Many Ways of Knowing
Using drama, oral interactions, and the visual arts to enhance reading comprehension
Derek frowned and leaned closer to the clay he was molding. He seemed mesmerized by the challenge of creating wrinkles in the trunk of an elephant that was emerging from the gray matter before him. With the other members of his third-grade Chapter 1 group, Derek had been involved in a thematic unit focused on elephants. These reluctant readers had been reading and acting out elephant stories, drawing pictures of elephants, and interviewing elephant keepers at the zoo. They could expound in great detail about the difference between African and Asian elephants, explain the social nature of an elephant herd, and dramatize the lumbering gait of a baby elephant.
Reading and writing were not the focus of their study but were an inseparable part of it. Reading and writing made it possible for them to learn what they wanted to know and express what they wanted to say. In spite of their reputation as low functioning students, these children eagerly devoured fiction as well as nonfiction materials. They actively engaged in producing books filled with information about elephants. They generated ABC books with facts about elephants, elephant dictionaries complete with definitions and guide words, written descriptions of elephants, and Readers’ Theatre scripts based on elephant stories.
Through a variety of expressive arts, these young learners were able to process meaning in ways that allowed them to deepen and expand their understanding. Most remarkably, because they first had the opportunity to translate their information about elephants into oral language, clay, and paint, they were able to write with a strength and conviction normally expected of the highest functioning students.
Transmediation is a process of moving information from one communication system to another (Harste, Burke, & Short, 1988). This process encourages learners to generate new meanings and to expand existing ones. For Derek to show what he knew about elephants through the medium of clay, he had to determine the finite details of his knowledge and develop a new perspective toward the information as he took on the role of the artist. To shape his communication from the lump of gray clay, he was continually searching his own knowledge bank for the details that he needed to represent in his model. As a result, Derek frequently realized that he was unsure of certain points. A rapid retreat to the resource books generated further reading, discussion with friends, and additional revision in his sculpture.
Drama, Readers’ Theatre, spirited oral interactions, and the visual arts once were saved for enrichment, reserved for the highest functioning students or for occasional breaks from the “skills”of reading. The purpose of this article is to propose possibilities for the integration of the expressive arts into all subject areas and into the lives of all students and to propose a revaluing of the communication systems that are a natural part of the culture of childhood.
Drama
Drama evokes higher order thinking,
problem solving, feeling,
and language as students
strive to demonstrate their
knowledge orally (Booth,
1987). The children invent
most of the dialogue and
action, drawing ideas from
the environment, their reading,
and their background knowledge.
They use their bodies and
their voices as ways of communicating
their understandings. Transmediation
occurs as they translate
their knowledge into motion
and verbal interpretation.
In whole class dramatics, students all portray body motions and appropriate sound effects as the teacher reads a story aloud. They can sensitize their bodies to the descriptors used in a story as they really feel the sun beating on their skin or the icy wind forcing them back from the edge of a cliff. Visualizations of particular scenes from literature or history can be enhanced by encouraging the students to spontaneously take roles of the characters.
In schools where students have had extensive experience with drama, halls and corners of classrooms are often filled with small groups of children dramatizing favorite literature selections. Using literature or nonfiction as a stimulus, actors dramatize animatedly as the readers move through the text. For the most part, groups have no audience. They find joy in dramatizing a story within their group, just as young children find joy in imaginary play with a friend (Johnson, Christie, & Yawkey, 1987). There is little evidence of self-consciousness as children use their bodies and their imaginations to deepen their understandings.
The children seem easily able to transfer their sense of character role. Youngsters dramatizing Stone Soup realized a need for a group of townspeople. Without any specific leadership, they spontaneously gathered as townspeople, then easily moved back into their individual roles. In addition to expanding their understanding of text, these children were engaging in communication, problem solving, and interactive group processes (Hoyt, 1990).
The teacher can assist a group by working as a coach. As in conferences for writing (Graves, 1982), visits to the groups are brief. The teacher’s role is to support the children’s interactions, not direct them. The coach might offer ideas to individual children, serve as reader, assist in designing puppets, or join a group as a character.
