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:
