The First Grade class just finished making the cutest audio books for the Kindergarteners. I thought it would be a good time to document some tips I've learned for making audio books using an iPad:
TIP 1 - Make it Relevant
Kids take making projects more seriously when they know their work is meaningful. One year our Fourth Grade students made audio books for Wright to Read, a non-profit organization focused on improving literacy in the Alexandria, VA area. They did all the work including picking out the books to read, scanning the pages, making the recordings, and editing them.
In this most recent project, the First Grade students were very serious when editing their work. They wanted to make sure their audio book would help Kindergarten students learn to read properly, so they recorded and rerecorded pages until they were satisfied.
Kids take making projects more seriously when they know their work is meaningful. One year our Fourth Grade students made audio books for Wright to Read, a non-profit organization focused on improving literacy in the Alexandria, VA area. They did all the work including picking out the books to read, scanning the pages, making the recordings, and editing them.
In this most recent project, the First Grade students were very serious when editing their work. They wanted to make sure their audio book would help Kindergarten students learn to read properly, so they recorded and rerecorded pages until they were satisfied.
TIP 2 - Tie it to Classwork
In Reading, the First Grade class was learning fluency skills such as the importance of timing, phrasing, emphasis, and intonation. They were able to take their new skills and use them in their audio books. My favorite example of this was when a student was reading "I see" Ivy said slowly. The boy said the word "slowly", slowly instead of the words "I see". He had the right idea.
In Reading, the First Grade class was learning fluency skills such as the importance of timing, phrasing, emphasis, and intonation. They were able to take their new skills and use them in their audio books. My favorite example of this was when a student was reading "I see" Ivy said slowly. The boy said the word "slowly", slowly instead of the words "I see". He had the right idea.
TIP 3 - Microsoft Lens App Microsoft Lens is my favorite scanner app. In document mode, it will fix the perspective and color of your images. It's easy to use and scanned book pages look great. I save them on the camera roll as photos When scanning pages, think about whether you scan each page separately or if you scan two pages at a time. Many times with picture books, the images span both pages. In that case I would scan two pages in one image. |
TIP 4 - High Quality Microphone I am always amazed at how quietly kids talk when they are being recorded. Sometimes I ask myself "are these the same kids that were just screaming at recess?" It seemed extravagant when we purchased a pair of Turtle Beach gaming headphones, but it has made a significant difference in the quality of our recordings. |
TIP 5 - Explain Everything We use the Explain Everything app to create the audio book. First I add the scanned images and then I record the students reading the book. We start by recording the cover page. We listen to it together to make sure the microphone is working properly. Then we record the rest of the book without stopping. This allows the student to get into a flow or rhythm. Before we begin, I explain to the student that when we are finished recording, we can come back and rerecord any page that they want. They are usually relieved to hear that you don't have to rerecord the entire book. Once we've finished recording, we review each page and rerecord the ones the students select. Recording and stopping after each page is an option that some students prefer. Some students struggle with fluency and practicing a page before reading is helpful. For the Wright to Read project, the Fourth Grade students used the highlight feature of Explain Everything to highlight each word, so readers could follow along. | Here's a brief tutorial on how to use Explain Everything: If your audio book has a page that is only an image (e.g. no text), then pause for about 3 seconds before going to the next page. This will allow the reader time to look at the image. |