Technology, Science, and Reading: Oh My!

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

My Students

I teach reading invention to 8th graders. Everyday is an interesting journey into exciting and energizing kids into doing something that they hate doing and have historically be unsuccessful with, reading. My goal is to have my students reading at or within one or two years of their grade level.

I teach at a low income, Title I school.

My students do not have books at home, they do not have technology to use and practice on. They are not building basic skills that will help them close the achievement gap seen in students who come from middle class and upper middle class environments. But, my students are excited an energized to be in my classroom. I strive to create a learning environment that is inviting and exciting where my students take a vested interest. My students come to my class knowing that the expectation is that they take an active role in my class room. There is no passive reading and there is no passive learning.

My Project

My students typically love science. They love to conduct experiments, compare and analyze data, create hypothesis and test them. Why not bring that natural curiosity into reading intervention class by having them analyze the effectiveness of different reading intervention? Students will be given time to observe their classmates using and mastering different reading intervention strategies such as close reading, independent reading, audio reading and reading with classical music (on the iTouch) and record their observations and input their findings using apps on their iPad (such as class dojo & scholastics apps). Finally, students can analyze the data compared to their READ180 progress in areas such as vocabulary, reading comprehension, and Lexlie scores. Chargers are needed to keep the items ready to use all day. By year's end, student will be able to recognize what strategies helped their classmates the most and be able to recognize which strategies made them the most successful.

Acceptance is the first step in helping anyone make a change.

If I can get my students to understand and accept they have difficultly reading in a positive and uplifting way, then half my battle is already won for me. By providing them the technology to see for themselves what can help them, their learning will be in their hands. Using the technology alone will help them develop skills they need in the future. Using those skills to take control of their learning will make that future brighter.