From
Issue #5, Summer 2004
A RTreprint
from the World Wide Web
Danish
Readers Theatre Exchange Promotes Literacy This article originally appeared on the Ball State
University web site - http://www.bsu.edu/ . It is reprinted here with permission
WHAT
CAN THE UNITED STATES AND DENMARK TEACH EACH OTHER ABOUT LITERACY?
That's what 14
students from Ball State and Silkeborg Seminarium, a teacher education
institution in Silkeborg, Denmark, are discovering during their semester-long
project "Readers Theatre: Creating Cross-Cultural Connections."
The project is
sponsored by Ball State's Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry
and is being coordinated by Melinda Schoenfeldt, Ball State assistant
professor of elementary education. The project will investigate contemporary
issues related to literacy, such as how cultures impact children's ability
to read.
"Denmark is historically
a homogenous society, one that claims to have 100 percent literacy,"
Schoenfeldt said. "We wanted to learn how they did that. They, in turn,
are just beginning to deal with a large influx of immigrants. And they
wanted to learn how we educate a multitude of ethnic groups and the
challenges that presents."
The Danish students
visited Ball State for the first half of the exchange. Along with their
American counterparts, they climbed into the proverbial Melting Pot
and visited schools populated with Amish, Hispanic and African-American
students.
At the schools,
they introduced elementary children to readers theatre—a technique that
improves literacy via reading, rehearsing and performing scripts.
"Children typically
won't read a textbook four or five times," Schoenfeldt said. "But they
will rehearse scripts multiple times knowing that they have to read
them later in front of a group. This repetition has helped improve fluency
and comprehension."
Readers theatre
breaks down barriers between students. Students who are reluctant readers
ask for multiple parts to read for the play. Students with disabilities
are being readily absorbed into reading groups. And parent involvement
increases as they want to come to see their children perform, Schoenfeldt
said.
Ball State students
are now touring Silkeborg schools, learning firsthand how the Danish
literacy efforts differ from the United States. Immersed in a foreign
country—coincidentally, one that is comparable in size to Indiana—will
help intensify the students' experience, Schoenfeldt said.
"Stepping out from
the known into the unknown gives everything a fresh, new perspective,"
she said. "Seeing how Danish teachers work in their classrooms will
help our students much more than simply learning about them in an academic
setting at Ball State."