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Reading Pen II

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I am Kim Miller, a special education teacher at Price Laboratory School, located at the University of Northern Iowa. I work with grades K-6, and 70% of my day is co-teaching in the regular classrooms. I have used the Reading Pen II for two years. You can see how I used the Pen on a web site (www.intime.uni.edu) that showcases videos of teachers using technology in the classroom. The following is a description of the Reading Pen II, how I¡¯ve used it, and research that I will be conducting on it. Word identification and vocabulary development are the two main ways I use the Pen. It is a portable assistive reading technology that quickly scans words and reads them aloud. It has the entire dictionary in a device a little bigger than a pen and reads the definitions to you. Headphones and a volume control are also included as well as versatility for left handed learners. This is assistive technology that all students with reading difficulties need. No longer do they need to skip unknown words or spend so much time figuring out words, which ultimately impedes their comprehension. They can get immediate feedback with the Reading Pen II. This is cutting edge for a whole new world of technology.Students identified with special reading needs use the Reading Pen II when they are silent reading in the regular classroom. When they come across an unknown word, they scan it and hear it read to them. These students also use the Reading Pen II when they are taking tests, so they can read all of the test questions. This creates more independence for the students. I also use the Reading Pen II in the regular classroom for vocabulary development. After I teach a lesson on identifying the meaning of self- selected vocabulary words, students use the Reading Pen II to find definitions of words in their own reading books. They create a list of words and their definitions and eventually teach these to the class. Students are always highly motivated to use the Reading Pen II. Technology always creates interest -more than the dictionary could ever hope for!I will be conducting two research studies over the Reading Pen II with Dr. Don Schmits, Educational Psychologist at Price Laboratory School. First, we will look at the degree of accuracy that students can use the Reading Pen II. We will have an identified number of students in grades 4-6 scan the same five words on a page of text. We will document their degree of accuracy in correctly scanning the words. Exactly how many times will it take them to scan the words correctly? We will examine the differences by grade level and other factors such as special needs. Secondly, an ABA study will be utilized to compare the students's reading accuracy without and with the Pen. Individual reading passages will be selected for students' instructional grade level in oral reading accuracy according to the Qualitative Reading Inventory II (Leslie, L., and Caldwell, J. 1995. New York: HarperCollins College Publishers). Initially on day one, the students will silently read their passages without the Reading Pen II. Then the students will be asked to read the passage aloud. Running records of their reading accuracy will be collected and analyzed. The following day (day two), the students will reread the same passage orally to identify their retention rate. Running records of their reading accuracy will be collected and analyzed. On day three, the students will be able to use the Reading Pen II to identify unknown words when they silently read a new passage at their instructional grade level. The words scanned will be recorded. Then the students will be asked to read the passage aloud. Running records of their reading accuracy will be collected and analyzed for the words they scanned using the Reading Pen II. The following day (day four), they will be rereading the same passage orally to identify their retention rate. Running records of their reading accuracy will be collected and analyzed. On day five which will be the next week, the students will be repeating what they did on day one and two. Finally, the students will be interviewed in regards to their feelings about the Pen. Affective gains will be outlined. You can contact me at kim.miller@uni.edu to be included in the study or to see the results.