Join My Newsletter!

Sign up for some awesome educational articles, updates, freebies and unadvertised bonuses!

Be on the look-out for our monthly giveaways! 

The Self-Paced Classroom

 As Teachers, we must understand every student has different needs. 

Some race through instruction, while some need more time to digest the incoming information. 

Some can get help at home, and some miss classes. Sadly enough, in our traditional educational settings, the demands of pacing guides and age-based promotion make meeting these needs difficult.

If we look back at the days of the one-room school house, educators and teachers have longed for a better system, where all students have the time they need to achieve true understanding. 

To put it in perspective, a self-paced learning atmosphere like we know, form self-paced learning models in Montessori schools, alternative schools, and cyber schools, yet so far it hasn’t reached the masses. The one-size-fits-all model stirs along, leaving far too many students behind.

But now we know how to combine self-pacing into our own classroom without lowering the students' expectations or replacing ourselves with mindless technology. But first, let's understand the concept of the self-paced model of education.

A self-paced classroom is one where students can complete learning tasks at a speed that suits their personal abilities. This means they may take longer with the material they struggle with, or they can skip topics they already know or repeat topics and subjects if needed.

The concept of self-pacing is intuitive. Anyone who has raised a child will tell you kids learn how to do things at varying speeds. Even from the basic skills like walking, talking, or stacking blocks, kids learn differently and need to respect their differences. Research has long demonstrated that students learn at different paces, and the variations in learning rates are considerable.

But for some reason, the large majority of K-5 schools, and middle & high school, education has ignored this fact. Instead, we take the opposite stance that students should actually learn at the same pace as their peers or the benchmarks the systems have made, and if they can't keep up, we fail them or push them through the system with no regard for what they have missed. 

Many of the systems that still dominate much of primary education make it difficult for teachers to imagine a world of flexible pacing in their classrooms.

Now that we know what a self-paced classroom is, let's talk about implementing self-paced instruction in your classroom. And if you are interested to learn about the benefits you can reap, stay tuned.

The First step towards self-pacing would be to let go of whole group instructon.

It is one of the main reasons most educators don't build self-pacing into their classroom; they rely on whole-group direct instruction. This is not a surprise, given that this is how most teachers are trained to educate. But as long as your students depend on you delivering a live lecture or set of instructions at the beginning of class, you'll never be able to leap self-pacing. So before you consider self-pacing, you have to develop a concrete plan for replacing whole-group direct instruction with lessons students can access on their own. 

To be clear, whole-group direct instruction is distinct from whole-group discussions and activities. Any effective self-paced classroom naturally introduces collaborative experiences. The keynote here is to reduce and ultimately eliminate those times when kids are simply waiting for you to tell them information so they can get started on a task. 

This is where many educators struggle and don't understand how they can make the shift; this is where technology kicks in. in these challenging times when lessons are delivered via distance learning, this provides a perfect opportunity for every educational institution as well as educators to make an effective elimination of the whole-group direct instruction method.

You can try to build your own instructional videos and send them to individual students or small groups so they all can have a chance of understanding the same content, but according to their own level of understanding. 

But that's just the tip of the iceberg; let's dive into the idea of how you can introduce SELF-PACE within the constraints of school.  Let’s take a look at the 8 steps.

Number 1: SELF-PACE WITHIN EACH UNIT OF STUDY 

Self-pacing has real power, but if it is implemented without guardrails, it can present substantial challenges. 

Take this for an example, if you go overboard and let students self-pace for an entire year, you run the risk of having the faster learners fly through content while those who require more time grow frustrated and eventually lose motivation. 

This only widens the gap between students. To prevent this, it is better to let students self-pace within each unit of study, and in many cases, even shorter bursts than that. This gives students the structure they need to flourish, and frequent opportunities for fresh starts as they refine their ability to be effective, self-regulated learners. 

Self-pacing within each unit of study is not only effective for learners; it also enables educators to follow district and school-level expectations around pacing. Set your end-of-unit or mid-unit deadlines following the expectations provided to you, then cultivate a self-paced learning environment within those constraints. 

