Reader's Theater
"Reader's Theater involves reading (not memorizing) a script and performing it without scenery, makeup, costumes, or props" (Jennings, Caldwell, & Lerner, 2014). Its main focus is to work on effective reading techniques. Students can read individually or chorally as they practice their parts while preparing to perform. "Thus, they are engaging in repeated reading and are very motivated to do so because of the performance aspect" (Jennings, Caldwell, & Lerner, 2014).
"Reader's theater gives students a real reason to read aloud," says Cara Bafile. Reader's theater is an oral reading activity that involves students in reading, writing, listening and speaking and helps to improve students' fluency. It allows students to share literature, read aloud, write scripts, perform with a purpose and work collaboratively with their peers (Cornwell, 2015).
Reader's theater is performed with no props, no costume and no set! They are also performed with shorten scripts of popular kids stories, books and even plays that are written at grade level. Sam Sebesta says, "it resembles radio dramas with tone or more readers who stand or sit next to each other, hold scripts and read their parts expressively" (2015).
Reader's theater is a great way to involve the entire class, regardless of their reading and fluency level. It helps motivate reluctant readers as well as providing the opportunity to explore different genres to more fluent readers. Students are given plenty of time to practice and there is no memorization necessary, therefore no one will be put on the spot. Reader's theater is not a difficult strategy to use, it just takes some time.
Here are a few helpful tips from Education World (Reader's Theater: A Reason to Read Aloud, 2014):
1. Choose scripts that are fun to do with lots of good dialogue.
2. Start slowly and spend the necessary time for students to feel comfortable while performing.
3. Model each character's part and mate roles to readers.
4. Combine parts if there are too man and cut out scenes and characters that aren't important.
5. Scripts are not set in stone. Change them if they work better a different way.
6. Work with small groups, not the whole class, whenever possible.
Along with changing up sets, don't be afraid to come up with your own. Kasey Kiehl, an 8th grade teacher says that she has taken guided reading books with lots of dialogue, assigned characters and a narrator and it worked out well. It can be done. Don't be limited by what can be found on the internet, be creative. Reader's theater also lends itself to giving students the opportunity to write their own plays and scripts. Let students be creative and use their work with the class as well.
There are tons of places out there to find reader's theater scripts, but here are a few links to get you started!
"Reader's theater gives students a real reason to read aloud," says Cara Bafile. Reader's theater is an oral reading activity that involves students in reading, writing, listening and speaking and helps to improve students' fluency. It allows students to share literature, read aloud, write scripts, perform with a purpose and work collaboratively with their peers (Cornwell, 2015).
Reader's theater is performed with no props, no costume and no set! They are also performed with shorten scripts of popular kids stories, books and even plays that are written at grade level. Sam Sebesta says, "it resembles radio dramas with tone or more readers who stand or sit next to each other, hold scripts and read their parts expressively" (2015).
Reader's theater is a great way to involve the entire class, regardless of their reading and fluency level. It helps motivate reluctant readers as well as providing the opportunity to explore different genres to more fluent readers. Students are given plenty of time to practice and there is no memorization necessary, therefore no one will be put on the spot. Reader's theater is not a difficult strategy to use, it just takes some time.
Here are a few helpful tips from Education World (Reader's Theater: A Reason to Read Aloud, 2014):
1. Choose scripts that are fun to do with lots of good dialogue.
2. Start slowly and spend the necessary time for students to feel comfortable while performing.
3. Model each character's part and mate roles to readers.
4. Combine parts if there are too man and cut out scenes and characters that aren't important.
5. Scripts are not set in stone. Change them if they work better a different way.
6. Work with small groups, not the whole class, whenever possible.
Along with changing up sets, don't be afraid to come up with your own. Kasey Kiehl, an 8th grade teacher says that she has taken guided reading books with lots of dialogue, assigned characters and a narrator and it worked out well. It can be done. Don't be limited by what can be found on the internet, be creative. Reader's theater also lends itself to giving students the opportunity to write their own plays and scripts. Let students be creative and use their work with the class as well.
There are tons of places out there to find reader's theater scripts, but here are a few links to get you started!
These images shows students engaging in the Reader's Theater strategy. The students are reading/presenting their script to the classroom. This strategy helps students build fluency with their reading, read with expression, and build confidence with their speaking skills in the classroom.
Along with numerous scripts online, there are many videos as well. Videos of kids in elementary as well as middle and high school performing reader's theater. There are also some high school and colleges that have teams that compete with reader's theater. There are many different stories as well. This large genre as well as very popular activity is fun and helpful to students when they work on their fluency as well as their confidence. Below is a video example of students performing a reader's theater story of the Three Little Pigs:
Content area examples:
1. Reader's theater can be used in a science class when students are learning about the life cycle of a caterpillar. Through a reading of The Very Hungry Caterpillar as a reader's theater piece, students can work on their fluency as well as learning about the life cycle. Below is a link of the reader's theater The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
2. As for Social Studies and history, students could do a reader's theater of history of their state. For example, if you live in Texas, there is a whole book on reader's theater that talks about Texas' history, as well as some basic knowledge reader's theater scripts about Texas. Click the link below to visit the script.
