Charlotte Teachers Institute

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 Storytelling is an interactive performance art form. Direct interaction between the teller and audience is an essential element of the storytelling experience. An audience responds to the teller’s words and actions. The teller uses this generally non-verbal feedback to immediately, spontaneously, and improvisationally adjust the tones, wording, and pace of the story to better meet the needs of the audience.

 Storytelling is, by design, a co-creative process. Storytelling audiences do not passively receive a story from the teller, as a viewer receives and records the content of a television program or motion picture. The teller provides no visual images, no stage set, and generally, no costumes related to story characters or historic period. Listeners create these images based on the performer’s telling and on their own experiences and beliefs.

 Storytelling is, by its nature, personal, interpretive, and uniquely human. Storytelling passes on the essence of who we are. Stories are a prime vehicle for assessing and interpreting events, experiences, and concepts from minor moments of daily life to the grand nature of the human condition. It is an intrinsic and basic form of human communication. More than any other form of communication, the telling of stories in an integral and essential part of the human experience.

 Storytelling is a process, a medium for sharing, interpreting, offering the content and meaning of a story to an audience. Because storytelling is spontaneous and experiential, and thus a dynamic interaction between teller and listener, it is far more difficult to describe than is the script and camera directions of a movie, or the lines and stage direction notes of a play. Storytelling emerges from the interaction and cooperative, coordinated efforts of teller and audience. (NSMA)

Reader’s Theater uses similar elements of storytelling but contains distinctive pieces that make it stand out. Reader’s Theater allows students an opportunity to develop comprehension, expression, fluency and excitement. Students do not have to have props, they just need their imagination and creativity. Readers’ Theater serves many useful functions:

• It provides repeated reading practice—an important factor in building fluency. Repeated reading practice also improves students’ confidence in, and enthusiasm for reading. It’s an enjoyable change of pace from everyday practice sessions.
• It’s a wonderful opportunity for children who are used to feelings of failure to provide expertise entertainment for others.

Strategies

For this unit, I would like to arrange students in a variety of ways from independent reflection to small group jigsaw. When students work independently on a new reading passage or play, I would like them to choose an area of the classroom they feel they work best and use whisper phones to practice their reading out loud (*Whisper phones can be made from PVC pipes as well and look similar to telephones. It allows students to hear themselves without disturbing others). I would also like students to work with partners to switch roles and experience fluency practice. With small group jigsaw, I would like students to work together on a skit or play and teach their technique to other groups. This will not only give them a chance to read and act, but a chance to direct and evaluate as well.

Conversation Journals

This strategy provides a non-threatening outlet for students to write and for teachers to create dialogue with their students. For this unit I want to use Conversation Journals to find out what type of stories my students are interested in so that I can correlate similar scripts based on their interest level. I also would like to use the journals to discover any fears or concerns my students may have about Reader’s Theater and speaking in front of others. For example, if I know that James is extremely shy and he expresses that in his journal, I may assign him parts with a mask so that he is not looking directly into the audience or place him in a buddy or group script. If Cara writes in her journal that she enjoys poems and singing, I can find parts that include a rhythmic or singing part in them.

Centers

There are so many aspects to Reader’s Theater and I want students to have an opportunity to experience as much as they can. I will have four different rotating centers set up in the classroom, which will include: Setup and Design, Creative Writing, Dramatics and Props. These centers will be introduced at the beginning of the unit so that all students understand expectations and activities. Students at the Set Up and Design station will create background scenery using a variety of artistic mediums like paint, poster boards, stencils, and art and craft supplies. They will have opportunities to work collaboratively or individually on their creative styles that can enhance the background design for the play. The second station will be the Creative Writing station where students will experience writing scripts at first hand by referring to writing templates and ready-made scripts. They can use scripts or stories already created to make alternate endings or variations. The Dramatics station will allow students to use their acting skills practice their voice intonation. There will be tape recorders at this station where students can record their parts and listen back to make changes and reflect over their skills. The final station will be the Props Station where students will design puppets for the characters/roles in each skit. They can choose from Paper Bag puppets, Paper Plate faces, Sock Puppets, etc. This will also be the station where students make any additional props they need for the skit. For example, if they were performing The Three Little Pigs, they might want to make name plates to go over each pig’s house. They might want to make sticks from construction paper or Popsicle sticks for the house made of sticks.