Number 2: Classify your lessons.

What happens if students don't master all the lessons in a unit by the deadline? This is the right question to ask, and there is research to support that students in a self-paced learning environment might take longer with the material they struggle with. 

Therefore, some students can be expected to be unable to master every lesson before the unit deadline. To navigate this challenge, you would want to classify lessons based on importance, which will empower you to send kids on personalized pathways based on their needs. 

To get you as an educator to fast track, here are some extra tips for dividing the lessons in MUST, SHOULD, AND ASPIRE to do 

Must-Do: These lessons cover essential skills and content, without which end-of-unit assessments cannot be completed. These lessons are non-negotiable.

Should Do: These lessons give students valuable opportunities to develop their skills or knowledge and include skills that are still considered to be "grade-level expectations." However, when students fall behind and are working hard, they can be excused from these lessons and can still transition to the next unit comfortably.

Aspire to Do: These are the toughest lessons in a unit; they serve as extensions for students who are ready and able to learn skills and content beyond the normal scope of the lesson/unit. You should feel comfortable excusing kids from mastering these lessons if they run out of time.

Classifying lessons like these are not an exact science, and there's no right way to determine what's essential and what isn't. However, having clear expectations in mind, a reasonable bar every student must meet during the unit, plus extensions for more ambitious students, will help you differentiate your instruction to meet every student's needs.

Number 3: TRACKING STUDENT PROGRESS

Teachers can become overwhelmed by the idea of running a self-paced classroom. Both students and their teacher must know exactly what they will work on every day, constantly tracking progress toward achieving learning goals and mastering content. This helps students get right to work. 

To create the structure necessary for students to flourish, teachers should build clear progress tracking systems that are easy to update and reward students for effort. 

Number 4: PUBLIC PACING TRACKERS

These Trackers are publicly displayed in classrooms and indicate where each student is in the unit. In addition to indicating the lesson each student is on, public pacing trackers often highlight the expected pace and lesson all-stars who have produced ideal work. 

It is important to note that public trackers NEVER display grades, and given the nature of self-pacing, students have ample time and opportunity to catch up. Also, if lesson classifications are used effectively, the tracker should reflect the effort, not the ability level.

Arguably the biggest upside of public trackers is that they encourage organic collaboration. Students can easily identify others who are working on similar lessons for support.

Regardless of which method you use, it is vital to have a method for tracking pace. Otherwise, you run the risk of turning a controlled chaos learning environment into a completely chaotic one. 

Number 5: CLASSROOM LEARNING SPACES

Unlike traditional classrooms, self-paced classrooms do not revolve around the teacher delivering content standing at the whiteboard. Therefore, student seating should be designed to encourage collaboration and small group instruction. When students are sitting in groups, they are more likely to collaborate with their peers, either organically or by following their teachers' guidance. 

Number 6: COLLABORATIVE TASKS AND ACTIVITIES

Teachers can design assignments and activities that require students to collaborate to achieve mastery. 

Like using a policy of ask 3 before me, if they have any questions regarding classwork, it encourages students to reach out to their peers for support before approaching their teacher. 

You can use student assistance forms to push students to work together and track their collaboration. 

Number 7: PROMOTES GROUP DISCUSSIONS AND ACTIVITIES

Many educators will be able to open each class up with a discussion. The topic can be content-specific or centered around the key 21st-century skills they are developing and reinforcing in a student-centered classroom.

 

 Remember, whole-group discussions are welcome in a self-paced environment, not live lectures. 

Number 8: PROGRESS-BASED GROUPINGS

One of the beauties of progress trackers is they provide concrete data to support effective collaboration. If a student struggles on a lesson, they can identify a peer who has already mastered that lesson and approach them for help. In some cases, teachers will use grouped pacing trackers designed to foster collaboration based on the different lessons. 

Now let's tune into the benefits of self-paced learning to understand why it is so stressed in a modern classroom setting. (5 benefits)

Number 1: It builds self-confidence. 

