Phone a Friend

My mate Brian Cosby from Nevada recently posted about a very cool gadget for helping children with proof reading and reading aloud with fluency. With 32 lively children in my class the noise level often rises beyond acceptable levels and children need to be reminded to quieten down- especially as our new classroom is attached to the school reception area and everyone and their dog can hear us.Image

After reading Brian’s post I whipped out to the local hardware store clutching a photo of the laundry extensions from Brian’s blog. The chap at the hardware store was impressed with the weird things that teachers sometimes ask for.

The next day I gave the new ‘phones’ a try out in class. They were an instant hit- not only for their novelty value but how they helped children to hear what they had written as they read aloud. Using the ‘phone’ children were able to pick up mistakes they might have missed when proof reading on their own. Their voices dropped to an almost whisper as anything louder would shatter your eardrum.

I am giving it to readers as well as they re-read texts from guided reading lessons.

I now need to source a few more so that more children can use the technology.

9 thoughts on “Phone a Friend

  1. I read about that idea and thought it had great potential. I passed it on to a few other people, hoping someone would give it a go. I’ll just have to get my act together and try it out too.

  2. What a fantastic idea! I know what you mean about the noise levels, as my students are full of energy too. This looks like a great way to keep them aware of noise level & yet still get the job done! Thanks for sharing.

  3. I’ve seen this idea previously and always wanted to give it a go. Great to know it works. What is the technical name for the laundry extensions – or is that what they’re called? – Sorry I’m not very good at speaking ‘hardware’ unless it relates to a computer 🙂 My other question is how much would you be looking at per phone?

  4. Unfortunately I have no idea what the things really are- but I went to the plumbing section of Mitre 10 and showed the chappie Brian’s photo and he went away and we worked out something that looked like the picture.

    They cost me about $18 each but one of the kids reckons her Dad cold get something like it for much cheaper so I will follow it up.

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