One of my favorite technology resources to use in my classroom is Novel Effect. The first time I opened the app, I was surprised to see that several of my favorite titles were listed. Usually, when I look for read alouds on the internet, it's always obscure titles that bore my students and myself. I favorited several books and went to my classroom library to find the paper copies I have of them.
The first book I read to my students was Rosie Revere, Engineer.* You can watch my students' reactions in this video! (They are priceless!)
I was blown away at their response. Immediately, I could see the benefits of having a program like this in my classroom. Now I want to shout those benefits from the rooftops!
- Reading the story out loud with the effects in the background immediately improved my students' comprehension. They were able to recall the events in the story with clarity and their retell scores were off the charts.
- The sounds help my students with learning disabilities or visual impairments visualize the story vividly.
- Listening to the stories this way is a perfect way to model the acronym EARs. (Expression, accuracy, and rate.) Download my EARS freebie on TPT here.
After telling the creators of Novel Effect my thoughts, they were able to show me a way that I could record my students reading with the effects in the app. This increased their engagement in guided reading and will be a great work sample to have at end-of-quarter conferences!
Watch a step-by-step tutorial of how to record your students reading with Novel Effect:
I am so happy I found Novel Effect because it has been a great tool for my students to use!
Learn more about them here.
Comments