Overview
What Is Reader's Theater?
In an activity based on the Reader’s Theater strategy, groups of students are assigned a text excerpt to present to their peers. As opposed to presenting skits of the plot, a reader’s theater asks students to create a performance that reveals a message, theme, or conflict represented by the text. As students practice this activity, they become more proficient at using the words of the text to depict concepts and ideas. This is an effective way to help students process dilemmas experienced by characters in a text. This is also an effective activity to use with emotionally powerful texts, such as Night by Elie Wiesel.
Lesson Plans
How to Use Reader's Theater
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