I confess to being pretty critical of software in general. And
as a former English teacher, I'm downright picky about reading
software.
Because I know the importance of traditional reading, I consider
it a good thing that reading software is designed to enhance,
and not replace, reading books. But I'm seeing too many software
reading products that are marginally useful and might even waste
valuable instruction time. The old drill-and-kill syndrome is
alive and well in the 21st century, and educators must examine
software carefully before making purchases.
Fortunately, several new products stand out as innovative. Most
are designed for beginning or struggling readers, but a few target
kids who are already comfortable with books:
Arthur's Reading Games
 The
Learning Co. (800) 852-2255. Ages 5 to 7. This Windows-only
program is based on the famous, lovable aardvark Arthur. Marc
Brown's best-selling creation makes the transition from books
to this delightful software program with top-notch educational
content. 
A word-building module -- Francine's Word-O-Matic Machine --
teaches vowels and consonants by allowing students to pick the
correct beginnings and endings of words. A little ladder icon
lets the teacher or user select from five levels of difficulty.
(The highest level has words first- or second-graders need to
know.) In a story-building module, students get to pick pictures
or words to insert in a storyline. The result is both hilarious
and creative.
In another great updating, the student plays a game similar
to Hangman by guessing at letters in a word. Each missed letter
adds a book to the arms of Buster the rabbit. When Buster gets
too many books, he collapses under the weight.
I give this CD a Best Bet for elementary reading software. It
also doesn't hurt that the program sells for just $19.95.
Island Reading Journey
Houghton
Mifflin Interactive/Sunburst. (800) 321-7511. Grades 4 and 5.
Think of Island Reading Journey as a mini-Accelerated Reader with
reading activities designed to complement 100 popular children's
titles, including Indian in the Cupboard, Shiloh, Sounder,
Freaky Friday, and Charlotte's Web. This program is
recommended for fourth- and fifth-graders, but language arts teachers
might also find it beneficial for junior high and middle school
students. 
The teachers' ring-binder alone is worth the price of this program.
It has classroom activities, worksheets, and vocabulary words
for each of the 100 books. Add essay-writing prompts and test
questions for each book (most are strictly recall questions),
and you have an extremely useful reading program. Both teachers
and students will appreciate the easy-to-use software and the
colorful interface. This is so nicely done on so many levels that
I've given it a Best Bet as a must-buy for intermediate schools.
Order it today.
Dr. Seuss Reading Games
The
Learning Co. (800) 852-2255. Ages 3 to 7. This entertaining
program is great for preschool and kindergarten students. An easy-to-navigate
interface
and the lovable Cat in the Hat help the youngest students learn
over 600 words. A word-recognition module allows students to click
on a word to hear how it sounds. Two complete storybooks based
on Dr. Seuss classic stories -- ABC and The Cat in the
Hat -- have yellow-highlighted narrated words so even the
youngest users can follow along. The alphabet song module helps
kids learn and memorize all the letters. Two reading levels allow
for differences in age and ability. Another bargain at $19.95.
Reading Blaster Vocabulary
Knowledge
Adventure. (800) 545-7677. Ages 9 to 12. I never really cared
for most of the Blaster programs, but the success of Spelling
Blaster made me decide to take a closer look at some of the updated
titles.
Reading Blaster Vocabulary, it turns out, is a great program
when used in Explore mode. In the separate Mystery mode, students
wander around a haunted house looking for clues to solve a mystery
while they work on related language-arts activities. This mode
is too complicated, I think, with too much time spent looking
for clues that could be better spent on reading activities. But
Explore Mode allows students to start all of the educational modules
immediately. 
A Word List Chooser allows teachers to pick lists of adjectives,
adverbs, and nouns from a collection of 2,000 words. Teachers
can also use Custom Word Editor to use their own classroom vocabulary
words in games that pit students against the computer and a ticking
clock.
Reading and vocabulary modules challenge students to find at
least 15 words in a target category before time runs out. In an
anagram challenge, students construct as many words as possible
using the letters from two vocabulary words. In a fun module called
What's My Meaning? students must quickly select the correct definitions
for eight words. At the highest level, students must think fast
to beat the clock.
My two favorite modules involve a crossword puzzle game and
a game that reminds me of the train race in the classic Sunburst
program How the West Was Negative One (which has been recently
updated to a Windows version). Called Horsing Around with Words
and based on a horse race, the game rewards players for creating
the longest word possible without ending it. I played it a number
of times, struggling to beat my computer opponents until I found
a guaranteed way to win. (Accept a small penalty for deliberately
misspelling the ending of a word, and let the computer finish
the word, so you can get more points and move into the winners'
circle.) This is a great software program for late elementary
school. Definitely a Best Bet.
