Emerging Readers – keeping track of progress
One of the things I love about running (other than keeping fit and being able to make excuses for eating rubbish) is that it gives me time for thinking. On this morning’s run I was thinking about ways I could support teachers at my school this year and this lead me back a few years when I showed a Year 2 teacher how to use Audacity.
For the session we had her students bring a book that they were currently reading.
We showed them where to plug the microphone in (after some frantic changing of settings to get the mics to work – why is this always the case?), how close to have the microphone to their mouths, and where the record and stop buttons are.
After a few test recordings, all the boys seemed to be able to get something recorded. We then showed them how to delete a recording and emphasised that they have just one track in the audacity window. Finally, we asked them to read some of their book and record it.
As each boy finished, we asked them to play it back and we listened in. I then showed the teacher how to increase the recording level for boys who read quietly – rather than asking a boy to have another go (we didn’t want to generate reluctant recorders). We didn’t quite get through checking all boys recordings but they were saved.
I thought that this would be a great way to keep track of each boy’s reading development and would be great to share at parent/teacher interviews. If it was now, keeping them on a blog/wiki/ning would be a great way to share with parents.
The teacher thought the task had merit and seemed quite excited about it. But then, I don’t think it was ever repeated. I think this was partly due to Audacity – while I find it easy, it wasn’t so easy for those who are not digital natives or confident with technology.
After reflecting on this, I then started thinking about alternatives – how would I do it now?
I went through a few web apps – could use VoiceThread (though that can be slightly challenging) – and then decided it was still quite time consuming and then I thought of Photobooth.
What if, when the teacher listened to each boy read (teachers still do that once a week, don’t they?) they happened to have Photobooth running. This would automatically record audio (and video), you can easily save the file and then do what you want with it.
My main problem with this – we don’t have Macs in classrooms. However, I do recall a tweet about the pc version of photobooth and thanks to delicious it’s called ManyCam.
What do you think? Is recording students reading a realistic way to keep a portfolio of reading progress? Is it too hard, too time consuming? What software would you use and how would you store/share it?
January 16th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
I’ve thought about doing this a number of times – maybe this year’s the year!?
If I was looking for really basic software that was already on the computer, then I’d go for Windows Movie Maker to record video and audio – I had a look and it recognises my laptop’s webcam as an input device.
If I only really wanted the sound, however, and I had to find something easy for my colleagues to use, I might go to something as simple as the sound recorder in Activstudio. The only thing is that you have to have it set to save the recordings to file, rather than add them to a flipchart page.
Our school system as a VLE of sorts, so we could have students recordings saved there and make them accessible at home (also under password, so the security factor’s in its favour). Otherwise, I’d probably set up something like a box.net account and put them there. Then you could share the file, and give the students/parents the link to their own recording.
I think I’d only go to the trouble of recording them once in a while though, maybe at the beginning of the year, then at the end of each semester as a work sample to go with the student report. I could see you ending up with more files than you’d have time to review and analyse; although with older children, they could manage the recording independently, and do it more often as a self-monitoring tool.
[Reply]
January 16th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Hi Robert,
You make some very good points.
I hadn’t considered using ActivStudio – what file format does it save in?
To me, the video aspect is not so important, just that PhotoBooth may be easy to use technology wise. I guessm Windows Movie Maker could do the same thing.
I think the security factor is important. In some ways it would be useful for say Parent A to hear Parent B’s child read, so they could make comparisons, but that may be a dangerous path to follow, and might be best just to have parents able to access their own child’s reading.
I agree, once a month would be more than enough and I’d probably look at twice a term.
I see it more for parents than to analyse as a teacher – though it is great evidence when discussing your view of a child’s development.
Thanks again – you’ve made me think a little further.
Colin
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January 18th, 2009 at 9:18 am
When I read your post I immediately thought of voicethread. That is the easiest and most convenient app for me to use. If you keep it unpublished, you can also include video of the child reading so that you can note visual or manual tracking. You can conveniently take samples of their reading at various times in the school year and use that as an informal assessment of their progress.