We all know students who walk into class already thinking they are "bad" at school. They might say they "can't write" or "can't do math" or "don't like learning." We have become accustomed to hearing students express these frustrations, but we don't spend enough time asking why. The truth is, countless students have spent their whole educational career feeling rushed. Instead of giving them more time, we usually give them partial credit and completion grades to push them through the system. Over time, they grow to hate school because they have never experienced the joy of authentic mastery. Self-pacing allows students to experience the feeling of true mastery because they are given enough time and support to get there. For students who haven't often experienced that joy, it can have profound effects on their confidence. 

Number 2: It differentiates for students' needs. 

Everyone talks about differentiation, but it is tough to pull off effectively in the classroom. A teacher's capacity to differentiate is fundamentally limited if you aren't able to modify the speed of learning based on individual students' needs. There is only so much you can do if every kid has to move on to the next lesson the next day. With self-paced learning, students who understand a skill can move on while providing appropriate time and scaffolding to students who are struggling to achieve mastery. 

Number 3: It supports students' social-emotional needs:

When I first started teaching, I felt pulled in two directions. I was constantly trying to balance meeting my students' unique social-emotional needs while maintaining "order" in my classroom. These two priorities often worked against each other. Supporting a struggling student emotionally requires time, care, and patience: all things that are limited when trying to manage a whole-class lecture or activity. In a self-paced classroom, you no longer have to choose between nurturing an individual student or tending to the larger group; when a student needs your attention, you can provide it without inhibiting everyone else's learning. 

Number 4: It supports self-regulation: 

A critical and often undervalued education element is teaching kids the 21st-century skills that allow them to become better learners over time. Self-regulation is a uniquely important skill that ensures a student can independently or collaboratively tackle a new challenge in a measured way. Skillfully crafted self-paced classrooms allow students to practice self-regulation, taking partial ownership over the planning and managing of the learning process, which has been correlated with faster learning and higher achievement. 

Number 5: It paves the way for mastery-based grading: 

The final frontier of our model at the Modern Classrooms Project is mastery-based grading. The goal is to cultivate a learning environment where students progress if they have shown mastery of the previous skill. A hallmark of mastery-based grading is giving students time to revise their work and be reassessed when necessary. To accomplish this, self-pacing is not just valuable; it is essential. You have to let some students move ahead while others wrestle with a skill until they achieve mastery. 

January 2021 Giveaway

 Teachers, I want to share with you my January Giveaway. 3 lucky winners will be selected on January 31st, for a chance to win some super cool great FREE Educational resources. Click the link below to subscribe to my newsletter, as well as enter in the Giveaway! https://aw16ca9e.aweb.page/p/2ce10a05-41a1-40a4-9b61-13614164e69f

Restorative Practices for Children in Grades K-5

More and more educational institutions are adopting behavior models that encourage students to take responsibility for their actions.

 During their primary school years, all students, even the best behaved, can find themselves in trouble after committing misbehaving acts.

 The way these incidents are handled vary from school to school and also within schools, depending on the severity of the behavior and the teacher who witnesses the behavior.

 While many schools still use traditional punishments, such as withholding recess or sending them to the principal’s office, but there is a growing number of institutions that are adopting restorative practices to improve the behavior choices of their students.

 In a system led by rules, it is up to the teacher to tell the child what they’ve done wrong and how they’re going to correct it, for instance, by sending them out of the classroom if they’re disrupting the lesson.

The problem with this system is that children don’t learn about responsibility they had in that situation and how it affected other people, because an adult has intervened and told them what they’d done wrong.’

 Restorative practice, on the other hand, involves helping the child think through their behavior, its consequences, and what they can do to make it better.

 It’s all about developing, maintaining, and repairing relationships, building a community based around empathy and self-learning, where children take responsibility for their behavior.

 But the problem starts even way before students enter the classroom. Consider these two scenarios an educational system with no tolerance, the students get in the building passing through a metal detector, and a grumpy guard checks them.

