Celebrate Canada through

ReadeRs’ theatRe

Teacher Resource

By Claude Belanger, Ron Benson, and Myra Junyk

© 2010 Curriculum PlusBy Claude Belanger, Ron Benson, and Myra JunykEditor: Sylvia Gunnery

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Celebrate Canada through Readers’ Theatre Teacher Resource

Overview This Curriculum Plus online teacher resource provides general in-formation in the following areas:

• About Readers’ Theatre• Advantages of Readers’ Theatre • Features of Curriculum Plus Scripts• Assigning/Negotiating Roles• Practice/Rehearsal• Performance

Titles in the Celebrate Canada through Readers’ Theatre series (and the number of characters in each script):

• Thanadelthur: Peacemaker of the Chipewyan (six characters)• Dayohagwenda and the Corn Spirit (seven characters)• 1867: The Journey Begins! (eleven characters)• Canada’s Constitution Comes Home (nine characters)• Louis Riel and the Red River Colony (nine characters)• The Men in Sheepskin Coats (ten characters)

For each of the scripts in this series, the author offers:• Background • Activities Before Reading • Tips For Voice and Expression • Extending the Experience• Books of Interest• Websites of Interest

About Readers’ TheatreReaders’ theatre is an opportunity to showcase language through the reading of a script before an audience. Participants rehearse their reading parts in order to bring a story to life for an audience. Readers’ theatre usually involves minimal staging such as props, costumes, or scenery. Scripts can, however, be performed as more elaborate productions for specific purposes.

Advantages of Readers’ Theatre • Readers’ theatre encourages students to have fun as they im-

prove reading skills. • Through repeated readings and rehearsals, readers’ theatre im-

proves fluency and prosody (speech elements including: into-nation, pitch, rate, loudness, and rhythm).

• Readers’ theatre scripts complement curriculum content areas, such as Canadian social studies.

• Each script includes a range of reading levels reading levels to

Celebrate Canada through Readers’ Theatre

support students at varying stages of reading growth. • Readers’ theatre enhances understanding of story structure, vo-

cabulary, and comprehension of written text. • Through rehearsing and performing readers’ theatre scripts,

students gain another perspective on information they may be familiar with from their classroom texts.

• Readers’ theatre integrates listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills as readers and audience enjoy the story presented.

• Readers’ theatre also builds confidence in all who participate.

Features of our Curriculum Plus ScriptsIntroducing the script is an important part of readers’ theatre. Build-ing prior knowledge before students begin to work with the script improves comprehension of the text for both readers and audience alike. Time spent familiarizing students with specific features of the script will also help to make the readers’ theatre experience more enjoyable.

To scaffold the reading, these activities are recommended:1. Provide each student with a script.

2. Discuss the various graphic elements of the script. • front cover illustrations – Discuss the choices for the cover

illustrations. How does the central cover introduce the content of the script? What is learned from this illustration? What other choices could have been made for this illustration? How does the image in the box near the top of the cover support the basic concepts of this series: Celebrate Canada through Readers’ The-atre?

• font size – The font size is larger than a typical text. This fa-cilitates reading the script aloud during practice and in front of an audience.

• colour – Each character’s name appears in a different colour. This will help readers find their characters’ parts during prac-tice and in performance.

• other visual elements - Discuss how the image at the top of each page in the script provides a sense of continuity through-out the text. What is learned from this image? What other choices could have been made for this image?

3. Discuss the various text components of the script. • back cover information – The back cover offers information

about the theme of the script and about the author. Read the paragraph about the theme. What can students predict about this readers’ theatre script: the central historical event; the

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Celebrate Canada through Readers’ Theatre Teacher Resource

storyline; the main characters? Read “About the Author.” Dis-cuss the autobiographical details shared by the author.

• characters – Examine the list of characters at the beginning of the script. In what order are the characters listed? Which char-acters are familiar to students? What is the role of a narrator? Which characters are new to students? What do students already know about the significance of the historical/legendary char-acters?

• voice tips – Why are voice tips provided? Why are they written in parentheses?

• setting – Discuss the setting of the story in the script. When did the events take place? Where does the action take place? Are students already familiar with the place (or places) in the set-ting? What other connections might students make to the set-ting of the script?

• glossary – Explain the format and purpose of a glossary. Dis-cuss the elements of the glossary in the script: new words (in alphabetical order), definitions, and sample sentences. Why is it important to know the meanings of various words before per-forming the script? What are other strategies for understanding new words?

4. Examine any other words from the script which may present challenges for your students. Invite them to create their individual word lists, including meanings and sample sentences from the script.

5. Select at least five key sentences from the script to begin discus-sion of the content. These key sentences should include lines from the narrator and the main characters in the story. Discuss each of these key sentences.

• What is the main idea presented?• Who is speaking? • What tone of voice is being used by the speaker? Why?• What do we learn about the story and the character?

Assigning and Negotiating RolesThe range of reading levels within each script allows for the use of readers’ theatre with heterogeneous reading groups. For all Curricu-lum Plus readers’ theatre scripts, character reading-level designa-tions are: “easy,” “moderate,” and “challenging.” In this teacher resource, these designations are provided for every role in each of the readers’ theatre scripts.

