Renee Slade, a participant in the Greenwich Public Schools' Scribbling Women workshop, plans to use the Scribbling Women kit in her classroom. Here she reflects on her motivation for having her students study radio drama and produce their own plays.

Too many children today don't read, and if they do, they do not comprehend what the author is trying to convey. And if they do, they do it to raise their grade, not to raise their level of learning. Nor do they wish to be transported in time and space by the magic of words. Reading , then, is a chore.

Yet, to be a good reader or to improve your comprehension skills you have to read. How do we get youngsters to do that? Surprisingly, kids still listen to the radio -- lots of it. Witness Disney's purchase of a popular radio station, which it transformed into a twenty-four hour broadcasting schedule targeting 12 year olds and younger. What will using radio do? It will add another dimension to the reading experience and thereby improve not only the reading of literature but the comprehension as well.

Radio makes you aware of sound. It is strictly an audio medium. In radio, sound has meaning. It conveys mood and elicits emotion. The voice is the vehicle through which a tale is told, while the sound effects bring an added dimension to the story and theme.

But first, the student must read the story -- and I mean read, not skim; preferably a short story because it is manageable. The student must consider who the character is; in what kind of voice would he or she speak; how to convey to the radio audience that the character lives next to elevated train tracks above a local bar. With the voice as the only means of communication (no pretty pictures here) the student must also think about conflict, tone, themes and plot, and how to make these real issues for listeners. In short, working in radio requires students to read the material until it is fundamentally understood.

In the end, students will have a better understanding of the literature along with a finished product, a script, produced and taped, to be heard by fellow students.

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