Wednesday, January 11, 2012

"Technology and school has come alonnnnggg way baby" - Primary School Student

Besides being extremely cute the quote above is also valid and relevant. I could not agree more with this young student as more and more schools today are implementing and emphasizing the iPad initiative to increase student learning especially among boys. Below is an excellent link that will show just how FAR technology has come but more importantly, just how vital technology is to this generation and many more to come.
In this video which was recorded in the classroom, students are using the iPad to help build stronger fluency skills. Students are using the literacy strategy "The 3 R's" which means to reread, record and reflect. This genius strategy is used on the iPad where students are recording their very own voices when reading the book on the iPad. Once their finished reading, students stop and listen to the recording and reflect on how they sound. After, they self-assess and score themselves based on their fluency skills. The self-assessment is a rubric appropriately created for this grade level as you can see in the video. If the students scores are high, the teacher posts the recording as a podcast so other children and educators can listen. Let's just stop for a minute and praise whoever invented this literacy strategy!
While watching and hearing the accounts of these students, it is obvious that they are enjoying themselves, they are engaged and they are excited. This strategy is brilliant because students at this age adore to hear themselves perform. Thus, the ability to record their own voices only encourages the student to want to read and read some more. As a result, students are eager to fill out their self-assessment and see where they scored based on their fluency skills. Lastly, students are encouraged to succeed as the teacher allows their voices to be broadcasted across the world on a podcast. If this isn't motivation I don't know what is.

What I love about this video is that it is driven by the student voice and incorporates students experiences. I hope to deliver more videos like these.
The 3 R's

1 comment:

  1. Amy,

    Thanks for such a fantastic post. It is wonderful. I agree, it is so inspiring to hear from students and using audio apps to record their voices is such an authentic way to learn. I wonder, how could this strategy be incorporated into your own learning? How about using other types of technology?

    Zoe

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