Research

=Traditional Reading Strategies vs Technology Implemented Reading Strategies= =Guide for writing up your research:= Intro Paragraph: Describe the setting in which you implemented your investigation. Remember to use different names or initials for actual names and places. Explain a brief background and assessment of the student/s you worked with. Describe the two individual reading strategies that you implement ( one traditional one app). Give reason why you used these strategies. There should be some discussion regarding the skills you feel the strategies will build.

Describe how you implemented the strategies. Describe how the students did with the strategies. Describe your assessment of the strategies and the students learning.

Conclusion. Describe your findings in detail. How did the students do. How using this strategy affects the classroom. (whole class, group work, individually) Give a brief summary of any discussion you had with the cooperating teacher regarding using the technology verses traditional strategies.

We will discuss this further in class!

Traditional Reading Strategies vs. Technology Implemented Reading Strategies (Ashley Bierman)


 * I completed my research of traditional reading strategies and technology implemented reading strategies in a first grade classroom with two students, Be. & Br. Some of my research, including the pre-assessment of the two students, was conducted in the classroom, however, the actual reading strategy activities took place in another room where I could have a space to work with just the two students.
 * As I observed Be. & Br. in various classroom activities, I noticed that they had difficulty with understanding certain reading concepts and staying focused while learning these concepts. I discussed with the teacher, Mrs. W., about what skills the students needed to work and build on in their reading. We came to a conclusion that Be. & Br. both needed help with blends and digraphs including (ch, th, wh, st, tr, etc.).
 * I continued my research on the internet to find activities that would relate to the reading concept of blends and digraphs, finding an activity called sound bags. I set up this activity by using a zip lock bag, scissors, paper, crayons, and printed pictures. I created my own sound bag by finding pictures that started with the blend/digraph "cl" including pictures of a clown, a person climbing, clams, clouds, and hands clapping. I cut the pictures out and put them in a zip lock bag. I shared the activity with Be. & Br. by asking them what each picture was and what they all had in common which was that they all started with "cl." I asked the two students to pick out their own blend/digraph where they will think of words that start with their specific blend/digraph they chose and draw pictures of their words. Be. & Br. chose "pl" and "sl" to use for their sound bags. Both Be. & Br. thought of words to go with their blend/digraph such as plant, plane, sleep, and slam dunk. They had to think the word through, first thinking of words to see if they started with either "pl" or "sl". After they came up with their words, they drew their pictures, wrote their words under their pictures underlining their blend/digraph, and cut them out to put in their sound bag. I reviewed with them what blend/digraph they chose and what words they came up with to represent "pl" and "sl." They liked the activity, especially the arts and craft aspect of it. At first they struggled with coming up with words, but they eventually thought of words to use for the sound bags.
 * The next activity I did with Be. & Br. was a I pod application that would correlate with the activity I did relating to blends and digraphs. The I pod application i downloaded to do with Be. & Br. was called Word Cub, which had activities about letter match, word discovery, and sound match. I chose to have Be. & Br. do the word discovery activity because it would help them work with words using blends and digraphs such as br, cr, gr, etc. With this application, different words come on the screen separated on building blocks (separates the blends/digraphs such as "gr"), a voice sounds out the word, Be. & Br. swiped across the word and it will repeat sounding out the word, and then the word is said altogether. Next, Be. & Br. swiped up to go to next word. Both Be. & Br. enjoyed trying the I pod application, one of the students liked it even more because I feel that it kept him interested. He liked to sound out the words with the I pod and said the word before he swiped to hear what the word was. This is how I assessed the students, by listening to them as they interacted with the application and as they tried to sound out the words. I felt that they did very well with the I pod strategy and it would be a good idea to use in the classroom.
 * I used these two reading strategies, the sound bag and the word cub, because they both greatly related to what the Be. & Br. needed help with, which was blends/digraphs in reading. I felt that both strategies were interesting ways to learn about blends/digraphs and that they would be fun for the students to do as they learn more about these reading concepts. The skills that the students would build from these two strategies would be how to listen for sounds in words and to find words with common sounds which would help them when they are trying to sound out words as they read.
 * Overall, I feel that both reading strategies would be good to use in the classroom. Be. & Br. did well with the sound bag activity.I feel this traditional reading strategy would be good for a whole class activity or group work where students would be able to exchange their sound bags which could help the students learn about all the blends/digraphs. When Be. & Br. used the I pod application Word Cub, they both did great sounding out the words and finding out what the words were. With this technology implemented reading strategy, I feel that this could be done with individual students and it would really help the students like Br. who need help focusing on one activity. Lastly, I discussed with Mrs. W how she would feel using I pods in her classroom and she felt that it would be a great idea, but it would be difficult to have an I pod for all the students to use. However, she had the idea of asking the school to have I pods that individual classrooms could check out when they needed to use them.I thought this was a great idea in regards to budgeting.

