Suggestions for Improving Reading Fluency (grades 3-7)

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Hanawald on May 23, 2008 at 8:56am

Make podcasts! Our sixth graders record themselves reading short stories aloud using Audacity and we distribute them via our website.

I have a rubric and a rehearsal schedule they are to complete and turn in. Let me correct that--the sheet and they call what they are doing "rehearsal" before they are ready to podcast. I call it repeated readings of the same material that is written at their independent reading level when I'm discussing the project with administrators.

You can have as much fun as you can think of with this. This year we did folk tales and illustrated some of them by importing the mp3 into Movie Maker. We've done radio shows with sound effects in the past. We did press conferences for famous folks one year. It is a great end of year project, since we pull all the metacognitive reading strategies we teach into it as well.

Sarah

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Permalink Reply by Leigh Newton on May 23, 2008 at 8:47pm

Sarah, would you put a link for your website here so that we might check out what it all looks like and sounds like? Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Hanawald on May 24, 2008 at 9:40am

Sure--Here's the link. I've gotten 19 out of 72 up so far ;)

I'm trying a new distribution site this year, I'd really like to know how it works (too slow, etc).

Thanks!

Sarah

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Permalink Reply by Leigh Newton on May 24, 2008 at 1:27pm

I tried one and it indicated that the file was 41 Mb. Maybe you need to convert .wav or .aiff to mp3s. Too big for me to consider for home 'viewing' on my internet scheme. Are they really that large?

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on May 24, 2008 at 3:57pm

We just did podcasts as passengers who were on the Titanic. (Click on the name and the click on the podcast icon). It was our first effort, we used Audacity, too. It was so easy. You did need to d/l an encoder to convert the Audacity files to Mp3.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Hanawald on May 24, 2008 at 5:31pm

They really are too big. Most of the students just want their to share their own with family, and downloading one via iTunes just takes a few minutes. They are between 5 and 7 minutes each, with pictures. When we just use sound, they are very manageable. This year's group went nuts drawing original art and finding photographs on their own time, so of course, I had to scan them in and make video podcasts. This was clearly a tactical error. I have been using quicktime to compress them, but . . .

On campus, they are great.
Sarah

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Permalink Reply by HHampson on May 23, 2008 at 6:14pm

I have to say, from what I have been seeing around the province, and across the country, Daily 5 (Boushey/Moser) is making a HUGE impact on results in terms of reading comprehension and fluency. The emphasis on building stamina and continuous, systematic opportunities to practice reading to self/others has really made a difference in terms of results. I think that the implementation of a fairly well-defined program (the authors of the Daily Five are superb at outlining the processes that make up the implementation of the program, step by step, day by day) with a focus on fostering the love of reading (via the self-selection of texts - they work on helping train readers to choose texts that are at their level). I can't stress enough how this strategy, if implemented as outlined (with much patience, and attention given to the concept of building stamina) has made a difference for teachers and students. Students, in terms of their performance, and teachers, in terms of time to differentiate and be aware of what each of their students are doing. By getting a handle on the literacy issue, it has given teachers time to do things that are more fun (integrating reader's theatre, etc). I am lucky in the sense that my job takes me around the province, and so I have seen this (American) strategy implemented in a tiny rural school (one room school house tiny!) and in HUGE urban high schools - some with no added money, just some reorganisation, and others with some money added to purchase books for the classroom, etc. I cannot recommend the strategy enough - quite simply, it works for ALL of your students!

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Permalink Reply by Leigh Newton on May 24, 2008 at 1:24pm

Thanks HHampson. It sounds intriguing. I will search out the text. I can't much detail on content on the internet apart from promos from Amazon and similar.

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Permalink Reply by ddeubel on May 26, 2008 at 8:42am

This is my suggestion. Tested and lots of research yet still so few educational organizations will espouse or enact. Karaoke.

Yes, karaoke. And the kids actually making the reading material for presentation and sharing -- a la web 2.0 and user generated content.

Not only with a karaoke editor that even a 7 year old can understand, can they learn whole language phonics and foster great decoding skills, they can view/use material that is THEIRS.

http://www.thestar.com/article/213511

http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/gupta/article.pdf

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/may/16/pa-reading-comes-easy-as-a-...

http://elpcorp.idimension.com/files/KeyWestCitizen_2007.pdf (I have many more articles and much more research)

What I'm suggesting is to use the karafun player. Editor comes with the free download and join our Karaoke group (classroom) on EFL Classroom 2.0 to learn more. Or click the karaoke page and watch me make a karaoke and also download the player there...

The students can make their fav. songs, share and in all this -- read, be reading and be picking up invaluable reading skills. Try it. I have all our hundreds upon hundreds of karaoke in youtube format but they are better in the original and can be downloaded on site at EFL Classroom 2.0 . Here's a sample....made by a 12 year old! /See this article attached for good info. also....


Your students will learn to read by learning to DO. A very Deweyian view but I stand by it.
Also, just found this from an old workshop I did....

http://www.kotesol.org/files/u1/David_Deublebeiss_KARAOKE.pdf

David
http://eflclassroom.ning.com

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Permalink Reply by Leigh Newton on May 26, 2008 at 9:50am

Thanks David. I've often wondered what my morning singing might do for my children's reading. We have 5-10 mins each day of the year, which does not compare with 30 mins 3x each week, but there's still plenty of words up there on the OHP that they get to sing over and over. It certainly is a safe way of learning for my ESL children, some of whom have not spoken English before this year. (I'm teaching in Azerbaijan)

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Hanawald on May 26, 2008 at 6:24pm

Wow! David, I love this!
Sarah

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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Davis on May 27, 2008 at 5:13pm

I love this idea. Thanks for sharing it. It never would have occurred to me that Karaoke could improve reading, but now it makes sense.
Love it!
-Liz

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