Gay Miller is a Special Education Resource teacher working with 4th, 5th and 6th graders who have learning disabilities.  She teaches at Mountain City Elementary School in Mountain City, TN and has used audiobooks for two years after receiving a grant from a local company to purchase them.

Learning disabled students have a history of making about six months progress in one year's time - my students averaged 14 months progress last year.  WOW!  I began using audiobooks two years ago and am now a firm believer that audiobooks help students learn to read.
 
 CASE HISTORIES
 
IT WORKS!
"MIKE" - Mike entered my class as a 4th grader, reading at a first grade level.  He loved checking out audiobooks and began to see amazing results.  By the end of that year, he as reading on a 4th grade level, and now, in 5th grade, he's reading at a 6th grade level.  On the Terra Nova test, Tennessee's standardized achievement test, Mike scored a 97% on vocabulary!  His reading comprehension score was 67%, not bad for a student with a learning disability.  Our school rewards students making their Accelerated Reading goals each grading period with a field trip.  Needless to say, Mike went on every field trip that year!
  
 
IT WORKS!
"SALLY" - Sally came to us late in September for 5th grade.  She was very impressed by our audiobook check out system and began eagerly taking advantage of it. At mid-term, she scored a reading level for grade 2.5.  Due to her mother's job change, we almost lost Sally to another school, but I contacted my supervisors about her progress at our school and they made an exception, allowing her to stay.  A wise decision...at the end of her school year she retested at a grade equivalent of 4.0.  She also earned 125.9 Accelerated Reading Points with a test accuracy of 90.2%.  To gain one and one-half years growth in only half a year is phenomenal!  And the best news? She is now reading all the time and loving it.  That's what really matters.
 
 
TIPS:

	I have a simple checkout system. I have made small checkout books that are the shape and size of a bookmark for each of my audio books. The books have about 20 pages, all the same, and are stapled together at the top. Each page of the checkout book is divided into two sections. On the top half the student writes his/her name and the date. (This way I know who has a particular book checked out.) The student cuts off the bottom half of the page which has a little information about the book and a place to write the date. This page may be used as a bookmark and it reminds the student when to return the book. I have two boxes for the checkout books. The student finds the checkout book in the "IN" box, fills out the name and date, tears off the bottom of the page, then moves the checkout book to the "OUT" box.
	I use ordinary plastic pencil school supply boxes to organize my audiobook collection.  In each box I put a book along with the audiobook.  Students can easily carry the books home with everything together in one container.  I use a magic marker to clearly write the titleon the outside.  These boxes are easily recognizable as belong to my reading center, and if a student leaves one behind by mistake, the teachers know to return it to the center.
	Theme bags - I've put together several theme bags for student checkout, most of which include audiobooks. I purchase plain canvas tote bags and decorate one side of the bag to represent the theme. Inside I include one and usually two books, one audiobook, and hands-on activities related to the theme.  The activities vary greatly from origami in the Japan bag to a beach towel with bats for the Bat Theme bag. (students lie on the towel at the beach, or use it as a blanket on a cold day,  while they read Stellaluna).  Whether they are creating a craft project, playing a game, planting a seed, or a number of other activities,  the purpose of these bags is to spark an interest in the topic to make reading a book more fun. The students love checking out the theme bags and I feel that the bags achieve one of my main goals which is to teach children to enjoy reading.
	http://www.mce.k12tn.net/specialed/projects/checkout_library.htm I have a web page with all the titles listed the kids can check out.  It lists what's new, the reading level, the books AR point value and the listening length.   This chart really helps some students decide what to read next. Teachers use this site actively to see what I have available.
	How do I keep kids coming back for more? I write a monthly newsletter to parents and students in which I list new audiobooks.  I also ask students for their suggestions for audiobook titles. We read Gary Paulsen's Hatchet in class, which everyone loved. Naturally the students asked for the sequels - and they got them.  I also encourage students to check out audiobooks for family car trips.  We live in a rural area and students spend alot of time in the family car.  Listening to audiobooks together turns the car trip to the mall (30 minutes away) into a family adventure.

Here's what one of our teachers, Diana Pennington says:  "At this age parents rarely help their children read and do their work. Audio books are a great help to students not mature enough to read on their own- not only my lowest readers either! Using audiobooks helped many students achieve their AR goals who wouldn't have otherwise. Many students reached their AR Goal 2 or 3  times during the year."
 
Now doesn't that say it all?  
 
You may e-mail Gay Miller at millerg@boone.net.
 
    

 
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!