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 In a busy classroom, with a diverse range of needs and skills, technology can help us give the very best assistance to our students. This week, I've got some tools to assist you with students that are struggling or reluctant readers.
Reading Rockets
This site is a great place to start. It comes from PBS and is funded by a major grant from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs. It's chock-full of so many great resources for literacy instruction that you'll need plenty of time to take it all in. A few choice sections are: the Video and Podcast page," Blogs about Reading," and Author/Illustrator Interviews. The section that I'm highlighting in this article is the "Strategies to Help Kids Who Struggle with Reading." There are plenty of great articles to get support from, broken into the key areas, such as: Questions and Answers About Reading and Learning Disabilities, Learn Why Some Kids Struggle with Reading, Target the Problem, Assessment Process, and Self-Esteem and Self-Advocacy for what students can do to help themselves. Another great resource to check out is this downloadable manual called "Essential Reading Strategies for the Struggling Reader" from the University of Texas at Austin.
Read the Words
Put your own books (or any writing) on "tape!" At this FREE site, you can either type text directly on the site (up to 80,000 characters), upload a Microsoft Word document or a PDF, or even enter a Web site address or an RSS feed, and Read the Words will turn it into audio. This audio can then be played on the site, embedded in a blog post, downloaded and played right on the computer, or loaded on an iPod. Imagine the many uses of this. You can give struggling readers an audio to accompany any text or web page. Load up audio on an iPod for them to take home to practice with. You could even upload student writing to check for errors; they can hear their story read back to them. Upload your entire classes' writing to quickly make an audio for a podcast. There are many voices to choose from and you can speed up or slow down the reading. Providing an audio to accompany text can improve comprehension for all students and help struggling readers to read independently. Check out an alternative site called Yakittome.
What Should I Read Next?
Trying to find that perfect book that will "hook" the reluctant reader can be akin to the search for the Holy Grail, but teachers know it is paramount for many young readers. We've all seen students who finally "crossed over" to a love for literature because of one book or author that finally spoke to them. I am forever indebted to J.K. Rowling for doing exactly that with many of my past students. The site, "What Should I Read Next?" is perfect for keeping that flame burning when a student comes to you, after finishing a book they fell in love with, to ask, "Do you have anything else like this?" Simply enter an author or title into the site and it will come back with a list of similar reads. If you register for the site, you'll not only get more suggestions, but you can save your favorite books. Also, you'll be helping to build the database of recommendations. Once registered, you can save comments for the books (have the students do it!) and even subscribe to ongoing searches that will be emailed to you. AudibleKids
Audible.com has recently started an offshoot site geared solely to children: AudibleKids. With over 4,000 titles from over 75 publishers there's plenty to choose from. Students can listen to books on any computer. When parents want to donate to the classroom ask them to buy gift certificates to AudibleKids. Around the holidays, elementary teachers' desks are usually buried with gifts from students and families, no matter how many requests go home to not do this; students feel good giving and parents like to say "thank you." Let them know they can do this by helping to build the audio library through AudibleKids. Load up on books from the "99 Cent Specials" section.
I hope these tools give you some ideas that will assist both your comfortable and struggling readers; keep them excited about reading while reading the hard-copy, or load up the portable iPods and send them home.  Bob Sprankle has been a multi-age teacher in Wells, ME for 10 years and has served as the school's Technology Integrator for the past two years.
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