Ten Technology Tools to Improve Literacy

Many bright and capable students are underachievers in the area of writing due to challenges relating to handwriting mechanics and penmanship, difficulty with organization of information and ideas, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and/or reading. Significant difficulty in only one academic area can have a major impact on a student’s academic performance.  Similarly, minor problems in multiple academic areas can also result in significant problems with literacy assignments.

In todays classrooms, students should not have to struggle with writing and re-writing an assignment if graphomotor skills are an issue, and penmanship is not the purpose of a writing assignment.  Additionally, if spelling, grammar and/or punctuation interfere with the writing process, it is advisable to allow a child to focus on the purpose of the writing assignment first. Improving other skills, can be the focus on another assignment. A variety of free online technology tools to help with all areas of literacy are available to anyone who takes time to discover and learn to use these resources.

Spelling and Writing Mechanics

1.  Ghotit
Follow the link below to view a brief movie about an awesome program designed to help students who struggle with spelling and writing.
http://www.ghotit.com/home.shtml

Speech to Text and Text to Speech Tools

2.  Windows Speech Recognition
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/products/windowsvista/speech.aspx

3.  ReadTheWords
Type a paragraph or message in provided space and choose a male or female avatar to read to you. Listening to his/her written work as it is read aloud is a good way for students to review, revise, edit and improve their work.
http://www.readthewords.com/

4.  WordTalk
“For people with reading and writing difficulties, having text reinforced by hearing it read aloud can be very useful.”
http://www.wordtalk.org.uk/Home/

Graphic Organizers, Online Dictionaries and Summarizers

5.  Interactive Fishbone
is an online graphic organizer that helps students to plan and organize writing assignments.
http://classtools.net/education-games-php/fishbone

6.  Bubbl.us
Brainstorm online with this mindmapping tool.
http://bubbl.us/

7.  OneLook Reverse Dictionary
Enter a definition, and let the dictionary find the word/words that you need.
http://www.onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml

8.  Visual Thesaurus
This online tool is great for learners who benefit from pairing images with text.
http://www.visualthesaurus.com

9.  Text Summarizer
Paste text into the space provided to view reduced/summarized information.
http://www.nling.com/summarizer/

10.  Online Tutoring
Online tutors who are familiar with technology and literacy skills can help you and your child to learn how to make good use of these literacy tools, resulting in inproved grades and increased self-esteem.
http://tutorsanywhere.com