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- There are two broad categories of instructional programs: basic skills programs, and comprehensive programs of reading instruction.
- Effective reading instruction required a balanced approach that includes explicit instruction in specific skills and the application of these skills to reading and constructing meaning from text.
- Research shows that skill-based practice can benefit students with reading and learning disabilities when it incorporates principles of effective instruction.
- Research suggests that game-like features should be used judiciously.
- Speeded drills should be used only to help students practice skills that they have mastered to a high degree of accuracy.
- Short, spaced practice periods that intersperse to-be-learned material with frequent review of mastered information is most effective for skill-based activities.
- Effective reading instruction must strike a balance between explicit skill instruction and reading for meaning.
- Basic-skills programs must be integrated into a larger context of literacy instruction that focuses on reading and understanding text, and provides opportunities for skill application.
- When selecting software you must consider the characteristics, needs, and preferences of the students who will use the program.
- Sources of information about these programs include: publisher's or distributor's websites, software reviews, other teachers, and trial offers.
- Activities that help students master the sound system of our language include: reciting nursery rhymes, rhyming words, counting word syllables, categorizing sounds, segmenting phonemes, and blending phonemes.
- Basic skills programs discussed in the lecture: Daisy's Castle and DaisyQuest (Adventure Learning Software, distributed by ProEd), Fast ForWord (Scientific Learning Corporation), Earobics (Cognitive Concepts), Bailey's Book House (Edmark, A to Zap (Sunburst), Reading Who? Reading You! (Software for Success, distributed by Sunburst), Simon Sounds it Out (Don Johnston), The Tenth Planet Literacy Bundle (Sunburst), Reader Rabbit series (The Learning Company), Sentence Master (Laureate Learning Systems) , Reading SOS (Strategies for Older Students) (Lexia Learning), Word Munchers Deluxe (MECC), Word Crunch, Word Launch, and Word Volcano (Teacher Support Software), and Reading Galaxy (Broderbund).
- Integrated learning systems (ILSs), which are multi-program sets of courseware and management tools, are good examples of comprehensive programs of reading instruction.
- Estimates suggest that up to 25% of schools in the United States use ILSs and that they account for 50% of educational software purchases (Brush, Armstrong, Barbrow, & Ulintz, 1999).
- Several large-scale studies have shed doubt upon the efficacy of ILSs (e.g., Becker, 1992), particularly for students with learning problems and disabilities (e.g., Hativa, 1988).
- Comprehensive programs described in the lecture include: The Little Planet Literacy Series (Applied Learning Technologies, Inc., distributed by Sunburst), WiggleWorks (Developed by CAST, distributed by Scholastic), Let's Go Read: An Island Adventure and Let's Go Read: An Ocean Adventure (Edmark), Reader Rabbit's Complete Learn to Read System (The Learning Company), IntelliTools Reading (IntelliTools), and Read 180 (Scholastic).
- Basic skills programs are designed to help students practice and become fluent with specific skills including phonological awareness, word identification, vocabulary knowledge, and comprehension.
- Comprehensive programs situate skill development within the context of reading for meaning and communicating through writing.
- A key concept to keep in mind is that of technology integration - the software or applications you use should be consistent with other literacy experiences that occur in your classroom.
- Students will need to understand the program's directions, response requirements, and other operational features before they can benefit from the instruction it provides.
- Technology-based experiences can be reinforced through follow-up activities.
- The teacher's role in choosing appropriate software; providing individually tailored instruction, feedback, and guidance; and integrating technology-based applications with the rest of the curriculum remains undisputedly essential to effective literacy instruction.
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