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Flipping Class with Soundcloud

By Tim Pappageorge
Trying something new in AP English with FLIPPING the class.

Instead of doing the "think aloud" of key passages of the book during class, I am asking students to listen after/while reading; then, in class we are doing more interactive workshopping and troubleshooting on the chapter contents. I was driven to do this because the text is really challenging for some of my students, The Scarlet Letter and because I wanted to free up time in class at least once or twice a week to coach students on their reading, which was hard to do in a large-group discussion or talk-through of key passages.

Here is a link to the Soundcloud recording that is related. I wanted to feature key passages that were actually read and experienced by the student with support. Here is what is included:
https://soundcloud.com/drpappag/ch-9-leech-and-patient

1.) Reading! I did a dramatic reading of 3-4 key passages in the chapter.
2.) Vocab support. As I read, I add realtime paraphrasing, including definitions of unfamiliar vocabulary.
3.) Literary connections. I then give some elaboration on significance and trends in the book, though much of that should come from class discussion.

It's a great technology for quickly capturing, with a cellphone if you want, a quality recording that can then get posted the class web page or community page. I am considering having the students do this as well.

This approach has been a smash hit with some students, but others find it to be nothing special. I do think that I will keep varying my approaches and making space in class to coach up the reading to make sure that the most challenging activity is done in class with the support of peers and me.

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