Lesson Plan
Action! Students Create Reader's Theater
Students will have a blast turning a reading passage into a Reader's Theater skit. This lesson teaches them to use dialogue to help readers understand the experiences of different characters.
Grade:
Subjects:
View aligned standards
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to create a script by writing dialogue for a story's characters.
Introduction
(5 minutes)- Explain that dialogue is the words that characters say.
- Tell students that dialogue helps the readers understand the actions and thoughts of the characters.
- Tell students that dialogue in a skit or play looks different than it does in prose or a poem.
- Explain to students that they are going to use characters' words and actions in a passage to create a skit, or a Reader's Theater script.
Beginning:
- Provide a student-friendly definition with a labeled example of prose, poem, and skit.
- Allow ELs to look up the terms (dialogue, prose, poem, skit) with a home language resource.
Intermediate:
- Have ELs discuss what they know about dialogue with a partner and then share out as a whole group. Allow them to use L1 or L2.
- Provide a word bank for students to use when discussing what they know about dialogue.
- Show examples of dialogue in prose and a poem.