Exploratorium 2012: Wolf, Cheryl

Table #5       Dramatizing Nonfiction with Readers’ Theater

 

Audience:       All 

 

Presenter:       Cheryl Wolf, Alisa Epstein, Lauren Packard

                        The Neighborhood School (PS 363)

121 East 3^rd Street

City, State Zip New York, NY 10009

Library Web site www.mckinleylibrary.org

E-mail cwolf5@schools.nyc.gov

 

Description, Goals, Intended Outcomes: 

Students adapt informational texts to readers theater scripts and perform them.

 

Essential questions:

How can I make informational text comprehensible to peers?

How can I make it interesting to others?

 

Reading fluency

Building deep comprehension of informational texts

Student collaboration (teamwork)

 

Process to Develop and Implement this Project:

Librarian(s) writes and perform a nonfiction readers theater script and model the development of the process.

Librarian(s)  provides examples of books that lend themselves to the format.

Students choose books, select important passages or sections (notetaking).

Students identify speaking parts/characters/narrator.

Students practice reading their scripts.

Students perform for peers and receive feedback.

Students perform “final” for families and other classes.

 

Budget:  none

 

Timeline:  6-10 sessions in the library, depending on independent groups’ progress

 

Evidence of Outcomes, Possible Adaptations, Lessons Learned:

Students’ enthusiasm shown during performances and the fluency with which they read the final scripts.   Students’ engagement with their own presentations showed varying degrees of comprehension evidenced 

 

Identifying main ideas

Synthesizing and paraphrasing the information learned to the extent that they were able to create a dramatic narrative structure

 

 

Common Core State Standard(s) addressed:

RI.4.1-3

W.4.4-5

SL.4.4-5

 

Information Fluency Continuum (IFC) Skill(s) addressed:

• uses prior knowledge and experiences to understand new facts and ideas
• uses various note-taking strategies
• determines important details

 

Skill(s) taught:           

extracting important facts and ideas

public speaking (e.g., tone, inflection, clarity)

group work/collaboration

 

Assessments:

Self evaluation of listening and performance skills

 

Resources Used:

            library books

paper               pencils             highlighters

photocopy machine