Have you coached your students to “read with expression?” Have you modeled reading with expression during
your read-alouds, yet kids still read in a monotone? Do they pause in the middle of sentences, but
fail to stop at periods? Worse yet, is
their compression suffering because of little ability to demonstrate prosody in
their reading? If so, then check out
Chris Rekstad’s fourth graders on Youtube.com as they play the “Crazy Professor Reading
Game.” Enthusiasm abounds as his
students read aloud. This was one of the
first Whole Brain Teaching videos I watched when I first learned of WBT late in
August. I yearned for my fourth graders
to be able to read with the expression and enthusiasm that Chris’ students
displayed.
Consequently, the Crazy Professor Reading Game was one of
the first games I introduced to my students.
They begged me loudly to play.
Yes, it was controlled, enthusiastic, loud begging.
It was fortunate that my district’s first reading unit to
teach was about fiction, because the fiction genre seems so perfect for the
Crazy Professor Reading Game. I chose a
fairly short, simple selection for our first attempt. Kids used their best overly dramatic voices and
wide gestures as they read the selection. I never would have dreamed that kids could be
so enthusiastic about reading out loud.
I know I have a long way to go to fully harness the power of the Crazy Professor Reading Game. I’ve downloaded the free eBook and will study it thoroughly so I can teach my students about about paraphrasing, skimming, Q and A, silent reading and silent summarizing. You can find the eBook at wholebrainteaching.com on page three of the free eBooks.
To view Chris Rekstad’s amazing youtube video, just click on the following link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xFcUPQ_z_8 Watch the video and read the eBook. Then, sit back and be amazed as your students become fluent readers!
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