 He walks down to his class, and his teacher scolds him for being 2 minutes late in-front of the whole class and threatens him that he will not be allowed back in class, if he’s ever late again without even asking the student what the problem was in the first place.  

 If the student talks back, he either has to leave the classroom or have to see the principal for his behavior, and no one knows the back story of what triggered the series of events and how he ended up in detention.

 This method of controlling behavior leads to withering more disruptions or back talking without helping either the kid or the environment. Consider another scenario where the same kid is welcomed by the administration and teacher. They ask him how he is doing or if he seems upset, they inquire what the reason for him being upset is. His teacher waits for the class to be over and asks about his problems in confidence and advises a visit to the school counselor.

 His peers support him in his crisis to help him feel better, and with this non-bully environment, he gets enough space to think about the reason why he was feeling upset. 

 This is called the restorative approach, where teachers try to fix the issue at its root cause.

 What are restorative practices, though?

 Restorative practices are a mindset, a set of beliefs about why people choose positive behavior, and the power of relationships. Restorative practices are also a set of strategies for schools and teachers can use.

 They are rooted in building and repairing relationships. And restorative practices aid in student empowerment. This student empowerment also serves to develop intrinsic motivation, something I know we’re all wanting to instill in our students.

 International Institute for Restorative Practices developed a social discipline window. It shows different types of discipline based on the amount of CONTROL and the amount of SUPPORT involved in the process.

 When there’s very little control or support, it is neglectful; essentially, it’s not there at all. When our control is high, but our support is low, discipline is something we are doing to the students, and it’s correctional.

 And, when our support is high, but our control is low, it’s a permissive style. Our goal should be high control and high support. An environment and style of discipline that holds students accountable to high expectations while providing them the support they need to achieve it. These are restorative practices.

 Restorative practices are NOT a quick fix scheme; they can be used if something else is not working and can easily be flipped with the primal technique since results do not turn about overnight.

 They work hand in hand with trauma-informed practices, with social-emotional learning, and even with PBIS. Restorative practices are also not about letting students get away with things.

 Student accountability and responsibility, and consequences are still present, but shame and punitive punishment are not.

 In traditional discipline, the focus was on asking what rule was broken? Who did it? And how should they be punished?.

 Restorative practices ask about who was harmed, how they were harmed, and what needs to happen to fix it. Traditional discipline says:

 “I found this pair of headphones that were broken! Someone snapped them. Who did it? They are going to have some consequences for this!”

 Restorative practices say: “This pair of headphones were broken. Now not as many people can use our listening center. I need to talk to the person who did it so we can try to remedy this situation.”

 There are lots of ways to build relationships between teachers and students, and this probably comes naturally to you as a teacher.

 Building relationships between students is just as important as it is for the students to trust their mentors!

 Intentionally finding and naming commonalities. Try to engage students in low-pressure activities where they can find information about their interests and disinterests.

 Ask students to find classmates they have things in common with. You can point out positive or neutral things you see as similar between students.

 By having shared fun experiences promotes relationship development. When you do a messy science project together, when you do a silly brain break, when you do a lesson outside, doing things together as a class that makes students smile and laugh, you’re helping them to connect.

 Facilitating discussions and activities with your class where they create goals, class expectations, or future visions together, you’re building class relationships. When people are working together towards a common goal, there’s something called “positive interdependence” that occurs.

 Even upper elementary students are not too old for show and tell. It’s a way to share something of themselves that they may not ordinarily get a chance to.

 Changing up the seating plan also serves to build relationships between students because they have the chance to connect with more of one another.

 When a student has engaged in inappropriate behavior or not followed the agreed-upon expectations, the focus turns to identifying and repairing the harm. Asking WHO or WHAT was harmed or wronged, and then taking action. Harm can be repaired through apologies, cleaning up, providing help, giving positive/kind words, or redoing the action/behavior correctly.

 Restorative practices absolutely serve to help students develop important social-emotional skills.

 Especially in an elementary school, students need some social-emotional skills in order to really engage with restorative practices.

