By Alyssa Schnugg
News Editor
alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com
The Oxford School District has started a new YouTube channel aimed at instilling a love of reading books and keeping up reading skills during the summer months.
Oxford Dream Line, created by the Curriculum and Instruction Department, launched last week and already has three videos on its YouTube channel where local teachers and community members read books in short, 2 to 5-minute videos.
Chasity Arbuckle, literacy coach for the OSD, said the video series is aimed at increasing exposure to reading for students and helping them develop a love of reading.
“It’s no secret that picture books or stories have a lot of power, especially when someone is reading to you,” she said. “However, with a fast-paced society and technology growing rapidly, modeling great reading and finding time to do so is challenging for parents.”
Knowing children enjoy watching videos on YouTube, Arbuckle decided to use the online video hosting site as a way to reach all students.
She presented her idea with the school district’s Instructional Technology Coach colleagues, Jill Knox and Wendy Raby, who loved the idea. The group started filming and editing videos in March.
“These ladies have helped pour a lot of work and time into making an idea come to life for students,” Arbuckle said. “This couldn’t have been done without their creativity and expertise.”
New videos will be posted at 5 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursdays. Readers will include community members, teachers, Ole Miss athletes and a few surprise “celebrities.”
Arbuckle said she hopes to see parents using Oxford Dream Line as a resource to expose their child to reading and books.
“It’s also our hope that students tune in every Tuesday and Thursday all summer long to see who is reading in efforts to prevent some of the ‘summer slide’ that occurs in reading,” Arbuckle said.
The videos will always remain available for access and can be reached on any of the elementary school pages, the Oxford School District website, or on the Oxford Dream Line YouTube channel.
Volunteers are needed to be readers. Those interested in being a guest reader can sign up at www.oxfordsd.org/oxforddreamline.
For more information, email oxforddreamline@oxfordsd.org.
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