Case Study 8: Dundee
School Background
Case Study 8 is from a mainstream primary school for pupils aged 4-11 years. The school population is 292 pupils. A relatively low number of pupils are eligible for free school meals.
How have the materials been used in school?
The books were used in school by the support for learning teacher. Reading sessions were carried out with 2 pupils on a 1:1 basis. One pupil was 11 years old and the other was 9 years old, both were boys. One pupil was described as a reluctant reader and the other pupil had dyslexia.
The software was also trialled with the pupils.
What did the school think of the reading books?
The reading books were viewed positively by the school,
'they are short and very attractive'.
The teacher valued the non-condescending approach of the books and thought they were very modern and up to date materials.
The Tricky Words section was considered to be a good idea, particularly because the words were listed in the reading books themselves and not just in supplementary teacher materials.
The teacher also thought the Quiz was a good idea and liked the fact that it was called a 'Quiz' rather than comprehension.
The cartoon characters were considered useful for younger children and the way the books were split in to two texts made them more manageable, in that pupils could always get to the end of a story.
The subjects of the books were also viewed positively,
'the books use a lot of animals which was very good too, it encouraged the children to want to read'.
What did the school think of the software?
The headteacher installed the software in school and the Support for Learning Teacher found it easy to use despite the fact she was not an expert in ICT. The Read to Me option was liked by the teacher who used the materials and the pupils enjoyed using the voice recognition software. On the whole, it was felt the software was easy to use and many of the options were motivational for pupils.
What do the pupils think?
The teacher said the materials had worked very well with the pupils and said both the pupils would have given the books a 'thumbs up', 'they loved it'. They particularly liked the non-fiction sections. The teacher also said how much the children had liked the jokes.
Pupils had also used the software and the teacher found that,
'the children loved using the software – especially the headphones and being able to record their voices. Children respond so much faster to their own voices'.
'The content of the books kept the children motivated and the software made them really keen to get the headphones on and let them work on their own. I could anticipate that the children could even work in class with this'.
Overall
The teacher and pupils enjoyed using the materials and felt they were,
'addressing a need for these struggling readers'.
They would like to use the materials in the future and would recommend to other colleagues, particularly support teachers.
'There are big gaps in the market for good books for struggling readers and this could be the filler'.
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