Tech Tools to Support Reading

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Reading is an important part of the lessons and activities that are occurring in our classrooms.  Here are some technology tools that could be used to help all students be successful readers:

Newsela

This is a resource that several teachers in our district already use.  Newsela is a database of current event articles and text sets that can be viewed at a variety of Lelixe levels.  Each piece of reading also comes with a quiz and activities related to the reading.  Newsela is a great way to take the topics you are discussing in the classroom and relate them to current events.

Destiny

Destiny is the online card catalog that our media center uses.  When you search for a book, Destiny will tell you the Lelixe level of that book.  You can also specify a Lexile Level under "Reading Programs" when search for books on a particular topic.  Use these tips next time you are helping students find books to read or are pulling books for your students to use for a project in your classroom.

Chrome Extensions

Chrome Extensions are programs that you install into your Chrome Browser.  Chrome Extensions are found in the Chrome Web Store.  

  • Read Aloud 
    This extension will read out loud web-pages.  In the settings you can also have it highlight the text it is reading to make is easier to read along.  Students can listen to a higher language level than they can read. 
  • Mercury Reader
    This extensions removes all the clutter (ads, extra links, unrelated images, etc.) from a web page.  This allows students to really focus on what needs to be read.  You could use this extension first and then use the Read Aloud extension to read the article out loud. 
  • Auto Highlight
    This extension will highlight the important content of an article.  The more you click the highlighter icon, the more text it includes in its summary.
  • TL;DR
    This extension summarizes any web article. The summary can give the reader the main points of an article allowing them to check for comprehension of what they just read.  A summary can also be valuable for a student how gets overwhelmed by having to read a long piece of text.
** If your students are below 9th grade, they will not be able install extensions.  If you would like your students to be able to use extensions, complete this form and the Technology Department will unblock the extension so it can be downloaded. 

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