Today in social studies, I introduced a new reading activity to my students. The name of the game is “The Crazy Professor Reading Game”, which is another Whole Brain Teaching Strategy. This activity is used by thousands of K-12 teachers across the country, the Crazy Professor is designed to deepen students’ reading comprehension of both fiction and nonfiction…..and even in our class information based reading. This activity is set up in a game-like format, students learn to paraphrase, translate ideas into gestures, skim read for key ideas, and connect their reading to personal experiences.

This concept is very simply….

• Students are paired up in groups of twos
• One student is designated as a reading and the other is designated as a listener
• One student reads out loud
• The other follows along and makes hand gestures that match what their partner is reading.

Above is a demonstration from to my students preforming this activity. Notice that the student performing the gestures does not say a word….instead they are focused on what the reader is saying and acting out the words they are saying. Below are two recorded reflections by a three of students from my social studies class.

Mr. McClung