Using iPod Touches for Reading Comprehension CEC conference April 24, 2010

Personal Background Special Education teacher Reading Specialist Middle School Language Arts

2 Problems 1. Never finished a story 2. Asked, “What was the story about? Answer, “I don’t know.”

Elementary iPod Project Elementary school Shuffles Record the week of stories, activities, songs, etc. Students took home the materials and listened to them Results – increased DIBELs scores

Middle School Not doing beginning reading Needed a way to help students learn strategies By middle school – learned comprehension strategies or they haven’t

Background – pilot project Pilot project  3 teachers  7 iPods each  Reading comprehension strategy Results  Increased completion  Increased participation

Reasons Achievement levels Need for reading comprehension skills ◦ National Reading Panel ◦ Reading Next report

Summarization Strategy Had to be simple Had to be ‘memorable’ Easily learned Transferable across subject areas 1-2 Summarization Strategy  Write down 1 idea about what you just read  Write down 2 details about what happened

Supported Text Background – research base 11 types This study incorporated:  Notational  Instructional  Translational

iPod Touch Socially acceptable Mobile Personal Individualized

Design 155 students 5 sections AM sections randomly assigned to treatment PM sections – intact comparison group

Sample th graders 6-8 grade middle school

Method Instructional and practice phases All students receive instruction via iPod Touch Practice phase has 3 levels of support ◦ Notational Only ◦ Notational + Instructional ◦ Notational + Instructional + Translational 3 weeks of intervention – 15 sessions Pearson Literature text – 6 th grade

Results – standardized assessment 2 standardized assessments ◦ easyCBM  Benchmarking  No increase in scores ◦ Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI)  Slight increase in scores

Results – probe measures Researcher developed multiple-choice probe measures ◦ Based on the stories ◦ 10 multiple-choice questions per story ◦ Students in treatment groups scored better on multiple-choice measures over the comparison group ◦ Students in NIT completed more stories than other groups

Results – student survey How easy was it to learn the summarization strategy?

Student Survey Results How much did the summarization strategy help you remember the story?

Student Survey Results How much did the note-taking sheet help you remember the story?

Student Survey Results How often did you use the note-taking sheet?

Student Survey Results How much did you like reading stories on an iPod Touch?

Student Ideas to use iPod Touches Math Research Reading Accessibility Writing Educational Games Organization Note taking Share information Textbook Watch video Science Music

Process Upload audio CD of the story to iTunes Import from iTunes to Garage Band Split track and insert audio prompts Copy text to Lyrics Sync ‘song’ to iPods

Split Tracks in GarageBand

Export to iTunes

Add lyrics

Adding Lyrics in iTunes

Recommendations Targeted instruction Specific students with specific needs ◦ Below ◦ At level ◦ Exceeding Extended learning Create library of interventions

Benefits Portable Mobile Anytime – anywhere Student controlled Differentiated instruction

Future Research Secondary RtI  Tier II and III Potential for differentiation in general education classes Extended learning and practice