Great lesson to get everyone involved. I also liked that this is a lesson that could be adapted to all grade levels especially because fluency is something that can be worked on at multiple levels.
It was good to see how you can get the whole class involved and how students can either be more excited or less enthusiastic and be comfortable with this as they participate right from their desk. It was a bit difficult getting engaged with the pictures, but everything needs a warm up or ice breaker.
I really enjoyed your lesson. It was very engaging and allowed for everyone to participate. Since each person had just a few lines, it wouldn’t be overwhelming even for the shy students. Because the parts were scattered, the students have to follow along so they don’t miss their cue. It encourages word fluency and allows for creativity in that students can choose to alter their voices to fit the part. This is a lesson that can be modified for any age group. It addresses several learning styles and levels of learners. Most important- it was fun.
Christine, Carmen, and Lindsay’s lesson on readers’ theatre did a great job of highlighting how this strategy can be used to build reading fluency, but also to build a collective sense of effort among students. I loved the idea of how other curricular areas can determine the subject of readers’ theatre and the possibilities of creating your own with the students. I feel these collective efforts bring such a sense of accomplishment that can’t be achieved individually, and readers’ theatre offers such a great avenue for this.
Wow, what a fun lesson. It is so effective to have students get excited about learning and performing! Great costumes and excitement about the process. The story that was chosen worked very well within a classroom setting. I couldn't help but put myself in the shoes of a grade five student and fully engross myself into the role of Sickening Sid! One question for your group: What would be the most effective way of giving parts? You did the "random" method in class, which worked well for all of us eager teachers, but how could this be varied in a classroom full of extroverts and introverts? Great job!
A really engaging method to use for repeated reading. This stratey would be really fun to see in action, and a show at the end of the unit would be a great way to involve parents in the students accomplishments. For the presentation, it might have been nice if there were more examples of how to use this in the classroom, or how to assign roles according to ability level. Great job overall!
I love theatre very much so your lesson presentation is beyond doubt my cup of tea. Especially valuable part of the lesson, in my opinion, was your method of introducing different acting voices with the pictures. For students who are natural in acting it is not as important as for those who might experience difficulty in getting into the role. Professional actors visualise in their minds situations that will bring them to certain emotions; presenting pictures to grade 5 students is a first step towards the same goal. Readers’ Theatre in the classroom seems to be a good method to have children “hooked” to life theatre, dieing branch of the performing art. What counts the most in your presentation was that you not only promised the excitement but also delivered. The only question that I am having in my mind is how would you deal with the class management when you would like to extend this experience into repetitive rehearsals for stage performance. Some students might not be as excited with acting as the others.
I remember one inter-module day in which one group presented a story and we all had to be the sound effects of the characters. I think you guys were part of that module? And again, like that inter-modular day, I had a lot of fun. I am a natural introvert, but it wasn’t hard for me to get into character because of the “actor voices” exercise you did beforehand. I also liked how you let the class decide on the sound effects of the characters as this creates the sense of ownership of the story. The costumes were a really nice touch! I liked how you started your presentation as introducing “two SFU presenters” to a grade school class. It made the shift from teacher to presenter less confusing. Good job, I had many laughs!
I really enjoyed this lesson. Everyone was involved - and even if someone only had one or two lines, I really liked how the students are "forced" to read and follow along and wait for their turn. The country accents and the sound effects were extra funny. I could see this type of lesson being incorporated into a variety of different grades - even secondary students would love the chance to dress up and giggle. Excellent Job!!!
I always find it enjoyable when I am given a chance to add my own creativity into an activity. I loved the western theme, I think younger students (and old ones like us) relate well to cowboys and the like. It was definately a fun accent to pull off, great lesson!
This lesson was great because it got the whole class involved. Students obviously won’t know how many lines they have so they have to try to pay attention throughout the whole play to make sure they are on time to read their lines. As long as you know the dynamics of your class, you can assign roles to students depending on their personalities and interests. I for one loved doing a silly voice while reading as it made me have so much more fun with it. I can totally see a couple of students getting into this act whereas the shy students might not use the silly voices. Is it possible to have all students participating equally? I think it’s totally possible as long as the foundations of a community classroom have been established in order to make any activity non-threatening for all members of the class.
