Read Aloud

 One of my students is reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins for the 8th grade dystopian unit. This is a student who has some significant focus issues, so one strategy we use to address the issue is to read it aloud together. We take turns: I read, he reads. This approach has been working really well until today. Today he decided he wanted to read it with character voices.

His Katniss voice is very "sex kitten": breathy, a little high and when he reads it, she pauses in very disturbing places. Imagine it: ' So...I'll be in a ...coal miners outfit? I ask...hoping it won't be... indecent.' I was waiting for him to wink and leer at me after that reading. But I don't think that's how he meant it; he just doesn't have too many "girl voices" in his head. Which somehow makes it more creepy and unsettling.

"How do you like my Katniss voice?" He asks.

"Umm... It's not really how I hear her voice in my head," I replied carefully.

"What?!? Why? It's a great girl voice!" he insisted, his voice raised indignantly.

"Well, I don't know. She's a strong girl; she feeds her family by hunting food and trading it - she's tough. The voice you use doesn't sound all that tough to me," I tried to explain.

As we continued reading the book, it became apparent that he was so engrossed in his voices that he wasn't actually comprehending what he was reading. When I told him so, he was very perturbed about this observation.

"You are so worked up about the character voices that you aren't paying attention to what you are reading," I informed him. 

"Not true! I AM paying attention!" he exclaimed.

"Really? What did Cinna do to Katniss' costume for the opening ceremony?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Um... I'm not sure." he said sheepishly.

"They LIT her on Fire!" I said, stunned, "How did you miss that?" I shook my head, trying to clear it.

"Look, I know you like using the voices. When we finish the book and finish the assignments, you can reread the book and record yourself. It can be as if you are performing it for an audio book. You can listen to it over and over if you want." I was really trying to sell this idea so we could continue reading the book for class.

"Oooh! That's a great idea! I'll do it!" he said excitedly.

Mission accomplished.