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We are now creating Readers Theatres for all the literature units we write. We choose the books to create these complete 4MAT units from lists in our client districts, We are currently  completing the final book for our new Middle School set of eight books.

We found Readers Theatre when Ben Brady, a close friend and founder of Rigby of America and the Children's Literacy Foundation, a video-disc literacy inservice enterprise. Ben handed me a book called The Fluent Reader by Timothy Rasinski, chronically the power of oral reading and suggesting it could make the performance element we have in all our 4MAT units. And indeed he was right.

In Readers Theatre the characters in the book under study are written into a script and the children choose which parts to read (and some to share) as a performance ending in the study of the book.  It’s like old time radio and it is really powerful. The kids can only use their voices to make it all happen, no stage no costumes, no set. The result is amazing. The comprehension of the book and its real meaning emerge at stunning levels. 

Here are a few of the benefits of as listed in Rasinski’s work:

• oral reading builds confidence,
• creates community,
• connects spoken and written language,
• strengthens decoding skills,
• fosters fluency,
• boosts comprehension,
• allows teachers to view the reading process to better diagnose problems.

Check out the Rasinski book. ISBN 0-439-33208-7