 Most books and articles, and videos on restorative practices are focused on the secondary level and just assume that students already have some basic social skills mastered. The truth is, elementary Students, are often lacking in the social-emotional skill area.

 Using these practices will help develop them, but it may also be the case that your class needs some lessons or practice with these skills explicitly in order to really engage with and understand them.

 These are some of the skills that are part of restorative practices. On the one hand, this sounds like extra work for you as teachers already have enough on their plate. On the other hand, these skills will make your students better learners and better citizens, so they’re be  extremely helpful outside of class too.

  One of the social-emotional skills really embedded in restorative practices are I-statements, which are also called affective statements in terms of the Restorative practice.

 This is how adults and students alike can share their feelings and needs, while those around them are developing empathy. I-statements are incredibly helpful in both developing AND repairing relationships.

 Circles are another incredibly powerful tool; when people sit or stand in a circle, there is an increased sense of equality, shared responsibility, ownership, safety and trust, and connections.

 And the best part is that circles can be used in so many situations. Proactively, responsively, for academics, for social-emotional skills.

 Any time you have the kids sitting on the rug facing you, sit in a circle. It may look like a small change, but it makes a huge impact.

There are three main models of having a discussion in a circle.

 Sequential model:

 In this model, you go around the circle, and each person has the chance to participate by answering a question or adding a comment.

 This model is great for getting an equal amount of participation and is best used when the prompt is something that allows for short answers.

 Second is non-sequential model:

 In the non-sequential model, people participate just by raising their hand and getting the chance to express their opinion.

 This works great when not everyone needs to share an idea or when responses might be longer.

 And finally, the fishbowl model:

 Fishbowl is another circle discussion model where a few students sit in the center of a circle and have a discussion while those on the outside listen and observe.

 Another thing to practice is Curiosity Questions:

 These are genuine questions you would ask someone to learn more about their situation. Imagine a student just does not seem to be having a good day.

 You can pull them aside and ask some curiosity questions to find out more. Simple questions like, “How are you doing today?” Or, “You seem kind of off today, is everything OK?” These questions help dive into an issue, but curiosity questions can also help resolve a conflict, “How did it make you feel when Tommy hit you?” or “What do you need Tommy to say to you to feel better?” These are just some very surface-level examples, but many more can be found online and in print resources.

 Teachers who use restorative discipline practices find that behavior in their classroom improves dramatically.

 They have better relationships with their students and, therefore, less stress from unresolved conflicts. Restorative discipline improved my relationships with students. Instead of making the relationships more difficult, it brought us together and improved our interactions.”

 Teachers spend less time on discipline and have more time for teaching and interaction when you use restorative practices.

 Students aren’t afraid to admit when they’ve done something wrong as they are in a punitive environment, so you save a lot of time investigating who did what.

 When you have a punitive system, the automatic response is to deny responsibility because you know you’ll get punished. With a restorative justice system, the incentive is to admit what you did because you know there’s going to be a restorative process to make things right.

 Statistics show that using restorative practices keeps kids in school. Punitive systems often remove students from the classroom, even for minor offenses. With restorative justice, everyone works together to keep kids in the classroom where they can learn. Children who are expelled from school often end up in what education reform activists call the school-to-prison pipeline.

 Restorative justice wants to stop this cycle and keep kids on track with their education.

 Even if there isn’t a major underlying problem, getting kids to talk about what they did and why they did it is a more constructive way to handle disciplinary problems.

 The restorative process teaches students how to resolve conflict in a positive way.

 It helps them develop rational skills—to understand a situation, follow a process, and resolve it. These are life skills they can take with them into the real-world.

 So to quickly recap: The traditional approach to discipline is more “punitive,” whereas Restorative practices assign responsibility, accountability, and consequences.

 Well, I hope you found a “golden-nugget or two” that you can use in your classrooms.

How audiobooks can improve reading skills

Students in grades 3–8 that have reading skills below average lose ground more rapidly, and it becomes hard for them to make any substantial progress. As children progress in school, reading becomes all about learning new information and content. Having uninterrupted access to audiobooks can support reading skill development.

