What’s Up Doc? My Love/Hate Relationship with Document Camera Read Alouds
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About Travis Jonker
Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.
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I’ve been using one for years and LOVE it. Everyone can see the pages clearly, which means there’s less fidgeting overall and fewer issues with kids creeping up to the front/blocking each other’s view/fighting over a prime bit of floor real estate/sneezing in my open mouth/etc.
We purchased an inexpensive sit/stand mobile desk from Amazon, similar to this model:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08317QPQH/ref=sspa_dk_detail_6?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B08317QPQH&pd_rd_w=Hrmzs&content-id=amzn1.sym.386c274b-4bfe-4421-9052-a1a56db557ab&pf_rd_p=386c274b-4bfe-4421-9052-a1a56db557ab&pf_rd_r=ATSKF6ZRBXB9BH6Z3A82&pd_rd_wg=RgvCd&pd_rd_r=87112d2e-a563-4883-b154-9206d2666fc4&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWxfdGhlbWF0aWM
I can put the document camera on the top shelf and the book on the bottom shelf. Since it’s on wheels, we can store it out of the way and easily position it when it’s time for the readaloud. I’m always able to face my storytime audience, which definitely improves the experience for everyone.
One of the things I like about it, compared to using scans of book pages, is that kids can still see me interacting with the book while I’m reading. I can point things out in the illustration and they see my hands turning the pages. It’s the same experience of sharing a physical book, but magnified to a more accessible scale for a large group.
Much of the research I’ve found on screens emphasizes that the negative outcomes associated with screens can be significantly mitigated if the viewing is paired with interactions between the child and an adult. Given how interactive the average librarian readaloud is, I feel pretty good about our collective ability to provide an overall beneficial experience–even with a screen. 🙂
I’ve just scanned the books to a PowerPoint and used that; seems to work well, esp. if you are going to use the book again. It’s nice to have a folder full of books to use again.