First, I needed to buy a tripod for my phone with a halo light—plenty available on Amazon at a reasonable cost. We also agreed on a book on Eli's reading list— Number the Stars by Lois Lowry—not terrible long and it was one I had previously read. As a high school student, I had been active in Interpretive reading of poetry and prose—even winning a medal for my reading of William Blake poetry. I felt like this was a good fit for me since I had also been a secondary reading teacher.
Because my “audience” was grandchildren ages 13-5, I had to explain vocabulary from time to time. Then, I got the idea to teach them “think-alouds”. That’s reading a story out loud but also saying the thoughts that run through a person’s head while reading: making comparisons, asking questions, predicting, commenting. Every now and then, I inserted family stories like describing the time I went shopping with my grandmother to look at store-bought dresses.
I had already posted very short videos to YouTube over the years, but this would be my first time recording long pieces. First thing I had to change was my make up—I had to buy some under eye cover up. I decided for my first book to record all around the house—I thought the kids would enjoy my constantly changing but familiar chair. Soon, I realized some places were better than others. Straight back was better than an easy chair and having the tripod right in front of me was better than across the room.
My biggest problem was recording in a place which didn’t have the dryer going off, the phone ringing or neighbors walking their dog behind me in the window so the dog could do his “business”. The halo light has really helped with lighting on cloudy days. Although I had 3 kinds of light, the soft light seemed to be the most flattering. But, I needed a controlled environments which I’m still searching for. LOL
While reading Number the Stars to the grandchildren, I was reading Lilac Girls for my own “pleasure” which was too much World War II and the Holocaust. So, when I finished Number the Stars, I moved on to something lighter—— A Long Way From Chicago by Richard Peck which has a wonderful cast of characters and a lot of humor with main characters being Grandma Dowdle and her two grandchildren visiting from Chicago—Mary Alice and Joey.
I realized by this time, reading to the grandkids was “good” for me. i dressed carefully for the camera, put make up on each day, and curled my hair. While reading in other rooms, I realized my husband was listening and chuckling at the right places. So, I moved to the room he was in, so he could listen easier. It became a part of our daily routine before lunch—something to look forward to.
OK, reading was good for me, entertaining for my husband, but what about the grandkids? Leah reports listening to me read at lunch has become some of their favorite times of the day. Click here for all of my videos, or below for the first one.
