DVD Reading

What I did:

I have been trying something different in class lately. DVD reading. I bought a documentary by David Attenborough on insects and showed it to my kids. The catch was I put the subtitles on and asked a range of questions to encourage the kids to read along as well as challenge their vocab.

The kids were put into groups (oral language groups) the groups

were mixed ability. They would sit in their groups while we watched he DVD. With one member jotting down the answers. I would play the DVD for a couple of minutes then pause it and ask a question. then play it again.

The idea was that the kids would quickly discuss and answer the question then move on. Much like a PUB Quiz.

The questions were things like:

What was a the last word the main character said? How do you spell minute (small)? What was the pronoun in the last sentence? What was the beginning word of the last sentence? What was an antonym for ....? Expand the contraction in the last sentence? What is a synonym for that word beginning with...

After ten questions we would mark and record the scores. The whole topic was very competitive as I offered a pizza to the winning group at the end of the unit.

Why I did it:

1. With low readers, approaches involving shared reading have been recommended.
2. It involves low risk on the individual while at the same time they are involved in the story and class.
3. I have a lot of boy's boys in my class and felt I needed to do something to increase their engagement around reading.
4. My class had been very serious in the previous term and I wanted to bring back some of the enjoyment of being at school

The results:

Most of the kids loved it. To fairly evaluate it I surveyed my class using google docs. The results were as follows.

What motivated them?