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Technology Innovation Grant 1 Running head: PHONEMIC AWARENESS TECHNOLOGY Phonemic Awareness Technology Jay Brown Technology Innovation Grant 2 Table of Contents 1. Abstract 3 2.
3. Narrative 6-7 4. Tables 8-9 5. References 10 6. Appendix A 11 7. Appendix B 12 8. Figures 13 Technology Innovation Grant 3 Abstract Educational researchers agree
that phonemic awareness is a very strong indicator of early reading success
among kindergarten and first grade students. Technology can play a role in
ensuring that every student is given phonemic awareness activities that are
both measured and adjusted according to individual progress. This technology
grant proposal is designed to address the phonemic awareness needs of every
child by providing the equipment, training, and assistance that teachers need
to make accurate assessments of student progress. The research contained in this proposal,
combined with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, and Technology Innovation Grant 4 In
accordance with No Child Left Behind law, and the Enhancing Education through
Technology Act of 2001, this proposal is intended to integrate technology
resources, teacher training, and curriculum standards for reading, writing,
speaking, and listening in the State of Phonemic awareness activities for children must cover a range of skills such as segmenting, blending, rhyming, identifying, and manipulating sounds from speech (Grogan, 2002). Researchers know that teaching pre-readers to blend separate phonemes and make the connection to letter sounds put children on the path to reading comprehension (Smith, 2003). Such activities involve at least 10-20 minutes of individualized instruction, which is hard to accomplish within the context of whole-class setting. A lack of customized phonemic awareness instruction may result in students entering 2nd grade having mastered only a few sight vocabulary words, and exhibiting below grade-level reading comprehension (Walker & Yellin, 2004). Technology Innovation Grant 5 Customized phonemic awareness instruction for every child can be accomplished with a coordinated program that includes computer hardware, software, teacher training, supervision, and routine maintenance (Grogan, 2002). Phonemic awareness technology should adapt to the level of each student, conform to state standards, and confidentially track student performance data (Grogan, 2002). The Report of the National Reading Panel found that vocabulary instruction is most effective when it is customized to the age and skill level of the student (Cognitive Concepts, 2002). The Earobics Literacy Launch program (Cognitive Concepts) uses software which automatically adjusts the degree of difficulty based on correct or incorrect answers, and has password protected access to tracking data for each student. Cognitive Concepts has available from their Web site correlations to Pennsylvania Reading, Writing, Speaking, & Listening Academic Standards, and the company has training programs available for teacher and staff development. Since research has indicated that teachers do not have a strong background in phonemic awareness instruction (Hempenstall, 1997), this proposal recommends comprehensive training offered by Cognitive Concepts as part of the Earobics Literacy Launch program. All homeroom teachers in kindergarten and first grade are considered to be key stakeholders who must be trained on the use of phonemic awareness technology. To ensure mission success the school technology coordinator must be available to support the training, computer hardware, and software installation, as well as conduct periodic inspection of equipment, and maintain confidential back-up files of student data from the Earobics software program. A five-year plan that fully describes mission elements appears in Table 1 on page 8, and a needs assessment with an overview of the mission and problem statement for this proposal is included as Figure 1 on page 13. Technology Innovation Grant 6 Narrative It is proposed that we give students systematic phonemic awareness instruction by using computer technology that is integrated into the curriculum by fully trained faculty and staff. The purchase of forty Earobics phonemic awareness software discs, twenty-nine new computers, twenty-nine headphones, and appropriate tables and chairs account for much of the initial cost of the proposal. Kindergarten students will use Earobics Step One software, and first grade students will use Earobics Step Two software. The thirty-five workstations will be setup in different places in the school building. Each kindergarten and first grade classroom will have two computers, three headphones, and three Earobics discs. The school’s two reading specialists will also have three computers, three headphones, and three Earobics discs. The school technology coordinator will have one computer, one headphone, and one Earobics disc, to be used for faculty, staff, and student training purposes. There will be ten additional computers, 10 headphones, and 10 Earobics Step One and Step Two discs which will be setup as a mini-lab for use by kindergarten and first grade students throughout the week. Homeroom teachers will assign groups of students from each class to work on Earobics activities in the mini-lab, as well as in the classroom and with the reading specialists. Initial training provided by a certified trainer from Cognitive Concepts is also included in the proposal. Associated costs can be found in Table 2 on page 9. The phonemic awareness technology grant will be evaluated by comparing detailed performance data from the software program, to other traditional forms of assessment that take place at the end of the school year. Kindergarten students will be assessed using the Houghton Mifflin Emerging Literacy Survey, and first grade students will be assessed using LinguiSystems Technology Innovation Grant 7 The Phonological Awareness Profile (Appendix A). The results of these assessment tools will allow the reading specialists to measure and evaluate the success of the grant by comparing the reading levels of first grade students who complete one year of Earobics instruction, to reading levels of first graders from previous years who did not receive Earobics instruction. Reading level comparisons can also be made to those students who receive Earobics instruction throughout kindergarten and first grade. In addition, the teachers, readings specialists, and the technology coordinator involved in the proposal will complete a written Technology Grant Reflection Survey (Appendix B) with the purpose of commenting on the success of the program. Evaluations, measurements, and comparisons from the reading specialists, together with the Technology Grant Reflection Surveys will be submitted to the grant proposal committee chair on an annual basis. The total cost of the Phonemic Awareness Technology grant proposal is $49,996. Projected over five years, the cost of the proposal is just under $10,000 per year. Technology Innovation Grant 8 Tables Table 1 Five Year Plan for Hardware, Software, Maintenance, Training, and
Evaluation
Technology Innovation Grant 9 Table 2 Associated Cost
Technology Innovation Grant 10 References Blevins, W. (1999). Playing with sounds: Successful reading and
spelling begin with phonemic awareness. Retrieved http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonpro/lessonplans/instructor/playsounds.htm Cognitive Concepts (2002). Reading first: The National Reading Panel findings and Earobics. Retrieved Grogan, D. (2002). Phonemic awareness: Technology lends a hand. Principal, 81, 62-64. Hempenstall, K. (1997). The role of phonemic awareness in beginning reading: A review. Behavior Change, 14, 201-214. Pennsylvania Department of Education (2005). Academic standards for reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Retrieved Robertson, C. & Salter, W.
(1995). The phonological awareness
profile. Author. Smith, C. B. (2003). Phonological
awareness. Research project. Document Reproduction No. ED 99 CO 0028). Smith, M., lesson. The Yopp, H. K., & Yopp, R. H. (2000). Supporting phonemic awareness development in the classroom. The Technology Innovation Grant 11 Appendix A The Houghton
Mifflin Emerging Literacy Survey, and LinguiSystems The
Phonological Awareness Profile use
test forms administered by certified reading specialists for pretest and
posttest evaluations. Tests measure sound awareness, oral language, reading,
and early writing skills through a series of activities such as rhyming,
segmentation, isolation, deletion, substitution, blending, graphemes, and
decoding. Phonemic Awareness Technology 12 Appendix B Table 2 Technology Grant Reflection Survey
Technology Innovation Grant 13 Figures Figure 1 Needs Assessment
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