Reading specialist Anne Bonington has searched for just the right software for pupils at Westorchard Elementary School, particularly the 4th and 5th graders working to build their fluency and comprehension skills.
Teachers at the Chappaqua, N.Y., school, she says, need computer-based lessons and activities that are aligned with the traditional ones presented throughout the school year. The technology tools must also provide a variety of exercises that allow reading practice, engaging vocabulary lessons, and content that builds background knowledge.
Bonington鈥檚 ideal software package features activities that are sufficiently complex to push students鈥� skills forward, yet adaptable to each child鈥檚 reading level and technologically undemanding so that the children can be productive while working independently of the teacher.
The veteran reading teacher did her homework in figuring out first what role reading software will play in the classroom before she began scouring the marketplace for computer-based products.
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鈥淭here are some kids who need much more practice鈥� reading a variety of content, Bonington says. 鈥淵ou have to be able to plunk students down in front of the program and let them work by themselves successfully. But if it鈥檚 disconnected from the instruction they鈥檙e getting from the teacher, and the teacher doesn鈥檛 know the program well, it鈥檚 not going to be effective.鈥�
Such features are must-haves for teachers looking to integrate computer-based products into reading instruction, experts say. As more districts look beyond the bells and whistles that have made software lessons a novel addition to the classroom to more meaningful and effective applications of technology to instruction, they are heeding the lessons learned by teachers such as Bonington.
鈥淭he software has to cause children to actively pay attention to what you want them to learn,鈥� says Marilyn J. Adams, a prominent reading researcher who has helped design a voice-recognition reading program for , a Waltham, Mass.-based reading-software company. 鈥淚t must always give the teacher [information] about how kids are doing and progressing,鈥� she says, 鈥渁nd it has the unique potential to adjust materials according to the individual needs of the students.鈥�
Individualized Programs
The ability to individualize the program is particularly valuable to teachers who organize their reading instruction around small groups and rely on structured activities that keep students productive and engaged when they have to work on their own.
鈥淭eachers don鈥檛 have time to sit and explore all the features of a particular software program,鈥� says Diane Morrone, a senior literacy associate at , a Chicago-based education research and policy organization. 鈥淚n thinking about K-3 readers, the difficulty of the program is a big issue, and the match is really important of the material and the software to the student.鈥�
For middle school youngsters, however, the trick is providing the kind of basic instruction that struggling students need while tailoring the content and activities to the more mature tastes of adolescents and preteenagers, according to Danielle Carnahan, who leads Learning Point鈥檚 .
鈥淭he software has to look age-appropriate,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hile they may not be strong readers, they are middle school students who don鈥檛 want to do baby stuff.鈥�
But finding products that match the curriculum and are easy to use, yet sufficiently sophisticated for tech-savvy students, can be challenging.
Even after surveying selections from hundreds of vendors at a reading convention recently, Bonington went home empty-handed. She will continue to search, she says, because of the promise of technology to give students more chances for guided practice even without one-on-one attention from the teacher.
鈥榃here It Works Best鈥�
Knowing just how much of a role technology should play in reading instruction is part of the challenge as well, some experts say.
鈥淭o be really smart about this, you鈥檝e got to use the technology where it works best, not in areas where you need teacher instruction and tutoring,鈥� says Ted S. Hasselbring, a research professor of special education at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. 鈥淚t should not be playing the role that a teacher should play.鈥�
Checking off a list of required or preferred features, however, is not enough, adds Hasselbring, who helped create .鈥檚 鈥�,鈥� a print and computer-based reading-intervention program for upper-elementary and middle school students. He advises looking for programs that are founded on the principles of research-based reading instruction and have evidence that they are effective in similar schools and districts.
鈥淲e know there are certain things necessary to making good readers, and you need to look for technology that supports what we know about good reading instruction,鈥� Hasselbring advises. 鈥淎nd you should ask: 鈥業s there evidence that this program is making a difference with kids?鈥� 鈥�
