Recording a fairy tale

Objective:  Students will be able to read aloud using appropriate expression and pacing.

Students are going to choose from six simple fairy tale retellings from the MeeGenius app and listen to them being read aloud to them.  They will be instructed to listen carefully to how it's read and the inflection and tone used.
Then they will use iTalk to record themselves reading the same story aloud getting feedback from their partner about their expression and pacing.
They did a pretty good job with this task, though we did have a little trouble getting all of their recordings uploaded to Dropbox.  I spent some time after they left making sure we had a copy of each of their recordings saved in Dropbox.  I had students answer this question on an Exit Card:  Do you think it helps your reading to record your reading aloud and listen to it?  Almost all of the students wrote "yes" and focused mainly and how it helped them to hear their expression or lack of expression in their reading.  Only one of the students wrote "no" because "I have to point to follow along but I also skipped a page."  I think she will feel better as we go along and she gets comfortable "swiping" on an iPad.

Predicting with Evidence

Lesson objective:  Students will use evidence to make predictions about their reading.

Today the lesson was on using evidence from your reading to make predictions.  The students did a pretty good job with this and stayed focused while reading because they were anxious to watch the 4 minute video ending to the story.  I used the app 3:15 and the free story, "Buried Treasure."

We began by discussing the definitions of the words "prediction" and "evidence."  Then we watched the teaser for the story and read five pages.  Together we made predictions and showed evidence on a chart.  Then students were instructed to read the rest of the story on their iPads and fill out a form making three predictions at pages 10, 15, and 22.  They were also instructed to make an adjustment to their predictions as they continued reading.
As students finished reading, I checked their written work before I gave them headphones with which to watch the scary video ending.  It was great to watch their reactions to the ending:  several boys gasped and immediately and animatedly began talking to each other about the story.  One boy said he went ahead and read the story at home twice because he knew we would be reading it today and it seemed so interesting.
Unfortunately not all students finished the story, so next time we'll need more time to finish up the lesson.

First Lesson

Objective:  Students will be able to identify what good readers do when they read aloud.
I asked students to help me identify the reading aloud behaviors of good readers.  This is what they came up with:
1.  Read loudly
2.  Read clearly
3.  Pronounce words well
4.  Use punctuation
5.  Use expression in your voice
We talked about their list and I shared my list with them:
Reading Behaviors:
1.  Phrasing - the ability to read several words together in one breath.
2.  Rate - the speed at which we read.
3.  Intonation/Expression - the emphasis we give to particular words or phrases

Then students paired up with another student and were given the iPad they will share for class use during the school year.  We did a brief overview of how to take care of their iPads, including wiping down the screen before they hand them in to be put away.
The pairs were given a one page story to read called "The Princess Easter."  They read it to themselves first.  Then they used iTalk to record themselves reading about 1/3 of the story, listening while their partners recorded.  Finally they listened to their recordings.  We will keep these as their first recordings.  Students have been instructed to always name their recording with their names and the date.

Okay, then I found out that using the free version of iTalk was not such a good idea.  We couldn't save the recordings because they were too big to e-mail and I needed iTalk Premium to link it to a Dropbox folder.  I went ahead and purchased iTalk Premium using VPP, but it still won't let me upload the first recording the students created with the free version.  Oh, well, at least we'll be able to save all the recordings they do in the future.

Late Start

It's been challenging to get this iPad project started because there were just so many details to getting the iPads set up for our students' use.  I am excited about this project, and the students' faces just lit up when I told them what we were going to be doing with the iPads this school year.

After I received the 15 iPads and the Bretford cart, it took many hours to set them up properly for the students to use.  Since I'm in the library with no assistance, I had to ask a volunteer to come in for 1 1/2 days to work on them in the back room while I worked with students in the library.  I couldn't use student help with most of this because passwords needed to be used.

Here's a list of some of the things that needed to be done:
1.  Charge and sync all iPads to the MacBook iTunes account after having set up an iTunes account (without a credit card attached) and an Apple Volume Purchasing Program (VPP) account.
2.  Individually set each iPad with restrictions:  I restricted deleting apps,YouTube, and allowing changes to  Location (so that Find My iPad can't be turned off).
3.  Individually set each iPad to sync with a folder with the student pairs' names on them.
4.  Individually set each iPad with Find My iPad and add location services
5.  Individually organize folders on each iPad
6.  Sign into Dropbox accounts on each iPad
7.  Link each iPad with a Dropbox account for the iTalk app
8.  Set up student pair folders in iPhoto to import photos from the iPads.

Then I created a form with all the passwords and user names for restrictions, iTunes, Dropbox, VPP, and Mobile Me to share with the principal so that I wasn't the only one who knew all this info.

Some of this I figured out with trial and error, but I couldn't have done most of it without some great Live Binders such as this one created by Mike Fisher.

I created a Live Binder too back in March when I was applying for the Qwest grant, but it's nothing like Mike Fisher's.  It's actually somewhat chaotic and spare, but it has been useful to me.

Qwest grant (now Century Link)

I applied for a $10,000 Qwest grant in February and found out in April that I was one of nine people in Washington State to receive it.  One of the other teachers is Stacey Churchill who's an art teacher at Foster High School in my school district of Tukwila.

Here's what I said I wanted to do:

This will be a yearlong project with students in an English Language Learners (ELL) class. Students will be paired up to read interactive books that embed audio and video on an iPad. Students will record their own voices reading the books to improve their reading fluency, which according to Johns and Berglund (2006) extends to include reading comprehension.  Students will then practice editing digital books using the StoryKit app from the International Childrens Library.  Eventually students will be ready to create their own digital books, representing themselves and their cultures, and publish them online for the school community to access and respond to.  The digital books will include audio (student narration), video, photographic, and written elements and will be created using various apps such as iTalk.

My district received the money on July 1st, and we placed out Purchase Order immediately.  Thankfully I have the support of Mike Cullum,  the Director of Instructional Technology for the district, and my principal, Brett Christopher, or this project wouldn't have been able to even begin.  When you're purchasing iPads, $10,000 doesn't go far.  With their help and the grant, we were able to purchase fifteen iPads, a Bretford cart for simultaneously syncing and charging the iPads, iPad covers, and $500 for the Apple Volume Purchasing Program for apps.  Additionally, Brett purchased five more iPads for staff to use for classroom walk-throughs, so I can borrow those when needed.

Truthfully, as I read over the twelve pages of my complete application, I wonder if my plan is bigger than I can actually handle.  I think I have some great ideas, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it all with the students.

Tomorrow I'll tell you how long it took just to get the iPads set up, and you'll understand what I mean.