VOCABULARY, vocabulary, when will I teach it? Maybe while I’m reading to the students? Research says that some vocabulary words are learned indirectly, and others can be taught directly. We’re going to discuss the latter. Read-aloud is a wonderful time for you and your students because it provides the perfect opportunity to teach words directly. Many of you are doing this already. However, new teachers or teachers changing grade levels might find this refresher helpful. Let’s prepare for read-aloud!
First of all, you need GREAT books–not just any book will do. When you select GREAT books for instruction, you need to think about what your students are interested in, background knowledge, and age, racial, and gender appropriateness, to name a few. You could just peek into the classrooms of those expert teachers around you. They always know and have the best books. That will at least get you started with titles of interest to you. Once you have chosen a book, read all or a portion of the book. Upper grades like to read chapter books, so they would probably read one chapter at a time (unless it’s too long of course).
On to vocabulary. How should you choose the words you use during your read-aloud? Let’s start by reviewing the three tiers of vocabulary:
- Tier One encompasses basic words such as to, all, of, etc.
- Tier Two words are words that we use in everyday life. (These are words such as marathon, computer, and splatter. These words can also have double meanings, such as the word “conduct.” In this case, conduct not only has multiple meanings, it’s pronounced differently too!)
- Tier Three words relate to the content areas of math, science, and social studies. Some examples of Tier Three words are biology, Fahrenheit, and genetics.
It really makes the most sense to use Tier Two words on a daily basis. So let’s think about how we may choose great Tier Two words in our read-alouds. The first thing to do is search for words while reading your book. Of course there are many cool words to choose from. However, it is important that you focus on just two or three words. Once the words are chosen, think about friendly definitions for each. Then you will create fun activities for students to interact with the words. One of my favorite activities is giving examples of the word but also including a couple of examples that do not reflect the word. Let’s use the word “splatter.” Some examples to use could be a glass filled with water falling off the counter, paint spilling from a ladder, a book falling off a shelf, and a pillow landing on the floor. You would tell the students to give you a signal in response to the examples, such as giving a thumbs up if it is an example of the word, and turning the thumb down if it is not. Other signals could include standing up or sitting down, and touching the nose or not touching the nose.
Now that you’re set, you can share the book and special vocabulary words with your students. Conduct your read-aloud as usual. After reading, go back to the page in the text where you found the first word you chose. Read the sentence containing the word. Explain the meaning of the word in context. Have the students say the word. Give students a friendly definition (one they can understand). Now it’s time for your brief activity. After the activity, have the students say the word again. Continue with your other words.
There are many ways for your students to interact with words. You can find them in professional books, online, everywhere. A reader must know most of the vocabulary words in order to comprehend a text. Read-aloud provides a wonderful opportunity for students to enjoy a great story and to learn new vocabulary words while having fun doing it!
For more information on effective vocabulary instruction and read-alouds, visit:
Effective Read-Aloud Techniques
The experience of reading a book is exactly that – an experience. It evokes different feelings when read privately than when read aloud, when discussed in a book club, or when seen in movie form. Inevitably, the reader takes away something different when it’s oral vs. visual or individual vs. group. The reader’s mind is challenged in different ways as the characters may look different, sound different, and be interpreted differently.
At Benchmark Education, we have found that Reader’s Theater is a very successful model for teaching literacy in an oral group setting. By definition, Reader’s Theater is the reading of a text with others in front of an audience. The text can come from any form of literature: poetry, fiction, script, or any other literary work, or be an original piece that explores history, science, and even math concepts in an engaging way. But what’s important is that the reading is straight forward yet dramatic:
1) By “straight forward,” we mean there are little to no special effects, staging, scenery, costumes, music, or (importantly) memorizing of lines.
2) By “dramatic,” we mean that children need to interpret the characters by using their voices to bring them to life and show how the characters feel, who they are, and how they fit in with the story.
This is not the school play; it’s reading to learn. And when used well, Reader’s Theater can positively impact readers’ fluency, comprehension, interest, and confidence.
Throughout the arc of this blog, we will discuss Reader’s Theater extensively – why and how is it used, and how we (and ultimately you) can make it successful. We will offer tips and strategies on how to incorporate Reader’s Theater into the classroom and explore what other educators are doing.
So starting today, let’s talk about some of the basics of performing a reader’s theater script: staging and scenery.
Staging
We already mentioned that you don’t need a formal stage to perform a reader’s theater script with your students; in fact, it’s not recommended. Instead, you just need to make some space in your classroom or “go on tour” to a multipurpose room, the library, the school lobby, or even outdoors. Ask students to look either at the audience (pretend or real) or at other characters (i.e., students) while reading their parts. And experiment with the following techniques to see which one works best for your classroom. Have students onstage:
- Remain seated on chairs or stools in a line or semicircle
- Place their scripts on music stands and stand behind them
- Stand throughout the entire performance
- Stand only when they read their parts
- Stand in a line and step forward when they read their parts
- Stand with their backs to the audience and turn around when they read their parts
- Move onstage and offstage for their parts
Scenery
Scenery can be as simple as a sheet or a large piece of fabric taped to the wall or as complicated as backdrops and murals made by the students themselves. However, the former is recommended so as not to distract the audience or other characters. In traditional reader’s theater, a single spotlight illuminates a dark, plain stage while readers wearing dark outfits sit on stools. Such staging allows the audience to create their own images rather than see literally the actors in their roles.
Have you personally ever used Reader’s Theater in your classroom? If so, what have you found are the challenges? How have you staged it and incorporated scenery, if at all?
More Reader”s Theater Resources:
