Today's tech toy is one your kids would literally love to get their hands on. It's the Easi-Speak Microphone from my friends at Learning Resources!
Source: Learning Resources
Just like the HearAll Assessment recorder from last week's giveaway, there are no batteries required and you can easily transfer recorded data to your computer for data collection or to share with other teachers or parents.
The difference with the Easi-Speak, is that this one is designed to be used by the kids. The minute they see it, they'll know just what to do with it. They instinctively want to pick it up and talk into it! It doesn't actually project their voice as a real microphone would, but rather records their voice.
Source: Learning Resources
It's a very sturdy, child-size, child-centered piece of equipment. I'm sure you can already think of the great ways this could be put to use in your classroom. Imagine giving this to your reluctant readers. I bet they'll be very motivated to read all of a sudden with an Easi-Speak in their hands! It can be hard to explain to a child what fluency "sounds like", but when they can hear their own voice immediately after reading a passage, it becomes very clear to them. You can keep recordings over time to share and celebrate their progress.
In my class, we're starting a reader's theater adaptation of A Bad Case of Stripes (which I found here for free). Today I had two students practicing together using the Easi-Speak. It was great for them to play it back and hear if the inflection and emotion they were trying to practice was coming through in their reading. Interestingly one of my girls was over-enunciating and adding a bit too much inflection and the other little one was speaking so quickly she was hard to understand. They had a ball recording their parts and playing them over and over until they decided they liked the way it sounded. I was wishing I had about five of these for all of the groups to practice with at once! This is such a cool little tool to have and I'm sure it will be in heavy rotation in my room.
The Easi-Speak sells for $69.99, but thanks to Learning Resources, you have a chance to win one for free! Enter through the Rafflecopter gadget below (if you don't see it, be sure to click read more)
For every task you choose to complete, you get one additional entry. So enter once or as many times as you wish. Good luck, my friends!
I would use it in my small groups/MTSS. I would use it for fluency. I would love for the kiddos to be able to hear themselves read. sarahmarianj at gmail dot com
I just found a spelling game on Pinterest. It is a game where they roll a dice and spell the words in different voices...grumpy teacher voice, whisper, etc...they would love to record their voices!
I would love to use this for students to read a favorite book and let others listen to it. I would also like to play it back so that they can hear their fluency, and help them improve on fluency.
This is what I eed for my ELL kiddos! This is a great tool to give them confidence. I would loe to have one of these so that my struggling readers could hear themselves too. Thanks for giving us a chance to win!
There are so many different ways we could use this! Students could absolutely work on building fluency, they could also use it for readers theater. We could build our collection of books that we can use for listening to reading as it could be recorded and then stored on the computer. Students could also record a presentation and then insert the recording into a powerpoint presentation, etc. =)
I would absolutely use this in small groups for fluency practice and for reinforcement with my Tier 3 reading group. Considering writing a grant for a set of these for next year. What a great tool!!!
I would love this for my students to practice fluency, specifically one student who can read like the wind (word call) but has no "real" fluency and as a result no comprehension. She would love this and I really think it would make a difference to her and many of my other students!
This would be a great tool to help my kids with their fluency. I teach high school special Ed., and I could definitely see my kiddos wanting to use this. Great giveaway!
This is a really neat tool! I think it would be a fun way for students to use in our reading center. Sometimes we use a tape recorder to record their reading but this would be so a lot more fun!
This would be great during centers for students to practice fluency. Just like you, when I tell a student to add more expression, it sometimes gets silly, while other kiddos read as fast as lightning. I could see this being a real benefit to my readers.
I used to have a more primitive version and I loved it. This one looks so much nicer. I can see how that would be the go to item in partner reading and groups. Jill bubbalulu.blogspot.com Tales from Second
What a great tool indeed! I am not sure which one I would like more - the Easi-Speak or the Hear All. I just started a poetry memorization and performance with my second graders, and would love to have this as a tool to record and save their performances. I have tapes of myself when I was a student and it is really neat to hear.
This would be an awesome resource to have in my second grade classroom - especially with my reluctant readers! It would be great for them to hear themselves and to practice fluency.
This tool would be an innovative approach in my classroom and would also benifit my students in Summer School. This is an awesome classroom tool! Cathy B.
