Live from Room 207! Bringing the Theater to the Classroom

In the winter I complete a Reader's Theater mini unit with my students. Last year, I wanted to weave the classics into this unit along with student choice. This also happened to be around the time of the Oscars, so I thought about a perfect way to mesh the two and host the Oscars in my classroom!

What began as what I thought to be a "cheesy" way to spice up Reader's Theater turned into much more than a mini unit! My students walked the "Read" carpet, participated in live interviews, and had to practice their acceptance speeches for their awards in the class. I wanted to enhance the speaking and listening in my classroom, and this unit did just that. I saw many students come out of their shells and get really excited for this unit. This unit was two parts: The first part was reading the script aloud and acting in class, and the second was a written response comparing the themes of two scripts in Reader's Theater. I received such great feedback from the students that I will be doing this again next year. I will try to allow more time for students to practice in class. Mid-point of the school year is a great time to do this as students feel comfortable with one another.

To help build background knowledge, I showed previews I found on YouTube to gain students' interest if they were not familiar with the scripts.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Preview

2014 OSCARS brought to you by Horrigan Productions!

1. I made enough awards for each student to win in each class. Students then had the choice to go to the podium and "accept" their award. The awards ranged from; Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Most Cooperative Cast Member, Most Believable Character, and so on. The audience members cast their votes, and I wrote out the certificates.

2. The "Read Carpet" was the highlight of the event! Red butcher paper taped to the floor was all I needed to make this event come to life! I had a "microphone" (a round hairbrush covered in black paper) and held interviews much like Guiliana on E! It was a great way for students to feel comfortable in front of the class because we had fun with it! 

While this was very interactive and a fun activity in class that I hope created fun memories for students, I still had to the hold the balance with a form of assessment. After all scripts had been read in class, we discussed possible themes for each and students took notes on these themes in their journals. Students partnered up with someone from another Reader's Theater group and they discussed the themes together. Finally, students compared their own theme with the other theme. Below is the link for the graphic organizer my students used.

Reader's Theater Written Response Organizer

One of the most rewarding aspects of this project was how many students checked out classic literature from my bookshelves. Students were excited to read Little Women, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and many more!

What are other ways to bring the classics into the classroom?

Summertime? Simply a Chance to Plan for Next Year

Ten months with my vibrant, enthusiastic, driven sixth graders seem to fly through time quicker than I could have imagined. I am so proud of how far my students have come and can only hope for the same growth as they venture into 7th grade and beyond. 
As a previous traveling teacher, this was my first year with my very own classroom. Dreams of bulletin boards, decorative book shelves, and displays finally came to life! After multiple trips to Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Lakeshore Learning and more, I realized I couldn't possibly perfect my teaching home in a single year. During the summer and throughout use of this blog, I hope to share ideas and inspiration about what I hope to implement in my classroom in the fall. Summer has only begun, and of course planning is what we teachers do best! Happy summer everyone!

Instill a Love of Reading

I created a shelf in my classroom to display books we love. In the beginning of the year, it begins as books Mrs. Horrigan loves, and soon evolves into a place where my students' favorite books are put on display for their classmates to see. Each week, I host 'Book Chats' about books proven to be popular, and I allow an open forum for students to contribute if they have read the book. It creates anticipation and excitement about reading- what more could an English teacher want!? The titles literally fly off the shelves each week. I hope to add a second shelf next year in order to display more great reads for my students.

How To:

1. Purchase a gutter from any home improvement store.
2. Cut the gutter to your desired length- mine is approximately 3 feet long to hold 5 books at a time.
3. Use the remaining length to create more shelves if desired. 

Further Reading:

This leads me to wonder: Where does a love of reading begin for my students? An interesting article in the New York Times poses that very question.