My students need wireless microphones when doing Readers' Theater performances so their voices can be heard in the room in which the performance is happening.
"The fluent reader sounds good, is easy to listen to, and reads with enough expression to help the listener understand and enjoy the material," said Charles Clark and I agree 1000%. Giving students an audience for their oral reading takes it up a notch but the audience needs to hear the readers.
My first grade class is made up of 22 6 and 7-year old boys and girls who come from all walks of life.
I have students from stable homes and unstable homes. I have students from high and low socioeconomic backgrounds. I have students who already read fluently and those who haven't begun to work on fluency yet. My students run the gamut, but I have to reach each one academically and reading is the priority because it's the key that unlocks everything else. The school I teach at is K-6, in a supportive yet diverse area of our city/district and we try to give students many before, during and after school activities to engage them physically and mentally.
My Project
The best way I've found to teach and improve reading fluency, in my 16 years of teaching, is by using Readers' Theater scripts with the entire class, small groups of students and even partners. Readers' Theater is putting on a short play that usually has no set, costumes or props because the focus is on the reading. Students read from a script and must use their voice to entertain. My student's data supports this assertion and their attitudes attest to the high interest and fun factor of it. This 4-microphone small sound system will allow our audiences (made up of both peers and parents) to hear the students reading loud and clearly. In the past, parents have commented to me that they couldn't hear everyone reading and this is especially true of my shy and soft spoken kiddos. Some students will be able to hold to the microphone and the script and some students will benefit from a microphone stand so they can use both hands to hold and follow along on the script page(s).
Having microphones that amplify sound in our classroom and school will not only help our audience hear better but using a microphone will be of high interest and provide high engagement for my students.
Even though these resources are for my own classroom, I want to allow any classroom at my school (18 total classrooms and 430 students total) to use them so we promote reading fluency and parent involvement on a bigger scale.
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