BookWorm™ Literacy Tool
by AbleNet $164.00
Research shows that reading aloud to children is beneficial to them, but in most class schedules there isn’t time. Talking books are a great tool, but it is difficult to find ones of interest to our students, especially my High School students. The BookWorm Literacy Tool has an 8 – minute memory module which provides the teacher with the flexibility to record as many as 32 pages of text, enough for two text-rich books or up to four short books. With this tool, any book can be a read-aloud book. Stickers are provided for each page so that playback is available – this makes the tool so much more powerful than a plain recording on tape of the book. Memory can be saved or reused, depending on the needs of the teacher/students.
This tool is helpful for beginner through advanced readers. The beginner students can get recordings of a book of specific interest to them. The tool can also be used to provide scaffolding for students moving onto more advanced, challenging texts during independent reading. Students’ personal text selection is supported in a unique way because they aren’t limited to read-aloud texts – as any text can be made read aloud with this tool. Supporting students’ reading selections is empowering, and very important to an often disempowered group of students.
When students can read along with “talking” books, it helps with word recognition, vocabulary building, reading comprehension, and fluency. Students could identify books that they are interested in reading and the BookWorm Literacy Tool can be used to make a recording of the book. The recording can be made in your voice for a personal touch, or other teachers, or support people connected with the class can be recruited to read the text – an engaging ruse to personalize the recording and engage the student’s learning.
The features of the tool include the following:
· 8-minute re-recordable module
· Crystal clear sound
· Adjustable volume
· Removable memory allows for saving recording to build a library
· Additional memory modules available
· Variable message lengths within the 8 minutes of recording time
· External switch jack for sequential playback
· Headphone jack for reading independently
· Book adaptation materials included for 4 books
The requirements of the tool include the following:
· four AA batteries
· books of your choice
· person to make the recording
References:
Closing The Gap http://www.closingthegap.com/ CTG publishes highlights of hardware and software products appropriate for people with special needs, and explains how this technology is being implemented in education, rehabilitation, and vocational settings around the world.
Technology for Education Inc. http://www.tfeinc.com/eshopnew/10Expand.asp?ProductCode=100-TB
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2 comments:
Is this software that you install and then use the microphone to record, or is it pre-recorded material, or do you select material this is then read back. I can't tell from your description, but I'm always interested in talking books. I'll look at the site more closely too.
I like the way this tool requires the reader to read along page-by-page.
In the lower grades (meaning 8 and below), I was wondering how many teachers ever record their classroom read-alouds for their students to refer to when making further study of that book. A recording that includes the "think-aloud" strategies could be a valuable way to study a book, and a simple cassette recorder would be all that was needed.
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