Reading Response Log

Literature in the Theatre Classroom
Rationale:
Trade books can be a wonderful tool in the classroom. Especially in a theatre classroom where textbooks just don’t cut it. Reading is so very important in a theatre classroom as my students must be able to read their lines in order to say them, and even more so to actually “act” them. Also, there is a lot of difficult literature in the theatre world. Shakespeare cannot be taught in a day, and using some of my selected trade books will help me get his point across.
I have actually chosen six trade books to use in my classroom. Because I am getting certified to teach K-12, I have included books for a plethora of age groups. Surprisingly only one of them is nonfiction. One is a collection of plays I could use at any grade level, and the rest are fictional books about the theatre and Shakespeare.
My hope is that not only will these books provide me with supplemental materials, but they will also nurture a love of reading in my students, and get them interested in the subject matter in creative ways. It takes different approaches to reach different children, and these trade books will hopefully be able to do just that.
I have always taken my reading abilities for granted. I loved to read as a child and enjoyed Shakespeare at an early age. Until recently, I had not realized how difficult it can be for a child who isn’t confident in his or her reading abilities. I teach after school theatre classes at a community theatre. My oldest students are twelve years old. Most of the first semester was working mainly on improvisation and learning about the theatre. I’m introducing scripts this semester and I have been shocked at the reading levels of some of my student. One gifted boy stumbled over even simple lines which caused him great embarrassment. He kept apologizing for missing words or mixing up phrases. It broke my heart to watch him stumble in a subject matter he usually excels in. This experience has given me a firm resolve to continue to help him and my future students learn to love to read and give them the tools they need to be successful readers.
1. Title: The Boy, The Bear, The Baron, The Bard
2. Author/Illustrator: Gregory Rodgers
3. Publisher/Copyright: Roaring Book Press 2004
4. ISBN Number: 1596430095
5. Genre: Fiction
6. Current Library Location: Canyon Area Library
7. Brief Summary: In this picture book, a young boy from our times gets transported into Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in Elizabethan London. He is chased by The Bard himself because the boy interrupts his play. The boy releases a bear from a lineup of bear baitings who becomes the boy’s companion. Together, the boy and the bear help a Baron escape from the tower of London where he awaits his death. They then climb aboard a boat with the Queen herself where the Baron strikes up a romance with her majesty. Wackiness ensues until the boy returns to the globe and home to our times.
8. In-depth Personal Response: This book says so much in illustrations. I love the characters created, and the historical value as well. Although very fanciful, the idea is marvelous and creative enough to hold the attention of small children and adults alike.
9. Suggested Use in Classroom: I would use this book in my lower elementary school classes. Getting a book in their hands, even if they can’t read yet, and making those experiences good ones has a lot to do with later reading enjoyment. I would also play games with the story line, perhaps acting it out or playing the “what if” game; what if the bear was a ballerina bear and so forth. Basically I aim to get their imaginations working. This book also introduces the concept of Shakespeare to more discovery learning. We would talk about the clothes they wore and why they are different from what we wear today.
1. Title: Junie B. First Grader Shipwrecked
2. Author/Illustrator: Barbara Park/ Denise Brunkus
3. Publisher/Copyright: Random House Inc. 2004
4. ISBN Number: 0375828044
5. Genre: Fiction
6. Current Library Location: Canyon Area Library
7. Brief Summary: In this book, the beloved Junie B. Jones gets to help Room 1 put on a play about Christopher Columbus for Parent Night. She gets to be the Pinta, one of the ships Columbus sailed with. The Pinta, Junie learns, is the fastest ship and so that is the part for her since the fastest must be the star! Unfortunately one of her classmates decides the Santa Maria (her part) must be more important because that was the ship Columbus rode in. Their fighting almost ruins the play, but Junie learns several important lessons.
8. In-depth Personal Response: I have always loved the Junie B. Jones series and couldn’t believe my luck when I discovered she had her début on stage. Her antics and constant chatter reminds me of students I have this year who although sometimes difficult to handle, have so much potential and creativity with the added bonus of giving us a giggle now and then that I just can’t help but love them. This book deals with some of the questions youngsters have about plays. Yes, they are very exciting, but who is the “star” of the show? What happens when disaster strikes on stage? And how to work together to celebrate in the end.
9. Suggested Use in Classroom: I would love to use this book in my mid-elementary classes. It teaches an important lesson about the theatre being a place of collaboration (teamwork) and no part is more important than another. Also, it teaches the old adage “the show must go on!” Since it is a chapter book with short chapters, it would be a good activity to get the kids reading aloud which is imperative in theatre. I would have them go around the room and each read a sentence or paragraph and go through at least a chapter a day depending on the age group.
1. Title: Who Was William Shakespeare?
2. Author/Illustrator: Celeste Davidson Mannis/ John O’Brian
3. Publisher/Copyright: Grosset and Dunlap 2006
4. ISBN Number: 0448439042
5. Genre: Non Fiction (Biography)
6. Current Library Location: Canyon Area Library
7. Brief Summary: This book is a wonderful biography about William Shakespeare! It starts with Shakespeare’s childhood using facts gleaned about the time to paint a picture of what his life might have really been like. It goes all the way through his death; with important historical facts that really give depth to the information we know specifically about the Bard.
