Designed to help students respond in a positive way to poetry, poetry theater integrates dramatic technique with various aspects of reading, writing, analyzing, and reciting poetry. Poetry theater presentations require approximately five class periods to complete, allowing 45 minutes per class. The first class period should be devoted to choral…

Describes the author's experience working on a reader's theatre version of a radio play based on the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Reflects on how the grade 8 students created meaning for themselves and for their audience. Notes limitations of the script and format and her work within those limitations became the structure the group needed, a container…

Discusses Readers Theatre, an instructional activity that combines several effective research-based practices, and leads to increased engagement with literacy even in very resistant readers. Considers the theory and research behind Readers Theatre. Describes the process of choosing and writing texts for performance, and preparing for performances.…

Describes a 10-week project in two second-grade classrooms that used daily Readers' Theatre experiences to develop children's meaningful and fluent reading. Discusses access to manageable materials, effective reading models, rereadings, instructional support and feedback, choosing the texts, and preparing. (SR)

Readers theater is a dramatic art that directs attention to the words of a text. During a performance, a reader (rather than an actor) presents and interprets the work within a narrative context intended by the author. In this project, the text, a collection of the words and writings of a woman known as the Peace Pilgrim, tells the story of her…

Noting that oral communication skills need continuous refinement, this document outlines various methods of practicing these skills, such as literature circles in reading; a reader's theater; presentations of book reports; story telling; a poetry reading club; and choral reading. The document describes literature circles as small groups of readers…