This lesson was ideal as it encouraged participation and allowed each member of the classroom to become involved in the lesson. For this reason, readers' theatre is definitely an effective tool for increasing fluency in the classroom. Our classroom was definitely an optimal learning environment for the utilization of such a strategy. We were all eager and willing to participate. It would be interesting to see how difficult it is to assign parts or methods and encourage participation in a class with a large variation in abilities and personalities. Setting guidelines and expectations for students initially in the school year should help to create a comfortable learning environment where students due not fear taking such risks.
The readers theatre lesson was wonderful to participate in, as well as learn about. I can appreciate how this lesson activity improves fluency, celebrates reading, encourages creativity, allows for all students to participate in a challenging, risk-taking, and cooperative experience.
Even though I have been introduced to reader’s theatre, this one has been the most enjoyable. It was great to see you dressed up in costumes and really enthused about your lesson. Kids love to see that kind of energy from their teachers, and it really makes them want to be involved in their learning. The skit was really funny and a great activity for the class because everyone had a part, allowing all of us to be involved. It was good to see how the reader’s theatre could also be adapted by allowing those students who do not enjoy public speaking to choose roles in which they do not speak as much as other students. The lesson was very engaging. It was also good to know how reader’s theatre could be used for songs, poems, riddles, and many other things. Thank you for passing on the online link as well!
As the final group presenting, you did a wonderful job at engaging yours students and maintaining a high level of energy through Reader’s Theatre. I found that the actual lesson itself and the theory or helpful related information flowed very nicely into and fro one another. Your “Mid-West” theme helped me to see what a fantastic way Reader’s Theatre could be to extend a Social Studies or Science Unit. It wasn’t difficult to imagine how children would be motivated to improve their fluency in order to add some of the fantastic vocal expression that we heard from the class during your activity.
I also liked the way that you suggested ways that you could modify or extend this lesson. Your idea for creating “puppet shows” was one that I found particularly appealing.
Your costumes were really fun, and demonstrated the energy that could stem from even having a few props handy during a similar lesson, such as hats or sound makers.
Christine, Carmen and Lindsay did an excellent job on their readers theater lesson. I loved how they got the whole class involved in this lesson. They were very well prepared and organized. This was a very engaging lesson and could be adapted to any grade level. I though it was a great idea to have a warm up activity to get the whole class involved in acting out those felling cards. This was a good way to break the ice and to encourage the students to play the part. I also liked how they set the scene by dressing up and got the class to imagine what it would look like. This would motivate many students to pretend they were that character. Readers Theater is an excellent way to build on fluency because the students need to follow along the whole script to make sure they do not miss one of their lines. I think it is also great for those shy students because no one will know whose turn it is. I am one of those shy students and I was lucky to only have one line however, I was still very engaged and closely followed along. Therefore, no matter what ones comfort level is with reading out loud I feel that this activity is non threatening because everyone randomly choose a character and no one knew who was who and you could change your voice. I think if we were to randomly choose characters again perhaps the script would be read differently. I was in the module with Christine when we were divided into groups and every time we heard a word we had to give a sound effect and that was fun to. I want to teach primary so I would probably start off with that way first and then move my way up to the way they presented it today. I think older kids would really like doing this because they can play the role of their character. I never did readers theater with my class so I was very happy to see how I could do it my future class. Thank you for doing such a great job in modeling how to do it!!
I am so glad someone did this type of lesson! I have heard of readers thatre but never had the chance to experience or teach it. I really like how it involves everyone in the class and gives everyone a chance to say something. The only thing I may be cautious about, especially with younger students, is that some parts were very small. Some children would be very upset if they only got one line while others had many. I have not had a chance to look at the website yet, but for myself I would hope there were scripts to choose from where there was a more even distribution of lines.
The Reader's Theatre lesson was such a great idea! I found it to be really engaging and created a sense of community within the class. What was also great was how you explained that it can be a strategy that allows for adaptation and that it can be used cross curriculum depending on topic themes. This is so important because reading is involved in all school subjects and each subject has its own language, so with new unit topics this would be a great way to start a theme. Great preparation and materials for the presentation.
Readers Theater – Carmen, Christine, Lindsey Awesome! I loved the reader’s theater it was fun and engaging and had all students reading. It was important to keep up with reading and not just follow along listening because you never knew when your part would come up and you had to take a turn reading. It also gave slower readers the opportunity to read ahead and read their parts before their part came up. I like that there seems to be lots of ways to incorporate students how are less advanced in reading be giving them small parts and still helping them to read and achieve success. It is so important in reading to feel like you are successful at what you are doing. I also liked having this as a resource for teaching.
