iPods and Reading

Several weeks ago, I posted about the listening to reading option that my students have during Daily Five reading instruction times.  I stated that a goal of mine was to sync these stories to the iPod Touch so that the children would have more options.  For the first time this week, my students were able to listen to reading using their own, personal iPod and it went really well.  Before using them, students were given a mini lesson on how to access the books, adjust the volume, and clean the space when they were finished. Next, students were sent to practice what they had learned and they did so with little difficulty and a lot of excitement.  When I felt that they were comfortable and able to access the stories independently, we broke into independent work time, with some students listening to reading on iPods, others writing, Guided Reading, and independent reading.  The noise level in the classroom was drastically reduced (we have been using the computer, and though the volume was low, the stories were still audible in all parts of the classroom).  A student, Y.P., commented during reflection time, "I could concentrate better at my center because I didn't hear the computer!"

Students were given the opportunity to reflect at the end of the experience.  There were many celebrations as well as a few challenges.

What did you think about using the iPod during Daily Five?
A.K.- "You can pick your own book!"
A.D.-"You don't have to share!  You use your own."
K.C.- "You could push all the buttons by yourself!" (She was not trained on how to access books on the computer and therefore was not allowed to push the buttons)
K.G.-"You can read the books you want to read."
S.C.-"Because you get to have it all for yourself and you get to like, put headphones on and slide buttons."
T.A.-"No books were hard to read!"

Was there anything difficult?
Y.P.-"The sound was moving where I didn't want it to be."
T.D.-"Like, you didn't know when to turn the page.  On the computer, it has that ding."

We are working to fix these two challenges to make the experience of using the iPod Touch easy and beneficial to the education of the students in the class.  However, the experience today was positive and effective overall.  I believe that the use of this technology during independent work times will increase students' literacy skills because it allows for children to choose literature that is high-quality, high-interest, and highly accessible at the touch of an icon.