1. WELCOME BACK TO STORYTELLING WITH JULIA BENNY

2. Session 2 Now we are going to take a look at some strategies to bring storytelling into the classroom and the comic book project.

3. READER’S THEATER Reader’s theater is a strategy that will give students an opportunity to develop their storytelling techniques.

4. To begin you select stories for students to perform. These stories can be from a Language Arts Anthology, history, math, or science lesson that the students know,

5. As students become more comfortable with this process, you can have them pick the short story they would like to present.

6. Next you want to place students into groups. There are many ways to do this. You can divide your students by having them count to the number of groups you want, if you want 5 groups you have students repeat counting to 5; by clothing item, color, birthdays by month or season, or favorite colors. Just make sure to limit the size of the groups to the number of characters in the story and a narrator.

7. Once students are placed in groups provide copies of the story for each student to use to practice fluency AND storytelling techniques SUCH AS Intonation, facial expressions, gestures, pace, pitch and volume to hold the audience’s attention.

8. One big difference between Reader’s Theater and storytelling is It is ok for student to read the story as they present it to the class. Remind Students to keep copies of the story on their laps, not blocking their face.

9. Give groups as much or as little support as they need to cooperatively assign roles and create their performance.

10. Remind audience to use their good listening skills and pay close attention to the presentation so they can share their observations and positive feedback with the class.

11. You may want to develop a simple rubric for the storyteller. Below is an example. Based on the California Listening and Speaking Standards Storytelling SkillESNComments Spoke loudly enough for audience to hear Spoke clearly enough for audience to understand. Used intonation Used facial expressions Used gestures and body movements

12. After students present their stories to the class, have the class discuss how facial features, gestures, and intonation helped the audience stay focused and better understand the message of the story.

13. Close lesson by Discussing how incorporating these storytelling elements will improve their comic books. facial features and gestures to dramatically show anger, confusion or fear, will help hold the reader’s interest and make them want to know what will happen next!

14. Explain that Intonation can be expressed through word choice for captions and dialogue. Use of onomatopoeia is very powerful as is the word art students choose to use.

15. After all groups have presented allow students time to reflect on their performance and feedback. In their writing journals. Have students also write what they learned from watching and critiquing the other groups. Encourage students to quick sketch some Facial expressions or gestures they may want to add to their comics.

16. Students will need multiple opportunities to practice to improve their skills. Groups should be fluid so students have an opportunity to work with different classmates. In the interest of time possibly have Reader’s theater one day a week, assign groups in the beginning of the week. allow students a few minutes a day in class to practice or for homework. have students present to the class on Fridays.

17. Before we go on to Our next session which will focus on story maps and partner sharing; Take a moment and reflect of what you have learned. Reflection What? – what did you learn? ______________________________ ___________________________________________________________________. So what? – how can reader’s theater help your students with their comic books? ________________________ ____________________________________________________________________. Now what? – how will you use this in your classroom? _____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________.