8. In-depth Personal Response: I have been studying Shakespeare since Junior High and knew several things about him before then, but I actually felt like I knew more about the man himself from this simple read. The facts were put together in such a way as to be very interesting, not boring like some biographies, and random facts were thrown in here and there about phrases Shakespeare invented, Queen Elizabeth and the Black Death that really added to the overall story.
9. Suggested Use in Classroom: Where would I not use this book in the classroom? I probably wouldn’t do a whole lot of Shakespeare reading in my early elementary classes, but I would begin letting my students get to know about him. I would even use this book in my high school classes when covering a Shakespeare unit. I would probably begin the unit with this book in both high school and junior high levels.
1. Title: Macbeth
2. Author/Illustrator: Arthur Byron Cover/ Tony Leonard Tamai
3. Publisher/Copyright: Penguin Group 2005
4. ISBN Number: 0142404098
5. Genre: Fiction (Graphic Novel)
6. Current Library Location: Canyon Area Library
7. Brief Summary: This book is a modernized graphic novel of Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth. This is the story of how a man and wife’s greed for power leads them to murder and deceit. When evil witches tell Macbeth, a Scottish Lord, that he is to become king, he takes his fate into his own hands and with the help of his calculating wife, murders the current king and frames others for his deed. When the king’s heir flees the country, the throne goes to the king’s cousin Lord Macbeth, but the guilt and evil of their deeds catch up to the Macbeth’s and their reign over Scotland comes to a bloody end.
8. In-depth Personal Response: It is very fanciful and very science fiction throughout with flying dragon-like creatures for horses and the three witches look more like robots. The actual Shakespeare is often hard to follow if one is not accustomed to iambic pentameter and the language of his time, but this graphic novel continues to use some of the original text plus wonderful illustrations to tell this tragic tale. It’s a horrible story, but that book made it an interesting, and short read.
9. Suggested Use in Classroom: Ask any junior high or high school student and they’ll tell you they dread Shakespeare in their English classes. The old language is hard to understand and today’s students get bored with all the flowery language. They want quick action they are accustomed to on TV. I would assign this novel as a supplemental work while studying Shakespeare. This fun way to learn his stories might just make my junior high boys actually enjoy the work of the Bard.
1. Title: Enter Three Witches
2. Author/Illustrator: Caroline B. Cooney
3. Publisher/Copyright: Scholastic Press 2007
4. ISBN Number: 9780439711562
5. Genre: Fiction
6. Current Library Location: Canyon Area Library
7. Brief Summary: This book is about a fictional character that was not in the original play. Her name is Mary and she is a ward of Lord and Lady Macbeth. Her father was the original Thane of Cawdor until he committed treason to the crown and that title was passed to Macbeth. As the good king Duncan is murdered and Macbeth becomes king, her whole world changes as three witches seem to be out to get her. She overhears many things she shouldn’t and soon discovers that Macbeth is the murderer. As the killing continues, she does her best to remain loyal to Scotland and her heart.
8. In-depth Personal Response: I absolutely loved this book! The characters are well thought out and even the Macbeth’s are almost pitied in the end. I could not put the book down! What a way to learn Shakespeare! This story is told from a fourteen year old girl’s point of view and we only hear bits and pieces of the Macbeth’s soliloquies, but nonetheless, the story is beautifully told with magic and prayers; good conquers evil. I would have loved to have this resource when I was trudging though Macbeth the first time!
9. Suggested Use in Classroom: Again, I would use this to help teach the plot line. The graphic novel was more for action loving comic book lovers, but for those that want a bit more detailed description that’s just as exciting, I’d have them read this book. I may not use the whole thing for the whole class. I would suggest it to certain students, and use bits of it to convey important scenes from the play. We would read those parts aloud in class as a transition to fully reading the broken iambic pentameter the crazed hero and his lady use.
1. Title: Acting Out
2. Author/Illustrator: Avi
3. Publisher/Copyright: Atheneum Books For Young Readers 2008
4. ISBN Number: 1416938486
5. Genre: Fiction (Drama)
6. Current Library Location: Canyon Area Library
7. Brief Summary: This book is a compilation of several plays written by Newbery authors. The Bad Room details the happenings in an after school detention class with a wide variety of characters and happenings. The second is a fictional story of Edgar Allen Poe in a modern editor’s office discussion his manuscript The Raven. The Billionaire and the Bird is a modernized version of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Nightingale, and so forth and so on.
8. In-depth Personal Response: Each play is appropriate for elementary to high school students but are also well written and have some depth. They were all very unique and not just a bunch of fluff. I really enjoyed all the plays and am actually going to use two of them with my older students in my after school theatre classes.
9. Suggested Use in Classroom: Many of the plays I’ve found that are appropriate for elementary student work in the classroom are very cheesy and have little dramatic value. This book is different and I plan to use scenes, monologues and entire plays from this book to teach many different things, like how to do better cold reads and auditions and full out plays with costumes, sets, and the whole nine yards.