19 comments:
Great lesson to get everyone involved. I also liked that this is a lesson that could be adapted to all grade levels especially because fluency is something that can be worked on at multiple levels.
It was good to see how you can get the whole class involved and how students can either be more excited or less enthusiastic and be comfortable with this as they participate right from their desk. It was a bit difficult getting engaged with the pictures, but everything needs a warm up or ice breaker.
I really enjoyed your lesson. It was very engaging and allowed for everyone to participate. Since each person had just a few lines, it wouldn’t be overwhelming even for the shy students. Because the parts were scattered, the students have to follow along so they don’t miss their cue. It encourages word fluency and allows for creativity in that students can choose to alter their voices to fit the part. This is a lesson that can be modified for any age group. It addresses several learning styles and levels of learners. Most important- it was fun.
Christine, Carmen, and Lindsay’s lesson on readers’ theatre did a great job of highlighting how this strategy can be used to build reading fluency, but also to build a collective sense of effort among students. I loved the idea of how other curricular areas can determine the subject of readers’ theatre and the possibilities of creating your own with the students. I feel these collective efforts bring such a sense of accomplishment that can’t be achieved individually, and readers’ theatre offers such a great avenue for this.
Wow, what a fun lesson. It is so effective to have students get excited about learning and performing! Great costumes and excitement about the process. The story that was chosen worked very well within a classroom setting. I couldn't help but put myself in the shoes of a grade five student and fully engross myself into the role of Sickening Sid! One question for your group: What would be the most effective way of giving parts? You did the "random" method in class, which worked well for all of us eager teachers, but how could this be varied in a classroom full of extroverts and introverts? Great job!
A really engaging method to use for repeated reading. This stratey would be really fun to see in action, and a show at the end of the unit would be a great way to involve parents in the students accomplishments. For the presentation, it might have been nice if there were more examples of how to use this in the classroom, or how to assign roles according to ability level. Great job overall!
I love theatre very much so your lesson presentation is beyond doubt my cup of tea. Especially valuable part of the lesson, in my opinion, was your method of introducing different acting voices with the pictures. For students who are natural in acting it is not as important as for those who might experience difficulty in getting into the role. Professional actors visualise in their minds situations that will bring them to certain emotions; presenting pictures to grade 5 students is a first step towards the same goal. Readers’ Theatre in the classroom seems to be a good method to have children “hooked” to life theatre, dieing branch of the performing art. What counts the most in your presentation was that you not only promised the excitement but also delivered. The only question that I am having in my mind is how would you deal with the class management when you would like to extend this experience into repetitive rehearsals for stage performance. Some students might not be as excited with acting as the others.
I remember one inter-module day in which one group presented a story and we all had to be the sound effects of the characters. I think you guys were part of that module? And again, like that inter-modular day, I had a lot of fun. I am a natural introvert, but it wasn’t hard for me to get into character because of the “actor voices” exercise you did beforehand. I also liked how you let the class decide on the sound effects of the characters as this creates the sense of ownership of the story. The costumes were a really nice touch! I liked how you started your presentation as introducing “two SFU presenters” to a grade school class. It made the shift from teacher to presenter less confusing. Good job, I had many laughs!
I really enjoyed this lesson. Everyone was involved - and even if someone only had one or two lines, I really liked how the students are "forced" to read and follow along and wait for their turn. The country accents and the sound effects were extra funny. I could see this type of lesson being incorporated into a variety of different grades - even secondary students would love the chance to dress up and giggle. Excellent Job!!!
I always find it enjoyable when I am given a chance to add my own creativity into an activity. I loved the western theme, I think younger students (and old ones like us) relate well to cowboys and the like. It was definately a fun accent to pull off, great lesson!
This lesson was great because it got the whole class involved. Students obviously won’t know how many lines they have so they have to try to pay attention throughout the whole play to make sure they are on time to read their lines. As long as you know the dynamics of your class, you can assign roles to students depending on their personalities and interests. I for one loved doing a silly voice while reading as it made me have so much more fun with it. I can totally see a couple of students getting into this act whereas the shy students might not use the silly voices. Is it possible to have all students participating equally? I think it’s totally possible as long as the foundations of a community classroom have been established in order to make any activity non-threatening for all members of the class.
This lesson was ideal as it encouraged participation and allowed each member of the classroom to become involved in the lesson. For this reason, readers' theatre is definitely an effective tool for increasing fluency in the classroom. Our classroom was definitely an optimal learning environment for the utilization of such a strategy. We were all eager and willing to participate. It would be interesting to see how difficult it is to assign parts or methods and encourage participation in a class with a large variation in abilities and personalities. Setting guidelines and expectations for students initially in the school year should help to create a comfortable learning environment where students due not fear taking such risks.
