Menu
Menu
0

Our BLOG ARCHIVE

BLOG
A photo of a woman with brown skin and red-painted nails reading a book. There is a white border at the top of the image with pink and black text that says Reader's Theatre for Secondary ELA

Why I Love Reader’s Theatre in the ELA Classroom

Reader’s Theatre is a fun, low-stress way for students to learn about drama, practice public speaking, and embrace their creativity. What is Reader’s Theatre? Reader’s Theatre is the lowest-risk way you can bring drama into your ELA classroom. Students have the support of a script, but you encourage them to add vocal inflection and potentially some light blocking. You want to see some emergence of characterization and fluency. Reader’s Theatre, however, doesn’t have to be super-rehearsed. In my classroom, Reader’s Theatre replaces our in-class reading for that day. I try to choose scenes so that we have a mix of RT and reading/discussion days. If you want students to become super familiar with the script and have rehearsed blocking and even costumes, you’re in the realm of a Staged Reading. What does good Reader’s Theatre

Read More »
Danielle Hall October 25, 2022
A background of teal theater curtains with a pink box and white text that reads "Teaching Drama in Secondary ELA"

Drama in the Classroom: Tips & Activities

Using theatre in Secondary ELA is a great way to build classroom community, increase public speaking skills, and get students to understand complex texts. Here are some ideas for how to introduce drama in the classroom, from quick, 5-minute games to a class play.  Improv Games build public speaking skills In every English class I’ve ever taught, I’ve used improv games to help students build public speaking skills. When I taught ESL in Germany, my students LOVED telling wacky stories in games like “Story, Story, Die!”  Here are two sets of improv ideas you can use in any class! Improv games are a great way to spend an extra five minutes or what’s left after a fire drill, so you should definitely have a few in your pocket. Halloween Themed Drama Games Drama in the

Read More »
Danielle Hall November 30, 2021
Putting on a class play is a lot of work, but it's hugely rewarding. Here are some tips for a successful show! Read more at teachnouvelle.com.

Class Play: A Successful Show

Now, let’s talk about the best part of doing a class play: the performance! This is the fourth part of my class play series, so be sure to check out the posts on Logistics & Prep, Filling Their Toolkit, and Evaluation Ideas. We had two performances of our class play, and this was a good amount for amateur student actors. Parents’ Night Our first performance was a final dress rehearsal in front of parents. I reached out at the beginning of our rehearsals to let parents know that this would be happening, and the turnout was amazing! Students were in full costume and it was supposed to be a “real show.” Most of my students rose to the occasion, but a couple of them really struggled to remember lines under the performance pressure. I thought

Read More »
Danielle Hall May 30, 2017
How to Set Up and Cast the Class Play - Use these tips to help integrate Drama in the ELA classroom.

How to Set Up and Cast the Class Play

Drama in ELA: The Class Play In this series, I’m going to share my experiences integrating Drama in ELA and producing a class play with my 9th grade English class. Drama is so engaging for students, but is often put aside because it seems like a lot of work or doesn’t obviously correlate to higher test scores. In this series, I’ll show you that Drama in ELA is not only possible, but beneficial to all students. When I first had the idea to perform Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with my two Honors classes, I knew it would be a challenge. The students would have to buy into the idea. I’d have to structure in-class practices, but still give them enough freedom to engage creatively with the material. Most of all, we’d all have to

Read More »
Danielle Hall March 7, 2016
A photo of rows of empty, red velvet covered theatre seats looking towards the stage with a golden curtain down across the state. There is a blue box in the center of the image with white text that says "Drama in the ELA Classroom - Improv Games"

Drama Games for High School: 3 Easy Improv Games

Are you looking for ways to integrate drama games for high school? Get started with these three zero-prep improv games! Why drama games? I have loved drama since my 3rd-grade class got to be Arabian dancers in the school’s performance of “The Nutcracker”. When I was in middle and high school, I always wanted to do “acting” options for projects, sometimes asking my teachers ridiculous things like “can I show you the parts of the cell as an interpretive dance?” As a teacher, I seek to give my students the same opportunities. Drama in the ELA classroom is a great way to build public speaking skills, memory, and community. I have used drama with grades K-12 in France, Germany, the US, and Puerto Rico, and students beg for more. Literally. After finals one year, I

Read More »
Danielle Hall February 21, 2016