2. As for Social Studies and history, students could do a reader's theater of history of their state. For example, if you live in Texas, there is a whole book on reader's theater that talks about Texas' history, as well as some basic knowledge reader's theater scripts about Texas. Click the link below to visit the script.
3. While talking about Similes, in a language arts class, the students could do a reader's theater production about similes. The link below is a script for a simile reader's theater full of fun similes that classrooms can use. You can also see examples of similes used in sentences on this link, entitled Simile.
4. Reader's theater could also be used in a health class or art class. For example, in a health class you could use a reader's theater script to get a better understanding about exercising. Also, you could use a reader's theater script for an art class to get the students learning about different artists. The options are endless.
Type of Learner:
Reader's Theater is a strategy that is good for at-risk, beginner and emergent readers. It builds confidence in all readers as they read in a safe and comfortable environment of their classroom. The students who struggle or are less confident can take smaller parts until they build their confidence and feel comfortable enough to take larger parts.
Repeated Reading
Repeated reading is a evidenced-based strategy that is designed to help increase a student's reading fluency and comprehension, however, the main focus is fluency. A student rereads a selection until a desired outcome is reached, such as predetermine rate or no errors. Repeated reading can be done in small groups, individually or in a one-on-one setting. This strategy was originally intended to help students with little experiences with reading fluently "to gain confidence, speed and process words automatically" (Jennings, Caldwell, Lerner, 2014).
According to W. J. Therrien's study of the repeated reading strategy, showed that this strategy improved the reading fluency of students both with and without learning disabilities. He noted that this strategy showed gains in fluency for both passages that have been read before for repeated reading as well as new passages used with this strategy. Therrien also found that there are four essential components to an effective repeated reading instruction. They are as follows:
Therrien looked at repeated reading as a whole, however there are two different kinds of repeated reading. There is regular repeated reading which has a greater focus on comprehension and then there is timed repeated reading which focuses more on fluency. With timed repeated reading, the focus is on reading rate and reading accuracy, two big parts of fluency. Through the use of timed repeated reading, both the teacher and the student can monitor their fluency and rate.
This is done by calculating the words correct per minute (WCPM) with a one minute timed reading of a passage. First students are given a passage, then they are to read the passage for one minute while the teacher times them and keeps track of the number of missed words. Once time is up, the WCPM is calculated. This is done by taking the number of words read and subtracting the number of mistakes from that. For example, if a student reads 150 words but makes 5 mistakes, their WCPM is 145. After the WCPM has been calculated, the student can color in a graph that shows their WCPM and then do a repeated read and record their next WCPM as a way to keep track of and monitor their improvement. (Timed Repeated Readings).
While using the strategy of repeated reading, be sure to select books that are an appropriate level for the students. Also, choose books that are worth reading over and from a variety of genres. Don't be afraid to try something outside the box, graphic novels, for example are great for helping student with expression in their work towards being fluent readers. (Fluency).
Below is a video demonstrating this process as well as a link to the monitoring chart being used.
According to W. J. Therrien's study of the repeated reading strategy, showed that this strategy improved the reading fluency of students both with and without learning disabilities. He noted that this strategy showed gains in fluency for both passages that have been read before for repeated reading as well as new passages used with this strategy. Therrien also found that there are four essential components to an effective repeated reading instruction. They are as follows:
- Having student read aloud to an adult. Through the research, Therrien found that while repeated reading was effective in itself, it was more effective when students read with an adult rather than reading with a peer or buddy reader (student in a grade above their own).
- Having student read the passage 3-4 times. This allows students to become more familiar with the passages as well as the words within the passage so students begin to recognize words which leads to greater fluency.
- Cuing students before reading to focus on either reading for speed or reading for comprehension or both. By cuing students to either focus on speed or comprehension, Therrien found that both were increased. It was also shown that the greatest improvements came when students were asked to focus on both fluency AND comprehension.
- Corrective feedback provided during or after the repeated reading. When students were being given corrective feedback, they gained a greater fluency as well as comprehension while using the repeated reading strategy. (Therrien, 2015).
Therrien looked at repeated reading as a whole, however there are two different kinds of repeated reading. There is regular repeated reading which has a greater focus on comprehension and then there is timed repeated reading which focuses more on fluency. With timed repeated reading, the focus is on reading rate and reading accuracy, two big parts of fluency. Through the use of timed repeated reading, both the teacher and the student can monitor their fluency and rate.
This is done by calculating the words correct per minute (WCPM) with a one minute timed reading of a passage. First students are given a passage, then they are to read the passage for one minute while the teacher times them and keeps track of the number of missed words. Once time is up, the WCPM is calculated. This is done by taking the number of words read and subtracting the number of mistakes from that. For example, if a student reads 150 words but makes 5 mistakes, their WCPM is 145. After the WCPM has been calculated, the student can color in a graph that shows their WCPM and then do a repeated read and record their next WCPM as a way to keep track of and monitor their improvement. (Timed Repeated Readings).