Melody Peterman


 * I did my research a bit different then I believe the assignment was, just due to the fact that I did it before had full understanding of the requirements. I found the app "Dr. Suess ABC" for my 2nd grade class last week during, of course, Dr. Suess Week. The app is fairly straight forward, the ABC book with two options Read to Me, which reads the story out loud as the word being read is highlighted. The second option is Read it Myself, which is self paced wit the students option of touching either the text for help on words or on the pictures for the name of picture to be said aloud. The page of the book is turned by the use sliding finger across the screen to the left just as they would if reading a traditional story.

qualitative to the book method. Also to see if the student would be a bit off task with reeading, use of computers with reading games on has been a love hate relationship at option because the students tend to wander off task after a bit at times.
 * To save time and room on this page will give the highlights from my findings. Plan had been to only meet with two students however the lesson went faster then previously thought so I meet with four students. Ms. B was doing a minilesson on poetry writing in the front of the room while I took a student to the reading area in the back of home so neither group could disturb the other. I introduced the lesson the same for each student, explaining that I wanted to have them read to me the book, then the story off the ipod, then would ask them a few questions after they were done reading. I stressed that the questions had no right or wrong answer and that they just had to say what they felt. Didnt want to add stress onto the students. Before starting, also asked who had used an ipod before. For the most part they had not used an ipod for other then listening to music but had experience with using touch screens (parents cell phones). Ms. B and myself chose the readers by they process so far, all were good readers, some slow but had good comprehension or the reverse, fast but poor comprehension. What myself and Ms. B had talked about with using the ipod was to see how the student did with reading, if could develop good pace and comprehension
 * What I found most interesting about doing the app in class was the newness of the whole idea. First time Ms. B or the students used an ipod as a education tool. They did stay on task, after a few pages gain an understanding of how to turn page, have a word said aloud or pictures named. I took the role of observator more so then teacher just for the fact I learn better that way and I didnt want to interupt the student. They all showed great problem solving skills when came to sounding out words. Have realized that I have become more patient with students and wont jsut say word right away so was proud of myself :)
 * Another interesting finding was when i asked the students the questions at the end. They were very simple questions to see how the students liked each, which liked more and why, and why they didn't like each. It was half and half on which they liked better, two liked the books better because they were not use to reading on ipod, words were much smaller and harder to read and another reason was that the book wouldn't read the words to you and needed to sound them out. The student that liked the ipod app more liked it because it was fun to turn the pages (sliding finger across page), because it helped with words (opposed to fellow classmate that didnt like that fact), and just liked using it for the fact that they got to use an ipod.
 * I also had them compare each. When asked why they liked the book opposed to ipod the answers were the words were easier to see, easier to have (had them expand on what the meant, mom wont let him have ipod because too young and too expensive, books dont cost as much so can get more, like that birthday) When asked why liked the ipod better they answered fun to turn pages, to play with the ipod, and liked it since Dr. Suess wrote funny words the ipod helped you say them. Another like was because of the action while reading which made me think of the benefits of using it with hyper or antsy students. This may have helped me like reading more while in younger grades.
 * Overall it was a great learning experience for myself and for the students. Ms. B and I got a chance to talk about the apps and both discussed how it would help and challenges with getting the technology.

Traditional vs. Technology (Cameo Self)

I did my observations in a 2nd grade classroom with Mrs. S. She has 16 students in her classroom with the majority being boys. The students that I worked with were a group of her lower-level readers. I did a few guided reading lessons with this group and spent most of my time in her classroom with this group. The group consisted of three boys and one girl.

For my lesson, I did a guided reading session with a word work part. We read a book together and when we got to certain words (already picked out) I had the students put their fingers in there to break the word into chunks. (This is my first strategy) I felt that this strategy has worked for them in the past and is helping them with their spelling of words. They break the words down into chunks or word families, that they have learned which helps them recognize sounds in words they do not know. The other part of this lesson was to write a summary of the story in their writer’s notebook, which is also something they are accustomed to. When the students write their summaries, they were to circle words that look like they were not spelled correctly and on the margin try different ways to spell the word. When they got to this part, I helped them by asking them questions like what other words sound the same, how do you spell that, what’s another way we can make that sound?