JumpStart Phonics
Knowledge
Adventure. (800) 545-7677. Ages 3 to 6. This is a wonderful
CD for preschoolers, kindergartners, and beginning first-graders.
As the title implies, the emphasis is on phonics activities, but
it also includes alphabet and word-recognition activities. 
Buy the teachers' edition, and you get two identical CDs for
use on two computers, plus a bundle of printed instructions, worksheets,
and activities. Install the IBM ViaVoice, and students can interact
with Jumpstart's Read 'n' Respond technology. I doubt most teachers
will have the equipment or patience to make this work properly,
but the other activities on the CD are worthwhile.
My Reading Coach
Mindplay.
(877) 880-1800 All ages. This program, which begins at the primary
level, has been designed for students of all ages who are nonreaders
or who need help in improving reading skills. It has been used
in Arizona prisons and Los Angeles alternative high schools to
help older students learn to read. With a heavy emphasis on phonics
and spelling, the program leads beginning or struggling readers
on a regimented path to reading success.
Veteran speech pathologist and reading teacher Jim Larrabee
developed the program and leads instruction as the virtual teacher
on the CD.
My only real concerns with this excellent software are the price
and licensing agreements. The $89 home or single-student version
of My Reading Coach times out after 100 hours of use or one year,
whichever comes first, and the school editions are pricey, with
unlimited student usage for 20 computers running about $30,000.
One day of staff development by Mindplay costs $1,000 at its Arizona
facility or $2,000 at the school site.
Any district or facility considering My Reading Coach should
get a single copy and test it thoroughly to see whether a larger
investment is justified.
Reader Rabbit: I Can Read! with Phonics
Reader Rabbit's Learn to Read with Phonics
The
Learning Co. Ages 5 to 8. For nearly 20 years, Reader Rabbit
has taught millions of children how to read. Reader Rabbit is
easy for younger students to navigate and contains solid educational
reading skills for elementary students.
Reader Rabbit: I Can Read! with Phonics includes a plethora
of enjoyable reading activities. Beginning readers will enjoy
reviewing the alphabet in a neat module called Alphabet Dance.
Phonics instruction in the Vowel Pond teaches not only correct
vowel sounds, but also word recognition. Older students will like
the 30 interactive storybooks that highlight and narrate each
word. Students can use their own unidirectional microphone to
practice and record their own reading skills for playback. In
Match Patch, students match opposite words by picking pop-up carrots
with the correct answers. Word Mine presents compound words in
an entertaining fashion.
Similar activities appear in Reader Rabbit's Learn to Read with
Phonics, which features four modules based on a Word Factory theme.
In Word Train, students select words to pick up and place on a
train, and in Word Sorter, students pick out words with similar
sounds. A labeling game and a sorting game provide lots of letter
and word practice for beginning readers. Clicking on Pop the Mouse
produces a teacher menu that allows the teacher to set higher
levels of difficulty for students to develop advanced word and
reading skills.
Read, Write & Type! Learning System
Talking
Fingers, Inc. Ages 6 to 9. This excellent new reading program
resulted from a collaboration between neuropyschologist Jeanine
Herron and Leslie Grimm, the originator of Reader Rabbit and creator
of old-time software favorites Playroom, Treehouse, and Backyard.
The program takes a revolutionary approach to computer reading
instruction by using a typing and word processing interface. Talking
finger guides -- Lefty and Rightway -- lead students on an amusing
journey of the alphabet and keyboard that teaches phonics, writing,
punctuation, spelling, and reading. The 40-lesson adventure is
great for ESL students, beginning readers, and older students
struggling to become successful readers and writers.
The program takes place in an imaginary world filled with funny
characters. In addition to Lefty and Rightway, each letter on
the QWERTY keyboard is represented by a story character. A slimy
little green villain named Vexor is the focus of a reading journey
that helps kids build animated sentences and stories.
The $99 deluxe version includes the basic Read, Write, and Type
CD; Spaceship Challenge CD; 18 printed booklets; a plastic keyboard
cover and keyboard stickers for correct finger placement; and
a laminated keyboard for practice away from the computer. About
the only thing wrong with the program, in my opinion, is that
it insists on 256-color mode for Windows and a relatively low
(640 by 480) resolution.
