The document describes a study that used iPod Touches to help middle school students improve their reading comprehension skills. Teachers provided students with iPods loaded with short stories and audio recordings of comprehension strategies. Students listened to the stories and strategies independently on the iPods. The study found that students who used the iPods with embedded comprehension instruction scored better on reading assessments compared to students who did not use the iPods. Students also reported that they found the iPods and embedded note-taking strategies helpful for remembering the stories. The document discusses recommendations for using this iPod-based approach to provide targeted reading intervention.

1. Using iPod Touches for Reading Comprehension NCCE conference March, 2011

2. Personal Background Special Education teacher Reading Specialist Middle School Language Arts

3. 2 Problems Never finished a story Asked, “What was the story about? Answer, “I don’t know.”

4. 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

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

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

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

8. 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

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

10. iPod Touch Socially acceptable Mobile Personal Individualized

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

12. Sample 155 6 th graders 6-8 grade middle school

13. 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

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

15. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

22. 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

23. Split Tracks in GarageBand

24. Export to iTunes

25. Add lyrics

26. Add lyrics

27. Adding Lyrics in iTunes

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

32. Benefits Portable Mobile Anytime – anywhere Student controlled Differentiated instruction

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