"All
Aboard the Reading Express"
Expressive Reader Design
By: Christina Woods
Rationale
As children become more fluent readers, they should
learn
to read with expression. Reading with expression makes text more
enjoyable
for everyone involved in the reading experience. This lesson is
designed
to help students read with expression by matching the tone and pitch of
their
voice to specific moods pictured on mood cards.
Materials
1 set of mood cards for each student (composed of 4
notecards—1
each illustrating happy, sad, excited, and angry moods), variety of
books
in class library (trade books & age appropriate
decodable
text), sentence strips with 1 sentence printed on each, list of
expressive
sentences (for teacher), checklist of expressive
qualities
(for assessment).
Sentence Strips:
"My
dog ran away and I cannot find him." (sad mood)
"I
just won a million dollars!" (excited mood)
"That
boy made my team lose the game." (angry mood)
"It
is a beautiful day to go swimming." (happy mood)
Assessment Checklist (categories include, but are
not
limited to):
a)
Change in voice pitch/tone
yes
no yes, but incorrectly
b)
Changed tempo in reading
yes
no
c)
Changed facial expressions
yes
no sometimes
d) Other Comments:
Procedure
1. Begin by introducing the idea of reading with
expression.
DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO READ WITH EXPRESSION?
Allow time for the students to
share
ideas. GOOD. READING WITH EXPRESSION MEANS PUTTING FEELING
AND
EMOTION INTO THE WORDS YOU READ. WHY DO YOU
THINK
THIS IS IMPORTANT? THAT'S RIGHT. BECAUSE IT MAKES READING
MORE
FUN AND
INTERESTING.
THERE ARE MANY THINGS YOU CAN DO WHEN YOU READ THAT CAN HELP YOU
EXPRESS
FEELINGS. FOR
INSTANCE, YOU CAN RAISE AND LOWER YOUR VOICE, CHANGE
THE
TONE OF YOUR VOICE, READ CERTAIN WORDS SLOWER
OR FASTER THAN OTHERS, OR CHANGE YOUR FACIAL EXPRESSIONS. WATCH
FOR
ALL THESE CHANGES AS I READ THE
SENTENCE STRIPS. Model different expressive qualities by reading
each
sentence and pausing afterward for class discussion. Ex: I JUST
WON A MILLION DOLLARS! The expression is excitement. DID
YOU
NOTICE ANY OF THE TRAITS WE JUST DISCUSSED? YOU'RE
RIGHT. I RAISED MY VOICE, TALKED IN A
HIGH-PITCHED
TONE, TALKED AT A MORE RAPID PACE, AND HAD A SMILE FROM
EAR-TO-EAR.
ALL OF THESE THINGS LET YOU KNOW THAT I WAS EXCITED. THIS WAS MY
WAY
OF EXPRESSING THE MOOD OF THE SENTENCE.
2. Pass out one set of mood cards to each
student.
NOW THAT WE UNDERSTAND WHAT READING WITH EXPRESSION MEANS, WE
ARE GOING TO PLAY A GAME TOGETHER. I AM GOING
TO
READ A SENTENCE USING EXPRESSION AND I WANT YOU TO RAISE
YOUR CARD THAT MATCHES MY MOOD. REMEMBER TO
PAY
CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE TRAITS WE TALKED ABOUT. IS
EVERYONE READY? Read a variety of sentences from the sentence
list
already prepared that express each of the moods. Ex: GO TO
THE
PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE; YOU'RE IN BIG TROUBLE. Be
sure
students hold up the "angry" card. Continue with more sentences
that
demonstrate reading expressively
to
ensure that students understand the concept.
3. NOW WE ARE GOING TO READ WITH OUR "BUDDY".
This
should produce several groups of two. YOU AND YOUR BUDDY ARE
GOING TO
CHOOSE
THE SAME BOOK FROM THE CLASS LIBRARY AND EACH OF YOU NEEDS A
COPY.
AS YOU CHOOSE YOUR BOOK, REMEMBER
TO
DO THE "2-FINGER TEST". DOES EVERYONE REMEMBER HOW? YOU AND
YOUR
BUDDY SHOULD EACH HOLD-UP 2 FINGERS. SELECT A
BOOK
THAT INTERESTS BOTH OF YOU AND READ THE FIRST PAGE INDIVIDUALLY.
IF
YOU
COME TO A WORD YOU DON'T KNOW, PUT 1 FINGER DOWN. IF YOU COME TO
ANOTHER
UNFAMILIAR WORD, PUT DOWN THE
SECOND
FINGER. IF EITHER YOU OR YOUR BUDDY PUTS BOTH FINGERS DOWN WHILE
READING
ONE PAGE, YOU NEED TO
CHOOSE A DIFFERENT BOOK THAT IS ON YOUR READING LEVEL. The
teacher
may need to assist students in their selection if they
cannot agree. AFTER YOU
HAVE
SELECTED A BOOK, I WANT YOU TO READ THE BOOK ALTERNATING BETWEEN THE
PAGES.
FOR EXAMPLE, IF BOBBY READS PAGE
1,
SUE WILL READ PAGE 2, BOBBY PAGE 3, AND SO ON. AS YOU READ,
REMEMBER
TO USE EXPRESSION. CHANGE YOUR TONE, PITCH,
AND
FACIAL EXPRESSIONS TO MATCH THE MOOD OF THE TEXT. REREAD
THE BOOK ONCE AGAIN WITH YOUR
BUDDY,
THIS TIME READING THE PAGES YOU DID NOT READ BEFORE.
Assessment
This will be done in the form of an individual
check
list. As the students read, visit each group and listen to each
member
read at least two pages.
Evaluate
each student's ability to read expressively, and fill-out an expressive
qualities
check list for each.
References
Baker, Joanie. Express Delivery. 2002.
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/elucid/bakergf.html.
.
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