At all reading levels, some content-area vocabulary may require in-struction to assist students in constructing meaning and building comprehension. Students assigned to roles that involve reading pas-sages above their independent reading level will require varying amounts of support to work toward a performance standard. (More

information is provided about this in the Performance and Re-hearsal section, below.)

Assigning RolesHaving introduced the script and established its purpose in the classroom program, role assignment/negotiation can now begin. A cooperative tone is set so that students view all roles, including the role of audience, as equally important.

Consider the following when matching readers to characters in the script:

• reading ability of students • interest expressed by students, both in the topic and in the vari-

ous roles• reading level of the various roles • personality traits displayed by the characters• support required for students to accurately portray characters• collaborative/social skills of participants

Negotiating RolesNegotiating roles is an opportunity for the teacher to lead a discus-sion concerning the responsibilities of the students toward the group effort and helps control the conditions for success. Some or all of the following considerations may help to inform the decision regarding role assignment/role acceptance:

• Have the students had previous experience with readers’ the-atre?

• What was the degree of participation in the pre-reading activi-ties?

• What was the degree of success with the pre-reading activities?• How many opportunities will there be for students to participate

in a performance of this script? (For example, the script may be performed by a number of groups.)

• What criteria will be used to assess the level of success in the performance of the script? How will the assessment be used to evaluate the performance?

Readers’ theatre is fun and invites participation by all students. Ne-gotiating roles allows everyone to see that fairness was applied to the role designation process. Students may feel a heightened sense of responsibility toward their role if they have had a chance to confer with the teacher and each other during the process of negotiating roles.

Practice and RehearsalPractice or rehearsal of a readers’ theatre script toward a perfor-mance provides all students with an opportunity to engage with the script whether they have roles as readers or as audience members. Rehearsals involve reading the text over and over, allowing everyone

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Celebrate Canada through Readers’ Theatre Teacher Resource

to become more familiar with the script. To portray a character con-vincingly, a reader is required to construct meaning which builds comprehension. Also, readers will be more confident in their roles as they develop fluency.

Practice is paramount. Begin with independent practice so that in-dividuals, through silent reading, become more familiar with the text. Then invite students to work in pairs, reading their respective parts to each other. Finally, have the students practise in their read-ers’ theatre groups.

During practice, students will determine how parts should be read by focusing on:

• correct pronunciation• clear enunciation• proper phrasing• suitable emphasis • effective use of pauses• suitable speed • appropriate volume• varied inflection• engaging voice• intensity of feeling• correct posture and positioning of script to ensure best voice

projection

During practice times, the teacher could:• provide an oral reading model for students to imitate For example, you might use one or more of the following strat-

egies:• shared reading: The teacher reads aloud. Then, students join in

as they become more and more comfortable with the text. • echo reading: The teacher reads a sentence or section aloud and

asks the student(s) to read it back.• choral reading: Everyone reads aloud together. This strategy

can be used with large or small groups, allowing participants to learn together.

• monitor students’ oral reading Ask questions, such as: Which is the most important word in

that sentence? How will you read this word so the audience will understand the meaning and have a clear sense of why this word is important in the sentence?

• offer support and encouragement to all students For example, you might say: You’re reading at a suitable

speed. That will help your audience to make sense of what you’re saying.

PerformanceThere are two active roles in the performance of a readers’ theatre:

reader and audience. Participating readers sit on chairs with scripts in hand, and face the audience as they read aloud. The role of the audience is to listen attentively without a script. Make Space for a Performance Prepare a floor space where the audience can arrange their chairs and the performers can place their chairs in a row facing the audi-ence. Beginning a PerformanceEach reader introduces himself/herself by character name in order of appearance, giving a brief description of the role that character plays. For example: “I’m John, butler to Mr. Smith, the household-er.” To avoid confusion and to enhance audience understanding during the performance, each reader could wear a large card show-ing the character’s name.

During a Performance A performance could be spread over several days to encourage sus-tained engagement by audience members. Usually, the teacher’s role is to observe and make quick jot notes about the performance to offer during the follow-up debriefing. If a classroom performance is in preparation for a wider audience (e.g. another class or a parent night), the teacher might choose to interject an occasional com-ment to improve the performance.

Following a Performance Usually, all students involved in the readers’ theatre will participate in the debriefing session. Encourage everyone to discuss their re-spective roles:

• readers: Were you pleased with your performance? Why or why not? If you were to perform this readers’ theatre again, is there anything about your performance you would change? If so, what would that be and why?

• audience : Were you happy with how well you listened to the performance? Were you able to make sense of the storyline? Were you engaged from the beginning to the end? Why or why not?

• all students: Invite the readers to comment on the audience and whether or not the role they played enhanced the performance. Encourage the audience to comment constructively on the per-formance of the readers.

Alternative PerformancesFollowing the initial performance, students could read for other classes. As well, you may decide to have your students perform a readers’ theatre during a school family night function such as a seasonal concert. Props, costumes, and minimal staging could be incorporated for such events. If appropriate, students might even memorize their parts and create a stage play.