Process Drama is the technical term for dramatizing written prose when it meets the following criteria: the text must be spontaneously role-played out, the teacher creates the dramatic ‘hook,’ and the students have specific roles that are found within the text. For example, in the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, students could take on the roles of Ponyboy and Johnny during and after major events: before the rumble, after the rumble, in the abandoned church, and in the hospital, for example. Students would ask the characters questions after the scene and learn more about context and subtext: motivations, feelings, perspective, and dramatic irony. This activity works well for students of all age levels from Pre-Kindergarten through to Grade Twelve and can be used with English Language Learners. It is best used to get a deep perspective into specific, pivotal, or rememberable plot points within the text. It requires students to understand the text in order to ask appropriate question, so it is best used in Novel Studies or Social Studies where students have prerequisite knowledge of the material. It is a good tool for instruction on Oral Language, Comprehension, and Content Areas. For tips and pointers see the workshop video.
Choral Reading
Choral reading is a common strategy predominantly used in primary classrooms, and with English Language Learners (ELL). This strategy helps students to develop oral language skills, student comprehension, and student fluency. Choral reading is best used for poems or short stories. This strategy is effective for developing expression and fluency in the students’ reading. Choral reading is also very beneficial for struggling readers, as they feel their voice can be drowned out amongst the other students. There are a few ways to best execute choral reading. It can be done as a whole class activity with all students reading together or all together with specific students reading small portions of the book or poem. Another method is to have students in small groups responsible for a section of the story or poem. Four arrangements to have students do this suggested in “50 Literary Strategies” are echo reading, leader and chorus reading, small-group reading, and cumulative reading. These will be discussed further in the video to follow. They key element of choral reading is repetition. Students will rehearse the words they are reading many times during the reading, or in practice to read aloud to the class.
QtA: Questioning the Author
Hi everyone! Questioning the Author, (or QtA), is about getting students to think more critically. This reading strategy focuses on creating meaning in the text students read by asking questions about the author. These questions include:
- What is the author’s purpose with this text?
- Is there a link between what the author said here and what they said before
- What is the author really trying to say?
Essentially, open ended questions about the author and their purpose with sections of the text, or even the text as a whole, are asked and discussed as a class to gain a deeper meaning about the text. Additionally, and equally as important to fostering critical thinking, students also learn that authors can make mistakes with this method. With the help of critical thinking, they do not take the author’s text at face value and can acknowledge the fallibility of an author’s work. This is important because students can get discouraged if they do not understand a text and question their own intelligence, but it could be because the author made an error, such as structurally in the text, that causes the confusion. For more information on this fantastic strategy, have a look at my rundown video below!
Anticipation Guides: Guide Your Readers to Greatness!
The reading strategy of “Anticipation Guides” is a comprehensive strategy that provides statements before students reading to get the children thinking about what they may be reading about, activating prior knowledge, and encourages the students to build curiosity about the new subject matter. Teachers prepare a list of statements, the students must than decided if they agree with the statement, or disagree with it. Students then move on to the reading. After the reading, students are given the list of statements again, and they can then decide to stick with their original statement answer or they can choose to agree or disagree with it. It is common that students change their opinions on some of the statements after the reading, and they often realize they have refined their understanding of the subject through this activity. This reading strategy is beneficial because it allows for students to use prior knowledge to relate to the text, and it also can be a lesson taught to encourage discussion based off of more complex issues.
Story Retelling
Story Retelling is a reading strategy that is used by the teacher to test students’ skills in oral language and comprehension. The target audience for story retelling is grades PreK to 2. Children’s language is much simpler than adults’ language, so they are not required to repeat the story with words from the story that they don’t recognize. Students are required to determine the main idea and relevant details. They are also allowed to use drawings and other visual representation to help them retell the story. In order to be proficient in story retelling, students must satisfy the following criteria:
- Name and describe all the characters.
- Include specific details about the setting.
- Explain the problem and solution.
- Describe attempts to solve the problem (Contains recalling events in order).
- Identify the theme.
In our video we will talk about the three benefits of story retelling, when and how to use this instructional strategy, and model teaching story retelling to a grade one class. Please enjoy!