Summary:
The students all choose an animal which they wrote a five paragraph essay on. During this activity the student had to re-read their report to me, while I typed it for them.
Reflection:
This activity may have seemed simple enough, but in order for me to successfully re-produce their essay the students had to concentrate on their fluency. If the students had an exclamation mark at the end of one of their sentences, they had to make sure and read it that way; otherwise I would not know to put that specific mark at the end of the sentence. Additionally, students had to pause in correct spaces, cueing me to either end a sentence or add a comma. One student began reading his essay in a robotic, monotone voice, ignoring pauses and sentences all together. I had to stop him three sentences in and show him on the computer screen what his weeks of work was turning into. This related back to class and the discussion we had of how if comprehension fails then the authors meaning can be altered. In this case, the student was the author and by him reading his work in an incomprehensible way, the meaning was lost on me, the audience. After he realized that he had to read it like he wrote it, he would read one sentence, pause, look up (to make sure I typed it correctly), then go on to the next sentence. Although this student’s intention of stopping was to check my work, he was still improving his fluency as he read aloud. He began to take appropriate breaks at appropriate times. During another essay, I was extremely impressed with one student’s ability to orate their story to me. She was able to read her essay with proper pausing, and great fluency. She made sure to tell me when she was beginning a new paragraph, realizing that a pause in a voice usually means a new sentence, maybe a comma, but not necessarily a new paragraph. I thought this took great cognitive skills. The student realized what challenges I may be having while typing her story and solved the problem before it occurred. I also thought it took a great deal of thinking for this student to remove herself from the student role and to even begin to ask those types of questions to herself: what the purpose of this task is, in order for this to happen what must I do differently in this type of read-aloud? I was extremely impressed with this individual student’s mature thought process and literacy development (I was beginning to wonder who the teacher was and who was the student).
I really enjoyed this activity; it was a chance when the roles were switched. Often times teachers read to students, but student only seem to read to teachers with books that they did not choose, let alone write. I feel that this can sometimes take away from the students’ excitement, which can ultimately affect how they read a book. If a student is not interested in a book, why would they read it in a manner that intrigues other readers if it doesn’t even intrigue them. I also enjoyed getting to listen to the students’ work, not only by reading it, but hearing it from the actual author. The students were also excited to see their work on the screen and begin to fill the pages. To engage students and to excite students is to make any task fun, a common theme in my Blog. When learning becomes something children (I use children, b/c I mean children, not just students) want to do because it is now something fun, that is when learning becomes meaningful, authentic, and beneficial to all parties.
