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Mobeen Uddin

July 30th, 2012

Dramatization as a Response Activity Somethings Fishy, co-authored by Jeff Szpirglas and Danielle Saint-Onge, focuses on a young boy named Jamie, who accidently swallows the classroom pet fish when attempting to feed it. Thus, the text revolves around Jamies dilemma and his adventures of finding a solution to the problem he had created. As a response activity, dramatization could be effectively used to build students comprehension because it brings texts to life, and makes material more accessible for students. According to Macy (2004, p. 240), A novel study in the elementary classroom can be an exciting undertaking for students and teachers when it is experienced through drama. Therefore, drama is a powerful vehicle that could stimulate students imagination, as well as allow them to embody the characters of a story. Further, dramatization could lead to deeper and more complex understandings of a story (Macy, 2004). As students learn through their own unique ways, drama particularly caters to those who are visual and/or bodily-kinesthetic learners. Dramatizing Somethings Fishy would certainly enable students to develop greater empathy to the characters, as well as provide them with a visual representation of the text. As an elementary student, I was afforded only a few opportunities to engage in drama in response to texts. My teachers would usually read the text with the class and then present us with a series of comprehension questions, asking us to answer them in the space provided. However, dramatization has always been a popular response strategy in my own teaching. Recently I completed a novel study with my students of a text called Always Ask for a Transfer by Vancy Kasper. It focused on two siblings who were shuffled from one foster home to another. After completing the novel, I divided students into different groups and asked them to use drama to present a scene from the novel. The students selected the characters they were going to play, and used the text to prepare the scenes. They then presented their scenes to the class. After asking the students to share how they found the activity, most of the students remarked that they found it beneficial, as they could better visualize the events from the text. Furthermore, the students felt that they had gotten to know the characters more and understood their various emotions when taking on the roles. Macys (2004) study effectively demonstrates the use of drama as a response strategy to a text. She cited Rosenblatts (1978) transactional theory of reading in which the reader and text have a spiral reciprocal relationship. According to this theory, when the reader and the text transact, a unique and individual construction of meaning occurs. These theoretical perspectives established the framework for Macys research. Her three month long study closely examined the teachings of Kelti, a Grade 4 teacher. Kelti conducted a novel study of a novel called Hatchet, and used numerous drama activities to deliver her lessons, including Giving Witness, caption making, and voice in the head, and Storys Theatre. In Storys Theatre,

Mobeen Uddin

July 30th, 2012

the students were divided in groups, and were assigned different portions of the novel. Groups then decided one student to read directly from the novel, and the rest of the students were responsible for miming the events of the assigned scene. The presentations were arranged in a sequential manner, which helped students in the comprehension of the story. For example, one of the scenes involved a student reading from the text about the protagonists battle for survival during a tornado, while the readers peers mimed their actions. Storys Theatre, therefore, provided students with an opportunity to utilize drama to review and reaffirm what they had learned from the novel. Meanwhile, the second article selected was entitled Fifth Graders Story Dramatizations during Literature Study and is an action research project by Jeffery Siddall (1999). As stated in the article, the class read a novel called The Slave Dancer and particularly focused on a group of five Grade 5 students who chose to dramatize their understanding of the story. The researcher stated that to prepare for the drama, the five students first began to orally and silently read each chapter of the book, journaling, and having daily discussions of their interpretations of the story. After reading half the book, they acted out the characters, themes, and story line using the format of a news television broadcast. Significantly, their news plays were structured similarly to local television news programs. Each play began with a student in the role of news anchor, while the other students presented the events from the text. Siddall (1999, p. 4) notes that in this context, dramatization enhanced the students understandings of the story and built levels and layers of story interpretation. References Macy, L. (2004). A novel study through drama. The Reading Teacher, 58, 240248 Rosenblatt, L. (1978). The reader, the text, the poem: The transactional theory of literary work. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. Siddall, J. (1999). Fifth graders story dramatizations during literature study. Article retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED430228.pdf. Szpirglas, J. & Saint-Onge, D. (2011). Somethings fishy. Victoria, BC: Orca Book Publishers.

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