The Growing Teacher

Have you ever wonder how to encourage reading in your class and inspire learners to engage with a story and interact with its content? I am going to talk about how I made some engaging reading videos that my class enjoyed during snack time in the class, or while at home online.

So, creating video can be hard at first and time consuming when you think about it, but the more your create the faster and easier it becomes. Don’t ever feel disheartened is discouraged, YouTube is full of ideas. I did a lot of research and looked at different ways to do what I wanted, to make sure that my learners enjoyed the videos. Remember, there is not one specific way to do this, so whatever you have and whatever you are wanting to do, take it one step at a time.

You’ll need to find a book that you feel your whole class will enjoy. If there is a small percentage that won’t enjoy it, I am sure that it’s content will draw them in. You will need to record yourself reading the book. I would normally read the chapter once, to see what questions I would or should ask to draw my learners in. I made sure that they were a mixture of high order thinking questions and opinions/thoughts. This would also create great discussion points and encourage learners to communicate their own thoughts or ideas. I would then read it a second time, this time I would record myself and make sure that I added excitement, tone, tension and suspense when needed. Sometimes it would take a few cuts, but then realized I can edit is in iMovie later on, before the next step. I would just I use my phone/iPad to record it. I also bought a Shure MV88 mic to make sure the the voice clarity is clear, this was just my preference and only an option.

Once editing has been completed, cutting out all my bloopers, I would then save it and transfer it to a program called Explain Everything. This is a super program, in my opinion, that I have thoroughly enjoyed using and I have created a lot of video for my class. Whether they were for art, reading, explanation videos for while online OR in the class, etc. Explain Everything is also my preference, and they have a lot to offer, PD’s (personal development) and certification programmers to grow your skills. Once I have imported my video I start with adding in my questions, animations and record myself adding it to the video while it played.

Once you have completed all that, you can download it and save it somewhere where your learners can access it on their own, or even while you are in the class. I then created a basic PDF Book with links to the video, with small breakdowns of the story, where we found ourselves as we went through the book and any other information.

I thoroughly enjoyed creating them and so did my class. It does take a lot of effort and time, but I felt this was a creative way to get my learners into reading and engage with the story. I had learners in my year group who went out and bought the book, because they enjoyed it.

So, that is a short breakdown of creating visual reading stories. Remember, inspiration starts with what you have to offer. What inspiration are you wanting your students to inspire to?