The Media Center
Everyday Tech Tools and Reading
by Mary Alice Anderson
Lead Media Specialist | Winona Area Public Schools | Winona,
Minnesota
Whether it's as basic as scanning text to use Microsoft
Word as an assistive technology tool or searching a
database for reading levels, the tech tools to help
connect students with the right reading materials are
at our fingertips. It doesn't take much to use them
ourselves or show teachers how easy they are to use.
I see an in-service in the near future!
Helping students select reading material, a core
responsibility of every media specialist, has acquired
added importance in this era of No Child Left Behind.
As your school is striving to improve reading test
scores, it's time to reexamine how we can use technology
as a tool for ourselves and for teachers to use when
we identify age- and ability-appropriate materials.
In addition, much of it can be done with everyday
technology right at your fingertips.
OCR (optical character recognition) software and
a scanner make it easy to scan a block of text into
computer-editable text. The text is saved as a text
file or a Microsoft Word file, or copy/pasted into
Word. Depending on the software, you may also be able
to scan the text directly into the Word application.
If the original text has a wide range of fonts or graphics,
you may have to do some editing. You might also have
to scan columns separately. Features will vary with
each scanner and OCR software, but it's a process that
is much easier and quicker than it used to be.
Once the original text is converted to a Microsoft
Word file, it's easy to determine the readability statistics.
Word provides the Flesch Reading Ease, based on the
number of syllables per word and average words per
sentence. Standard writing is scored 60-70; the Flesch-Kincaid
grade level gives the reading level of a grade and
month. These first few paragraphs, for example, have
a Flesch Reading Ease of 51.3 and a Flesch-Kincaid
Grade Level of 10.5 as shown by the readability statistics
diagram here. (See Figure 1 above.)
Readability Statistics is a simple feature in Word
that elicits "I wish I'd known that" from teachers
unfamiliar with it. Many of our elementary teachers
have leveled classroom collections by typing in a few
paragraphs of text and noting the reading level inside
the book cover. I've even shown students how they can
easily level a book themselves.
AutoSummarize is another useful feature for teachers
who would like their students to read an easier version
of a textbook selection. Once text is scanned and saved
as a Word file, AutoSummarize can be used to create
a new version of the text. (See Figure 2 on page 22.)
Gathering Readability Statistics with Microsoft
Word
(Directions based on Office 2001 for Mac)
1. Begin a new word-processing document.
2. Navigate to the top menu bar.
3. Under Edit, select Preferences.
4. In the Spelling & Grammar tab,
check "Show Readability Statistics."
5. Type your selection or open a selection
of scanned text. (The scanned text should be
a Microsoft Word file or a text
that Word can open.)
6. Select "Spelling and Grammar."
7. When you are done the reading statistics
will be displayed as shown in the sample Readability
Statistics box. |
Do the electronic records in your online catalog
include reading levels (MARC Tag 521)? If they
do, it's time to show teachers this feature exists.
While it seems obvious, it's not a feature that teachers
are always aware of. As with the students, they are
probably likely to do a quick search for title availability
only. If the information is not readily displayed,
you will want to point out to staff how they can
find it in a MARC record. Make sure your online catalog
is set for searching by reading and interest level
if the system has that capability. Your teachers
will be pleased when they learn about these easy-to-use
features of online catalogs. Students will also appreciate
it. Check your specifications for ordering or creating
electronic records to make sure your online catalog's
records make use of the curriculum-enhanced MARC
record format. (See Figure 3 on page 23.)
Establish guidelines for the extent to which you
will use enhanced MARC tags. Without guidelines, you
will lack consistency. As a school media specialist,
you and your staff do not have time to add everything.
Add only what will be of use to your students and teachers.
Another way to enhance readability awareness is simply
to add a searchable note about reading levels. For
years, we have identified easier reading books with
a simple codeBIBER, Bibliography Easier Reading.
Teachersand studentscan do a simple search
for a wide range of materials. Special education teachers
especially appreciate this feature.
Several Web sites can also provide reading
level information:
The Lexile Web site provides the option for
searching for reading levels in the Lexile framework.
Search by author, title, Lexile level, or ISBN number
to find the Lexile number for thousands of fiction
and non-fiction titles. Spanish titles are also available.
Lexile numbers range from 200-1700. The popular middle
school title Princess in Love by Meg Cabot has
a Lexile measure of 880, placing it in the sixth grade
level range. Louis Sachar's Holes has a Lexile
measure of 660, placing it in the fourth grade level
range [http://www.lexile.com].
The Scholastic Web site has a large listing
of leveled books and Lexile titles. Both files are
available in PDF format [http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/paperbacks/].
Some districts have developed their own leveled
books databases. The Beaverton, Oregon, school district's
database was made with FileMaker Pro. Users can search
by title, author, publisher, subject, reading strand,
reading recovery strand, guided reading level, or a
combined search. A guide aligns DRA Guided Reading
Texts with district benchmarks and targets [http://www.beaverton.k12.or.us/].
Select the resources link.
Portland, Oregon, schools have a database
of picture books searchable by title, author, RR level,
or grade level. The Portland database is easy to use
and understand. PDF versions of the database are also
available for anyone to use. As noted on the Web site,
it's a great resource for "families to help them choose
appropriate books for their students." It's also a
great PR tool for the districtand a great resource
for anyone with Web access
[http://www.pps.k12.or.us/curriculum/literacy/leveled_books/].
The Monroe, Indiana, Public Library has an
extensive list of children's fiction books in a series.
The list is arranged by author and is not searchable,
but is a wonderful resource for elementary and middle
school media specialists who find it's not always so
easy to keep up with all the titles in popular series
[http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/childrens/serieslist.html#contents].
Finally, a lengthy collection of literacy
resources is linked from the Greenville, Michigan,
school district Web site. There are links to leveled
books databases, reading assessment tools, online books,
lists of books, and more. This collection is a reminder
of the abundance of information available to help busy
teachers and media specialists [http://www.greenville.k12.mi.us/ecc/literacy_res.html].
Whether it's as basic as scanning text to use Microsoft
Word as an assistive technology tool or searching a
database for reading levels, the tech tools to help
connect students with the right reading materials are
at our fingertips. It doesn't take much to use them
ourselves or show teachers how easy they are to use.
I see an in-service in the near future!
How to use AutoSummarize:
1. Select AutoSummarize from the Microsoft
Word Tools menu.
2. Choose the percent of the original document
you would like included in the summary.
3. Select the placement of the summary. Choices
are:
highlight key points (the
text becomes colored)
an executive summary or abstract
at the beginning of the document
a new document on a separate
page
hiding everything but the
summary
(Refer to the AutoSummarize box for a visual
of how each type of summary will look.)
4. After the document is printed, the student
will have a resource that is more appropriate
for his or her level.
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Mary Alice Anderson is a frequent contributor
to professional journals and a conference presenter.
She is an adjunct instructor in the College of Education
at Winona State University and an online instructor for
the University of Northern Iowa Professional Development
program. The Winona Middle School Media/Technology Program
has received both state and national recognition and
awards. She is also the lead media specialist for the
Winona Area Public Schools and was a Library of Congress
American Memory Fellow in 1999. The Winona Middle School
Web site can be accessed at http://www.rschooltoday.com/winonamiddle.
Communications to the author may be addressed to Mary
Alice Anderson, Media Specialist, Winona Middle School,
1570 Homer Road, Winona, MN 55987; e-mail: maryalice.anderson@winona.k12.mn.us,
http://www.rschooltoday.com/winonamiddle/maryaliceanderson.
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