Podcasting and Fluency

Check out this week's post from Bits & Bytes:

This year, more teachers across grade levels are implementing The Daily Five in their Reading blocks. The Daily Five is a structure that helps students develop the daily habits of reading, writing, and working independently that will lead to a lifetime of literacy independence.   When implementing the Daily Five structure students can choose between the following literacy activities:

• Read to Self
• Work on Writing 
• Word Work
• Listening to Reading
• Read to Someone

Currently, many teachers are working on building up these routines in their classrooms and getting in the groove of these activities while the teacher works with small groups or conferences with individual students. I've been lucky enough to plan some lessons with teachers to help infuse technology in the Daily Five.   I've been training classrooms and working with individual students on Podcasting as a part of the "Listening to Reading" component.   How this activity works is a student goes to the "Listening to Reading" Center where there are headphones with a microphone and a laptop that has the program Garage Band.  Students then record themselves reading a passage or poem selected by their teacher.  Once they record themselves reading, they then can listen to their recording and make notes on the page of what they've read.   Students then save their Podcast, then fill out a self evaluation about their reading.   By making this a regular part of the reading block, students will be able to go back and listen to themselves read and track improvement over time.  Teachers can also go and listen to what the student records and have the ability to conference with their students with their Oral Reading Fluency progress.   Students can then set their own goals for improvement.   Technology is changing how students learn in this activity as it is giving them the opportunity to go back and hear themselves read.   We used to accomplish this task with whisper phones or PVC pipes where they could read to themselves but offered little opportunity for reflection.  Everyone benefits from this use of technology!

A student records herself reading a poem. 

Here a student listens to their recording of himself reading a poem.

If you'd like to implement this in your classroom, just ask!