could just be a magazine article or a newspaper editorial, anything that sparks interest and relates to school activities.
If your school had a book club for its staff, which book would you want to read first? And if you actually get inspired to do so, let us know which works you choose.
Do you know what the top NEW Elementary Intervention program is? If you answered, Benchmark Education’s Word Study & Vocabulary Skill Bags, you’re right!
We’re proud to announce that Benchmark Education’s Word Study & Vocabulary Skill Bags won the AEP 2011 Distinguished Achievement Award for Best Elementary Level Intervention product! These Word Study & Vocabulary Skill Bags make teaching word analysis strategies effective and easy. Each kit provides everything educators need to assess, target skills and differentiate instruction. They’re perfect for Grades 3-8+ classroom use or tiered intervention.
Have you used our skill bags? We’d love to hear your thoughts.
Last week, we discussed the challenge of avoiding the reading slump that strikes many kids over the summer months. We’re not the only ones thinking about this topic, and we’re excited to see how other people tackle the challenge of keeping kids learning and growing all summer long.
In that spirit, the Summer Learning Association sponsors Summer Learning Day on June 21st, facilitating events all around the country that are designed to ensure that kids continue to be safe, healthy and engaged throughout the summer. The website offers tips and resources for planning your own event and highlights plans for Summer Learning Day as diverse as a family swim, a spelling bee, a luau and a career day among others.
It’s not too late to jump on the bandwagon. Will you be hosting a summer learning event? If so, what’s on your agenda?
