Today during or lecture I have been looking at project: i can read. This project looks at the ways in which ipods can improve student literacy. It takes the ipod and uses it in a way which stimulates our generation of digital natives who are used to using more interactive and accessing information instantly. Since looking at studies that have shown that if children cannot read fluently by a certain stage within their education they are never really able to catch up, project i can read have created activities which target fluency, sight word vocabulary and comprehension. I find the fact that children can record themselves reading and when playing it back to themselves, rate themselves a great idea as they get a taste of what it is like when they read. This lets them see what factors of their reading they need to improve on.
The sight reading projects that are available are great because they let the children practice and improve their sight reading through activities that can increase in challenge. Sight reading is something that some children struggle with and this would be a great way to motivate the children to improve their learning using technology that they associate with fun.
I feel that this has great potential within the primary classroom as it has great intrinsic motivation purposes. I feel that this would be able to be used all throughout the primary school, especially in the early stages and in the upper stages for those who are stuggling with their literacy. I defintalety see the potential of this idea as it provides a fun outlet to get chidren into reading and trying to improve the technical aspects of it. As some children are steering away from books altogether in their home lives, this would be a great idea to recapture their interest in reading. I would love to test of this within a classroom and i am quite excited about the impact it could have within the primary classoom.
Have just been looking at storybird and i personally don't like it. I don't like the fact that all the pictures that i would like to start a storybird with do not have linking pictures and cannot get a story to flow this way. I feel that this aspect makes it of little point within the primary classroom. If anyone has any suggestions that will improve storybird for me please let me know.
At the very beginning of the lecture we were introduced to voice band for the iphone. It has a simple interface which would be easy for all children to use. It would not for use with nursery or early years, more suitable for upper stages, due to the knowledge needed to put the whole thing together. You do not need to know chords or be able to play the instruments and it seems very easy to use. This would be of benefit to all children as you do not need to know technical aspects of music or be able to read music. The app allows you to add in lead guitar, bass guitar and drums as well as vocals. When playing drums you can vary the way in which they are played by varying the volume of your voice to allow you to play the high hat, snare, etc. Children in primary 6 or 7 would love to use this particular app as it would appeal to their creative sides and could be used within a context related to creating a band in the classroom. This could lead on to the group creating their own band, constructing models of instruments. It is a great jumping off point for many ideas and potential lessons. Really like this app as it gives creativity to the children and makes some music lessons more interactive and has a product at the end which can be shared with an audience (parents and world wide audience).
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Perhaps look at storybird from a different point of view, try working with someone to create a story where they choose all the visuals and you need to create the text. It can seem overwhelming when you first look at the images available, I know that I felt the same way. By using the challenge of adding text to a picture story you can develop creative thinking skills in a learner. I think that we will find some people like to write the story, some will like choosing the graphics and others will enjoy both aspects. Not everyone will enjoy every activity but we should try and think of ways to adapt activities so that we can get the most out of them. If you would like to try a storybird together just let me know =D
ReplyDeleteI would like to find out more about the iCan Read project. The link took me to the home page but there was little information on it. The idea od using the ipod to support children who may be experiencing difficulty with reading is an interesting one.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the ideas within project iCan Read would be really motivating for children. I think being able to hear themselves reading would be helpful for them to work on their expression and fluency.
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