Rubrics/Surveys

Rubrics are extremely helpful in focusing on a specific skill or task. Rubrics give students a guideline to what is expected of them and helps me as a teacher evaluate and assess whether they understand. For example, if the goal or purpose of the assignment is Working Cooperatively with a group, a rubric can be used to assess. Students would receive a 4 if they participated and respected the ideas of others’ 90-100% of the time. They would receive a 3 if they participated and respected the ideas of others’ 70-80% of the time. They would receive a 2 if they participated and respected the ideas of others’ 60-70% of the time, etc. Surveys will also be used to get an idea of student interest and self-assessment. Students will rate themselves on how well they completed a task or performance skill. They will reflect using their survey and in their response journals.

 Best Picks

Once students have an opportunity to work with a variety of literature, we will create a Top Ten List of Best Picks for the classroom. This will include class favorite books, plays, and student-created samples. Students will vote on literature they find stimulating, appealing, and use those resources to extend into their own writing. This will give students a voice and help them find areas they are strong in.

Cooperative Grouping

This is another strategy I would like to use with this unit so students can share ideas and learn how to work together. When placing students in Reader’s Theater Groups, it is helpful to assign task jobs for each student to hold them accountable for their own learning. Some examples of task jobs include: Director, Props Manager, Materials Manager, and Data Recorder. (NSTA Cooperative Grouping)

Director or Taskmaster—Encourages each group member to participate and perform his or her jobs. The director may also read and assign parts to play, notify the teacher of group problems or questions, and monitor the time.

Props Manager—Performs tasks that involve setup and design

Materials Manager—Gathers all necessary materials for the group. Ensures that all members are taking care of materials and using them properly, and that the work area is cleaned by all members of the group at the end of the activity.

Data Recorder—Writes ideas on a group paper once members have reached a consensus. They check for accuracy. They may also act as group reporter if needed. Students will rotate their task jobs during different plays and dramatic practices to get an opportunity to experience each task.

Overall, I would like this unit to be engaging, exciting, and give students an opportunity to make real life connections in their everyday like. I want to use storytelling as a springboard to culture and stories of the past and present. Students will use literary elements to help them comprehend text and create their own text. I want students to have an excitement for literature and discover that it is all around them!

Classroom Activities

Lesson #1: Fairy Tale Frenzy

Session Length: 2-3 days

Overview:

Students will work together to prepare and perform a Readers Theatre using classic fairy tales such as The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, etc.

NCSCOS:
English Language Arts Competency Goal 1: The learner will apply enabling strategies and skills to read and write.

1.06 Read independently daily from self-selected materials (consistent with the student’s independent reading level) to:

• increase fluency.
• build background knowledge.
• extend vocabulary.

Materials

• Copies of the fairy tales intended for use.
  You will need at least one copy for every two students. If possible the stories could be typed ahead of time so that each student has his own copy to highlight and practice with.
• Optional: use of SMART Board to show the entire play visually and model how to highlight parts from the script.

Background For Teachers

Teachers should read the stories to themselves prior to presenting this activity. This will enable the teacher to assign parts according to ability, gender, and dramatic tendencies of the students.

The teacher should read at least two of the pieces aloud to the group. This will allow the students to observe fluency, voice, and expression being modeled appropriately.

Groups need to be mixed so that there is at least one fluent reader in each group.

Student Prior Knowledge:

Students need to have had the experience of listening and participating in read aloud activities. They will be more successful if they have had multiple opportunities for listening to fluent expressive reading by the teacher.

Intended Learning Outcomes:
Students will demonstrate the ability to read grade level text in meaningful phrases using intonation, expression, and punctuation cues.

Instructional Procedures:

1. The teacher will choose one selection to read aloud to the class. The selection should be read with expression and meaningful pauses.
2. It may be necessary to read a few pages with no expression in a monotone voice as a non-example.
3. Explain to the students that each group will be performing a story for the rest of the class.
4. Allow 20 minutes each day to practice the parts in groups. The teacher will need to monitor consistently to encourage, make suggestions, and help keep students on task.
5. Allow time after each group has presented their production to the class for critiquing. Encourage students to tell what they liked about the presentation before offering suggestions.
6. You may extend the experience by performing for another class or by recording and showing to entire class.

