Listen up! Let's hear it for audiobooks

As my daughter and I were listening to The Education of Nicholas Benedict by Trenton Lee Stewart while we were driving home from school the other day, I thought about how much she has benefitted from listening to audiobooks through her emergent literacy years and the role that audiobooks can play in a literacy-rich classroom.

Although my daughter has always loved books, learning to read did not come easily to her. She spent her kindergarten year learning to write and identify each letter along with sound-letter correspondences, and she spent the bulk of her first grade year laboriously sounding out words and gradually developing her sight word vocabulary. So, how did she maintain her love for literature through this difficult decoding phase? One way was certainly through audiobooks.

Because of audiobooks, my daughter could enjoy literature that she had no chance of being able to read at age 5 or 6. Not only did this keep her love for literature alive, it also enhanced her listening skills, increased her vocabulary, and made it possible for her to absorb and think about much more complex and involved stories than she could read on her own. When her decoding skills were advanced enough so that reading became easier and more enjoyable, she had a more developed vocabulary and greater comprehension skills due to the time she spent listening to audiobooks.

In looking for some validation about my esteem for audiobooks, I found this title: Listening to Learn: Audiobooks Supporting Literacy by Sharon Grover and Lisette Hannegan. 

This book argues for the value of audiobooks, includes suggestions of audiobooks for different age groups, and discusses specific ideas of how to use these books in class. The authors point out that audiobooks can be used for listening by a whole class, by small groups or individually in classroom listening centers, or at home (especially in the car!). The authors also emphasize that audiobooks can be especially useful for English language learners and can act as a “scaffold that allows students to experience literature above their actual reading level,” and therefore allow English language learners to participate more fully in class discussions about literature (p.12). Along these lines, audiobooks can also play a role in differentiating instruction for learners of different abilities or strengths, supporting students with reading difficulties and developing students’ listening skills.

On a personal note, listening to these stories with my daughter has made for some pretty interesting conversations. Since I am not reading the books to her, we are equals in listening to the books, so we are both free to make predictions, discuss a character’s motivation, or just share a laugh.

So, if you are not yet a fan of audiobooks, I encourage you and your students to give them a try.

A Trip to Reggio Emilia... and Back

While educational philosophy is not a topic I typically ponder on a daily basis, this issue has been more relevant to me lately as I begin my new job assisting in a 4 year-old classroom this week. Since my daughter attended the school, the lead teacher has integrated more elements from the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education in her class. So, to be more useful in the classroom, and just because I am curious, I am attempting to learn a bit more about this perspective. Here is an article from the January 2006 issue of Language Arts, “Teachers and Children Inquire into Reggio Emilia.” (The first thing I learned is that Reggio Emilia is a place, a town in Italy, where this philosophy originated and is still practiced.) This article is useful for a beginner like me because it gives a clear overview of Reggio and also discusses how three teachers unfamiliar with the philosophy integrated it into their classrooms, including their doubts, questions and challenges along the way.

Some key elements of Reggio are: a focus on child-centered learning, where teachers follow the lead of the students in designing inquiry-based long-term projects. The examples from the article are projects on mushrooms, seeds and an on-site pond. Children and teachers work to document their investigations on panels or posters displaying artwork, artifacts, photographs and excerpts of conversations. Multiple intelligences, especially the arts, are essential in the investigations, as children use a variety of modes and materials to “observe, investigate and represent their world” (Multiple Paths to Learning section, para. 2). The role of the teacher is as a “researcher and collaborator,” who assists in “planning for possibilities,” suggests directions for projects and helps “provoke and sustain children’s interests” (What is Reggio Emilia section, para. 9). To put the Reggio perspective into the educational philosophy terminology we discussed last week, it aligns mostly with the Progressive perspective, with a healthy dose of Reconstructionism--the Gardner multiple intelligences. That’s good, since that is where I would place myself.

That’s all great, but what does this have to do with emergent literacy? Is this (and not just Reggio, but other Progressive/Reconstructive approaches) an effective method to teach kids how to read? Some pluses: The first and most obvious is that this method engages kids and gets them actively involved not just in class but in actually designing their learning, rather than being passive vessels to be filled by the teacher’s knowledge. Secondly, Reggio has a broad view of literacy. By employing the panels displaying not just print, but also artifacts, artwork, and photos, children who have a variety of strengths will be validated and engaged in school. This benefit was explicitly mentioned by the teachers in the journal article. Yet, despite my leanings toward this child-centered philosophy, I also have doubts. Can all the “basics” that children need to learn in order to become competent readers and writers be taught through this inquiry-based method? Are there some elements, such as letter formation, sound-letter correspondences, and phonics conventions, which are better taught in a more systematic, teacher-directed way?

I suppose that my answer at this point is that a combination approach may be most effective. Even my daughter’s self-declared Progressive school has a separate, daily learning time for phonics in grades K-2, in addition to the more Progressively appropriate Readers’ and Writers’ Workshops. But, I am not convinced that this is the “right” answer, and I will continue to explore this essential question.

Clyde, J. A., Miller, C., Sauer, S., Liebert, K., & al, e. (2006). Teachers and Children Inquire into
     Reggio Emilia. Language Arts, 83(3), 215-226. Retrieved from 
     http://search.proquest.com/docview/196862815

About Me

I am Cathy Lawler, and I am a former middle school history teacher currently returning to graduate school after taking several years off to stay home with my daughter, now 8 years old and entering the 3rd grade. While I have always been interested in reading education, I have gained an even greater curiosity about the topic as I have observed my daughter and her peers learn to read.

During my previous graduate program, we were encouraged to look at students as learners and teachers as coaches. I worked to implement this philosophy into my own teaching at independent schools in both Washington, DC and Denver, CO. My interest in active, child-centered learning continues today, and I would like to see how this applies to reading education.
Additionally, this school year I will be assisting in the 4-5 year old class at my daughter's former nursery school, a play-based preschool in Silver Spring.
I live in Silver Spring with my husband of 16 years, my daughter, and my cat.