LISTEN, PAUSE, ECHO

Daniel developed the "listen, pause, echo" method in an attempt to improve the reading fluency and expressiveness of a group of Grade 5 students that he was teaching in an extended substitute teacher engagement in late 2010.  It taps into the potential of using YouTube videos inside and outside of the classroom.

For the exercise, students were given the following homework instructions:

This evening, we are again making a video of ourselves reciting poetry using another famous Robert Frost poem:  The Road Not Taken.  (If you have lost your printed copy of the poem, you can find it in Dropbox in the "Poetry" folder that is in the "How We Organize Ourselves" folder.)  This homework serves at least two purposes:  one being to introduce you to the work of the famous American poet, Robert Frost, and the second being to further develop your oral presentation skills.

Please use the following method of practice that we used in class today:

STEP 1: PRACTICE (for at least 15 minutes)
(1) Use the YouTube video of Mr. Vimont reading the poem (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xqIcgXmi3s) to do "listen, pause, echo" practicing of the poem.  (Listen to Mr. Vimont recite a few lines of the poem, then pause the video and recite [echo] those lines yourself.)

(2) After practicing with "listen, pause, echo", try reading the complete poem on your own, using your own ideas for expressiveness.

STEP 2: MAKE A VIDEO
After practicing, please logon to the Grade 5 YouTube account to make a video of yourself doing both (1) "listen, pause, echo" and (2) reading the entire poem.

To see an example of what your final video should be like, you can view Sara's video that she did for "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening":  [link was given here]

As we discussed today, those of you who do not have a webcam at home may make your video in the morning at school (but please do your practicing this evening).

The results that the students produced from this homework exercise were quite good!  Some students who were very reluctant to express themselves in class did wonderful things in the privacy of their own rooms in front of a webcam.

The following videos show (1) the original video that Dan produced, reading "The Road Not Taken" for his students, and (2) the audio portion from the video that one of his students produced for the homework assignment.  Judge the results for yourself.

Mr. Vimont reads "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost


A student uses "listen, pause, echo" to practice reading "The Road Not Taken"