- Create engaging audio recordings of stories or poems that demonstrate fluid reading at an understandable pace; add visual displays when appropriate to emphasize or enhance certain facts or details.
Just this week, I started the first unit on building a reading life. I have only started getting in the swing of the FULL workshop model, and same with my kids! Moving forward, I think it would be really fun for my students, and for me, to have them practice reading poems and passages for fluency work. I remember in my student teaching placement, the special educator would use a PVC pipe that was made to look like a phone (an opening by the ear and an opening by the mouth). She would use this to have students hear themselves read and get a better sense of how fluid they sound. I think this would be a great first step in them practicing engaging reading. We have just done the lesson on reading a book like a Curmudgeon (grumpy) or like the book is gold. I think this would be a big wake up for some students to recognize if they're adding intonation and making the passage interesting.
After repeated practice and guided fluency instruction, I think it would be fun for students to create engaging audio recordings of picture books, poems, or passages, which could be used for other students to listen to. This will reinforce them to read a book as if it was gold and really get their readers engaged so they can understand the story even better.
I think this would be beneficial to work on during conferences or small groups. I am eager to see if anyone has tried any of these activities before and if it's proven to be beneficial.
Holly, I have used the "whisper phones" in the past with my students, not for fluency, but just for silent reading, to help monitor volume in the room while I was working with others students. However, one of the things we have done to help with fluency, is to have students record each other with i-Pads so that they may watch and hear themselves read. Just an idea. As they got better, they could share these with each other. You could use them for your lower readers to access text beyond their level read by a classmate.
ReplyDeleteI love the creative games and activities that you guys come up with...whisper phones sound like so much fun. I think my middle school kids would love this. I could cloak it as a "throw back" activity that would actually be extremely beneficial for them. I read to them each day, but they really need the practice. Thanks for the ideas!
ReplyDeleteIn the days of cassette recorders I used to have kids rehearse books and then record them for the kindergarten classes to use in their listening stations. The older kids would present them to the class, read the book, and then "donate" the packet to the class. I got books through the book clubs and created these kits.
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