ASU professor aims to help youth read with DVD of stories

Thanks to a donation from an Augusta State University professor, all Aiken County kindergarten students will get to take home a DVD with rhymes and stories and accompanying audio of both. Submitted photo.

Young children can benefit when adults read to them, but in too many homes, that doesn't always happen, said Dr. Walter Evans, an Augusta State University English professor.

Instead of just expressing his concern, Evans is making it happen.

Following up with a project he has brought to Richmond and Columbia County schools, the professor of nearly four decades has donated to Aiken County elementary schools about 3,000 DVDs of stories and rhymes read aloud, complete with illustrations. They're intended for 4- and 5-year-old kindergarten students to take home.

"This allows a kid to control what is read to him," Evans said. "He has hundreds of things to choose from."

A former teacher of creative writing, he now teaches American literature and a course that integrates music, art and literature. From that experience, Evans and other volunteers began recording fairy tales but didn't have a clear plan of what to do with them. He had considered a bedtime story for kids on public radio but that never worked out.

The concept evolved into creating stories on a CD, but such media is limited to only about 60 audio-only minutes.

"The audio alone wouldn't work," Evans said. "We really needed pictures and text, as well."

So in classic children's literature fashion, he found a "wizard" in recording and editing - an ASU graduate named Chris Pope. The younger man soon found a way to combine all of the elements. Each DVD has about eight hours of content, featuring 50 stories and hundreds of rhymes. Each comes with the written text that is read aloud by volunteers, along with a variety of illustrations.

Evans made the choice that the media will not work on computers but are intended for DVD players, Xboxes and PlayStations. His research determined that the homes of the children who could most benefit from the project are more likely to have those devices at home.

In developing the project, Evans consulted with teachers who felt that this simple visual interface would be superior than animated movie DVDs.

"The teachers felt such videos would distract from the verbal materials," Evans said. "While this is designed for pre-literacy students, older kids could benefit, too, as they're reading the text and hearing it at the same time. It's good, too, for kids learning English as a second language."

He has gotten sponsors to distribute the DVDs, which cost about $1 each to produce. The Aiken County elementary principals received the DVDs during a meeting last week.

"What was impressive for me was seeing the data from Richmond County and the gains they've had," said Becky Wilson, the Jefferson Elementary School principal. "This is a very generous donation."

At East Aiken Elementary School of the Arts, principal Mary Robinson delivered the DVDs to one of her kindergarten teachers, who has been involved with a similar project in past years.

"She would use them all the time during 'breakfast in the classroom,'" Robinson said. "The children just loved it. It's bound to be worthwhile for them."