 Audio allows students to hear clear sounds of words, letters, and sentence patterns, and they can try to read along.  Audiobooks help students engage in text and get exposure to a wide array of vocabulary, ultimately improving their reading and speaking skills; it also aids in critical thinking skills.

 Even for adults who love books, finding the opportunity and time to read a great book in peace can be challenging. Those who understand the importance of books also appreciate audiobooks, in that you can listen to the latest bestseller on your way to work or school or doing chores around the house.

 But is listening to a book really the same as actually reading one? Beth Rogowsky, as associate professor of education at Bloomsburg University, says an interesting thing about audiobooks. she says, "I was a fan of audiobooks, but I always viewed them as cheating."

 In a 2016 study conducted by Rogowsky she put her assumptions to the test. In her study, one group listened to sections of Unbroken, a nonfiction book about World War II by Laura Hillenbrand, while a second group read the same parts on an e-reader.  She included a third group that both read and listened to the book at the same time. After all three groups took a quiz that was specially designed to measure how well they had absorbed the book's essence.

 Rogowsky found no significant differences in comprehension between reading, listening, or reading and listening simultaneously after running the tests.  But Rogowsky's study used e-readers rather than traditional print books. There is some evidence that reading on a screen reduces learning and comprehension compared to reading from printed text.

 So it's possible that, had her study pitted traditional books against audiobooks, old-school reading might have come out on top. The fact that printed text is fixed at a specific location on a page seems to help people memorize it better than on screen text.

 Referring to another research on the spatial attributes of traditional printed media. All this may be relevant to the audiobook vs. book debate because, like digital screens, audiobooks deny users the spatial cues they would use while reading from printed text.

 The self-directed rhythms associated with reading may also differentiate books from audiobooks.

 I found this stat interesting:

About 10 to 15% of eye movements during reading are actually regressive, meaning the eyes are going back and forth, re-checking the text. This happens in split seconds, and it's stitched into the process of reading a sentence. This reading technique almost certainly supports comprehension, and it may be roughly comparable to a listener asking for a speaker to hold on or repeat something. Even as you're asking, you're going over what the speaker just said in your mind's ear. Theoretically, you can also pause or jump back while listening to an audio file.

 Another deliberation is that whether you are reading or listening to a text, your mind occasionally wanders, and seconds or even minutes can pass before we snap out of these little mental journeys and readjust our attention.

 When you are reading, it's pretty easy to go back and find the point you zoned out. It's not so easy if you're listening to a recording. Especially if you're trying to grasp a complicated text, the ability to backtrack and re-examine the material may aid learning quickly. This is likely easier to do while reading than while listening. Turning the page of a book also gives you a slight break. This brief pause may create space for your brain to store or process the information you're absorbing.

 David Daniel, a psychology professor, co-authored a study in 2010 that found students who listened to a podcast lesson performed worse on a comprehension quiz than students who read the same lesson on paper.

 The listeners scored an average of 28% lower on the quiz about the difference between an A or a D grade.

 Quite surprisingly, at the start of the experiment, almost all the students wanted to be in the podcast group. But then, right before they got the quiz, most of them had changed their minds and wanted to be in the reading group.

 It is possible that, with practice, the listeners might be able to make up ground on the readers. It's part of human anatomy. We get good at what we do, and you could become a better listener if you trained yourself to listen more critically. The same could be true of screen-based reading as some research suggests that people who practice screen learning get better at it over time and do better than those who read on paper-based materials.

 Now that we know the shortcomings audiobooks might have let’s consider the following. Learning is important, and if you do not have time to read, nor listen to a book, either will be detrimental with regards to your mental capacity to understand text either if it's vocal or written.

When you look at it this way, audiobooks do have some strengths on their side. Human beings have been sharing information orally since the beginning of the invention of language. While the printed word has been around only since recorded history, it makes sense, right?

Written text is a much more recent invention. When we're reading, we're using parts of the brain that evolved for other purposes, and we're repurposing them so they can be applied to the cognitive task of reading.

