I no longer try to do Readers Theatre when working with the novels. I have seen Jason Fritze do it but it is more than I have the talent for. One other factor for that failure is that the kids aren’t as engaged with the novels as they are with the stories they create in class, so I suppose that also explains why I have always been a bit afraid of RT.
But I have been able to get Readers Theatre to work with stories during the Reading from the Back of the Room section (Steps 6 and 7) of Reading Option A (ROA). It works really well then, emerging very naturally from the discussion we are having about the text in L2. It is certainly because the kids are so into their own stories.
So if anyone is having a problem with RT or has shied away from it just like me, maybe if you try using Steps 6 and 7 of ROA you will experience the kind of success I have been having lately with Readers Theatre. It’s not so bad. In fact it’s a gas. RT rocks, but the kids have to have ownership of the text first.