Say/Do #5
Fostering Talk Around Literature II
Black,
A & Stave, A. M. (2007). A comprehensive guide to readers theatre:
Enhancing fluency and comprehension in middle school and beyond. In An introduction
to readers theatre (pp. 3-18). Newark: International Reading Association.
Black,
A & Stave, A. M. (2007). A comprehensive guide to readers theatre:
Enhancing fluency and comprehension in middle school and beyond. In Developing
the performance (pp. 34-49). Newark: International Reading Association.
Milner, J., Milner,
L., & Mitchell, J. (2012). Bridging English, Developing an oral
foundation (pp.90-101). (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.
“Say"
As last week introduced Socratic Circles, this week we read about Readers Theater. Like Socratic Circles, Readers Theater is an excellent activity to meet “speaking and listening” standards. In Chapter 1 of “A Comprehensive Guide to Readers Theatre”, the authors introduce the concept of Readers Theater as one answer to the problem of illiteracy. Readers Theater allows students to see text “come to life”. They point out that the activity teaches students to “read” into performances, to learn more about the text. In a similar manner to the ways in which visual literacy (for example, through graphic novels) can bridge the gap for students with trouble reading, oral performances can help these students. In Bridging English, Milner & Milner reminds us that thought is inextricably tied to language. Teaching students to analyze language beyond text is an essential part of any English classroom. Readers theater is an interpretive activity, giving students a chance to act out their own interpretations of a work. Through rehearsals and performance, they can learn more about a text.
As last week introduced Socratic Circles, this week we read about Readers Theater. Like Socratic Circles, Readers Theater is an excellent activity to meet “speaking and listening” standards. In Chapter 1 of “A Comprehensive Guide to Readers Theatre”, the authors introduce the concept of Readers Theater as one answer to the problem of illiteracy. Readers Theater allows students to see text “come to life”. They point out that the activity teaches students to “read” into performances, to learn more about the text. In a similar manner to the ways in which visual literacy (for example, through graphic novels) can bridge the gap for students with trouble reading, oral performances can help these students. In Bridging English, Milner & Milner reminds us that thought is inextricably tied to language. Teaching students to analyze language beyond text is an essential part of any English classroom. Readers theater is an interpretive activity, giving students a chance to act out their own interpretations of a work. Through rehearsals and performance, they can learn more about a text.
Chapter 3 of Black’s & Stave’s work is dedicated to delving into the
specifics of how Readers Theater performances should be developed. The most
interesting component of developing these performances to me is the matter of
choosing an audience. Indeed, Readers Theater should be an inclusive activity. Amongst
other audiences, members of school faculty, family members, other classrooms should
be involved.
Readers Theater sounds like it would engage students, but I would be
wary about using it incorrectly. While “performing” text can be helpful, it can
also cause students to shift their focus from the importance of interpreting
and understanding text to the performance aspect of it. Of course, some
preparation is required for Readers Theater; students must understand text in
order to accurately portray it. For this reason, it is most likely a waste of
time to engage a text for the first time with Readers Theater. Furthermore, I
would definitely ensure that students are actually benefiting from such activities,
and are not merely entertaining themselves.
I think you raise some interesting points about Readers Theatre. I also found the importance of audience interesting, and I think having people come from outside the classroom would keep students from "merely entertaining themselves," a legitimate concern. I also think incorrectly implementing Readers Theatre could be detrimental or--at least--a waste of time. However, I think the important thing is that students are practicing reading and writing skills such as rereading and annotating the text as they read.
ReplyDeleteI think it requires scaffolding definitely, but I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand. I don't know if you have ever acted before, but it requires a lot of language breakdown and comprehension when done correctly. If you're truly trying to get the essence of the piece, you have to worry about voice inflection, meaning, diction, etc. You can do some pretty high level analysis through a Reader's Theater. I think it's particularly useful when trying to chunk a difficult text because you're only asking students to make meaning form a portion. String those portions together and kids can do something thinking about a larger block that helps advance understanding. Can you do me a favor and add a bit about your Do. I'm curious about your thoughts on how that went this week.
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