Rationale: Suedints Need to be taught the importance of expression so
that they can comprehend and enjoy the text. Whether reading silently
or aloud, the goal of this lesson design is to provide practice in
reading expressively.
Materials: Owen by Kevin Henke, lots of books to be read with
expression and on reading, level, chalkboard, prepared sentences for
teacher on sentence strips (each sentence strip will express a
different mood. For example, “I have an idea!” “What are we going to
do?”, audio tapes for each pair, four tape recorders, pencil,
checklist, and paper.
Procedure:
1. Ask the children if they can explain to me what
expression is. “Can anyone explain to me what expression is? Right,
expression means that we read the story in the same way we talk. We
show people how we feel by using different tones. List some of the
expressions that the students came up with on the board. Likewise, we
show how we feel by using different tones. Can anyone tell me an
expression that we might feel when reading a book or a story. Today we
are going to read a story and I want you to listen for ecpression in my
voice to decide what kind of mood the character is in.
2. Now class, I’m going to read some sentences to you. The
sentences are on these cards on the chart. Tell me what kind of mood
I’m in when I read the sentence. I will read each sentence twice. Each
time with a different expression. “what are we going to do?” once I
will read it worried and once I will read it angry “I hanve to bring
Fuzzy to school,” said Owen. I will read it once sadly and once angry
“Fuzzy’s dirty,” said Owen’s mother. I will read it once sadly and once
demandingly (I will read each sentence two or three times with
different expression. The students will decide what the mood is.)
3. Now I will read aloud the entire book Owen by Kevin
henkes. First I will ead a few pages of the book to the class with no
expression. Which story was more interesting to you. Give me some
examples of expression used. (write children’s examples on the board).
4. the students will divide into pairs. Each student will
write a sentence. The students will swap sentences and read the
sentence twice, once with no expression and once with whatever
expression they choose. The other student must decide what mood his
partner is using. Then I will ask the students if any of them
would like to read their sentence to the class.
5. For assessment I will listen to the students reading
using a checklist. This checklist will include; tone changes, voice
fluctuations, and pitch changes. The students will be assessed by
having a check for yes they met this criteria or no they did not.
References:
1. Henkes, Kevin (1993). Owen, New York. William Morrow and
company. Inc.
2. http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie. Shona
Butcher, It’s All About Expression
Click here to return to Guidelines