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January 18th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Hi Lorraine,
I had thought of using VoiceThread – but wasn’t sure how simple it would be for a first time teacher (not thinking of myself) – and I think I recall that you can use a feed straight from yur webcam, so it may be one step easier than PhotoBooth.
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January 26th, 2009 at 12:36 am
Colin,
I, too was a cross-country runner, some 50 years ago! So I understand all about reflective jogging – I do it now, but only when driving long distances in the car!
I think your question about Emerging Readers is fundamental. Not only do we have a record of progress, and as it were reading for an audience, the progress and reflection is an highly informative part of an e-Portfolio.
However, even more importantly, is the use/benefits it can have upon parents. Some years ago I won a research grant to explore ‘Video Diaries’ for ESN pupils. Many times we found that taking a book home and asking parents to supervise their child’s reading was not working. However, my vision was that by recording not only the child reading but also the prompts of the teacher would help parents at home to understand ‘how to do it’.
Not only that, now that we have some understanding of e-Portfolios, we are able to keep selected examples which may be of inestimable encouragement when the child is able to reflect on their progress and possibly document the key factors in their progress or otherwise!
All power to your elbow!
Perhaps we can talk more about the progress of e-Portfolios in Aus? At the moment I’m having some exciting negotiations with people in NZ. e-mail me if you wish.
Best Wishes,
Ray Tolley
P: http://www.raytolley1.xfolioworld.com
B: http://www.efoliointheuk.blogspot.com/
W: http://www.maximise-ict.co.uk/eFolio-01.htm
E: rjt@maximise-ict.co.uk
[Reply]
Colin Becker Reply:
January 26th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Hi Ray,
Thanks for your comment.
I like your notion of parents seeing how teacher’s ‘prompt’ readers – that would be very valuable. IT would also give a record of the changing of the propmpts over a time period, if as you suggest, we keep selected examples for an eportfolio.
I’m sure that technology will make it even easier over the next few years, so that any teacher will feel that it is a ‘one-click’ function to record and add to an eportfolio.
My school hasn’t done much at present with eportfolios and I’m hoping that 2009 will be the year that we do.
I’d love to keep the conversation going.
Regards, Colin
[Reply]
January 29th, 2009 at 5:42 am
Hi Colin
I have used and recommended Audacity to teachers to record children’s reading. What I have discovered over time is that it is too much to do for a class of 30+ (when do you listen to it) so decided to use it just for children who are having difficulties with fluency. We also discovered that we needed to give them books that were one step below those that we would normally use for guided reading so that the only problem they were focusing on was fluency. They recorded themselves once a week over a term (roughly 12 weeks). The value in it was the children listening back to themselves and discussing where they were fluent and where they weren’t and going back to the text and trying to reread it. We compared the first recording and the last recording and were amazed by the improvements. We then used these to share with parents.
I suppose what happened was that the tool became a tool for intervention as well as assessment. Anything that is just used for assessment can feel like an add on sometimes.
I believe that the best tool for assessing emerging readers is a running record. But we found that Audacity worked for children who needed help with developing fluency atr any stage in reading.
Keep up the good blogging.
[Reply]
Colin Becker Reply:
January 29th, 2009 at 6:45 am
I think the time commitment for a large class on a regular basis would be far too much (and I think you’d possibly stop really ‘listening’ to what the videos might tell you) – 30 in a class these days is really unfortunate.
I think the idea of comparing over time is one of the best uses for struggling readers – it could really give them a boost to hear that they have improved.
I agree with you on running records – and probably best used on those that are struggling. Like using audacity, running records take a while if you have 30 students and do it regularly.
I wonder if many teachers still use them. Might try a twitpoll on this.
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April 10th, 2009 at 7:38 am
[...] Promote reading development by recording kids reading books, as Colin Becker outlines in his post on Emerging Readers. [...]
December 17th, 2009 at 7:13 am
[...] Promote reading development by recording kids reading books, as Colin Becker outlines in his post on Emerging Readers. [...]