Students will investigate how real readers understand the main ideas of stories by conducting interviews, gathering evidence from texts, and creating empathy maps grounded in direct quotes and observations. They will begin building the research foundation for their dramatic readings by centering real audience needs.

Students will synthesize their peer and family interview research to identify patterns, define a clear user-centered problem about understanding a story’s central idea, and craft a grounded How Might We statement that will guide their performance design.

Students will generate a wide range of performance ideas for their Story Showcase, using their user interviews and central idea analyses to design skits that clearly communicate how a story’s main idea shapes understanding of the world. They will move from divergent brainstorming to structured idea development and select top concepts grounded in real user needs and textual evidence.

Students will build, test, and refine their dramatic reading or skit prototypes based on real user feedback, documenting how textual evidence and central ideas are communicated clearly to an audience.

Students will validate their refined dramatic readings and skits with new users, make final evidence-based revisions, and present their Story Showcase performances to parents while clearly explaining how central ideas and textual evidence shaped their design decisions.