Go to Part I Download a PDF of this Article
Summer Reading Under the Covers
and Around the Campfire
Part II: The Lesson
By Carol Seibert
Engaged Learning
Brewster and Fager (2000) use research to support their assertion that, unless learners are motivated and engaged, they will not invest their time and effort in something like volume reading.
…numerous studies have shown that student engagement in school drops considerably as students get older (Anderman & Midgley, 1998)… Whether the decrease in student engagement is the result of unmotivated students or of school practices that fail to sufficiently interest and engage all learners, an ample body of research suggests that the situation can be changed (Brooks, Freiburger, & Grotheer, 1998; Dev, 1997; Skinner & Belmont, 1991). (emphasis mine)
Use these two FREE Poe short stories with the accompanying MP3 audio files to change this situation for YOUR learners!
These highly-engaging, multi-modal stories will fit right into older learners’ late night storytelling this summer. And perhaps the ghost of Edgar Allen Poe will motivate them to read even more!
THE LESSON
Engage, Motivate and Connect to Content—BEFORE the School Year Ends
- Explain that Edgar Allen Poe is the author of some of the scariest classic stories ever written.
- Use the audio book file to read Part 1 of The Telltale Heart aloud to the whole group
- Have learners close their eyes and try to visualize the story as it is being “told” by the main character.
- Think—Pair—Share
- Think about (predict) what might happen next (in Part 2)
- Get together with a learning partner
- Write down or draw a scary ending to the story
- Share story endings with the whole group.
To increase learner involvement and engagement, have learning pairs act out their story endings.
Scare Up Increased Summertime Reading… Really!
Host a Summer Storytelling Contest to entice adolescent readers to read, practice, and retell another scary story that will impress their friends and cause goose bumps on even the most sweltering of summer nights. The result will be an increase in background knowledge, increased fluency, and the formation of personal connections to literature.
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Challenge Categories
Category 1: Create an audio, video or live “reading” or re-enactment of The Telltale Heart, The Gold Bug or any other scary short story read during the summer.
Category 2: Create an audio, video or live “reading” or re-enactment of a real-life scary story told by a parent, relative or friend.
Category 3: Create an audio, video or graphic advertisement for The Telltale Heart, The Gold Bug or any other scary short story read during the summer.
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Resources to get them started:
- If time and resources allow, save both audio files (The Telltale Heart and The Gold Bug) to CD and make a copy for each student.
- Give the printed text for each of the stories and the accompanying audio CD to each learner. If your students will have access to a computer during the summer and you want to save paper, save the PDF files on the CD as well and instruct them to save the PDFs onto their computer to read while they listen to the audio from the CD. (Adobe Acrobat Reader required to read PDFs. It is free to download.)
- Provide a list of additional reading resources. A short list of Start-to-Finish print/audio/computer books and scary story internet sites are listed below to get you started. Please note that Don Johnston Incorporated does not endorse or guarantee quality of internet resources.
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Entering the Contest:
- Encourage learners to enter the contest alone, with a friend or with a group of friends… whatever engages and motivates THEM!
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Submitting Entries:
- If possible, provide a way for learners to submit recordings (audio or video) via email, US mail or a drop-off location at the school during the summer months so participants can submit their stories as soon as they complete them.
- Set a final submission date (during the summer or during the first week of class in the Fall).
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Kick off the new school year with a storytelling festival.
- Have the audience vote on the “best in show” for each category.
Scary Stories on the Internet:
Project Guttenburg—Books by Edgar Allen Poe
Project Guttenburg—The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
A list of scary stories for Elementary-level readers
American Folklore
More Scary Stories Available from Start-to-Finish:
Frankenstein (Gold Library, 2-3 reading level)
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Gold Library, 2-3 reading level)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle: Short Stories by Washington Irving (Blue Library, 4-5 reading level)
If you use this idea at your school, I'd love to hear how it went!
Email Carol Seibert
References
Brewster, C. & Fager, J. (October, 2000). Increasing Student Engagement and Motivation: From Time-on-Task to Homework. Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
This article was introduced in the May 2007 LeaderLink eNewsletter.
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