This summer I was thrilled when I thought of the idea to listen to audio books while commuting to summer school for my five weeks of doctoral classes. Since Simplicity is my One Little Word this year, I knew that I could not add on my doctoral courses and continue with my same level of reading for pleasure if I still wanted to have time for my family. Listening to audio books has been a perfect way to enjoy the commute and feel like I am able to still be "reading" some books for pleasure. I have posted about the audio books I have listened to so far here and here.
While listening to audio books, I naturally began to reflect about how it was similar and different to reading a paper version of the book. The most noticeable difference was the difficulty in flipping back to verify something that happened earlier. Sure, I could have gone back to the previous tracks, but my car CD player does not have the capacity to quickly scan through individual tracks, at least that I know of. This meant that I thought a lot harder about whether or not I really needed to take the time to go back at times when I do it without another thought with a paper version. I didn't want to have to listen to a significant portion of a track again just to double check something. Instead, I often opted to continue on and focus on details that would clarify my question. The same goes for if I realize that my mind has been wandering, such as if I was more concerned with merging. I found myself evaluating whether I still had a pretty good idea of what was going on or if I was completely lost. Again, I would only go back if I really needed to in order to understand, but if it was a paper version I would have skimmed back to the last point that I remembered being fully engaged.
Other difficulties come when at times it was hard to know if it was a character's thoughts or dialogue without the visual cues that the text versions give, making me realize that I had to be listening even more intently to make meaning of what was going on. For example, how the other characters responded helped me to know if they said something out loud or if it was an internal dialogue. However, the advantage was that audio adds more expression, which at times made it easier to understand.
This made me think about read alouds in class and the strategies that readers need in order to get the most out of read alouds. Since they do not have the text in front of them (at least in my classroom most of the time), they need to pay close attention to get what is going on. They need to realize when their minds have drifted off and evaluate how much they are able to fill in their own gaps and when they need to ask a clarifying question.
This year I am planning on talking to my students about what I have discovered about audio books vs. reading a paper version. I will share my experiences of noticing my mind was wandering and not having the ease to quickly flip back, as well as the strategies I used to make meaning and deciding what to do. Hopefully, the students will realize that readers at all proficiency levels utilize strategies to make meaning. It will work toward making them realize that just because they are asking a question does not mean that they are not a "good" reader, which seems to be a reason why some students do not want to ask questions or show their confusion with read alouds.
I was excited when I realized this bi-product of expanding my reading horizons to include audio books. What I thought of as a way to pass the time during my commute and fill my need for reading for pleasure, ended up also having value for implications for teaching. I will continue to think of my experiences with audio books and how that informs me about myself as a reader and possible tie-ins to my classroom.
Showing posts with label read alouds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label read alouds. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Read Aloud
Sarah over at The Reading Zone recently did a post on read alouds in her classroom that inspired me to do my own post on the topic using many of the same concepts that she explored, as well as adding some of my own.
I started doing read alouds because...
My first experience with read alouds in middle school was during my student teaching experience, and I have to admit, I was skeptical. I would skim the classroom and wonder whether or not it was really valuable or not since a lot of the students did not seem to be fully engaged at all times. Luckily, I did not go with my first impressions. My cooperating teacher was going through coursework to get her reading endorsement and had suggested that I should take courses right away since they were invaluable. I took her advice, and as soon as I could fit in the courses I did. The importance of read alouds came up frequently, and now it is a part of my classroom every day and I no longer question its validity. Thinking back to my earliest impressions make me laugh.
My read-aloud set up is...
I read aloud to my students daily for about 15 minutes. However, since I try to stop at natural points sometimes it may be a little more or a little less. The physical set-up of read-alouds in my class has changed depending on my job assignment and layout of my classroom. In my original student teaching room the students sat in their desks that were in straight rows while I stood at the podium. When I was a middle school reading specialist my room was a converted locker room, so there was not any other option than to have my students sit in their desks because of the space. I did, however, decide to sit down in front of my small class (no more than twelve students). This year I enjoy my read alouds more than ever because my classroom is large enough to accomodate a meeting area. My students move over to the carpet for read-alouds, making it easier for them to hear and enjoy the book.
I select books by...
I often consider what books will catch the interest my students and also serve as a good model of writing. A lot of the time the themes tie into concepts that we are studying in class. For example, we just finished a Take a Stand unit, so we read The Giver/El Dador and Bat 6 to go along with our unit. I find that there are a vast amount of books that easily tie into any unit that we do in our class. There would have been many other great options for the same unit. We read Bat 6 as part of Oregon Reads 2009.
