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Theater and Literacy

Theater and Literacy. A look at five websites that support the development of literacy through theater. The International Theater and Literacy Project http://www.itlp.org. Image captured on website November 9, 2011.

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Theater and Literacy

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  1. Theater and Literacy A look at five websites that support the development of literacy through theater

  2. The International Theater and Literacy Projecthttp://www.itlp.org Image captured on website November 9, 2011 This was the first website that I found in my research. I had no idea I was in some small way connected to this fantastic organization.

  3. The International Theater and Literacy Projecthttp://www.itlp.org Discoveries: • My playwriting professor, Stephen DiMenna, is one of the founders of the organization! • The International Theatre and Literacy Project promotes literacy by bringing theater artists to conduct playwriting workshops with young people in countries such as Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Bali. Original plays are developed in English. • Learning English opens up opportunities for work and education for the students. • Teaching and learning the English language this way inspires everyone involved. • Students meet with the teaching artists and sometimes teachers from the local area for two weeks, six hours a day, Monday through Friday, to create the play. • In 2011, ITLP teaching artists went to Rwanda to work with a community of children orphaned as a result of the 2004 genocide. • The Rwanda group created an original play with music called, “We Stood Up.” The play is about a woman who travels across Rwanda to find her father. • The play had its premiere at an International Theater Festival in Kigali. The students were also asked to perform “We Stood Up” at the University of Rwanda and at a theater festival for youth called the Kina Festival. • I recommend this site for all theater artists and especially to teachers interested in traveling, playwriting and teaching the English language.

  4. ArtsWorkhttp://artswork.asu.edu/ Image captured on website December 15, 2011 • Discoveries: • ArtsWork is part of Arizona State University’s website. • There are extensive resources for teaching literacy through drama. There are units for playwriting, play reading, storytelling, Shakespeare and more. • There are assessment resources and a listing of other digital resources for drama educators. • On the warm-ups page there are 72 games and activities for K-12 and some are literacy-related like story circles.

  5. Literacy Connections’ Readers Theaterhttp://www.literacyconnections.com/ReadersTheater.php Image captured on website December 16, 2011 • Discoveries: • Young readers read from scripts and are encouraged to “ham it up,” but it • doesn’t seem like any real acting or drama skills are modeled or encouraged. • The homepage is busy with several different images that don’t match the side navigation. The page is a little overwhelming because of this. • The site could have other information about literacy but the readers theater is the ninth item in the side navigation so it doesn’t seem like a big priority. • I would recommend it to other teachers only if they are looking for readers’ theater scripts to use in lessons.

  6. Teachingheart.com’s Readers Theaterhttp://www.teachingheart.net/readerstheater.htm Image captured on website on December 19, 2011. • Discoveries: • Teachingheart.com defines Reader’s Theater as “a dramatic presentation of a written work in a script form.”This definition differs from other sites because it focuses on both reading and real drama skills. Students read scripts while using their voices and gesture to express themselves. • The site offers many scripts and plays to use for readers’ theater and they are well-organized on the site. • I would recommend this website as a resource for K-3 English teachers and tutors as well as drama teachers. The site claims it is a “site for K-3 teachers with sharing hearts,” but I think the scripts could also be used in fourth and fifth grade depending on the students’ reading levels.

  7. Teaching Ideashttp://www.teachingideas.co.uk Image captured on website December 19, 2011 • Discoveries: • Great ideas for students for literacy learning through drama for ages five to eleven. Examples includes talking with puppets, story circles and interviews. • The website’s idea of literacy includes listening, observing, telling stories and learning from talking books. • Compared to the other websites I visited it has a different feel, a different tone. It makes sense that it is a British website. There are unique and advanced activities for students in elementary school about subjects like media awareness and sound effects in drama. • I will use this site and definitely recommend it to English and drama teachers for K-sixth grade.

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