The other strategy I used was the hangman application. I found a hangman game that was actually a tree with apples instead of a man hanging so that it would not be violent. I put the word into the game and the student had to type in letters they thought was in the word. This strategy was to help them build their spelling skills in a fun way.

The students did well with the first strategy, as they have been doing this type of word work previously. It seems to help them with their spelling when they write in their writer’s notebooks. When I was helping the students with their circle words I noticed that many of them were able to figure out how to spell it on their own, and others needed little help. I only had to ask the students one question most of the time like, what other word sounds like _? and they would answer and start to write the other word then change the first word to the correct spelling. It was really amazing.

The students really enjoyed the other strategy of spelling out the words on hangman. Most of the kids had a smile on their face while they were doing it. It was interesting to watch because the students would try to spell the word then they would choose a wrong letter and realized their mistake and were able to pick the correct letter next, most of the time. I really liked this strategy because it was very independent for the student making them form their own ideas about what letter must be next if the one they picked was wrong. There were however some things that I did not like about this strategy. One dislike that I had was that when there was more than one of the same letter in the word, they both showed up in the word giving them some of the spelling. Another thing that I didn’t like was that there was no evidence of student thinking. With the other strategy, I could watch them write out their thoughts of the words spelling, thus allowing me to ask them helpful questions.

In conclusion, I think that both strategies worked well. The first strategy being used for the foundation and the ipod game as a reinforcing activity will greatly improve their spelling skills. While the ipod game worked well, it was a little distracting to the other students. The other students kept walking past the one playing the game and tried to watch and kept asking to play next. It may have worked better if I took a student in the hallway one at a time. I discussed my findings with Mrs. S. and she sounded pleased with both of the strategies. She thinks it would be great to see if she could get ipods for her classroom to try more activities out with her students.

Traditional Strategies VS. Technological Strategies (Marcus Denny)
 * I used the classroom centers time to implement both the traditional and technological strategies. I only worked with certain students when I implemented my traditional strategy but used the whole class when I implemented the IPOD because they were all interested in it.
 * I took more of a spelling approach for my research and the students that I used for my traditional research were having trouble with their chunking strategies. They had trouble recognizing high frequency words that should have been recognizable for their age and I worked exclusively with these three students in the traditional setting. I used a book that they were all familiar with in the class and one that the teacher recommended. I picked a word that had words within it or small chunks that made sounds in them and asked them to write them down on paper. The first example I recall using was the word stand. I asked the student if there was word within the word that they recognized and asked them to write the word down on a piece of paper. Only one of the three students recognized the word that was in the word STAND and it was the word AND. After they wrote the word and down I asked them what sound the remaining two letters made. Then asked them to combine the sound of the remaining letters with the word they picked out of the larger word. I repeated this using a number of different words in the book.
 * The technological approach I used for the students was an application called Word Magic. The app used words that had letters or chunks missing. It had four chunks on the bottom that the students could choose from and had two levels of difficulty. The app was simple to use and was visually appealing to the students. The students used chunking strategies from the traditional lesson and applied it to the IPOD lesson. The app used words that use chunks at the beginning, middle, and ends of words.
 * Overall the traditional method proved to be more adaptable for a teacher but the technological method proved to be less time consuming for the teacher and visually appealing to students. The students did well with both types of strategies but were more interested in the technology.

__**Traditional vs. Technology**__ Ipod Touch vs. Aesop’s Fables Hardcover Book

Students: 2 boys (High/Low level reader) The teacher assigned me two students of different reading levels. I specifically asked for a low and a high reader. I chose to do a virtual book the title was “The Tortoise and the Hare”. It is a classic Fable about morals steady pace wins the race or, continued hard work will get you where you need to be. I wrote down the interaction between the two while they listened and watched the book.: They both put on the headphones looked at one another with the biggest grin and both eagerly slid their tiny fingers to start. One spoke and said lets take turns OK? A nod approved the statement. Two prompts came up on the ipod book Read to me and Read alone. One of the boys immediately pressed Read to me. When the book started they laughed and waited for the next page to turn. One of the boys would point at the screen, then the other. Their eyes lit up when the figures moved about the screen. They would laugh and look at one another and say “Did ya see that?” When Tortoise won they both cheered and one boy stated “I wanted the turtle to beat that cocky rabbit, they called a hare” “They should just call it rabbit cause that is what it basically is anyway.” When the book was finished I asked them what they thought of it in general. The lower reader stated to me “It’s the best thing I know of ! The other boy asked if the ipod could read big books too. They liked it and they both thought it was way more interesting than a book cause the pictures come up for you. (Yes, of course they asked to play games and went a little crazy over the ipod.) I asked the two students if they had some in their classroom what could you use them for tell me 5 things. They thought about it and came up with this list, it could be used to read to us, we could watch movies like science stuff, math we could play games with times table cause it would be fun, look up stuff from other places.