 On the other hand, listeners can derive a lot of information from a speaker's inflections or intonations. Sarcasm and wisdom are much more easily communicated via audio than printed text. And people who hear Shakespeare spoken aloud tend to glean a lot of meaning from the actor's delivery compared to their own interpretation by reading the same play in the text. Having said that, if you're reading or listening for leisure, not for work or study, the differences between audiobooks and print books are probably miniscule.

 Yet again, for people eager to learn and do not care if they are reading from the first edition copy or listening to someone reading the same book on their way home, Here are seven reasons why audiobooks are the perfect accommodation for struggling readers.

 Number 1. It increases word exposure and improves vocabulary.

 As I said initially, reading a complex word is much harder than listening to the same word with incorrect pronunciation and saying it afterward.

 When students are offered the opportunity to have audiobooks in the classroom, their world can finally open up to them. Having books read aloud helps the struggling readers move beyond the decoding and right into learning. The more words they learn and incorporate into their system, they can access grade-level materials.

 Number 2. It Builds background knowledge

 When it comes to a classroom setting, students' experiences differ from one another, but those who've also struggled with reading are even less prepared.

 You can recall your school days, the time when you had to prepare for an exam, but if you were unable to read, you were most likely to go blank on the subject and have no idea as to the question.

 Audiobooks read in a human voice expose students to academic vocabulary and the language of books. This exposure helps build their background knowledge, an essential component of an evolving student. It also helps develop higher-order thinking skills. The ability to build background quickly through audiobooks cannot be underestimated. If students are left to read-only materials at their reading level, they lose out. They lose opportunities to get access to content and information that represents their capabilities and intellect. This is not only frustrating and causes emotional stress but also limits learning experiences.

 Number 3. Audiobooks Reduce working-memory deficit.

 Students who struggle with decoding and the mechanics of reading spend so much time focusing on sounding out the words that it is difficult for them to retain the information they are reading. By eliminating the focus on decoding, they become more able to retain, remember, and understand the content they are listening to.

 When students begin reading with their ears, they start building their working memory. It gives more energy to the brain as a muscle, and it helps them respond to questions about the text more readily.

 The more that this happens, the more confident a student gets regarding the subject that has given them problems. Building working memory helps make other reading tasks easier and improves reading ability.

Number 4. It removes printed word decoding anxiety.

 When children are reading a text, and they try to make sounds of the letters in a word, the learning method taught at an early age, vision sometimes gets blurry, and they lose focus. Often times, this adds to stammering in their voice, and they might be able to read the sentence, but they do not understand what they are reading.

 As soon as the pressure to read the written word is gone, students are open to learning and happy to find out they can. Audiobooks allow students to be immersed in the meaning of the text. They also remove the lag time of decoding, which becomes increasingly important as texts become more rigorous. Anxiety plays a huge part in a struggling reader's entire school experience, so the introduction and regular use of audiobooks can actually help students enjoy school more.

 Number 5. Audiobooks Increase comprehension.

 When students can hear the story or information as a whole, read by a human being, their comprehension increases. Reading books word-by-word doesn't help create a whole experience. Kids in grades 3-8 who can finally put all the pieces of information together at one sitting begin to make meaning of the text.

 Number 6. Develops grade-level appropriate content knowledge.

Giving students access to grade-level materials by providing an audiobook accommodation improves their self-esteem and increases their participation in class and peer discussions. They are now able to work alongside their peers. Just because students can't read the words in the same way as their peers, don't mean they aren't developmentally ready to learn this information. Listening to audiobooks brings to the student information when they are ready for it, not when they can read it.

 Number 7. Gives students educational independence.

When students get access to the content and can work independently, it gives them the confidence to become successful learners and control their educational outcomes. Students who are given the audiobook advantage as an accommodation also have more learning continuity in the classroom. This means peer relationships can develop normally, and students can feel more like insiders.

 Well, I hope you found a golden nugget or two that you can use. I’ve recorded books on tape, and I know that it proved helpful to my students.