Stories and More: Animal Friends
Stories and More: Time and Place
Edmark.
Ages 5 to 8. Because these two programs are packaged like Edmark's
muddled Let's Go Read series, I half-expected them to rely too
heavily, as Let's Go Read does, on faulty voice-recognition software.
These programs do use less-than-perfect voice-recognition technology,
but the success of the programs does not depend on it. The pleasant
surprise is that Stories and More programs show the old innovative
spark of the classic Edmark programs.
Stories and More: Animal Friends version, designed for prekindergartners
and kindergartners, has three colorful stories that help students
predict events, sequence story lines, write original documents,
and produce color sketches and scenes. Stories and More: Time
and Place, for second- and third-graders, follows essentially
the same format with age-appropriate stories.
A teachers' edition comes with two CDs and a comprehensive teachers'
manual. The programs can be fully installed to the hard drive
(about 90 megabytes each) and can be run without the CD. Another
option is a 5-megabyte installation that requires a CD to be inserted
during use.
The quality of this program makes me wonder all the more about
Edmark's decision to rely so much on voice-recognition technology
(IBM ViaVoice 4.3) in Let's Go Read! 1 and Let's Go Read! 2. Even
the manuals with those programs warn that voice-recognition software
is "an evolving technology and it does have some limitations."
I know from personal experience that even the very best voice-recognition
program (DragonDictate) is still not perfect on the fastest machines
available. On a standard school machine, IBM's Via-Voice falters
badly, and on my fast-test machine it fails to recognize commands
most of the time.
That's a Fact, Jack! Read
Tom
Snyder Productions. Grades 3 to 10. Middle school and
secondary school teachers know all about Accelerated Reader, the
800-pound gorilla of reading software with its huge database of
books and thousands of test questions. That's a Fact, Jack! is
less comprehensive, but the program's creativity earns it a Best
Bet.
That's a Fact, Jack! consists of 45 CDs that correlate with
450 popular books. Jack Armstrong, a virtually handsome and funny
game show host, leads students in lively interactive quizzes on
the books. While many of the program's questions are strictly
recall, others are carefully constructed to promote critical-thinking
skills.
Inferential questions promote and assess understanding, while
hypothetical questions prod the students into going beyond the
easy literal questions. A teachers' ring-binder suggests additional
writing and discussion activities. A writing prompt for William
Armstrong's Sounder, for instance, says: "The boy's teacher
once told him, 'If a flower blooms once, it goes on blooming somewhere
forever. It blooms on for whoever has seen it blooming.' What
do you think this means? Do you agree with this statement? Why
or why not?" 
Each disk is theme-based and provides material for different
reading and sophistication levels. The reading levels are set
by the publisher or a computerized test, and the sophistication
level is a best-guess estimate by Tom Snyder educators. Sounder,
for instance, is covered in a disk called Discrimination and
Prejudice in America, and it is rated with a reading level of
grade 5.2 and a sophistication level of 6.
Books with mature subject matter are marked with asterisks,
so districts and teachers can quickly spot books with extensive
or explicit coverage of sexuality, violence, drug abuse, or suicide.
An administrative mode makes it possible for districts to exclude
a book from the software titles available to students. The program
also has network-management capabilities for the student database
and the ability to track individual student progress.
The games can be played by a single student, small groups, or
even an entire class. I'd love to see a class play this program
on a large screen with an overhead LCD projector. Such a class
could set a shining example of how a 21st century classroom can
use sophisticated instructional technology.
Whither reading software?
Most of today's reading software is geared for beginning readers.
But there is a willing market for exceptional secondary reading
software. Such software will have bigger development costs and
will probably sell for much higher prices than most educational
software. But when you consider the value of reading, it's hard
to say that the prices are too high.
I predict even greater innovations in the future. Electronic
books (e-books) will hit the classroom in the next few years.
These lightweight, durable, and highly illuminated devices will
contain huge databases of works of literature and textbooks. Kids
will carry all their virtual books in one device (probably with
a titanium case for strength). The technology is evolving rapidly
and is on the cusp of being deployed.
Some people worry about the price or the technological glitches
that will accompany e-books. But I think the real problem will
be in figuring out the copyright and royalty payments for authors
and publishers. These issues will be resolved, but it will take
a great deal of time, money, and cooperation on the part of all
parties concerned.
Russell Smith is an educator and technology consultant for Region
14 Education Service Center in Abilene, Texas. He
welcomes comments and e-mail.
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