Now your pupils can be gripped by a novel even before they've read a word!
Here's a novel way to encourage your pupils to get into a good book.
We know that these High Interest stories are enjoyed by just about everyone in the class or reading group, no matter how long or short a time it takes any one child to read any one story. So we know that everyone could be engaged in discussing a story: very inclusive.
The problem, though, is to encourage some of the pupils – those more reluctant to read any book at all – to open the cover in the first place. And that’s where the Drama Workshops come in. In simple-to-manage classroom scenes, you and the members of your group can bring these pacy, action-packed relevant stories to life even before they’ve read a word, before they’ve even seen a cover.
How do the Workshops work?
The workshops have been created to:
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establish an understanding of the characters involved.
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generate empathy with situations in the plot.
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help pupils ‘visualise’ and ‘experience’ a story for themselves.
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motivate pupils to read the book voluntarily.
Each low-cost (free until 31 December 2011) download provides Teachers and Teaching Assistants with all the guidance needed to run a simple drama workshop around a High Interest story. Each Workshop has been prepared using elements of a particular story. These include characterisations which reflect actual characters in the story but without necessarily establishing precise or defining personalities. And they incorporate situations or ‘Scenarios’ from the story but not the story itself, and certainly not the ending. For that, they’ll have to read the book!
But I don’t do Drama - I teach Literacy!
Even if a teacher has little or no experience of using drama in the classroom as a formal ‘Workshop’, many of the skills required will already be in use in general teaching practice and classroom management. There are various techniques that can be used in running simple workshops – such as improvisation, mime, freeze-framing – which are all described in the Workshops. Each downloadable book also includes a series of familiar and popular ‘warm-up’ games which help to overcome any initial inhibitions or lethargy, should there happen to be any!
The ‘Scenarios’ and drama techniques are all there to provide a resource. Every teacher, every setting, every reading group will require a slightly different approach. But the end result should be the same: the request by all to read the original book.
(Downloads coming shortly.)
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