Arhg...What a Mess!

My Students

In our classroom, we work very hard all day, every day teaching and practicing foundational reading skills. Practice in all forms creates fluency, whether it is spoken, listened to, written, or silently read. Reading is a power that kindles the flame of learning.

They are enthusiastic!

We have diverse students from many socio-economic backgrounds. Some have the pleasure of positive adult interaction, where others are put in front of a television, computer, or video games as a distraction to keep them quiet. This latter environment quenches the ability for growth in communication, therefore reading. It is vital for every child to be able to talk with a loving adult, to be read to and encouraged to learn how to read, but some of my students, unfortunately, don't have this. These students lack the fertile environment where words are a strong part of daily interaction, and therefore a chasm is left separating the strong, communicative reader and one who is just beginning to grasp phonemic and phonetic concepts.

My Project

I have requested a CD wireless listening center that is in good working condition and is easily organized. I have also requested read along books and CD's. A listening center will become a resource used in our classroom centers and as an earned reward. The ease of having the center in one location on a table in my classroom will eliminate students wasting valuable learning/listening opportunities with the time-consuming effort of untangling our old headphones and using the outdated and unreliable old tape player. With the new listening center, the new headphones are wireless, so they will be untangled, accessible, and ready to wear! The students won't have to deal with the frustration of an indistinguishable pile of wires leading to unfocused and distractive behavior. By having the listening center, my students can sit, listen to, and follow the words as the audio leads them through the pages of the book, all the while the students are learning fluency, phonetics, and tonal inflection. The listening center will provide scaffolding to help bring my students' knowledge, learning, and achievement to a higher level, which is the goal of education. Listening to stories creates connections in the brain on the most basic level. Listening eliminates the frustration of stumbling through the challenges of phonetic deciphering.

A book can become a powerful tool of opportunity, as the pages of a story are unlocked to the beginning reader.

While the student listens and observes, an ideal model is presented using letter sounds, tonal inflection, and the easing of word recognition, thereby creating confidence and enthusiasm for our future readers.