Back in January, I posted about an iPod pilot project that we conducted with a small group of ELL students at one of our elementary schools. Overall, ELL students in our district have not tested well in math on our state's standardized test called the CRCT. Vocabulary has been an issue for them as well as understanding concepts such as fractions and decimals. We needed to try an "out of the box" approach to supporting their learning, and after becoming aware of other iPod projects in existence, we chose to move forward with our own pilot.
Our model consisted of the students w0rking with the iPods both in school and taking them home on a rotating basis for further remediation and acceleration. Kristi Johnson, the Literacy (Technology) Coach at the school, worked diligently to find and/or create media as well as associated activities for the iPods.
Unfortunately, we got a rather late start on the project, not beginning to use the iPods with the students until November. I wasn't sure how much using the iPods might help them given the fact that they would be tested in early April. Based on her observations, Kristi had told me how much the students enjoyed using them and that she had seen progress in their learning. Early benchmark tests also showed the students performing much better than they had in the past. The true test, however, would be the results from the CRCT.
I am very excited to report that 100% of the students passed the Math portion of the CRCT!! Last year, as 4th graders, only 20% of this same group passed. We haven't had a chance to dig into the data yet, but on the surface there appears to be a correlation between the iPod use and their achievement. We know that from August through the end of October the students did not use the iPods, so we're wondering how well they performed on content taught during that time versus content taught with iPod support. As soon as we have more data, I'll report back.
As for now, current budget restraints will most likely prevent us from expanding this project. However, we will continue to use the iPods with ELL students at this school next year. I, for one, am extremely excited about the test results for these kids who have struggled in the past! It's a great accomplishment for them, their teachers, and (hopefully) demonstrates how the effective use of technology can impact student achievement.
Image by Sagolla on Flickr
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
iPods Pilot Project with ELL Students - SUCCESS!!
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9 comments:
Is there a way to get a list of the apps or tools that you used?
Would love to hear more about what your students were doing with the ipods. Thanks!
@JAllen
I spearheaded this pilot project as far as getting it started, but the teacher who actually worked with the students is the one who can answer that question. I will see if she can provide me with a list of resources that she used to post in a follow up blog post or comment.
@Robin Heyden
I'll see if I can get the teacher who worked closely with these students to write something up.
Congrats; sounds like a great project. We're planning a similar project for high school algebra classes.
Glad you found me on friend feed. This project looks very interesting and very successful. I too would like to hear more details about the project. Congratulations to you and the students.
Congratulations! That is quite an improvement 20% to 100%. It sounds like the excitement of the IPOD program really got the students actively interested in learning.I am curious if you also noted an increase in motivation or enthusiasm in their regular classwork as well? It seems that children today are becoming increasingly bored with regular paper & pencil work. Especially with so much technology in their lives today. It seems that introducing a new "fun" way of practicing their math and vocab skills did wonders for your students! I would also think that the portability of the IPODs allows the students more opportunities to work on the programs because they can access them from basically anywhere, anytime.
New reader here.
It's wonderful to see people using technology to actually HELP students rather than to simply amuse them. As an educator I sometimes feel truly mystified by how to reach ELL students in a meaningful way. I hope to someday be able to use this technique in my classroom. Looking forward to hearing more details on this project as well!
This is very interesting! My daughter would love this I think, shes in 4th grade, also struggles with Math. Another useful tool that we have found is TenMarks (www.tenmarks.com) where she can practice her math online with videos/worksheets. She loves it.. Thanks for the interesting post!
Thanks for this useful information that you have been shared to us readers. I am looking forward for your next post! Good
luck for your next post
bba
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