December 2006 — Technology Integration
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Customized Learning
The tool assigns every resource a readability measure based on several factors, including Lexile ratings. Using the search results, teachers can locate gradelevel content at one of five reading levels matched to a particular student’s abilities.
A Good Fit
At Richland, campus demographics and a surging enrollment intensify the need for differentiated instruction. Special needs students constitute more than 11.5 percent of the student population, and English Language Learners make up about 3.5 percent, with more than 35 native languages spoken. The district is adding more than 1,000 students to its rolls each year, so the sheer numbers of both groups are increasing. Richland has found netTrekker to be as useful for ELL students and struggling readers in building fluency and comprehension as it is with special needs kids.
“Each week, once I identify the concepts I plan to teach, I use netTrekker as my primary tool for researching and differentiating materials for my students,” says Sloan, who explains that her students access the tool through Blackboard, a web-based course management system. “I have assigned each child a readability level, so my students can enter the site through Blackboard and immediately know which resources are best for them. On any given week, I have as many as five various academic levels of students using it.”
This summer, the district started using the search tool’s new text-to-speech support, called Read Aloud. Students only have to highlight the sections of text they want to hear within the interface, on a search result, or on any definition provided by the Dictionary/Translation Hot Key. Then, the highlighted text is electronically read aloud.
It is critical that special needs students are not marginalized from their technology-savvy peers, and this audible functionality provides them with a way to participate comfortably alongside their classmates. So far, the district has used the text-to-speech feature to help reduce the strain of reading for those students who have vision impairments or learning disabilities, and for those who find it hard to concentrate for longer periods of time.
“Sometimes students not reading at grade level are hesitant to do the work because they feel they will be wrong or can’t do it,” Turner says, “and using the text-to-speech function helps them feel successful.”
Spencer Creech, a fourth-grader at Sandlapper Elementary School, explains that Read Aloud helps him learn what words mean and how to pronounce them. “Whenever someone reads something to me, I can relax and listen better,” Creech says. “And I think about what I’m learning instead of worrying about pronouncing words correctly and not paying attention.”
