Re: Using audiobooks/texts

["Margie Waterbrook" <mwaterbrook@gmail.com>]

  I used audiobooks for two class novels and for almost every short story
we read from our 7th grade anthology. As much as possible I made sure that
students were reading along with the tape, but those who are determined to
do nothing will find a way to do just that. There does seem to be a lot of
research that says that reading along with an audiotape does increase
reading comprehension and other reading skills. The other big benefit for
me, which I'm not sure has been mentioned yet,  was that I could be sure
that everyone in class had done (or had a chance to do) the reading and all
be at the same place at the same time. In fact, my school only has enough
books for one class anyway, so if I had wanted to risk sending home reading
homework, it would have had to have been on a "staggered" basis.

Margie

Margie Waterbrook
9th & 10th Grade English
Vail High School
Vail, AZ

"Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm."
--Winston Churchill