MGP Process

As always, I have difficulty choosing a topic for research papers. Now I also wanted to pick something where I'd be able to present my findings in different forms. I used two inspirations for my initial search. The first being when I was subbing in a third-grade room and decided to read some creative writing pieces while that student acted it out, or vice verse. The students found it highly rewarding to see their effort come to life. A few days later while continuing to search for ideas, I came across an article in the Language Arts magazine about children using acting to present their social justice issues. Originally, I wanted to research how using drama will improve literacy while teaching advocacy. However, there were few researchers who could support my theory and I couldn't make this synthesis quite yet.

While scanning some articles under the search term, Readers Theater, I collected my thoughts and sent this to my instructor: "I might try to change how I articulate the topic of my L549 research paper as I'm scanning various articles. Originally, I wanted to use reader's theater to improve literacy and raise awareness about global issues. But then I started thinking: Education inequality is an obvious social injustice I recognize as an American educator, but I don't think I'd tell my 4th-graders, "let us fight because some schools are better/worse than ours." If I taught a student population that was behind in their literacy skills because of educational inequality and SES factors, I would be even more eager to use reader's theater to boost their reading/writing level. I guess using reader's theater and/or drama heavily in my curriculum would be my way of battling a type of social injustice?"

The most frustrating part of doing a paper is locating reliable sources that fit my ideas. I found articles having to do with Readers Theater or drama around three themes:
1) RT helps young readers
2) RT helps struggling or special ed readers
3) RT helps ENL readers
I am satisfied with narrowing now my topic to three subtopics, yet I feel like I let the amount of support available dictate my interests. Anyhow, I won't be sour grapes about it because part of being in school and eventually going back to college again is that I'll be able to conduct my own research. Anyhow, my instructor encouraged me that "as a teacher, you can use drama as a literacy tool of empowerment." Whether the students struggle with education inequality, learning disabilities, or language barriers, my aim is for everyone to succeed at reading.

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  I was able to make progress today by asking friends who have school age children to demonstrate Readers Theater on video. It took me awhile to call everyone and send out a detailed email with instructions and disclaimers. In this age of YouTube and identity theft, I felt an obligation to explain the five Ws to the parents. They were pretty cooperative, except one dad asked me to leave out names. Therefore, I am rather disappointed that I won't have credits and the participants won't see their names on film.  I remain excited for the opportunity to present my findings in the form of a short movie and I'm still brainstorming other ideas. However, expect to SEE interesting information as I am big on visuals.