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High school tries a new way of teaching

Test scores improve for some students using MP3 players in class.

Sarah Newell Williamson | Hickory Daily Record

Gary Towery, CTE curriculum coordinator at Newton-Conover High School, loads a test onto an MP3 player for a student.

By Sarah Newell Williamson | Hickory Daily Record

Published: November 7, 2009

NEWTON - Some teachers at Newton-Conover High School have let students use MP3 players in class for the past two months.

The students aren't watching videos or listening to movies on the devices. They're using the MP3 players to help them in their career and technical education (CTE) classes.

"We have students who need tests or assignments read aloud," said Gary Towery, CTE curriculum coordinator at the school. "We don't want them to feel ashamed or have attention drawn to them."

These students, who through school evaluations were determined to have a reading or other learning disability, are allowed to use the MP3 players, Towery said. The CTE department bought the 30 4GB Coby players for $30 each, he said. The students have been using them since early September.

"I read the questions into the computer, and each question a student reads can be played over and over again," he said. "We use it for all the tests, quizzes and midterms."

Towery said he's watched one student repeat a question 12 times until she was certain she understood it.

"I know she wouldn't have asked me to read the question aloud to her again," he said.

Towery reads the tests for each CTE class. It takes him about 40 minutes to read a 100-question test.

He said it's worth his time if the students understand the content.

"I was hired to help with the curriculum. The test scores are improving. But the higher test scores are just a bonus," Towery said. "Helping the students is the main thing. It's important the students have every opportunity to succeed."

Brenda Wilson is the food and nutrition instructor at Newton-Conover High School. Three students in her Foods I class use the MP3 players. All of their scores have gone up.

"Their grades are better because they can go back and read the questions again," she said.

A freshman in Wilson's class who uses the MP3 players said he has taken tests with the device and without it. His tests improve by as much as 20 points when he uses the MP3 player. He said he thought it would be helpful in his other classes, as well, because he wouldn't have to ask the teacher to repeat the instructions.

Newton-Conover High School has already been given clearance by the state for students to use the MP3 players on their final exams. Towery said there is a way to prove he will not be feeding students answers on the devices.

"Reading the instructions, the questions and all the multiple choice answers aloud on the MP3 player is actually better than doing it face-to-face to the student because I'm reading in a monotone voice," he said. "It takes away the chance of reading aloud to a student and making a noise or unconsciously making a facial expression when the student marks the wrong answer. And all the files are saved on the computer and people can go back and listen to them."

For the VOCAT exam, the file will be kept on the computer for the week of the test, as well as the following week — ample time to answer any questions about cheating that may arise, since the tests are scanned and scored at the school, with the results usually tallied an hour after the students take them, Towery said.

Only one test is recorded onto an MP3 player at a time, so students don't have access to multiple tests. Teachers usually give their information to Towery a week before the test so he can read it, Wilson said.

Towery puts the MP3 player into a baggie and gives it to the teacher a day or two before the test. It's passed out to students when they get their test, he said. After the test, they put the MP3 player back in the baggie and hand it back to their teacher with their test. It's then returned to Towery, the test is removed from the MP3 player and the player and headphones are wiped down with an alcohol wipe.

"I've been very pleased with this," Wilson said. "A lot of times, a student may not understand something, and they don't want to ask for it to be re-read. With this, they can work at their own pace with no distractions."

The MP3 players have another use, as well.

"You can record video presentations with it, so if a student misses a class, they can watch the presentation on the MP3 player," Towery said. "We can't keep teaching the way we did 20 years ago. We have to teach to meet the students' needs."