A few weeks ago, I wrote Google Spreadsheets + Screenchomp = Dynamic Reading Records. On Twitter, someone asked if students could do this process. Why not?!
Step 1: Create a Google Form
Especially if you are a Google Apps for Education School, it is super easy to keep all of your records in some sort of Google format. I’m a huge fan of Google Forms because they are easy to create and work across all devices. Let’s say that you want your students to assess each other’s reading. Create a form that prompts them to enter the information that you want.
Step 2: Teach the Tools
I happen to really like ScreenChomp for this type of activity. First, it’s mistake tolerant. Second, there are limited buttons to push. Third, you can scroll up and down a page – and capture both the audio recording as well as the text. Finally, it generates a link that students can share without having to worry about logins. Besides, it’s FREE!
If you don’t have ScreenChomp, or an iPad, you could use Educreations to get a similar effect. Two other tools that would work really well are Fotobabble and Croak.It. The former records up to 5 minutes of audio with a single picture and the latter gives you 30 seconds of audio. Both generate a link, but Croak.It doesn’t require a login.
Regardless of the tool, teach students how to record, save, and share, as well as to copy & paste the link into the Google Form.
Step 3: Let Students Loose
Armed with a device, the ability to record, and a form for guidance, students could start supporting each other in the development and assessment of their own reading fluency. The results of the Google Form will all be curated, and time stamped, into one spreadsheet that you can then review later.
Understanding Fluency
Suzy Brooks (@simplysuzy) did a fantastic activity for helping her students to understand fluency. She provided them all with a rubric and then guided them through the assessment of two-year old Eveliina Anderson as she read Mo Willem’s Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_daubRCcCw
Once your students understand the process, let them do the assessing.