Many of our students are struggling readers who do not like to read books. Playaways will allow them to improve their vocabulary skills and encourage them to read more books. We would also like to have resources for our visually impaired students.
I am a librarian in a public high school that serves 1550 students in grades 10-12. We serve a mixture of students including visually impaired, mentally disabled, AP, a large population of free and reduced lunch, and foreign language.
My colleague and I worked for three years along with our literacy coach to encourage reading. While our circulation numbers doubled since we started, we still have visually impaired students who are not served, and many students who do not want to read books because their reading skills are poor.
We purchased five Playaways to try them out, and the students and teachers love them. They want more. The Playaway is an MP3 type player that holds an entire book. The best feature is the speed button which allows the user to speed up or slow down the narrator's voice. Struggling readers can check out a book and the matching Playaway. They follow the words as the narrator reads. This allows our struggling readers to build vocabulary which allows them to read harder texts and gives them success reading other materials.
Thank you for your help. Your funding will ensure that my struggling readers will enjoy the same stories as their peers who are strong readers. Playaways build their vocabulary and love of reading, so eventually, they will become independent, voracious readers.
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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 Mrs. Myers and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.