Assistive Technologies for Reading

by Ted S. Hasselbring and Margaret E. Bausch

Article Assessment

Overview
Assistive technologies are described by the writers as a "lifeline" to students who have learning disabilities and struggle to read and understand grade-level material. Measures adopted in Kentucky schools to provide assistive technologies for students with learning disabilities are commended in the article. 95 percent of Kentucky's public schools have a site license for Read & Write Gold software that provides students with customized reading and writing support. Support such as text-to-speech features and word prediction "dramatically speed up the student's composition process." Teachers have found that "students with disabilities are far more likely to reread text passages several times for clarity" when using the software than when listening to a teacher read the same text aloud.

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The Overdominance of Computers

by Lowell Monke

Overview
Monke is concerned that computers have begun to dominate, rather than revolutionize, education. He warns educators that preparing children to wisely use technological tools does not necessitate early experimentation with these tools: "preparation does not necessarily warrant early participation." The writer of the article sees the importance of strengthening young peoples' inner resources such as "self-discipline, moral judgment and empathy" before allowing them to use potentially harmful technologies.

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My Digital Story

Literature is relevant because it resonates with our own lives. While reading Of Mice and Men in our language arts class I was reminded of my love for animals as a child and a paradoxical event from my childhood that parallels events in the novella. I narrate an internal and external personal conflict in my digital story.

I hope that my students personalize the literature they read by making personal connections with characters, themes, struggles and conflicts that they encounter. Creating this digital story was a means for me to make this essential connection explicit and to model digital storytelling for my students.

Here is the story map I created as a model and the rubric I designed so that my students can complete a similar project, and peer and self-evaluate their work.

Useful Internet Resources

Web English Teacher is a site that I find particularly helpful. I appreciate the wide variety of links it provides for themes, novels and literature commonly studied in high school.

There is a short description of what each site contains under each resource, which saves time while scrolling through a list of potential lesson plan material. The resources for professional development for teachers are aslo particularly helpful.

This guide for grammar and writing is very useful for activities at various stages of the writing process with great examples of student work.

This section of Discovery Education contains an interactive site map that provides various easily accessible and useful categories. A link on the site provides access to a variety of rubrics from many sources.