Strategies For Diverse Learners

Assign parts according to reading levels. Struggling readers can be assigned the most dramatic parts. This can build their enthusiasm for reading and help them concentrate on reading for meaning. ESL students can be assigned smaller parts so they will still be involved but not overwhelmed.

Extensions

Students may prepare simple props or character head bands to enhance their presentation. Gifted students may want to write their own readers theatre by adapting well known fairy tales. Struggling students can use simpler texts. Before starting the lesson, allow students to become familiar with all fairy tales by using a preview rotation. Divide students into groups of 4-5 and at the sound of a bell or timer, students will explore each fairy tale to find the characters involved, setting, plot, etc. Students will record their discoveries on a chart paper. Then students will rotate to the next fairy tale and repeat the activity.

Assessment Plan

The teacher will assess student performance by observing their presentation to the class. Teacher will use a checklist to identify areas where each student showed strength and weaknesses (see Appendix 1) or the Group Rubric (see Appendix 2). Areas for assessment are fluency, voice, and expression, and cooperation.

Lesson #2 and 3: The True Story of the Three Little Pigs

Before Reading:

Read a version of the Original Three Little Pigs. Show video of original The Three Little Pigs from You Tube (type in Silly Symphony or Walt Disney as keywords).
Have student retell the original version as you write the key elements to the story on chart paper.

Explain that you will read another version of the story. The True Story of The Three Little Pigs.

Discuss how the wolf tells this story and the original story is told by the pigs.

Generate discussion on a time when you saw a situation differently than a friend did. Perhaps you could bring up something that happened on the playground or in your classroom to get the ball rolling.

Share with the students the story for today. Let them look at the front cover and let them predict what they think the wolf will say about the situation. Turn to the inside first page and have students also predict why he might be in jail. Brainstorm with your class what more they would like to know about the Wolf. What questions would they like to ask him about what happened to the pigs? Have the students write their questions in an Interview format (see Appendix 3).

On Day 2, students will have an opportunity to switch interview questions with a classmate. This time, each student will “pretend” to be the wolf. They will answer the interview questions as if they were the wolf and use information from the story to support their answers. (*Optional, have students make props or costumes for the classroom, such as “Wolf Den”)

Reflection -What point of view do you feel is correct – the pigs or the wolf’s point of view? Write your reasons to support your opinion.

-Compare the two stories:

Brainstorm some things that happened in the Three Little Pigs story that did not happen in the True Story using a Venn Diagram or another type of graphic organizer. Venn Diagram is provided at http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/pdf/venn.pdf. Just add the content headers to each field before printing out.

Writing Prompts

1.Were the pigs good little pigs?

2.Was the wolf really a bad wolf? Could it have been that the pigs were jealous of him? What if he was really a nice guy after all!

3.Can you really believe a pig?

4.Where would that pig have gotten all of the bricks? Did he have a job? Really!

5.Could there have been a windstorm that blew the house down?

Lesson 4: Theater Café and Sharing

Lesson Overview: Students will perform their Reader’s Theater skit to another class

*They may use scripts from Fairy Tale Frenzy lesson, Really Good Stuff Publishing Books, or scripts created by themselves.

NCSCOS:
English Language Arts Competency Goal 1: The learner will apply enabling strategies and skills to read and write.

1.06 Read independently daily from self-selected materials (consistent with the student’s independent reading level) to:

• increase fluency.
• build background knowledge.
• extend vocabulary.

Teacher Preparation

Before starting this lesson, arrange the classroom so that it resembles a theater or café. Set tables or desks in clusters and cover with tablecloths. Place lamps or battery candles on each table . Arrange an area that will be designated as the “stage” so all students will have an area to perform.

Explain to students that they need to be respectful and a good audience for all groups performing that day. Teacher may also want to include a rubric for listening skills as well as presentation skills. In between performances, give students an opportunity to record the key points to each presentation on their Recording Sheet. See sample below. Allow for positive feedback and reflection.