Improving fluency and phrasing using iPad apps

So, my teacher inquiry was focussed on reading and I focussed on raising student achievement in fluency and phrasing. I noticed that most of the children were decoding well and they had a good knowledge of basic words and alphabet sounds so I had a look what tools I could use. Well, the first thing we did was, I used the app on the iPad – the Quick Voice app – which is just purely a recording so they can listen to their voices. I modelled first and they all had a turn reading a little bit from their book, The little white hen.  We all gave each other feedback in the group and, you know, what went well. Did their reading sound like talking? How could we have done it better? When we’d done that a few times and I sent them off in pairs and they had a turn doing it each, I decided to sort of move on and be a little bit more creative and showed them Puppet Pals and we chose a big book that we were reading. We took photos of the characters in the book and we made those into the puppets. And, they all had a part to read and we put it together on the Puppet Pals onto like a little movie. And then, they had to sort of assess themselves, and then they got to share it with the class. I’ve noticed a lot of changes since I have introduced the tools for the learning intention of using expression and fluency. So they’re getting really good at that now. They’re taking their finger away and they're getting a lot more fluency, you know reading at a good pace, which wasn’t there before. It’s changed my practice in a way that I’m looking more at the individual child, and I’m looking more at individual interests of children, and that’s guiding my planning. So it’s definitely student-led. The children are learning in a collaborative way. They’re talking a lot more, they’ve got those conversations going with each other and this is helping the oral language. I feel using the different apps on the iPad has given children a lot more room for creativity to share with other children in the class. I’m looking at how they can share their creation, what they’ve done with their families at home. So, maybe putting their creations online or on a blog, so I’m hoping to do that.