__Second Part:__ Aesop’s Fables Hardcover Book Students: 2 a boy and girl ( High / Low level readers) We set up a table earlier for me to read to them The Tortoise and the Hare.__ They came and sat down. I explained to them that I was going to read to them a book aloud. They listened as I introduced the book and began. As I read they asked many questions about the book and pictures. They asked why the **tortoise/hare** was not called a **turtle/rabbit**? I asked them a few times to tell me what had happened in the story so far.They were excited and anticipated the ending when questioned about what they thought the ending would be like. They both thought the hare would win easily. They liked the ending and both were glad the tortoise won in the end of the story. As they were going back into the room the lower reader looked at his class mate and said " Boy I'm sure glad you picked the hare too" His response "Ya mean a rabbit" " No I mean hare I kind of like that word" Review: I liked both experiments but, I have to honestly say that the hardcover, is still tops in my book. You are able to ask more questions while reading to them, to get their minds build upon, inference, clarify, and summarize all which help comprehension. Although the ipod also has many positives too, for individual work it would be awesome for all subjects. The biggest plus it does not matter what reading level it is when it is read to you! Lower reading groups could have the story read to them, not to mention text books too this is truly awesome. Ipod/Ipads will have a bright future in educational system for certain. cp
 * Note how the lower reader was more apt to use a new vocabulary word rabbit/hare. Hearing is a strong skill for lower readers. Read to them aloud about things they are learning. They will pick up new verbal words when they know the meaning and use them.

Jeremy's Research It has been my observation that the students are interested in the latest technology; it is this interest that inspires them to learn. I-pods are great if you know how to use them. It is also my belief that the student I worked with benefited from this lesson.
 * I completed my research project by using my I-pod to show students in a first grade classroom at Lincoln Elementary School that traditional methods of teaching do work, however, when you mix in the latest technology it can make learning more exciting and may actually be easier for the students. Their teacher selected the two students I worked with; they will be referred to as C., and E.
 * The Sight Words app. used include multiple activities children can use to help perfect word recognition and spelling. //Flashcards// show a word and say it aloud for the child to hear. //Drag & Spell// shows a jumbled word and the child must put their finger on the letter and drag it to the correct spot to properly spell the word, when letters are in the proper spot the app. will repeat the letter back and when the word is spelled correctly the app. reads the word aloud. //Unscramble// is very similar to Drag & Spell however, when the word is spelled correctly the app. spells out the word and reads the word aloud. The students that I worked with were having trouble with word recognition, I thought this particular app. would help the students recognize letters, their sounds, and also assist with spelling.
 * During center time I was able to conduct my own center and work with the students that needed my assistance. The first lessons were conducted on the white board; these lessons involved me writing words on the board to see if the students recognized the words and to see if they could sound the words out for their selves. Next I jumbled the letters in a word that was used in the previous lesson to see if the students could put the letters in the correct order. For example if the word was bear I wrote erab on the board and next to the jumbled letters I provided blanks _ _ _ _. The blanks helped to encourage the students to sound out the words as they unscrambled the letters.
 * I showed the 2 chosen students the I-pod and told them a little about the app. I instructed them on how to drag the letters, and showed the two that when they spelled the word correctly or put the letter in the correct place the app. would repeat it back to them. If they were unsure of the word we could use the flashcard section contained in the app.
 * As we began our lesson I showed both C. and E. the words we were going over in the flash card section. After I was sure the student were able to recognize the words and sound out the letters that form the words we proceeded onto the next phase, spelling the words. After going over the words with the flash cards the students seemed to have a much easier time spelling and recognizing the words.

Traditional vs. Technology LSD

In Mrs. Schmidt's kindergarten classroom the children were learning how to spell words. Each day they would get a different word to work on then they would have time to review other words learned. The children used mini white boards at their desks. They also had word boxes where each individual letter would fit in a space. The word boxes were called sound boxes, only the letters that made sounds would get a box. Another thing the class would do is all stand up and air write the word. Mrs. Schmidt would say, "Ok all you sky writers and they would stand up with their arms extended out ready to write. At center time, in the writing center is where I used my ipod. I used the bath time fun app. It seemed like a good one to teach children how to spell and let them hear if they were spelling it correctly. First, I told the children that not all the words that they spelled would be on there, but the ones I wanted them to spell would be. I gave them words to spell and after they typed them in it would say the word for them. After about 3 words each I let them type in their own words and if the word was not in the bank I would say it for them and let them know if it was spelled correctly. I think the children enjoyed working with the technology and I wish all the children had the opportunity to experience it, maybe someday they will.

