As a middle school teacher passionate about fluency, I’m always on the lookout for activities that allow me to assess student recognition of word usage and expression indicators. Both choral reading and reader’s theater provide this opportunity, and each brings a unique approach to doing so. Let’s dive into my experience with these strategies and explore how they might benefit your middle school classroom.
I was actually hesitant to try reader’s theater when I first learned about it. This was several years ago, and at the time, the scripts that were available did not do enough to capture my student’s interests. Even though the content wasn’t a good fit for my class at the time, I knew it COULD be useful if the scripts were better suited for big kids.
Eventually, I decided to try writing my own scripts and stories that better fit my student’s interests. The results were amazing, and the students kept asking for more! I’ve since created over 30 different reader’s theater resources that I use every school year.
It’s a simple concept: students read from a script, bringing these short stories to life with their expressive voices and gestures. I don’t get into props or costumes since they take time away from instruction, but even without them, my students really get into their roles. Witnessing their interpretations of different words and tones is really enlightening for me as a teacher.
The key benefits of reader’s theater are:
- Recognition and Fluency: The goal here is to give kids the opportunity to develop accurate recognition of words at a conversational pace while also using context clues to work through the words they don’t automatically recognize.
- Reading Confidence: Reading small parts of a text out loud in a group setting is far less intimidating than giving a solo presentation or reading an entire page of a book out loud. Reader’s theater builds confidence in students who are otherwise shy.
- Individual Assessment: Even though we perform scripts as a group, each character role has a different person reading it. This is helpful as a teacher since it gives me a small sample of how well a student recognizes tone, punctuation, and vocabulary words.
- Word Discovery: Finding new words within a script and dissecting them as a class is much more impactful than studying a list of vocabulary words. I purposely put a few challenging words in my scripts so we can learn them together.
Choral reading is where the class reads aloud in unison, creating a supportive environment where every voice blends into a collective rhythm. This method is especially comforting for students who get nervous about speaking in class and those who are still a little behind the class reading level.
Most people think choral reading is reserved for kindergarten and elementary school, but it does have a place in middle grades as well. I use it mostly to practice the pronunciation of difficult words and when we review different styles of poetry. You can also give your class small roles during a read aloud to keep them engaged and following the text.
The key benefits of choral reading are:
- Fluency Practice: Choral reading provides valuable practice with pronunciation, vocabulary, and recognizing an author’s tone. Reading together makes us stronger and more confident when we navigate text on our own.
- Reading Confidence: Removing the pressure of having the spotlight on one reader makes everyone more comfortable. Students are more likely to participate when they don’t have to worry about being singled out. It is also reassuring to hear that we all struggle with certain words and inflection points.
- Accuracy: Hearing bad pronunciation and fluency doesn’t help students, and making struggling readers read out loud does very little for our progress as a class. Choral reading lets us improve the accuracy of our reading recognition together.
- Flexibility: While reader’s theater requires some preparation, choral reading can be incorporated at almost any point, and you don’t have to read long blocks of text to get the benefits. Again, I use it mostly for pronouncing new terms together and to highlight natural pauses and inflections in complex sentences. Everyone gets to participate in a low-stakes setting.
Which is Better?
In my experience, reader’s theater is a better overall fit for middle school since older students have a larger vocabulary and are generally more confident as readers. That being said, choral reading certainly has its applications, especially in challenging genres like poetry.
Reader’s Theater is perfect for bringing out students’ expressive sides, building teamwork, and having a little ELA fun. Choral reading is ideal for improving fluency in a supportive group setting.
Whether you’re looking to boost reading confidence, fluency, or comprehension, both strategies offer an effective approach. The important thing as a teacher is getting to hear your students read out loud. There are so many insights we can gain as educators by listening to our readers. “How you do it” is not as important as making sure you do it at regular intervals.
