 Reader's Theater,
A Fluency Marvel, by Scholastic Instructor
"Reader's Theater proved to be almost a magic solution for Griffith: In just 10 weeks of using RT, every child in her class had gained a full grade level in reading. After a year, the children's gains had jumped to three years of growth. Griffith calls the transformation in their reading fluency totally remarkable." The Power of Reader's Theater, Scholastic Instructor |
Reader's Theater...
the most effective form
of Repeated Guided
Oral Reading!
There is an abundance of research supporting that “Repeated Guided Oral Reading” improves reading fluency and comprehension, especially when it includes reading role models. Research also shows four repeated readings sufficiently improve reading fluency.
Most traditional texts can NOT hold students’ attention for up to four separate readings. Reader’s Theater truly engages students and is the most popular form of “repeated guided oral reading.” Reader’s Theater provides an easy-to-implement dramatic text that does not require memorization, props or a stage.
Improved Vocabulary & Comprehension
Plays inherently come with built-in strategies to help students read better. The acting out of story dialogue compels readers to work more closely with the text to interpret and project meaning into the experience. As a result, students show improvement in vocabulary, comprehension and retention. |
 See pages 24-29 for key information from the Partnership for Reading
"Repeated and monitored oral reading most effectively improves reading fluency and overall reading achievement. No research evidence is available currently to confirm that instructional time spent on silent, independent reading with minimal guidance and feedback improves reading fluency and overall reading achievement.”
Put Reading First - Fluency Instruction
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Enhanced Reader's Theater with Multi-leveled & Colorized Dialogue
Modeling is a key component to building fluency. Children improve their reading ability through listening to more advanced text than they can read on their own because they have higher "listening comprehension" than "reading comprehension." Therefore, to increase their reading ability and fluency, they should be "listening" to richer vocabulary and more advanced text than they are able to read independently. Multi-leveled character roles in a Playbooks® Reader’s Theater script are the answer!
According to a Loyola University study, word recognition and reading comprehension improves 27% when text is presented in color compared to bold text, and 35% when presented in color compared to contrasting fonts.
Playbooks, Inc. has a patent on its format, so no other publisher can offer a Reader’s Theater script that provides multi-leveled dialogue in different colors.
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