Reader's Theater Curriculum
Elementary Lessons Encourage Reading Fluency and Cooperation
Brenda and Tom McGee's Reader's Theater and So Much More offers elementary teachers fun skits, research activities, vocabulary lessons and creative writing ideas.
Prufrock Press, the nation's leading provider of curriculum for gifted and talented instruction recently purchased McGee-Kaiser's Out of the Box Curriculum Company. Among the McGee-Kaiser titles obtained from this purchase is Brenda and Tom McGee's 2006 language arts curriculum guide, Reader's Theater and So Much More.
Using Humor to Teach Elementary Reading and Vocabulary
Reader's Theater and So Much More provides seventeen complete humorous skits and two other "Starters." These comical skits, such as a knock-off of the old "To Tell the Truth" TV game show in which the audience must discern the real George Washington Carver, provide teachers with a clever method of encouraging students to read and re-read. In this way students obtain fluency with high-frequency words and master new vocabulary words through repeated use and context clues.
Additionally, students using lessons from this text build reading comprehension skills as they make predictions, identify plot elements, recognize character and setting, recognize the main idea, and draw conclusions.
Building Oral Communication Skills
Since students prepare skits for an audience (whether student or otherwise), they will necessarily gain oral presentation experience. As students prepare their dramatic interpretations, they will also begin to examine rhetorical elements such as purpose and audience. A skilled teacher will also take this opportunity to help students with pacing and voice projection.
Finally, because reader's theater demands that students listen for reading cues, this curriculum enforces active listening. Language is always more fun in the context of a play!
Reader's Theatre activities will encourage
- Voice flexibility for the purpose of dramatic interpretation
- Articulation and proper pronunciation
- Projection to an audience
Differentiation of Instruction
Differentiation of instruction levels is always a challenge, especially with early learners who may be at vastly different reading levels. To make differentiation easier, the authors suggest that teachers assign parts to fit student reading ability. Since students are provided with time for silent reading prior to working within a performance group, they will also be able to seek assistance for more difficult words before reading before a group. "The objective," state the authors, "is fluency and oral expression, not cold reading."
Research and Writing Activities
One of the more exciting elements of this curriculum guide is the potential for lesson extension. In addition to pre-reading activities that assess prior knowledge, suggested post-reading activities ask students to discuss, research and write creatively.
Starter activities require small group research in order for students to complete a script. For instance, "Super Nut Man" requires students to research healthy food options. Research is focused and manageable for an elementary audience. In fact, the authors provide reproducible question worksheets to keep students on target with lesson objectives.
The curriculum is incredibly teacher friendly. In addition to instructions that are succinctly presented and visibly appealing, reproducible rubrics at the end of the guide are flexible enough allow teachers to focus on specific classroom objectives.
Reader's Theatre and So Much More strikes the perfect balance between important standards of learning and fun learning experience.