While using the strategy of repeated reading, be sure to select books that are an appropriate level for the students. Also, choose books that are worth reading over and from a variety of genres. Don't be afraid to try something outside the box, graphic novels, for example are great for helping student with expression in their work towards being fluent readers. (Fluency).
Below is a video demonstrating this process as well as a link to the monitoring chart being used.
These charts can be used to record a student's number of words correct per minute each week. By graphing the student's results, he or she is able to see the increase in number of words read each week. In return, students are motivated to try harder to improve on their last weeks score.
Content Area Examples:
Repeated readings are typically used during language arts classes. Although, the strategy could possibly be used for other content areas, such as, science or history. However, keep in mind that the reading materials should be at the student's appropriate level.
Type of Learner:
Repeated reading is a strategy that can be used with all readers. This is because it is a strategy that is based on and uses text that are at the appropriate level for the students. By using the level books that students need, every student is working on their fluency and comprehension skills at the correct instructional level.
Content Area Examples:
Repeated readings are typically used during language arts classes. Although, the strategy could possibly be used for other content areas, such as, science or history. However, keep in mind that the reading materials should be at the student's appropriate level.
Type of Learner:
Repeated reading is a strategy that can be used with all readers. This is because it is a strategy that is based on and uses text that are at the appropriate level for the students. By using the level books that students need, every student is working on their fluency and comprehension skills at the correct instructional level.
References for Reader's Theater:
Bafile, C. (2015). Reader's Theater: Giving Students a Reason to Read Aloud. Retrieved October 19, 2015, from http://www.readingrockets.org/article/readers-theater-giving-students-reason-read-aloud
Cornwell, L. (n.d.). Scholastic.com for Librarians | What Is Readers Theater. Retrieved October 19, 2015, from http://www.scholastic.com/librarians/programs/whatisrt.htm
Free Reader’s Theater Stories and Scripts. (n.d.). Retrieved October 19, 2015, from http://www.freereaderstheater.com/free-readers-theater-stories-and-scripts
Jennings, J. H., Caldwell, J. S., Lerner, J.W. (2014). Reading Problems: Assessment and Teaching Strategies. Boston: Pearson.
Kiehl, K. (2013, August 11). Middle School Teacher to Literacy Coach: 5 Strategies to Improve Reading Fluency. Retrieved October 19, 2015, from http://middleschoolteachertoliteracycoach.blogspot.com/2013/08/5-strategies-to-improve-reading-fluency.html
Reading Rockets. (2015). Retrieved October 19, 2015, from http://www.readingrockets.org/
Reader's Theater: A Reason to Read Aloud. (n.d.). Retrieved October 19, 2015, from http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/profdev/profdev082.shtml
Readers Theatre Scripts. (n.d.). Retrieved October 19, 2015, from http://www.proteacher.com/cgi-bin/outsidesite.cgi?id=4502&external=http://www.fictionteachers.com/classroomtheater/theater.html&original=http://www.proteacher.com/070173.shtml&title=Readers Theatre Scripts
Sebesta, S. (n.d.). Readers Theatre. Retrieved October 19, 2015, from https://www.teachervision.com/literature/theater/6526.html?detoured=1
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. (2008, July 1). Retrieved October 19, 2015, from http://www.teachingheart.net/readerstheater.htm
Theatre Arts I - Reader's Theatre: The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (2011). (2011, September 22). Retrieved October 19, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq0Ohvo_b1U
Young, C. (2013). Readers Theatre Scripts. Retrieved October 19, 2015, from http://www.thebestclass.org/rtscripts.html
Images/Videos:
http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/readers_theater
https://youtu.be/Bq0Ohvo_b1U
http://www.freereaderstheater.com/free-readers-theater-stories-and-scripts
http://www.proteacher.com/cgi-bin/outsidesite.cgi?id=4502&external=http://www.fictionteachers.com/classroomtheater/theater.html&original=http://www.proteacher.com/070173.shtml&title=Readers%20Theatre%20Scripts
http://www.thebestclass.org/rtscripts.html
http://www.teachingheart.net/readerstheater.htm
References for Repeated Reading:
Cox, J. (n.d.). Repeated Reading - Fluency and Comprehension Strategy. Retrieved October 19, 2015, from http://k6educators.about.com/od/ReadingStrategies/a/Repeated-Reading-Fluency-Strategy.htm
Fluency. (n.d.). Retrieved October 15, 2015, from http://powerupwhatworks.org/strategy-guide/fluency
Jennings, J. H., Caldwell, J. S., Lerner, J.W. (2014). Reading Problems: Assessment and Teaching Strategies. Boston: Pearson.
Reading Fluency Strategies. (2009). Retrieved October 15, 2015, from http://www.readingresource.net/readingfluency.html
Therrien, W. (2015). Center for Parent Information and Resources. Retrieved October 15, 2015, from http://www.parentcenterhub.org/repository/abstract55/
Timed Repeated Readings. (2011). Retrieved October 19, 2015, from http://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/timed_repeated_readings
Images/Videos:
https://youtu.be/rrrLJR7Zbq0
https://mcdn1.teacherspayteachers.com/thumbitem/Fluency-Graphs-for-Student-Data-Notebooks/original-359989-1.jpg