Andrew E Reports: Shorter vs Longer Story Readings

Andrew E from out in Nebraska commented in a previous post here about simplifying the stories he reads with his classes:

Ok I did a shorter reading today with my Spanish one based on the Matava script about the neighbor seeing the kid doing something weird in the yard and calling someone. The full version was about 200 words.

I used to also write much longer stories. Not only did it take longer to write them and therefore gave me less time to spend at home, but the class energy would usually fizzle about half way through or before. Now I try to keep my Step 3 story readings shorter, about 250 words max as a rule. If you are a fan of Embedded Reading (which I don't see how anyone couldn't be because it rocks) you'll make the first readings shorter still, and then crank up the complexity and length in the subsequent reading(s), per what Andrew did here:

I warmed them up with a very short 30 word version where we TPR'd and did a little drawing. Then we read and discussed the full version, volleyball read it and finally did a Y/N quiz. It was much easier to keep them engaged. I would start to lose them with the 500 word versions. Thanks for sharing this info. It was much easier for them and me.

Thanks for sharing this Andrew!