Understanding Learners - CEP 800

Click Here to listen to my podcast on Understanding Reading from a first graders point of view!
The music for this podcast is called Sunshine A by Kevin MacLeod from http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/.


I enjoyed doing this assignment in the first few weeks of school. It really helped get me in the mode for teaching! I had only known the 3 interview subjects for about a week when I asked them to take part in my project. I chose a student who was reading above grade level, a student who was reading at grade level, and a student who was reading below grade level.

I thought it was interesting that my lower reader seemed the most confident with the answers given while my highest level reader was more reserved in giving answers. The students were thrilled to record their voice on the computer and were even more thrilled when I played the final project for the entire class!

I recieved many answers from the students that were obviously learned in school. For example, when asked how they read each gave the 3 ways they are taught in school...1. The pictures, 2. The words, 3. retelling. One student mentioned that the reason you read is because there is nothing else to do! Taking the time to stop and understand where my learners are coming from helped me formulate my lessons to get them excited about the next step and begin to fill in the blanks of learning to read.

When I asked them who do they read with not one said their teacher! I was glad to hear that each of them had a plan for reading at home however.

This assignment took a lot of time and energy to complete. I first typed up a transcript of each interview in different colored fonts and then cut and paste them together how i wanted it. i was then able to easily find each soundbite and put them together in an organized fashion. I found a piece of music that complemented the children's voices and helped add emotion to their words.

In the end I was very pleased with the resut of the podcast and I look forward to using the technique to present learning to parents and the students in the future at open houses and projects such as digital storytelling!