Help Aesop on His Quest While Bettering Your Comprehension!

Background knowledge needed to know: I am a fourth grade teacher in the Alum Rock School District in San Jose, CA. I am part of a pilot initiative that equipped my classroom with iPod Touches for every student in my class. It is on me to upload and review applications for my students. Although the iPods were originally placed in the classrooms to improve fluency, they have been creating an extreme amount of success in every subject!

Aesop’s Quest is an educational game made for iPods that increases students’ reading comprehension. This game (along with many others) is created by New River Community College Games (NRCC Games), and was made possible with a technology competitive grant from the Virginia Department of Education. This app for the iPod is one of the many apps that are free to download, but only one of the few apps geared towards reading comprehension.

Aesop’s Quest (AQ) quickly grabs the students’ attention because each of the stories are read to the students. With a class of many struggling readers, this is one of the quickest ways to grab and sustain their attention. They no longer have to feel like they are struggling, and no one has to hear them read. Not only does it read to them, after each portion of the story students are prompted to ask comprehension stories and do an activity. The students really pay attention during the story because they really want to answer the questions correctly, in order to get to the activity (you can’t get to the game unless you answer the questions correctly). Not only that but the stories are cute, entertaining, and present a moral or lesson at the end!

While playing AQ students are reading real fables, and answering comprehension questions that adhere to teaching standards of each grade level. This allows students to see the relevance of why they are learning certain standards in class for comprehension, and help them prepare for the state test by playing a fun game!

I can’t say more about the confidence AQ gives to my students. One of the best parts of AQ is that kids are not called out because they can’t pronounce words correct, answer questions quick enough, or not answering questions correctly. AQ allows students to answer questions over and over again until they can correctly identify the appropriate answer. The activity allows them to show, in another way, how much they have learned about the story. Not every student has an easy time to answering multiple choice comprehension questions. AQ allows students the opportunity to answer questions through their actions rather than words.

AQ allows students to have the satisfaction of moving through the levels. Students may not advance to the next story, questions, or activities until they have correctly answered questions and completed the activity of the current level. As they move through the levels, they gain the satisfaction of the stories, questions, and activities becoming more difficult. Although you may think students may give up at this point, AQ actually challenges kids to get farther than their classmates and show how much they know.

If anyone else has the ability to use this application in their classroom or with their youngsters on their iPhones, I highly recommend this app!