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In this blog post, you will learn how to create a lesson around a Reader's Theater script story using the teacher guide that comes with each script-story sold on Creative English Teacher.com. Mix and match elements to create your own lesson featuring anticipatory sets, recall quizzes, related enrichment, in-the-moment teaching, classroom discussions, and more!
I’m excited to show you how script-stories can transform your classroom! Let’s dive into designing a lesson around them. The best part? Our website offers hundreds of script-stories—covering everything from classic literature to ancient myths to historical events—and they all share key elements. Once you understand these elements, building your own lessons using them will be a breeze!
Each script-story includes a 2-page teacher guide, packed with all the essentials for creating your own lesson plan. While it doesn’t offer a step-by-step lesson plan, it provides mix-and-match elements to help you build a lesson that fits your needs.
The "Background" section is our favorite to write. As literature lovers, we aim to share intriguing details about the story, author, or historical context—just like those old textbooks filled with fascinating margin notes. This section enriches your understanding of the work, whether it’s literary significance or historical connections. While it's not essential information for students, feel free to share it to deepen their appreciation as well!
The summary section is a lifesaver. Whether you're short on time or need a refresher, it gives you everything you need to know in just a few paragraphs. It’s perfect for quickly prepping before class or re-familiarizing yourself with the story!
We use "big questions" to highlight the key themes of the story—often tied to life's bigger issues. These questions, sometimes called “essential questions,” help students see that we're reading not just for the sake of reading, but to grow as individuals and contribute to a better world. Most guides include 1-2 of these questions, which can serve as a great bellringer or discussion starter to set the stage for the story.
We believe in sparking curiosity with a thought-provoking question before reading a story. It lets students share their opinions and connect their own experiences to what they’re about to explore, while also building excitement. Each teacher guide offers a few options—pick your favorite for a bellringer or quick discussion to engage students before diving into the script.
This section is a close second to "Background" in terms of my favorites to write because we love uncovering how literature resonates in the modern world. Sometimes this takes the form of a film adaptation (don’t worry—we keep it age-appropriate, and if anything might be questionable, we’ll suggest showing only the relevant clips). Other times, it could be a related work of art, a piece of classical music, or even another literary work that ties in.
For instance, in this sample teacher guide to “The Bremen Town Musicians,” the Connect section tells about a trail in Germany that guides visitors through several locations linked to popular fairy tales. These connections not only offer potential lesson extensions but also provide fun facts you can share with your students, helping them see how literature continues to influence our culture today.
Script-stories give you a chance to teach key literary terms as they appear naturally in the text. Unlike silent reading, where you can’t pinpoint the exact moment students encounter a term, script-stories allow everyone to engage with the text at the same time. As you come across terms like similes, puns, or irony, the guide provides an explanation and page number for each, making it easy to stop, discuss, and reinforce these concepts.
For example, this script offer chances to teach theme, pun, idiom, simile, situational irony, and regular, old irony. You can teach these terms by giving students concrete examples as they read! A great approach is pausing, reading the sentence where the term appears, and asking students to identify it.
To make it easier, consider highlighting these terms in your script so you can quickly remember to stop and teach them. While not every term may be relevant for your class, this list of terms gives you the flexibility to pick and choose.
Additionally, many terms tie into subjects beyond English/Language Arts. Some scripts include historical terms, political science vocabulary, or even government-related words, depending on the story. This variety adds depth and broadens learning opportunities!
To hold students accountable and ensure they’re paying attention, we always include a short, five-question comprehension quiz after each script. We always remind students, “These questions are easy if you’ve been paying attention.” This section offers five similar questions for you to use in the same way. You can create a digital quiz on your learning platform or simply hand out scratch paper for students to write their answers. The answers to these recall questions are found in the summary section above.
Later, we'll dive into discussion questions, which offer opportunities for deeper thinking and analysis from your students—but we’ll get to those shortly!
As I mentioned earlier, each teacher guide is tailored to suit the needs of the specific script, and occasionally, we include extra sections for certain types of stories. For example, in multi-part stories like The Scarlet Letter or Dracula, we might replace the "Connect" section with a "Character Analysis" section, offering a brief look at key characters, their motivations, and traits.
In some cases, we also add a pronunciation guide for scripts with tricky names or terminology. And if a script calls for it, we may include a bonus section with additional teaching ideas. For instance, in the teacher guide for “The Sorcerer's Apprentice,” we provide suggestions for teaching the classical music piece inspired by the story, as well as the Mickey Mouse Sorcerer’s Apprentice segment from Disney’s Fantasia.
These extra sections aren’t always included, but we wanted to highlight them as useful additions when they apply.
Now, let’s dive into the script itself. Each script begins with an illustration—who doesn’t love those? I like to have students look at the image and predict what might happen in the story based on it.
The cast list will show you how many parts are in the story, with the main roles usually listed toward the top. You can also refer to the summary in the teacher guide to get a sense of which characters play key roles.
What sets a script-story apart from traditional Reader’s Theater is the prominent Narrator role. Since there’s no physical acting, all the action and description are conveyed through narration. I recommend teachers read the narrator part for two reasons: First, it lets you join in the fun, allowing you to laugh and learn alongside your students. Second, your expressive reading models effective fluency. By demonstrating how to inflect, pause at punctuation, and adjust reading speed, you’ll help students improve their fluency as they read along.
Reading the narrator also gives you the flexibility to pause and highlight teachable terms or analyze key story elements as you go.
When casting parts, always invite volunteers. One of teachers' biggest concerns is, “What if nobody volunteers?” But in our experience, once students realize this is a safe, no-pressure environment, they’re eager to participate—especially when the alternative is silent reading! I select strong readers for the major roles, but I also give less experienced students a chance to shine. Ultimately, you’re the casting director, so you can tailor the roles to fit your class.
What about students who don’t want to read aloud—can they still participate?
Absolutely! Every script-story includes designated parts for sound effects, marked by italicized stage directions throughout the script. While students typically use their voices to create these effects, we’ve also collected a few fun noisemakers over the years, like stadium trumpets, coconut shells, tambourines, and even something called “Thunder in a Can.” These props allow students to contribute in a unique and creative way, making the script-story an inclusive experience for everyone.
Every teacher loves a great classroom discussion, and we’ve got you covered with a dedicated section of thought-provoking questions at the end of each script. This is where students can dive deep into the themes and big ideas of the story. These questions also make excellent writing prompts if you prefer that approach. On days when my students aren’t in the mood for a full discussion, I assign them as follow-up writing assignments. After experiencing the story in such an engaging way, their responses are often thoughtful and well-supported.
One final note: Our script-stories are available in two formats. The first is the "Print-and-Read Version", which provides a collection of scripts and teacher guides in one downloadable file. This format is designed for you to print physical copies directly from your computer.
The second option is the "Digital Classroom Version", which grants a single teacher the rights to share the scripts digitally with his or her students. In this version, each script is separated into individual files, so you can easily share them online without the teacher guides. Don’t worry—the teacher guides are still included as separate files. You can print copies from this version as well, but it also includes digital sharing rights for added flexibility.
As you can see, there are countless ways to transform one of our script-stories into an engaging, high-quality lesson that will captivate your students in a whole new way. I hope you consider giving script-stories a try in your classroom! They really do bring literature to life!
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