I have been buzzing all week after the great input Jan shared at the Literacy Conference at Delany. The information was both very practical and thought provoking.Jan gave details as to how to set up the system in the Library as well as very sound reasons as to why we should be exploring such systems to improve student outcomes, especially in Literacy areas. The staff at my school have had me quoting Jan every day at every opportunity ALL WEEK! What a great session!
I have since thought about how to take advantage of the concept in a Primary School Library, considering limited budgets and resources. I was thinking of 'taking on' the challenge to conduct a Professional Action Research Project on this topic this term. I'd love to get some input from the collective wisdom of our group. Feel free to give any advice...and as much as possible...!! If there is anyone who would like to join me for a group effort that would be great too!
Frances
3 comments:
I agree! I have been talking far and wide about Jan's ideas too and would love to help out with ideas and implementation strategies! I have a feeling that there are plenty of creative ideas amongst all the TLs, but funding new initiatives will also be a challenge. Perhaps I can link your research project with some funding if we can consolidate the results. THANKS JAN!
It is great to see that this initiative is up and running and getting such good press, as I know Jan has researched and developed it over the last year. Would love to see a post from Jan on the benefits of this program for kids.
One of the great things about this program is that it is NOT expensive. We used refurbished ipods from Apple at $44 each, and the audio files can be up to 50% off. The main cost has been increasing the number of print copies we have to support our audio files.
How to use them depends on the school and student need.
At Delany, with 92% of students not speaking English at home, there is a need for students to hear what they read. To reinforce meaning, intonation, inflection, pacing. Generally these students are restricted to hearing English at school. Now they can hear it at home.
We are finding students are extremely keen to borrow and so far they have been returning within a day or two and borrowing more. The students who borrow through the library often already have ipods - they are the wired generation (and our audio learners?).
The books are about to be used to support some of our new English speakers with their class texts. I have managed to get files for 6 texts at this stage. The Special Needs teachers think students will be better able to cope with the number of pages set to read at night if they are listening along. They also intend them to be used with students withdrawn for reading help.
As you can see, early days. However we cannot keep up with demand and will be buying 10 more ipods in the near future.
Post a Comment