Teachers - Alternatives to Book Reports - For the Students in Your Classroom Who Are Drawn to Drama

Reading books - and doing book reports - has been part of the school's curriculum for a long time. Most of us remember writing book reports on books we never even read - so we could hurry up and get that out of the way and go back to reading. Well, maybe I'm only speaking for myself, but I doubt it.

What we want to do as teachers is intrigue students with fun and interesting ways that they can tell about the books they've read. When we do this, we are likely to get a much better product from them - and it's much more fun for us to grade. This article offers 9 different ways to encourage the students in your classroom who love drama to use that interest when doing their 'book report.' The ideas are presented the same way I've offered them to students as prompts.

1. Design costumes for the characters in your book. Then, make them - in miniature or in life size.
2. Hold a mock trial permitting the defendant to tell the story of a book of his/her choosing. The class will render a decision on the book's merit after hearing the "testimony." If you were the person who would be telling the story, what story would you tell? Why? How would you try to make your book meritorious, according to the decision of the class?
3. Choose a fabulous part of the book that you read. Prepare to then read orally (and dramatically) to the class or to another group of your choosing. It will be a performance so prepare for it in that way. You might also consider stopping at a strategic point so that the listeners are enticed to read the rest of the book.
4. Dress as one of the characters and act out the part you play. Let the class guess the personality of your character based on your actions and the attire. To get your thinking started, write down some of the characters' names. Then, to the side of each character's name, write down the type of costume by which s/he would be best represented.
5. Create your own paper dolls to represent the characters in the book you read. Make clothes for them that fit their personalities. Then, set up a bulletin board or poster display where others can see your creations. Which characters do you think you will use? Write their names and the type of clothes they wear.
6. Write a play based on a book that you have read. Imagine the title of the play and your name displayed on a marquee. Show what that would look like. Then, begin writing your play.
7. Re-enact a scene from the book you read. Play more than one character and let the audience know that you are changing characters by changing hats. Sketch (or write about) the types of hats you will need.
8. Dramatize an incident or an important character from the book you read. Write down ideas about which scene or incident you want to prepare for a dramatization.
9. Make characters (from the book you read) out of cardboard, construction paper, or fabric. Attach magnets to the back of the characters and put them on the side of a file cabinet. You can tell the story you read using the characters. Which characters will you make? Make a list.

Can't you just see how much fun you'll have with this? And imagine your students' excitement when they see the variety of 'book reports' you are offering to them. And if you are interested in accessing

Autor: Meggin McIntosh Meggin McIntosh
Level: Platinum
Dr. Meggin McIntosh is "The Ph.D. of Productivity" ! Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin has speeded up the momentum of thousands of professionals ... ...

the full-color version (immediately downloadable) of *80 Alternatives to Book Reports* as well as scores of free resources that you can use to build reading, writing, and learning in your classroom, including PowerPoints, PDFs, and Word documents, just go to...

** http://www.OwningWordsforLiteracy.com - and you can click on the Downloads tab.

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(c) 2009 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., "The Ph.D. of Productivity"(tm). Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do. Sound interesting? It is!

Added: May 21, 2009
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/