Interpretive Reading Part VIII:
"Over-Acting" With a Reading Buddy

Last month we summarized the basic components of expressive reading, and provided a reminder poster for students and an evaluation form for teachers to use in tracking students’ progress. The Reader’s Theater exercises helped students learn how to improve their own reading based on teacher and fellow student feedback, as well as give tips to their classmates. This month our topic is the value of "over-acting" when reading aloud!

Having students over-act when reading in the classroom can help expressive reading become natural. Once they have practiced exaggerating their gestures, facial expressions, and voices, more realistic nuances in speaking will seem much easier. Students who are shy about speaking or acting in front of groups may also become more comfortable. In a healthy and fun setting, laughter sheds inhibitions and encourages students' expressive growth.

The exercise provided this month allows students the opportunity to "over-act" and to first practice in pairs before presenting a short scene in front of their small group or the class. By working in pairs, students can help each other improve their expressive reading without the pressure of a large audience. A higher level reader working with a lower level reader is helpful in much the same way as parents reading with their children. The more fluent reader can help out a lower level reader, allowing him or her to work through more difficult text than he or she could read alone. The lower level reader can help the higher level reader in creative expression as typically these students have a better aptitude for this. Students can give each other ideas on how to better portray the emotion and attitude of the part with fun exaggeration. For example, to recite a line as if you were a "jumpy monkey," a "confused pirate" or a "sleepy opera singer," allows an actor to exaggerate expression with their body, face and voice.

The exercise for this month includes short scenes from our free downloadable Mini Playbook®, The Ice Cream Dream, for students to read to each other, performing each line with a funny emotion and/or character type. The exercise is a simplified version of Take the Spotlight™ activity cards from our new Reader's Theater game, Take Center Stage™, which is featured in this newsletter below. Follow the link below to get this month’s classroom exercise!