The readers theatre lesson was wonderful to participate in, as well as learn about. I can appreciate how this lesson activity improves fluency, celebrates reading, encourages creativity, allows for all students to participate in a challenging, risk-taking, and cooperative experience.
Even though I have been introduced to reader’s theatre, this one has been the most enjoyable. It was great to see you dressed up in costumes and really enthused about your lesson. Kids love to see that kind of energy from their teachers, and it really makes them want to be involved in their learning. The skit was really funny and a great activity for the class because everyone had a part, allowing all of us to be involved. It was good to see how the reader’s theatre could also be adapted by allowing those students who do not enjoy public speaking to choose roles in which they do not speak as much as other students. The lesson was very engaging. It was also good to know how reader’s theatre could be used for songs, poems, riddles, and many other things. Thank you for passing on the online link as well!
As the final group presenting, you did a wonderful job at engaging yours students and maintaining a high level of energy through Reader’s Theatre. I found that the actual lesson itself and the theory or helpful related information flowed very nicely into and fro one another. Your “Mid-West” theme helped me to see what a fantastic way Reader’s Theatre could be to extend a Social Studies or Science Unit. It wasn’t difficult to imagine how children would be motivated to improve their fluency in order to add some of the fantastic vocal expression that we heard from the class during your activity.
I also liked the way that you suggested ways that you could modify or extend this lesson. Your idea for creating “puppet shows” was one that I found particularly appealing.
Your costumes were really fun, and demonstrated the energy that could stem from even having a few props handy during a similar lesson, such as hats or sound makers.
Thank you!
Mollie Koch
Reading Log/Blog Week 5
Christine, Carmen and Lindsay did an excellent job on their readers theater lesson. I loved how they got the whole class involved in this lesson. They were very well prepared and organized. This was a very engaging lesson and could be adapted to any grade level. I though it was a great idea to have a warm up activity to get the whole class involved in acting out those felling cards. This was a good way to break the ice and to encourage the students to play the part. I also liked how they set the scene by dressing up and got the class to imagine what it would look like. This would motivate many students to pretend they were that character.
Readers Theater is an excellent way to build on fluency because the students need to follow along the whole script to make sure they do not miss one of their lines. I think it is also great for those shy students because no one will know whose turn it is. I am one of those shy students and I was lucky to only have one line however, I was still very engaged and closely followed along. Therefore, no matter what ones comfort level is with reading out loud I feel that this activity is non threatening because everyone randomly choose a character and no one knew who was who and you could change your voice. I think if we were to randomly choose characters again perhaps the script would be read differently.
I was in the module with Christine when we were divided into groups and every time we heard a word we had to give a sound effect and that was fun to. I want to teach primary so I would probably start off with that way first and then move my way up to the way they presented it today. I think older kids would really like doing this because they can play the role of their character. I never did readers theater with my class so I was very happy to see how I could do it my future class. Thank you for doing such a great job in modeling how to do it!!
I am so glad someone did this type of lesson! I have heard of readers thatre but never had the chance to experience or teach it. I really like how it involves everyone in the class and gives everyone a chance to say something. The only thing I may be cautious about, especially with younger students, is that some parts were very small. Some children would be very upset if they only got one line while others had many. I have not had a chance to look at the website yet, but for myself I would hope there were scripts to choose from where there was a more even distribution of lines.
The Reader's Theatre lesson was such a great idea! I found it to be really engaging and created a sense of community within the class. What was also great was how you explained that it can be a strategy that allows for adaptation and that it can be used cross curriculum depending on topic themes. This is so important because reading is involved in all school subjects and each subject has its own language, so with new unit topics this would be a great way to start a theme. Great preparation and materials for the presentation.
Readers Theater – Carmen, Christine, Lindsey
Awesome! I loved the reader’s theater it was fun and engaging and had all students reading. It was important to keep up with reading and not just follow along listening because you never knew when your part would come up and you had to take a turn reading. It also gave slower readers the opportunity to read ahead and read their parts before their part came up. I like that there seems to be lots of ways to incorporate students how are less advanced in reading be giving them small parts and still helping them to read and achieve success. It is so important in reading to feel like you are successful at what you are doing. I also liked having this as a resource for teaching.
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