After dramatic interactions, students can be encouraged to recreate a story with pictures or writing. These retellings often reflect powerful new understandings of the story and are punctuated with specific details of the setting and mood. Furthermore, because of the dramatic interaction that preceded the writing, children are able to write with clarity and purpose.
This technique can be especially successful with learning disabled students and second language learners. The combination of drama, body movement, and discussion lays a strong foundation for the writing and helps these special learners to verify their information through several communication systems before committing it to writing.
Readers’ Theatre (A
link to Readers' Theatre
resources)
Readers’ Theatre is a way
to interpret a story using the
written text. Unlike drama, in
which body motion portrays a
great deal of the meaning, Readers’ Theatre
is dependent on the ability of
the reader’s voice to capture
the listener (Sloyer, 1982).
The readers have the task of
using reading rate, intonation,
and emphasis on the meaning-bearing
cadences of language to make
the print come alive.
Readers’ Theatre exemplifies application of schema theory in that it interrelates all aspects of language learning (Cullinan, 1982) and calls for transmediation as the printed text is translated into expressive oral reading. While there are many published scripts which turn favorite literature selections into Readers’ Theatre, the most effective scripts often are designed by the students. Students responding to literature can list the main characters and then select portions of the text to be used.
Readers’ Theatre is often presented with only one student reading each character’s part. This format creates an interesting presentation, but the result is that few children have the opportunity to engage in the reading. To provide a reading response for every child in class, children can read parts chorally or gather in small groups to read their scripts. This format gives every child a role, encourages repeated readings for fluency, and allows the group to set a pace that helps even emergent readers to experience reading at a rate that approximates oral speech (Hoyt, 1990).
The teacher’s role in Readers’ Theatre is to model expressive reading, assist the students as they experiment with different intonations and reading rates, and support students who may have difficulty. Since these students may benefit from hearing repetitions of a story (Cambourne, 1988), the teacher may want to reread the selection, arrange for a tutor to read it, or have the students listen to a tape recording.
Readers’ Theatre can also be read straight from the original text. With rehearsal, even emerging readers can read from the quotation marks and indicate whether the speaker is the narrator or a character. Overhead transparencies of a story can be useful in demonstrating how readers engage in Readers’ Theatre without a prepared script. The transparency allows the entire group to focus on one part of the script at a time, to practice determining who is speaking, and to discuss strategies for chorally reading of the text. After rehearsing with the overhead, fluent and emergent readers alike will experience success when reading dialogue from their own copies of the text.
Oral
interactions
At one time, quite classrooms
were considered the ideal environment
for learning. However, as we
have learned more about the social
nature of learning and consider
the implications of transmediation,
we must remember that talking
is an expressive art. It is essential
to provide opportunities for
children to talk about what they
are learning (Wells, 1986) and
the strategies they are using
for inquiry. We must give them
opportunities to engage in the
kinds of discussion that adults
might experience (Halliday, 1975).
The questions and the dialogue need to be genuine acts of communication and not simply a rote reaction to situations controlled by the teacher (Peterson & Beds, 1990). Through this type of interaction we can help our children to delve more deeply as thinkers, clarify ideas, and verify information. Most importantly, we need to help children understand that they are resources for one another. Just as they talk together while building a creation from blocks, children need time to talk while they are focused on acts of reading and writing. Together they can consider the potential meaning of a passage, clarifying their written expression, and reflect on the processes that help them to interact with their world.
To stimulate genuine dialogue about a book, students can use strips of self-stick notes to mark “hot spots” in a text. These might be (a) a point where the student felt especially involved in the story, (b) an example of interesting language, or (c) a place where the meaning was not clear.
After reading a selection, students might gather in a small group and talk about their reading. There are no prefabricated questions. Readers are simply asked to talk to each other about what they read, using the self-stick notes as points of reference. They often choose to share their “hot spots,” telling why they marked a certain place or posing a question to the group about an unclear passage.
