AUDIO BOOKS and RECORDING IN THE CLASSROOM

The possibilities and benefits of using free audio books or audio recording technology in the classroom is astounding. Students love technology and are motivated to complete technology based assignments. At present, these are some of the ideas I am brainstorming for my classroom as well as other teachers:

• listening to reading assignments while following along in the book. Great way to accomodate students with dyslexia or other disabilities that cause learning difficulties with the written word or processing information.
• reading practice for students who struggle. The immediate feedback and privacy-no one else will hear their recordings-will help students self-correct and recognize where and what they need to improve.
• recording children’s stories in child development classes and sharing them with preschool students.
• recording lectures or instructions for students to listen too. Great for students who are absent and those who need instructions several times. Saves the teacher time too.
• use with a digital voice recorder and lavalier microphone to record lectures and post on a blog for students to access any time.
• download  text of public domain books, such as Poe, Shakespeare, Wells, and other authors studied in high school english and literature classes.
• create  readers theater performances for a class assignment.
• use audio recording technology for alternative way to complete some assignments, oral vocabulary recitation
• the teacher can read assignment instructions and possibly textbook for IEP accomodations (check copyright policy prior to recording the textbook). You may need to erase or destroy the disk when the unit is completed. Be legal with this one.
• record narration for presentations such as power point or open source presentations.

If you have other ideas for using free audio recordings in the classroom, please post them in the comments. You will be credited for your contribution.

Rebecca Dekker