Readers Theater

Learning Target OR Standards & Connections
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.4 Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
Essential Outcome(s) Level(s)
Students will…

  • increase their fluency and comprehension through repeated readings and practice of Readers Theatre scripts and experience a variety of literature, including fiction and nonfiction, in the form of Readers Theatre scripts.
All Grade Levels 
Activity/Project
  1. Introduce Readers Theatre in a general way; discuss the difference between a play and a Readers Theatre performance. Explain that the goal of Readers Theatre is to increase fluency (through automaticity, accuracy, and prosody), make inferences within text that will influence the execution. 
  2. Pass out scripts and assign parts.
  3. Students practice reading the text with fluency, inflection in their voice, and 
  4. When the group feels confident, have them record their piece using the blank template within Soundtrap. Teacher choice: they may use sound effects and background music. 
  5. Group critique – pass out a group evaluation sheet before they share their projects.  
  6. Celebrate finished products by uploading to social media and/or class website!
Extended Learning
  1. Have students find other books that they would like to see become a Readers Theatre script. A great extension is to allow students who feel ready to create their own script to perform.
  2. Have each group perform for a younger class at your school or even on morning announcements. These performances can be great practice for the final performance for podcasts.
Additional Resources

 

The author of this is Meredith Allen. Prior to joining the Soundtrap team, Meredith served as an Instructional Technology Consultant at Prairie Lakes Area Education Agency in Iowa.  Preceding her consulting, Meredith taught instrumental music, K-7 technology and facilitated a district’s Virtual Reality Education Pathfinders program. She also served on their District Leadership Team, served as the district’s Technology Integrationist, and assisted with the implementation of the district’s 1:1 computing initiative. Meredith has a Master’s of Science in Technology for Education and Training and participated in the 2016 Iowa cohort of the national Teacher Leadership Initiative.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.


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