Just like our students, technology is constantly growing and changing. In order for students to keep up with this age of technology, they need to be able to use it. Getting technology into the hands of kids gives them an extra spark and helps them to grow as learners.
My students are just like many students in classrooms all over the country.
Our school is a K-8 neighborhood school and extremely diverse. We have a wide range of learning styles and abilities. We have students who come from single-parent homes to homes where they are many family members living with them. Some students speak other languages at home and then English at school. In my classroom alone I have students with autism, ADHD, low income, and all together 7 different languages spoken at home. One common trend for all these students is that they love technology. We are lucky for students to be able to use computers at our school, but in this expanding world, it's not always enough. There are so many more things with technology today that we can give to students to help them learn and to add that spark to make them want to learn.
My Project
Helping all of these students across this large spectrum is a rewarding challenge. In the early elementary grades, we put a huge emphasis on reading, however most of the students do not read for fun, they read when they have to, and therefore it is harder for their reading to grow. The lower readers struggle through reading, so it is a chore for them. They are still working on sounding out words, fluency, and seeing if the words they read make sense. The higher readers have the phonics and fluency skills, however have a harder time with comprehension, thinking about what they read and recalling information, as well as looking beyond what is written in front of them and seeing underlying meanings. All of these things are something that we work on daily, but it does not help drum up interest in books. Using 2 iPods in the classroom will get the students excited to read and help them work on these reading skills without them even realizing it.
I would like to bring the technology that many children have at home into our classroom by adding iPods into our classroom listening center.
The students would be excited to use the iPods and the listening center would be utilized more often causing students to reach their literacy goals and/or pass them. By helping bring iPods into our classroom, you will help ensure that my students are engaged in learning and reading and helping to meet their literacy needs now and for future classes.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Wachowiak and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
