Re: Audio Books (2)

[Kathy Simonsen <ksimonsen@CHEROKEE.K12.IA.US>]

We have about 20 audio books in our Media Center for loan.  We are a high
school of 1900 students in grade 10,11, and 12.  We only buy unabridged copies
and they are mostly of the classics.  When the Recorded Books, Inc. catalog
comes, I route it to the English teachers and they mark the ones they want
purchased - we have titles such as Call of the Wild, Red Badge of Courage, My
Antonia, etc.  They are kept on reserve and are only checked out to students
on the
recommendation of their English teacher.  Some students with learning
disabilities or very poor reading skills find the audio books a better
solution for getting through required English books.  If we are really serious
about catering to multiple intelligences and individual needs, then
I think audio books do need to be available to high school students.  Budget
constraints will of course limit what you can buy.
        I have bought very few, but my special ed teachers keep asking for them to
help their students with English assignments. The Eng. Dept. has finally come
up with a short list of books all kids will read, so I'll probably purchase
those.
        Audio books are a useful supplement to print books, and can in some cases be
a replacement for them.  This may seem troubling in  our age of growing
illiteracy, but recall that print is itself a recent innovation. For most of
our history, "literature" has meant a society's oral tradition. It is not a
coincidence that the earliest stories are poems. Literature was initially a
thing we heard, not a thing we saw.
        I started purchasing audiobooks when I realized that if I enjoyed them so
much others might too.  Then I started getting requests from teachers for
unabridged audiobooks because there were students in their classes for whom
reading the text would be almost impossible.  (We are severely
heterogeneously--more randomly--grouped.)  I do think that you need to bend
your thinking a bit, as the student is still getting the material, but in a
different format.
I find that in most cases, the students who are using the audiobooks are using
them under a teacher's supervision; they really do need them to "read" the
book that the rest of the class is reading.  I do feel about videos the way
you feel about audios at this point.  I certainly don't want the kiddos
watching a movie instead of enjoying the book.  And it's often just not the
same story!
If you do start purchasing the audiobooks, I cannot recommend Recorded Books
highly enough.
        I think the audio books are great and I highly recommend them. Teachers and
students alike will enjoy them, especially on long trips. I wouldn't worry
about students not reading because you can buy some of the "popular" fiction
that you may not have in your library in book form so this will just add to
your collection instead of duplicating it.  Also - some students do better
with hearing material rather than reading everything.  It's a win-win all the
way - go for it!!
        We have a growing collection of audio books. They are ordered in cooperation
with our Spec.Ed.Dept.who builds their orders on required reading in grades
6-12 specifically for
students who have difficulty reading due to various problems.  The idea is
that the student listens and reads at the same time. We all suspect that many
kids do alot more listening than reading, but even so they're being exposed to
some terrific literature and can then participate in classroom discussions,
quizzes, etc. We do circulate the materials to other students as well. Several
students who liked particular selections came in to READ other books by the
same author.
        Hurrah for our side! Because we are here in Israel, our student body does 
not
have access to public libraries, unless they are Hebrew readers, so we feel
this is an important resource for us to have.
        I have audio books in my middle/high library.  It really helps the below
level students take part in becoming familiar with good literature.  Some
students just cannot handle reading many classics.  This way they still get
the value of good literature in its original form (not a movie or an adapted
book).  It has motivated some students to read the book once they have heard


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         Cherokee Community School District - Cherokee, Iowa 51012
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