The dialogue is a natural discussion that flows from the reader’s thoughts about the text. The role of the teacher is to serve as a participant in the discussion (Peterson & Beds, 1990), taking turns to share his or her own “hot spots” in text.
To stimulate this kind of dialogue with emergent readers, parents or volunteers can be asked to read a story while the young listener determines where to place the self-stick notes. After several readings, the young readers are eager to share their observations.
Evaluative thinking and oral interactions can also be stimulated when students are asked to work in pairs and determine the five most important issues in a story or a unit of study. To accomplish this, the partners must first reflect on all they remember, evaluate the importance of each piece of information, and then collaboratively create a ranking. Older students studying the U.S. Civil War had a fascinating discussion when the partners each presented and attempted to justify their rankings of the war’s five most important events. Primary students eagerly talked well into recess time after using this process with The Velveteen Rabbit.
The
visual arts
The visual arts are powerful
motivators for children. As in
the example of Derek and his
clay elephant, visual arts such
as drawing, painting, and collage
can offer alternative ways for
children to express their understanding
and to explore their own inner
language. Because the study of
literacy is too often focused
on words, it is important to
look back to the images and feelings
that precede the words, to explore
the relationships between the
way children see the world and
the way it is interpreted in
print (Bikind, 1988). In particular,
children who have difficulty
with written and oral language
may find that artistic expression
focused on a learning experience
can help them to organize thinking
and rehearse for more traditional
means of expression.
To draw a picture about a story, learners must draw upon both the affective and the cognitive domains. They must think about all of the story events before selecting one which merits further attention. The event must then be analyzed for elements of setting, characterization and details before a picture can be drawn. A seemingly simply task actually requires a great deal of evaluation and analysis.
Sketch to Stretch (Seigel, 1984) is a technique that encourages learners to use visual images to express their understandings. Following the reading of a story, poem or nonfiction selection, students are given a time limit and asked to create a sketch. It might reflect what they learned, what they were thinking during the reading, what they liked, etc. The teacher joins as a learning partner by creating a sketch on the overhead, chalkboard, or other clearly visible surface. The time limit is important in that it emphasizes the creation of a general impression rather than a lot of detail. The drawing provides an opportunity to clarify, reflect, and consider relationships before they share information verbally about their learning.
While sharing with peers, children provide information about the content of the sketch and then tell why the representation was chosen. Through group interaction, they are exposed to a variety of interpretations and often revise or extend their original sketch.
As an artistic expression takes shape, learners process the information internally in their own way. While these activities should not significantly reduce the amount of time spent with acts of reading and writing, they can be a powerful vehicle for learning that deserves a place in the reading program.
Multiple
communication systems
Classrooms that offer children
a variety of communication systems
facilitate learning in ways that
stimulate the imagination, enhance
language learning, and deepen
understanding. These communication
options present learners with
the opportunity to create a tighter
link between themselves and the
new learning.
Knowing about reading and writing isn’t enough. We must make an unrestrained effort to link learning to real-life purposes. We must find ways to engage the learner’s affective as well as cognitive self through a wide variety of interactions and experiences in many kinds of literacies.
Comprehension cannot be fostered by transmitting information from page to the children’s heads or by drilling the children with questions. Learning occurs when one creates a personal interpretation. This interpretation can take the form of a feeling, an artistic expression, or a rush of language as the individual makes a verbal connection to the new information. The important point is that the individual personalizes the information and internalizes a connection between what is new and what is already known (Bussis, 1982).
As we strive to help children make connections between their world and the world of print, we need to keep in mind that it isn’t enough to have a reader’s time and attention. We need to help learners activate their senses, their imaginations, their emotions, and all their life experiences while interacting with text. With the support of multiple communication systems, even learners with special needs can bring life into the words on the page.
This article first published in The Reading Teacher, Vol. 45, No. 8, April 1992, A Journal of the International Reading Association, <www.reading.org/>
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