Yesterday I introduced my first Reader's Theater. We are reading Charlotte's Web and I have taken a scene and adapted it for Reader's Theater. My smaller group of 14 fourth graders squealed and then gasped when they realized that someone would have to play the pig, and another the goose. I became quickly impatient with their concern over parts.
"You need to be happy with the part you are given and enjoy taking on each character." I said, or something to that effect. The squeals and commotion continued until I had distributed all of the roles and set them to practicing their lines quietly to themselves. Then I took a deep breath.
I have been researching a studying Reader's Theater and it's infinite possibilities for the past six months. As a former drama student myself, I love to bring drama to the classroom, and I see how it energizes a reading program. As I did further research into the topic, I also realized how critical this activity is in developing oral fluency and increasing student confidence in reading.
However, I have not been in a position to actually DO Reader's Theater in a classroom until now. Last year my husband and I moved to the Sierra Foothills, and I left my job as a second grade teacher. I did not have a job, and took a last minute long term sub job as a high school science teacher. Therefore, for the past year there has been somewhat of a rift between what I was researching for my MAT project and what I was doing on a daily basis in the classroom.
This year, however, my dreams came true and I became a fourth grade teacher. Now I could actually practice what I have been scheming for so long. I decided to ease myself into it by working with a smaller group during our intensive reading instruction time. Our school has a pull-out system, which divides up the class into three leveled reading groups for 45 minutes a day. Twelve of my students go to intensive reading instruction, and I am left with the 15 who are considered at grade level. So Reader's Theater should be no problem, right? Only 15 students, and those who are not struggling? Well, after my first day I am reminded that "teaching in theory" is veeeeery different than "teaching in practice."
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A Blog to support my Master's project at Fresno State University
I am a student in the Master's of Arts in Teaching program. I am conducting an Action Research project in my fourth grade classroom analyzing the impact of Reader's Theater on oral reading fluency and motivation to read.
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Kim teaching second grade
A little more about me...
- This is my tenth year in education; six of those years I taught outdoor and experiential education, and I have been in the public school system for four years.
- I grew up in Palo Alto, California, where I particapated in over 30 youth theater plays. This theater was run by the city and free to all participants. My crowning moment was a tap dancing solo I performed as a "dame at sea" while singing about my long, lost sailor. I still have my tap shoes :)
- I took one year off teaching to travel the world. I went to Nepal, Tibet, Thailand and Malaysia to trek, study meditation, learnThai massage and master the art of peeling pineapples.
- One of my favorite activities in my classroom is to play guitar and sing with my students. Our current class favorite is "Food Chain" which is an educational science song, that has a bit of a heavy metal component to it. So my students and I get very excited while singing about herbavores and carnivores.
2 comments:
Isn't it almost always the case that one's vision and the true outcome are very different. Sounds like a regular teaching day to me.
I'm planning to implement some Reader's Theater lessons in my class this year. I'm pretty excited to see how this works and I know your blog is going to be a very useful guide in this endeavor.
Readers' theatre can definitely energize any classroom setting. This summer, I took a critical thinking in children's lit. course which had a drama/theatre session built into it. One of the strategies you could use to ease everyone's anxiety about parts is to have several students act out one part through different perspectives. For example, students could bring Wilbur's character in a particular scene as an angry pig, a sobbing pig, or a know-it-all swine just for fun. Another idea would be to try a gender switch for certain characters.
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