Raz-Kids The University of Akron Ryan P. Flinn. Raz-Kids 1

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1 Raz-Kids The University of Akron Ryan P. Flinn Raz-Kids 1

2 Raz-Kids 2 I decided to implement Raz-Kids into my classroom this year. I have nine English Language Learner students in my classroom this year and they need to hear stories read to them in English at home. Raz-Kids is a website with electronic books that allow the students to log in and read and hear books. The stories are interactive and exciting and the text is highlighted as it is read to the students. Also, I am able to set the reading levels in the assignment section of the website. Now the students are hearing stories and reading stories on their level. A new function this year is Raz-Rocket, the students earn stars as they read stories and take quizzes. The students then take these stars they earn and buy things for their virtual room using the Raz-Rocket section of the website. This is highly motivating for my students. The stories are a lot better then other sites I have used in the past like Starfall and Tumblebooks. I had a few objectives for my students by using Raz-Kids. My students will be able to hear quality stories read in English at school and at home. My students would be motivated to read because of the incentives of Raz-Rocket. My students would not have to use another listening center because I could differentiate instruction and the students could work at their own pace. The last objective would be that student s reading levels would increase by using Raz-Kids and other guided reading lessons. My students use Raz-Kids twice a week during our center time. Each student gets fifteen minutes twice a week on Raz-Kids and they are able to access it anytime at home. I am able to track when my students log into Raz-Kids because there is a assessment section of the website and I also get a weekly telling me how many times the students log on.

3 Raz-Kids 3 This integration of technology met many standards. Here are a few of the NETS- S standards covered in this integration; Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity, Students develop positive attitudes toward technology uses that support lifelong learning, collaboration, personal pursuits, and productivity. Also this integration covers a few NETS-T standards; Design developmentally appropriate learning opportunities that apply technology-enhanced instructional strategies to support the diverse needs of learners, Facilitate technologyenhanced experiences that address content standards and student technology standards, Use technology resources to collect and analyze data, interpret results, and communicate findings to improve instructional practice and maximize student learning. Also, Raz- Kids meets many Ohio Standards for Reading; Hear and say the separate phonemes in words, such as identifying the initial consonant sound in a word, and blend phonemes to say words, Read one-syllable and often-heard words by sight, Reread stories independently or as a group, modeling patterns of changes in timing, voice and expression, Understand new words from the context of conversations or from the use of pictures within a text, Predict what will happen next, using pictures and content as a guide, Answer literal questions to demonstrate comprehension of orally read gradeappropriate texts, Use pictures and illustrations to aid comprehension, Recognize predictable patterns in stories.

4 Raz-Kids 4 Here is what worked with implementation of this technology. My students are excited to read books! Most students are reading books at home. My ELL students are hearing books in English. Only two of my ELL students are not accessing Raz-Kids at home. I have eliminated the use of a listening center. The students are successfully taking quizzes after reading or listening to the stories at their level. I still am not sure if Raz-Kids helps increase reading levels because I am still collecting data. It is very difficult to tell if Raz-Kids will increase reading levels because there are way too many factors. Some of the factors would include; help at home, readiness to read, guided reading lessons, but I know that my students are more motivated now to do all of these things. Some of the issues I had were as follows. I might have started using it before the students had enough reading strategies. Some students rush through the books to upgrade their rank and earn stars. Raz-Kids moves the students to the next level even if I did not assign the next level to them. My student s have a hard time with taking quizzes. I had to teach how to navigate the quiz portion of Raz-Kids. I needed to make enough time for the student s to use Raz-Rocket. I am still not sure if Raz-Kids helps improve my student s reading levels. Overall, my objectives were met so far by using Raz-Kids. This is a great technology to insert into my classroom and parents are excited about it at home. I will definitely use it again next year with a few changes but I feel like it is a vital part of learning during the week.

5 Raz-Kids 5 I was also able to give a presentation on Raz-Kids to my peers and I was able to share my findings with them. Another teacher wrote a grant and every Kindergarten teacher now has access to Raz-Kids. I am also very proud that I started implementing this into my classroom and we have adopted it school wide.