(Banner Image) Playbooks: All About Reader's Theater

Interpretative Reading Part IV:
Varying the Tempo of Students' Reading Rates

Last month we introduced Part III of our series on how to improve your students’ interpretative reading abilities with exercises on using proper phrasing and pauses while reading aloud. The exercise demonstrated how the pause is one of the most powerful tools in expressive reading, because it helps the listener anticipate what’s coming next or comprehend what’s just been said. Another tool to improve your students’ oral reading skills and increase the interest of the listeners is to teach them to vary the tempo or rhythm of their reading rate.

Music is a good analogy for explaining how varying the tempo of reading improves expression and increases interest. In music, grouping together long and short notes in different patterns creates rhythmic variety and pulls in the audience.

In reading aloud, we’re referring to rhythm as the duration of sound within a word, or the amount of time it takes to read a word aloud. If a reader doesn’t vary the tempo in how he or she read words aloud, it begins to sound very mechanical and the other readers lose interest in what’s being read. Reading aloud without rhythm is similar to asking your students to listen to the clock tick aloud in the classroom.

When readers slow down on important words, it gives those words more weight and significance. Read aloud the following sentence in an even tempo, monotone voice.

No other class has this much fun.

Now read aloud the same sentence below. Notice how the first three words have been stretched out to cue you to read them slower and with added emphasis.

N-O O-T-H-E-R C-L-A-S-S has this much fun!

Which sentence has more credibility and impact? The meaning and importance of words can change by drawing them out, or the reverse--- saying them quickly.

As students practice this technique, they will be able to more convincingly convey the character’s emotions and demonstrate their comprehension of the Reader’s Theater story.


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Click here for a classroom
exercise to teach your students
to vary their emphasis
and speed while reading.

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Getting the Rhythm Right With Choral Reading
By Reading Recovery Teacher, Gregory Brown

Just as every song has a recommended tempo which vocalists should sing, each script has a certain rhythm that best suits the character and action within a particular story. Oral recitations would be quite boring if every sentence were read in the exact same way.

(Image) Picture of Gregory Brown, Reading Recovery Teacher

A good way to prevent your students from falling into this monotone reading pattern is to introduce the script by first doing a Choral Reading. This will also aid those students who are shy about reading alone.

Choral Reading is defined as a group of students orally reading the same text, at the same time and at the same pace. Here are a few ways to help your students understand the rhythm of the piece.

1. Ask the students to read with you and follow your voice. You’re the leader! Tell students that everyone will be reading together out loud, but your voice will guide them. They are not to read ahead of you. If they happen to loose their place, tell them to simply jump back in when they can. The first group reading of the script should be at a much slower pace than normal, so students can get a feel for reading chorally. The trick is to put lots of expression into your voice, while still reading slowly enough for a majority of your students to keep up.

2. Vary the tempo by letting your voice go up and down according to character, plot, and punctuation. Once your students have gotten the hang of following your voice, you can begin to put some characterization into your speech. This will automatically change the rhythm of each sentence and your students will hear it in your voice. They will begin to do the same. Occasionally stop reading and ask them, “Why did we read that part that way? or “Should we speed that part up or slow it down a bit?” Make sure your students have final input on how their play should sound.

If you’ve done a good job as a “choral leader” then your students should be able to apply that rhythm to the entire script. The results will be like that of a majestic choir … hitting the highs and lows with perfect pitch!

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