Day #9

What a great morning!

I was prepared to introduce the 3 new students to the program today. All three boys are very excited to work with ipods and the Listening to Literacy Grow program.  We took some time to introduce ourselves by discussing what technology devises we have and use at home. It is amazing how many game systems and cell phones they have or are familiar with. It gives a lot of truth to how important it is to prepare these students for the 21st century and their future success using technology.

We reviewed the iPod Information Sheet  (see Documents for Use category on the blog to view) I created a couple of weeks ago for the students. While reviewing we did some hands on practice with the turn on and turn off steps. Having the time to practice this will help them to truly understand the mechanics of using an iPod. The most important is to put the iPod on hold so we can save the batteries in between our meeting times. The three boys did great!  The other key component is the families understanding that it is voluntary  to participate. I have sent a permission letter home that will need to be signed from the parents. I hope all 3 boys will return with it tomorrow to begin working with the program.

In our discussions today I am finding that the students are so eager to share and discuss I am having to monitor them taking turns more than anything. Perhaps it would be a good time to split all of the students more equally and therefor have a smaller amount of students in each of the 2 groups.  This will take place tomorrow and I will surely follow up with the outcome.

There have been great strides in the relations and opinions they are responding with in their discussions. One student began to talk about how her book related to a dream she had had before.  This was very in depth and took little time for her to decipher. Immediately the boys wanted to know what her dream was about and what part of the book it had to do with. This is proof that the cards can help to trigger some feelings and relations we make with text constantly. It amazing and very rewarding to help the students understand that we can relate our life, emotions and experiences to what we read and have the book be more meaningful and memorable.

I have done a lot of research on transactional theories in reading and education. That is where my Listening to Literacy Grow program really grew from.  I want to be able to share with students how special and unique they are as readers because of their transactions with the book. They think, act and feel different than their friends on most everything. That is what makes us who we are. This program is celebrating reading in a most special and memorable way!

Day #8 March 30, 2010

Tuesdays are always great for discussion. We had ample time to utilize the discussion cards and really learn about the new books that have been added to the program and what the authors styles are like. The particular dicsussion I am recalling was with regard to Roald Dahl. They have most of his books to choose from in the Listening to Literacy Grow program and are recommending each book to one another now. There are funny parts that the boys can't wait to share and there are silly characters that the girls like to dicsuss. I feel like I have reached a goal and with that I have added another author I believe they will enjoy, Andrew Clements.

Girl:    "Do you think there are really giants Miss.McFadden?"
Me:     "Well its up to you to decide... Have you seen a giant? Have your friends seen giants? Do you 
             believe there are?"
Girl:    "I think there are but I haven't seen one."
Boy:    "There aren't giants but you can believe there are when you read your book."
Boy 2: "The BFG is a funny book. I want a giant like that to be my friend."
Boy:    "Are you almost done reading it?"
Girl:     "Not yet."

My one problem was with an iPod that froze up. I do not have back up iPods so this was a day that one student read to themselves. You can never be too prepared, but as I continue to add books and have the proram running smoothly, the bag begins to get too heavy and not have room to bring my comuter to reset these iPods should anything go wrong. 

Another great surprise was that we are ready to add a second group of students. There will be 3 new students who I will introduce to the materials, routine and participation letter requirement tomorrow. This came when I received another iPod following our time together. A parent at the school heard about the program and offered an extra iPod she had to us. This was a grat way to end the morning!

• 2 Groups of Students
• 7 iPods total
• More time on campus with the Listening to Literacy Grow program