Reader's Theatre

Finding a time to fit in a reader's theater lesson into my plans was very difficult because I only teach math and science. I found a few math picture books and a few on electricity and magnetism, but they didn't lend themselves to a script. Instead I opted to find a story that is related to the international magnet theme. The fourth grade country of study is Saudi Arabia this year. I have a lot of flexibility when choosing what to teach and how to teach it. Every Wednesday third period is designated as Saudi Arabian time. We integrate information into our instruction on other days, but during this time we can do more culturally specific activities. It was very difficult to find a story that clearly originated in Saudi Arabia, but I did find a few Arabian folktales. I settled on Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

When turning the story into a script, I had a few challenges. The first challenge was that the translation I was using had a few awkward phrases and some missing words. I had to try to infer what was going on and translate it into kid friendly language. I was also trying to keep in mind the different ability levels in the classroom. The second challenge was that I found myself using narrators a lot at the beginning of the play. There was not a lot of dialogue, so I had to make a lot of it up on my own. To keep the play manageable, I also had to try to decide what information was the most important and what could be left out. What I found the most creatively challenging was adding in stage directions. I did not add many because I think that adding stage directions could be a way to encourage the students' creativity.

I introduced the story by reading the entire thing to the class. Then every group practiced the first scene that I had written. They got to trade parts and practice their fluency. The students were able to choose their groups, and the naturally divided themselves by ability level. They found people with whom they were used to working and felt comfortable reading around. Next small groups of students will be given individual scenes to practice, and then the class will present their scenes to each other.

It was clear which students felt comfortable with the assignment and which ones were not as willing to emote. A few students immediately tried to read fluently, but others read with little expression. Some students followed the stage directions or added some of their own. The students enjoyed the activity and are excited to continue practicing their parts. All of the students are learning new information and vocabulary, and I am able to differentiate the scenes and parts to suit students' reading abilities. It takes a while to coordinate everything, but the students get a lot out of it.