Leona Mae Dixon- · I completed my research in a 1st grade classroom during their regularly scheduled classroom writer’s workshop and center time. I completed the research as a planned center and each group filtered in as the classroom teacher decided. She grouped the students in skill levels and advised me which level of difficulty to approach. · The students that I worked with were 7 to 8 years of age and were in the final months of their first grade of school. Each group was comprised pretty much equally of boys and girls. · The two different strategies that I implemented were reading sight words on the iPod Touch and writing them manually. The second was locating and reading them on the rainbow words and word wall. The words were read and written from the iPod and then read again in the rainbow words, word walls and from their written list. The iPod also read the words to them. I chose to implement this activity and skill builder after seeing the students within their writing process stumble upon reading/writing and spelling some of the most frequently used words. I thought an activity that included the repetitive process of reading-writing-spelling-reading would be a way to brush up and become more fluent in their rainbow and word wall words and better equip them to use them within their writing. · The students sat with me during center time in groups of 3-5 students. The students brought their composition notebooks (thinking books) with them to the center table. I turned on the iPod Touch/Sight Word App and informed the students that we would be using it to do our center and practice our literacy skills. The students were then be instructed to draw a line down the middle of the page and to listen, look and pay attention to the words being shown on the iPod. On one column of the page the students should write the sight word, on the other column they can place a check mark if the word is on their word wall/rainbow words list. When Mrs. H signaled that there was one minute left in centers the students can take pointers and find as many words as they can on the word wall or in their rainbow word lists. **Adaptations-** For more advanced groups, more words are written (20 or more) and difficulty level is changed, in addition to this students are asked to read the list in unison before searching for words in the room. For the lower leveled students a shuffled list of 25 less difficult words was used and more emphasis was put on decoding and spelling each word. · The students were very receptive to using the iPod and their own materials in using their rainbow words and word wall. They expressed enthusiasm and excitement when a word actually was in their list. There definitely were a few more steps I could include in the process like having them spell each word letter by letter like they do their spelling words; this familiarizes them with the sequencing of letters and blending sounds. · I was very pleased to learn that the cooperating teacher herself used an iPod Touch and has familiarized her students with some of its apps and capabilities. From that point it was a matter of developing a plan that could address the different student’s needs and abilities. · Overall I thought that it proved to be a valuable lesson and re-visit to the words that have already been introduced to them and also introduced a few more. The combination of both strategies was very beneficial towards helping the students become more fluent and able to recognize, read and write sight words. The traditional strategy is valuable, yet combined with technology it becomes more well rounded in approach.
 * Traditional Reading Strategies vs Technology Implemented Reading Strategies **


 * Technology vs. Traditional Reading Strategies**

My research was conducted in a kindergarten room, 16 children, I did my research during center time which worked for me as well as the teacher. Small groups was the focus of both reading strategies. I did the traditional with four students but did the I-Pod with all of the students. The children sat a rectangular table within the classroom in which three other tables were filled with learning activities, directed by the teacher. I asked her how she decides what to do as far as centers are concerned, her answer was she goes sby the children's needs and what they are working on developing as far as a whole classroom goes. She picks the centers by assessment and state standards, and the literacy curriculum. The students I worked with were all well aware of word families, chunks and blends. We were going to work on blends, because this is one of the major components of language arts, and because I found some awesome board games to use (old school).Names of the board games: Children love to play when there is winning or being the first one to the finish line//.// The I-Pod games I used was an array of many, Word Cub, Sight Words, ABC Phonics, and Build A word. All of the games have to do with words. The findings after doing the above was very interesting, like I said children love to be the winner, as far as the board game, and the interaction between all of us at the table will be memorable. There is nothing that can take the place of positive socialization. But the I-Pod made learning more personable between the students and I. In the drag & spell of one of the Apps. I could see the forming of letters and hear the sounds coming out of their little mouths, and when they got the hang of a game it was funny how they were the experts and I was the audience. All in all, I think they preferred the traditional method, but were ready for the change of technology which is an attribute to the young because they can easily adapt. (btt)
 * Space Race-in this game a move consists of turning over a picture card and advancing to the nearest corresponding letter blend on the board. Put the used card at the bottom of the pile and proceed and until there is a winner (sw, sl, st, & sk).
 * Donkey Derby-( same instructions as above) (sn, cr, & cl).