Text-To-Speech and the Writing Process

I have personally never used something described as text-to-speech.  In fact, the first time I saw that term was when I accidentally tapped a button on my cell phone and the term popped up.  However, after teaching Kindergarten for many years, I can see that I may have been more familiar with the concept of text-to-speech than I had originally thought. 

When I taught Kindergarten, there was a website that I loved to use whole-class and individually for students.  The site www.starfall.com had lots of songs and readings that would let the students listen to the words that they see on the screen (often the words highlighted themselves as the stories read).  Many other websites did the same thing.  I always used this as a reading strategy.  Now that is has been brought to my attention, I have opened my mind to the possibilities of using this for writing as well.

Humans are programmed for sound.  We are not hardwired for reading.  Using TTS has obvious benefits for struggling readers (and I feel confident that it does not harm students who are average and above readers).  If we are not hardwired for reading, I am sure that writing is also something that does not come innately to us.  This is why babies are not born with the ability to write as infants (crying, eating, and expelling waste seem to be something at which they excel). 

As a current 4th grade teacher, I understand the emphasis placed on writing and writing well.  I also work in a school that suffers from the effects of being lower socioeconomic and having a high mobility rate.  I work with students who have not had the opportunity of growing up in environments where rich vocabulary flourishes and is rewarded.  However, they have a creativity and imagination that is impressive.  The only problem is translating the ability to tell stories and use imagination into an essay. 

After having read some about the benefits of TTS for struggling readers (from the article Text-to-Speech Software for Helping Struggling Readers by Ernest Balajthy; retrieved from http://www.readingonline.org/articles/balajthy2/) 

I can see some of the benefits for writing too.  How many authors either read their own work out loud or have someone else read their work to them?  Why?  WE ARE WIRED FOR SOUND!  If a student is able to type an essay and then have the ability to replay it, they can HEAR the mistakes and HEAR when the grammar is a bit off.  Also, when we read our own work, we tend to skim and read what we MEANT  to write as opposed to actually what we wrote.   The act of rereading what a students wrote is daunting from them.  They feel as though the task is complete once the last word is written.  If the only thing that have to do at the end of an essay is click a button and HEAR what they wrote, they are more likely to take advantage of listening to their story.

Also, knowing the egocentricity of students, hearing their own words read back to them is a mark of pride.  

My first Prezi

I was a STRICT powerpoint user.  I sang its praise far and wide.  However, I just finished my very first PPT alternative - Prezi.  It is by far not remotely something I am comfortable with, and I have to tweak and add a few things, but I am impressed with with Prezi can do.  I may publish this to my Facebook!  People need to know about this!

I Created My Own Font!

After (finally) getting my scanner to cooperate with me, I was able to take the template from www.myscriptfont.com and create my own font to use in a word processor!  I was instantaneously angry that I didn't know about this site four years ago when I had to hand-write TONS of thank you notes for wedding gifts.  After my initial, and useless, reaction subsided, I began thinking about the implications this could have in my classroom.

Would my students be more able to read my writing on my powerpoints or the typed fonts that I choose?  

We shall soon find out...

Ode to Spell Checker

O, spell checker, my spell checker,
You allow me to sound coherent (sometimes) when I have barely had any sleep.
I now no longer can spell common words,
And am far less likely to spell ones even more deep.

On you I always depend,
Whether I am writing an essay, email, Facebook post, or text,
Your little red and green wavy lines
Help me to determine which letters are next.

While my fourth grade teacher would be quite appalled,
With my inability to spell as well as I once did,
I cannot confess that I feel quite embarrassed,
Because spell checker the misspellings helps to rid.


In case you couldn't tell from my little bit of waxing lyrical,  I am a fan of spell checker.  There are those spelling purists who believe in spelling correctly simply for the sake of spelling correctly.  While I can see their side, I must say that I believe if you have access to a tool, use it.  If spell checker helps one be able to write more easily, more power to them.  The world is changing rapidly due to technology and what once was merely written about as a possibility in Sci-Fi novels in now the world in which we live.  So, use that fraction of the 10% of our brain we use for spelling and devote it to something else.  Fencing perhaps...

All Hail Spell Checker!

My Classes Today

This year, as a turn from other years, I teach strictly math.  However, my favorite thing to teach my fab fourth graders is (don't tell anyone!) reading.  There is something to be said about opening the doors to character elements, plot, and foreshadowing that does my heart good.  In the world of numbers that I currently live, I miss the written word like, as so many great ballads express, the desserts miss the rain.  So, in an attempt to dissuade my mathematical melancholy, I have started to read several of the Sunshine State Readers to the classes I teach for the last few minutes of each class. 

Today, I offered some of my too-cool-for-school fourth graders the opportunity to work on a computer program for math (http://www.xtramath.org/ – check it out, it’s cool) or they could continue listening to me read from the book Dragon’s Egg.  I asked about six students if they wanted to go back and try it out (which they are usually BEGGING me to) before I got to a student who told me “yes”.  I am not saying that I am the best, most theatrical reader (well, all of those years of drama classes and love of British programming have provided me with a reasonable ability to emphasize what I read and to do so in a variety of accents…), but I was feeling pretty good about keeping a room full of rowdy ten-year-olds at bay.  When I reached the end of the chapter, I gave a pregnant pause between the last few words, looked purposefully into my students’ eyes, and slowly, deliberately closed the book and placed it on my table.  You could have heard a pin drop!

Then the eruption began!

“Plleeeeeaaaassssseeeeeeee, read some more!” they wailed!

Ahhhhh!  Triumph!  I am awesome!

Then, one student asked something more.

“What happens next?”

Then, it hit me.  Yeah, I read with feeling and enthusiasm, but what really got their attention was the story.  A story about a girl in a tough situation making tough choices.  A story about a kid their age doing spectacular things.  That is was makes reading worth it.  Not the acting, but the words.

After today’s experience, I began thinking about my research project.  I am curious to know if my kids would want to hear the same story if it were done via audio book/eBook/etc and have the same reactions.  Is it the human element or the story that makes the difference?  Can technology substitute me (and my formidable skills)? 

What is literacy?

We hear the word "literacy" all the time.  From the media, to the government, and in classrooms across the country, we can't seem to escape that word.  But what is it?  What is this allusive term?

As a teacher, I use this word to mean being able to read well and comprehend what you read.  I think that this generalized statement covers the term reasonably well.  However, as an adult, literacy personally means significantly more to me.  Being able to read and comprehend is only one facet to reading.  Seeing the beauty in the way that words are constructed, seeing foreshadowing and character elements go beyond my simple definition to add richness and vitality to the written word in a way that I hope I translate to my students.

I believe literacy is reading and understanding; however, I want more for my students.  I want them to have passion.