Doris Smith, left,  Library Media Specialist at Robert E. Hentz Library in Bedford, Massachusetts, and pictured above with John Fichera, a Fifth Grade teacher who has totally embraced the use of audiobooks for personal and classroom use, has found her library’s small audiobook collection of several dozen titles to be a hugely popular source of great reading for both staff and students:

OUR TEACHERS SAY...
Last spring when our school found it still had funds left to spend, we decided to invest in audiobooks - knowing how popular they are with adults.  The audiobooks arrived towards the end of the school year so we didn't expect they would circulate much. Yet some teachers tried them for quiet time at the end of a hectic year.  One of our fifth grade teachers, who has a very long commute, discovered the tapes and began checking them out and listening to them on his drive.  
 
During the fall months, that same teacher borrowed  most of our tapes.   When he had listened to all the titles we had,  we began borrowing additional audios for him from the public library.   Now he drops in with requests for titles he thinks we should purchase.  He recommended audiobooks to his students and we've seen an increased circulation of them by the students as a result. One of his students took home Bud, Not Buddy and reported back that he almost fell out of bed laughing while listening to the tape.
 
Staff members borrow audiobooks for their own children's listening pleasure and to listen as a family as well.  Many borrow the audiobooks as a way of keeping up with what's new in children's books. The library periodically sends out a listing of newly acquired audiobooks to the entire staff.
 
 
OUR STUDENTS SAY...
Some students borrow the book as well as the audiobook.  Sometimes students tell us they have trouble reading and audiobooks help them with reading for book reports.  Audiobooks also help special needs students by giving them access to high level reading - or as one student put it "This helps me enjoy a harder book that I might not be able to read yet".
 
Our students have responded well to our audiobook collection.
 
One student said, "It 's like the person is right there reading to me".  
 
Another student said that when he listens to audiobooks, he likes hearing the music and sound effects often added to the story.  He liked the different expressions he heard the reader use.  
 
One student said, "I can hear the exclamation points!".  
 
After taking the book Once Upon a Fairy Tale  along with its accompanying CD, a  student reported that her family had listened together to the CD 4 times and loved it.
 
For our students, who are in grades 3 -5, audiobooks present an opportunity to hear the way the author intended the story to be felt, to hear dialect, or to hear a reader's interpretation of the text.  In our Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, one area to be covered is dialect and  what better way for students to learn about dialect than hear many of them while listening to audiobooks?

Because of the success of the audiobooks and their use by both students and staff we are exploring grant monies to purchase additional tapes. Sometimes we are surprised to find that a student does not have access to a tape player, so we hope to purchase at least two or more players so students can sign out portable tape players along with their audiobooks.
 

 
EDUCATORS:
If you make good use of audiobooks in your approach to education and feel you have some good tips and inspiration to pass on to others, would you like to be considered for our Educator of the Month feature?
 
If so, contact Heather Frederick, Publisher at Audio Bookshelf at 1-800-234-1713 or audiobooks@prexar.com
We want to honor you!