In some ways, reading education has not changed much over the past hundred years or so – teachers still confront the issues of how to instruct students effectively in the basic issues of learning phonemic awareness, decoding text, mastering understanding of text material (comprehension), and achieving reading fluency.
What has changed is our understanding of how to achieve these educational objectives. We now know we must take into account how student background (i.e. low socio-economic status, poor nutrition, and amount of exercise) affects the learning process; which interventions physically and learning disabled students require; and how we can integrate our growing technology into the classroom.
Over the past couple years on this blog, we have addressed many of these issues:
Poverty: https://blog.acereader.com/general/poverty-and-the-educational-process-part-4-relationships-and-distress/ (contains links to all four parts)
Diet: https://blog.acereader.com/general/a-healthy-diet-makes-for-better-reading-skills/
Exercise: https://blog.acereader.com/general/physical-exercise-and-learning/
Disabilities and IEPs: https://blog.acereader.com/education/autism-and-reading-comprehension-interventions/ (autism) and https://blog.acereader.com/general/understanding-dyslexia-part-2/ (dyslexia and IEPs)
It’s important, though, with our increasing dependence on technology and the growing sophistication of today’s educational programs that we consider the technologies that are available to help boost the effectiveness of classroom reading strategies. One program that serves multiple purposes is AceReader. While it does not provide instruction in either phonemic awareness or in decoding, this platform is designed specifically to increase reading speed and fluency, while at the same time improving text comprehension.
It achieves this through the use of over 1,000 themed Reading Comprehension Tests separated into 13 complexity levels, as well as Drills and Games targeted at getting students to 1) unlearn bad habits, such as subvocalization and regression, and 2) learn good habits, such as reading and understanding multiple words or phrases at a single glance. It also has a fully adjustable presentation, including font size and color, flashing or scrolled text, and rate of presentation.
When integrated into regular classroom instruction, it can be used effectively for students in Grade 3 and above, and it requires only 15 minutes/day two to three times a week for students and teachers to see results. Tracking progress is built in to the program for easy access to test scores and activity performance.
Because of its multiple-themed material, which includes a General category, Earth & Space Science, American History, Famous People, Fun Facts, and SAT/ACT Prep, AceReader can serve as an effective learning tool as well. Students pick up valuable information about the subjects as they work through the material, making it valuable as an add-on to book, lecture, or other online materials. In addition, AceReader, Inc. can customize content for schools, universities, and other educational institutions, if needed.
We offer schools a free semester trial of the program to demonstrate just how easy it is to use and how effective it can be in the classroom environment. If you are a teacher, principal, or administrator and would like to learn more, please leave us a comment in the section below or use the contact form on our website: www.acereader.com.
