Technically Speaking: I Wanted to Be A Librocubicularist! (Blog 5)

At bedtime, I remember jumping on icy cold bed sheets and waiting patiently for my grandmother to bring me a, cozy, toasty, snuggly blanket that she warmed at the stove.  She would wrap me in it, and I would fall fast asleep.  But there was one thing missing—a bedtime story.  I wish she could have read to me a bedtime story when she wrapped me in the warmth of her love.   However, my grandmother only had a 6^th grade education, so I will never marvel in that childhood experience.  Oh, how I longed to be a librocubicularist!

This dream was just an image in my mind because I did not have good reading skill nor books to fall asleep with a book.  However, I made it through high school and into college.  Though, I took remedial English my freshman year.  Then, when I took the Education Entrance Exam (EEE), I passed the writing and math portions, but failed the reading part. The college required that I had to take remedial reading in the Reading Lab to learn reading strategies to become a better reader and pass that exam.

But I needed more.  I needed to hear the pronunciation and enunciation of words to interpret the meaning of the texts to learn and use reading strategies for comprehension of written text.  I needed to see the words and hear the proper expression of words and phrases with the necessary emphasis on certain words, which is called fluency.  For me, it has been a lifelong struggle with reading.  I have had to teach myself circumvention strategies because it is obvious something did not click in my brain. 

My student teaching in Columbia, South Carolina was a great experience, and it was a breeze.  When I got my own elementary classroom (for real-for real), it was a major challenge!  I tried all kinds of stuff to get my students reading like making books out of environmental print, labeling the furniture in the classroom.  I also made books on tape for my listening center because I could not afford books on tape, so I did the next best thing and made audio books out of some of the classroom books and created my listening center.  But like me, my students needed more. 

My student teaching in Columbia, South Carolina was a great experience, and it was a breeze.  When I got my own elementary classroom (for real-for real), it was a major challenge!  I tried all kinds of stuff to get my students reading like making books out of environmental print, labeling the furniture in the classroom.  I also made books on tape for my listening center because I could not afford books on tape, so I did the next best thing and made audio books out of some of the classroom books and created my listening center.  But like me, my students needed more. 

Today’s students are afforded more with technological advances that keep going and going.  If they had text-to-speech software in the late 1970s and 1980s, I would have developed those good reading strategies and reading fluency skills at an early age.  The NaturalReader text-to-speech software and applications serve as excellent assistive technology for all students at no cost to them.  For example, in this time of virtual learning, a student can turn those e-books into spoken words.  They can adjust audio features such as speed and voice and transfer the audio file to another device like a cell phone.  Guess what?  The students can choose from 57 premium voices!  The text-to-speech readers works with all sorts of document types--.PDFs, .DOCs, .TXT, .RTF, .EPUB.  All the students must do is drag and drop—and listen!  The pronunciation editor allows the user to modify the pronunciation of any words. 

NaturalReader Text-to-Speech Assistive Technology Tool

Another Free online tool at Toon Books is it allows students to listen to text in multiple languages.  Children can listen to the entire text using “Read to Me” or activate the audio prompts.   They can access these books on any computer or other device.   

Toon Books -Just for Kids

I give myself a pat on the back for my early attempts to connect my early learners with text.  Now, I give a high five to technology breakthroughs that can serve as assistive technology to enhance the learning of our forever learners.  Sometimes as professionals, we might not realize that there are so many disadvantaged children amongst us.  When we find FREE online tools that can assist our young learners and embolden them to be creators of their own world—through reading—I am ecstatic!  Reading has afforded me the conveniences in life that I so enjoy and want children to feel how I feel, to learn like I learn, to grow like I grow, and to read like I READ.  

Resources 

NaturalReader https://www.naturalreaders.com/index.html

Toon Books http://www.toon-books.com/