Love the idea about being able to show kids what 'fluency' is. Look like a fun toy...ah I mean, motivational tool for the classroom. Brooke brookeychook@hotmail.com
I would love to be able to use the Easi-Speak to record the children reading. Right now I am using my iPod so that I can show them how their voice sounds when reading aloud. It really is amazing how they don't believe me when I say they need to work on their fluency UNTIL I pull out my iPod and they actually hear themself! I'd love to have something that they could use independently!
I could see so many uses for this tool in my classroom. First, I would could see recording a reading sample of each child at the beginning of the year and then another mid-year, and one at the end so I could show the students and parents at conferences how much their fluency has progressed over the course of the year. I could also see this being used at spelling to practice the weekly words. It could also be used with a "Read the Room" or word wall center. I think it would also be fun to have it at the poetry center so each child could practice their fluency recording themselves reading the weekly poem and hearing it play back. What a great motivator!!
OMG, I would love to use this! It's a great oral language activity. I would have the students read into it and play back so that they could do a fluency check. I would also use it to share with parents on my class blog... like sharing all the wonderful ideas they come up, they way they explain things... I would also use it to record a message for Mother's Day that I could later burn onto CD as send home as a keepsake gift! Wow, the ideas really are ENDLESS!!! :)
I would have my students read the stories they write each week. I would also have them tell about their science projects and social studies work. They also do monthly book reports, so they would tell us about their book reports. Since oral language is now a grade for their report cards, this would a great and fun way to record grades in that area. It would be a useful tool at parent conferences to point out positives and negatives on their reading skills.
I want this desperately! After seeing on a couple blogs, I told our tech teacher about it & she is trying to order one for the school with A/V money. It will be very motivating for my reluctant readers.
Posts
This would be great for the students to hear themselves when they read! I love it! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeletebcallahan@usd259.net
I would use it in my small groups/MTSS. I would use it for fluency. I would love for the kiddos to be able to hear themselves read.
ReplyDeletesarahmarianj at gmail dot com
This is great! Totally would work for fluency!
ReplyDeleteJennifer
laughinbrunette@hotmail.com
First Grade Blue SKies
I would use this to have kids record their voices during discussions so we could go back and reflect on them. Also, great for fluency!
ReplyDeleteJenny
jenblair06@gmail.com
http://happyliteracy.blogspot.com/
Would love to use this for my fluency station.
ReplyDeletecaroline
brantcc@bay.k12.fl.us
I would love to let my students practice their fluency and be able to hear themselves!
ReplyDeleteI would love to let students practice fluency, also. Maybe recording themselves reading final copies of stories, reports, too...how fun!
ReplyDeleteI just found a spelling game on Pinterest. It is a game where they roll a dice and spell the words in different voices...grumpy teacher voice, whisper, etc...they would love to record their voices!
ReplyDeleteI would love to use this for students to read a favorite book and let others listen to it. I would also like to play it back so that they can hear their fluency, and help them improve on fluency.
ReplyDeleteI would use it to have students narrate wordless picture books.
ReplyDelete❤ Karen
Flamingo Fabulous in Second Grade
This is what I eed for my ELL kiddos! This is a great tool to give them confidence. I would loe to have one of these so that my struggling readers could hear themselves too. Thanks for giving us a chance to win!
ReplyDeleteThere are so many different ways we could use this! Students could absolutely work on building fluency, they could also use it for readers theater. We could build our collection of books that we can use for listening to reading as it could be recorded and then stored on the computer. Students could also record a presentation and then insert the recording into a powerpoint presentation, etc. =)
ReplyDeleteI would love to use this as a fluency practice tool. I am also having a giveaway. Check it out!
ReplyDeleteAshley
Live2Learn
I love the idea of using this for reluctant readers! tigermagic@Bellsouth.net
ReplyDeleteBrian
http://hopkinshoppinblog.blogspot.com/
I would absolutely use this in small groups for fluency practice and for reinforcement with my Tier 3 reading group. Considering writing a grant for a set of these for next year. What a great tool!!!
ReplyDeleteI would love this for my students to practice fluency, specifically one student who can read like the wind (word call) but has no "real" fluency and as a result no comprehension. She would love this and I really think it would make a difference to her and many of my other students!
ReplyDeleteKideducator@comcast.net
What a wonderful tool to help motivate reluctant readers! I would love to have some of these in my class.
ReplyDeletedebbie.hurst@birdvillschools.net
This would be so fantastic to have those students who are readers but lack fluency to hear themselves read.
ReplyDeleteI am follower of your blog!