Dual language considerations...
This year my read-aloud experience has also been different because I am in a dual language immersion school, so I also consider whether or not books are available in both English and Spanish. The structure of the 6th grade this year is one week in English and two weeks in Spanish. It is always hard to have a week away from a book that the students can't wait to see what is going to happen, and even worse if it is a Spanish book that they would have to wait two full weeks on. My first read aloud of the year was Esperanza Rising. I did not initially intend to read it in both languages, but decided to try it out so that the students would not lose momentum with the books. Wherever we were at the end of an English week, I found the same spot in the Spanish version and continued right along through the Spanish week, moving seemlessly through the book in both languages. It worked so well that it is something that I take into considerations for all of my books.
However there are some books that I do not have available in both langauges that I still want to read aloud. In such cases, during Spanish weeks I typically choose short stories that I can read during the week or books that are more like vignettes and not as hard to come back to after a two week break.
Occasional assignments tied to the read aloud...
Typically the read aloud does not have any assignments attached to it, but every once in a while I will have them do activities such as drawing a quick sketch of an image that the book created for them. This is really fun for them, but I do not do it too often because the read aloud is meant to enjoy the reading experience. In our school we also started asking short, multiple choice comprehension quizzes with state test stem questions for test prep, but again, it is not every day and not the main focus of the session.
My favorite part about read-alouds...
I love the shared experience of enjoying a good book and seeing my students get swept up into the story.
I started doing read alouds because...
My first experience with read alouds in middle school was during my student teaching experience, and I have to admit, I was skeptical. I would skim the classroom and wonder whether or not it was really valuable or not since a lot of the students did not seem to be fully engaged at all times. Luckily, I did not go with my first impressions. My cooperating teacher was going through coursework to get her reading endorsement and had suggested that I should take courses right away since they were invaluable. I took her advice, and as soon as I could fit in the courses I did. The importance of read alouds came up frequently, and now it is a part of my classroom every day and I no longer question its validity. Thinking back to my earliest impressions make me laugh.
My read-aloud set up is...
I read aloud to my students daily for about 15 minutes. However, since I try to stop at natural points sometimes it may be a little more or a little less. The physical set-up of read-alouds in my class has changed depending on my job assignment and layout of my classroom. In my original student teaching room the students sat in their desks that were in straight rows while I stood at the podium. When I was a middle school reading specialist my room was a converted locker room, so there was not any other option than to have my students sit in their desks because of the space. I did, however, decide to sit down in front of my small class (no more than twelve students). This year I enjoy my read alouds more than ever because my classroom is large enough to accomodate a meeting area. My students move over to the carpet for read-alouds, making it easier for them to hear and enjoy the book.
I select books by...
I often consider what books will catch the interest my students and also serve as a good model of writing. A lot of the time the themes tie into concepts that we are studying in class. For example, we just finished a Take a Stand unit, so we read The Giver/El Dador and Bat 6 to go along with our unit. I find that there are a vast amount of books that easily tie into any unit that we do in our class. There would have been many other great options for the same unit. We read Bat 6 as part of Oregon Reads 2009.
Dual language considerations...
This year my read-aloud experience has also been different because I am in a dual language immersion school, so I also consider whether or not books are available in both English and Spanish. The structure of the 6th grade this year is one week in English and two weeks in Spanish. It is always hard to have a week away from a book that the students can't wait to see what is going to happen, and even worse if it is a Spanish book that they would have to wait two full weeks on. My first read aloud of the year was Esperanza Rising. I did not initially intend to read it in both languages, but decided to try it out so that the students would not lose momentum with the books. Wherever we were at the end of an English week, I found the same spot in the Spanish version and continued right along through the Spanish week, moving seemlessly through the book in both languages. It worked so well that it is something that I take into considerations for all of my books.
However there are some books that I do not have available in both langauges that I still want to read aloud. In such cases, during Spanish weeks I typically choose short stories that I can read during the week or books that are more like vignettes and not as hard to come back to after a two week break.
Occasional assignments tied to the read aloud...
Typically the read aloud does not have any assignments attached to it, but every once in a while I will have them do activities such as drawing a quick sketch of an image that the book created for them. This is really fun for them, but I do not do it too often because the read aloud is meant to enjoy the reading experience. In our school we also started asking short, multiple choice comprehension quizzes with state test stem questions for test prep, but again, it is not every day and not the main focus of the session.
My favorite part about read-alouds...
I love the shared experience of enjoying a good book and seeing my students get swept up into the story.
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