Week of February 29th- March 4th
Since a lot of schools and districts push on the
importance of phonological awareness, phonics, spelling, and vocabulary as a
major component of reading, I wanted to incorporate an app that focused on
them. I found the award-winning app called Vocabulary SpellingCity. When
looking at the app, I liked what I saw. Vocabulary SpellingCity provides
spelling, vocabulary, writing, and language arts activities for K-12
cross-curricular word study. According to their website, “Our primary focus is
now on vocabulary, especially the meaning of words used in specific contexts.
We offer seven vocabulary games and activities, plus two writing activities, in
which students can demonstrate their mastery of the meaning of words by using
them in context, writing their own sentences and paragraphs. Our activities to
build phonological awareness and phonics skills use a patent-pending technology
developed by Vocabulary SpellingCity. These games let students see and hear
words sounded out, spelled, and used in a sentence.” Looking through the app, I
liked the games and activities that were offered for the students for their
spelling and vocabulary words.
Overall, I thought this app was going to be a great
addition to our classroom. I used this app during I & E time (interventions
and enrichment). I decided to have students get on this app every morning for
about ten to fifteen minutes to participate in an activity that quizzed them on
their vocabulary/spelling words for the week. Students who struggle with their
spelling and vocabulary test had to go on the app every morning throughout the
week. My other students, who do well with vocabulary or spelling tests had to
go on the app only three times that week. I set a routine for each of them and
by Tuesday they knew how to get on the app and which activities they could pick
to complete. Every morning the students seemed excited to get on the app and
work for a little bit of time, so my data collection came to a surprise to me.
The students did not like this app at all. In my
honest opinion, I think most of my students are too high to see the benefits of
the app. I talked to my students to better understand why they did not like
this app. The higher students told me that it was way too easy and they wanted
to be able to read more instead of practice their spelling and vocabulary. (To
me that was great news! It has been my goal to help shape them into lifelong
readers!) But my students who are lower and struggle with vocabulary and
spelling seemed to think that this app was okay. They thought it would be fun
to do on their iPad or computer at home. One of my students told me that his
mom lets him do the spelling quiz every night during the week before Friday and
he received an 80 on his spelling test compared to his normal grade of a 30 or
40. My students gave this app an overall score of 1.77. Obviously, my students
were not really a fan of the app. When the students were asked if this app made
them feel like better readers, two said yes and twenty said no. The average
score for question three: 1.68, which asked them if the app made them more
motivated to read, gave me the overwhelming sense that it did not. The students
also did not give this app a high average rating for question four (1.59) that asked
them if it helped them to see themselves as better readers. Lastly, when asked if
they would use the app again, one student said yes and the rest said no. I was
actually really disappointed with these results considering that it is an award
winning app.
The biggest positive that I saw from that app was
talking to my one student who really seemed to benefit from using the app. I
think the app gave him the confidence booster he needed to do better on his
spelling test. I even wrote an email to his mother so she can see what made the
difference in his spelling scores, because we have been struggling to find something
to help him all year long. The app and website has a lot of cool features and
activities that you can choose from to help you expand your vocabulary and
practice your spelling skills. I love how the app uses words from different
subjects. For example, on the app you can choose to practice words about
geometry, space, U.S states, etc. I think this would be a great app to use with
English Language Learners- especially if you are going to be talking about any
of the topics on the app and using those academic words that they might not be familiar
with. Also, the activities on the app are helpful. They all can help with
increasing vocabulary and spelling skills.
There were a few negatives that I saw with this app,
besides that it did not go over so well with my students. First on the app, you
can only choose from a list of words which in my eyes was the biggest negative.
But on the website, you can type in the words you want to use! So when I implemented
this app in my classroom, some days the students would use the app on the iPad
and other times they would go on the website through the iPad. I wanted them to
be able to practice their words for their spelling test on Friday which is why
I made them do that. Another negative that I saw the more that I used this app
was that in a way I can see how my students thought it was “babyish.” For my
higher students who do not struggle with spelling or vocabulary, they did not
like how the app read the sentences and found the activities to be boring. The
app is supposed to be used for students K-12 and I think it is more age
appropriate for students under fourth grade.
The best part of implementing this app is that I found
something to help one of my students who has been struggling with his spelling
and vocabulary all year long. This app has given him a new boost of confidence
that will hopefully help him to continue to be successful with his spelling and
vocabulary tests. I’ve decided that he will be on this app during I & E
time for the next couple of weeks and I want to continue to monitor his spelling
and vocabulary scores to see if this app continues to make a difference. If
this app can help this student, then by all means, implementing this app in my
classroom was one of the best things that could have happened!
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