ReplyDeleteMindy
mwells@ourwayschool.com
I would use this DAILY with my intervention group to improve their reading fluency.... :)
ReplyDeleteHow very cool! I definitely want one of these!
ReplyDeleteSally from ElementaryMatters
This would be a great tool to help my kids with their fluency. I teach high school special Ed., and I could definitely see my kiddos wanting to use this. Great giveaway!
ReplyDeleteThis is a really neat tool! I think it would be a fun way for students to use in our reading center. Sometimes we use a tape recorder to record their reading but this would be so a lot more fun!
ReplyDeleteLove this!!I would definitely use this to build fluency!!
ReplyDeleteLisa
fsuteach81@yahoo.com
This would be great for my read to self time. I wish I could hear my kids read independently more.
ReplyDeleteDeb H
pdhospodka@cox.net
I can just picture them using this during Daily 5!
ReplyDelete❀Beth Ann❀
Taming My Flock of Firsties
bakteach16@gmail.com
This would be great during centers for students to practice fluency. Just like you, when I tell a student to add more expression, it sometimes gets silly, while other kiddos read as fast as lightning. I could see this being a real benefit to my readers.
ReplyDeleteI used to have a more primitive version and I loved it. This one looks so much nicer. I can see how that would be the go to item in partner reading and groups.
ReplyDeleteJill bubbalulu.blogspot.com Tales from Second
What a great tool! I have a student who is very soft spoken and hard to hear....this would be great for her!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great tool indeed! I am not sure which one I would like more - the Easi-Speak or the Hear All. I just started a poetry memorization and performance with my second graders, and would love to have this as a tool to record and save their performances. I have tapes of myself when I was a student and it is really neat to hear.
ReplyDeleteThis would be an awesome resource to have in my second grade classroom - especially with my reluctant readers! It would be great for them to hear themselves and to practice fluency.
ReplyDeletesbeltram@wiu.k12.pa.us
This is FANTASTIC!! I would use this to record fluency and to help students be able to hear their own reading!
ReplyDeleteJennifer
jenniferlalsip(at)yahoo(dot)com
The First Grade Dream
This is so cool! It would be great for interviews!
ReplyDeleteThis tool would be an innovative approach in my classroom and would also benifit my students in Summer School. This is an awesome classroom tool!
ReplyDeleteCathy B.
Kids would be so motivated by this. I love that they can easily playback the recording.
ReplyDeleteLove the idea about being able to show kids what 'fluency' is. Look like a fun toy...ah I mean, motivational tool for the classroom.
ReplyDeleteBrooke
brookeychook@hotmail.com
I would love to be able to use the Easi-Speak to record the children reading. Right now I am using my iPod so that I can show them how their voice sounds when reading aloud. It really is amazing how they don't believe me when I say they need to work on their fluency UNTIL I pull out my iPod and they actually hear themself! I'd love to have something that they could use independently!
ReplyDeleteI could see so many uses for this tool in my classroom. First, I would could see recording a reading sample of each child at the beginning of the year and then another mid-year, and one at the end so I could show the students and parents at conferences how much their fluency has progressed over the course of the year. I could also see this being used at spelling to practice the weekly words. It could also be used with a "Read the Room" or word wall center. I think it would also be fun to have it at the poetry center so each child could practice their fluency recording themselves reading the weekly poem and hearing it play back. What a great motivator!!
ReplyDeleteOMG, I would love to use this! It's a great oral language activity. I would have the students read into it and play back so that they could do a fluency check. I would also use it to share with parents on my class blog... like sharing all the wonderful ideas they come up, they way they explain things... I would also use it to record a message for Mother's Day that I could later burn onto CD as send home as a keepsake gift! Wow, the ideas really are ENDLESS!!! :)
ReplyDeleteI would use it to record the children reciting nursery rhymes for assessments/portfolios.
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome tool...cheaper than an iPod Touch, which I am using right now
ReplyDeletethiessen_robyn@sd36.bc.ca
This is awesome! I've always wanted to record my students but needed an easy way to do it! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteKris
I would have my students read the stories they write each week. I would also have them tell about their science projects and social studies work. They also do monthly book reports, so they would tell us about their book reports. Since oral language is now a grade for their report cards, this would a great and fun way to record grades in that area. It would be a useful tool at parent conferences to point out positives and negatives on their reading skills.
ReplyDeleteI want this desperately! After seeing on a couple blogs, I told our tech teacher about it & she is trying to order one for the school with A/V money. It will be very motivating for my reluctant readers.
ReplyDelete