Reading for pleasure is without doubt one of the finest methods to be taught to learn. When a pupil self-selects a textual content that sparks curiosity, pleasure, or invitations them right into a story-filled world, they actively have interaction in advanced processes present in standards-aligned frameworks for studying. Choosing what to learn additionally boosts confidence and will increase the chance that college students will proceed to learn. Equally as essential, college students who’re intrinsically motivated to learn and spend extra time doing so have larger studying comprehension scores.
Classrooms and households throughout the nation will have fun the enjoyment of studying throughout Read Across America Day on March 2, 2023. This daylong occasion encourages extra college students to learn for pleasure by exploring tales and articles that generate pleasure and spark their curiosity. Educators will expose college students to completely different genres, use completely different mediums like books and digital texts, and even host costume-themed occasions celebrating well-known literary characters just like the Cat within the Hat–all with the aim of instilling pleasure round studying.
From instruments that help studying comprehension to distinctive Flip occasions, Microsoft affords a variety of alternatives to excite college students and hold them studying all 12 months lengthy.
Use Immersive Reader to do extra with digital textual content
Online assets like encyclopedias, information shops, and even video-sharing web sites typically include advanced paragraphs, unknown vocabulary, and irrelevant data like advertisements. This presents issues for struggling readers and pre-readers. Not solely do they should perceive what they’re studying however additionally they should resolve what components deserve their focus.
On Read Across America Day, introduce college students to Immersive Reader within the Edge browser in order that they’ll simply perceive digital textual content on any subject they may select. Designed with enter from studying specialists, Immersive Reader contains choices that allow college students select the particular sorts of help they want. This contains:
- Automatically studying and highlighting phrases on a web page
- Controlling the studying tempo
- Removing distractions on a webpage to focus consideration on the textual content
- Adjusting measurement, font, and colour of textual content in order that phrases are simpler to see
- Translating textual content into over 60 languages
Opening Immersive Reader in Edge and studying aloud content material on an online web page
With Immersive Reader, college students can perceive nearly any textual content on their very own. It robotically transforms the content material right into a simplified show with choices for studying aloud all of the phrases. Immersive Reader additionally affords a built-in image dictionary, grammar instruments, and syllable demarcation for college students who need differing ranges of unbiased studying help. Students management their studying expertise with Immersive Reader which will increase self-agency and boosts confidence.
Amber Raftery, a sixth-grade instructor in Kent School District (WA), is a staunch advocate for Immersive Reader as a result of it makes studying extra accessible and equitable for her college students. Amber says:
“I think when we’ve got kids that need different support mechanisms to learn, the Microsoft assisted learning tools become really, really vital. Last year, I had a student that had dysgraphia and dyslexia and so being able to listen to the audio was necessary and the Immersive Reader was essential for the success of this student.”
Immersive Reader isn’t just for college students with studying difficulties. Pre-readers additionally profit from its text-to-speech capabilities. According to Amanda Young, Program Manager at Wichita Public Schools:
“When our teachers discover things like Immersive Reader and learn how it helps, they realize it helps not just students with reading troubles. It’s excellent for all the students. Our littlest learners need those accessibility tools, too, not because they have a learning difference, but because they don’t know how to read or write yet. Their teachers see Immersive Reader and they tell us, ‘This is amazing. I can’t read the story to each individual kid, but this can help.’”
Additionally, Immersive Reader helps college students learn textual content in standard Microsoft 365 functions like Word, OneNote, and Teams in addition to favorites like Minecraft Education and Flip. Teachers like Amber Gonzalez at Sawyer Elementary School within the Kent School District consider that Immersive Reader’s availability throughout so many packages is a vital contributor to studying development.
“It’s easy for students to have an Immersive Reader button built in and available in every program or on every website—that is huge for my students and for me teaching students with different abilities.”
Reading Coach in Immersive Reader
Immersive Reader show introducing Reading Coach and displaying easy methods to activate the characteristic, file a learn aloud, entry studying reviews, and observe mispronounced phrases
Students even have new methods to make use of Immersive Reader with the combination of Reading Coach into the device. Reading Coach in Immersive Reader permits college students to independently observe their fluency and vocabulary improvement with superior speech-to-text capabilities. Activation is simple: A easy toggle switches Immersive Reader from learn aloud mode to a studying assistant that listens and analyzes college students’ speech whereas they learn. It assesses what’s being learn and delivers particulars on accuracy, phrases per minute, mispronunciations, and time spent studying. Best of all, Reading Coach in Immersive Reader permits college students to take possession over studying instruction as a result of it doesn’t require an educator to comply with alongside.
Look for Reading Coach in Immersive Reader inside Word, OneNote, Teams Assignments, Flip, and Minecraft Education with extra functions to come back!
Learn from the Princess in Black creators on Flip
Princess in Black Flip occasion flyer that includes headshots of authors Shannon and Dean Hale and illustrator LeUyen Pham
You’re invited to a royal ball with the authors and illustrator of the wildly standard Princess in Black sequence on March 2nd! The ball begins at 10AM PST.
Grab your superhero disguise or your most interesting costume and be part of us to have fun Read Across America Day. Get to know our favourite monster-fighting princess, Magnolia, and her fellow masked superheroes. The creators will talk about the historical past of the Princess in Black and introduce readers to their latest ebook within the sequence, The Princess in Black and the Prince in Pink. Plus, learn to draw the Princess in Black from illustrator LeUyen Pham!
Register for this free, one-of-a-kind occasion.
Celebrate the enjoyment of studying on Read Across America Day by becoming a member of a enjoyable Flip occasion or displaying college students how Immersive Reader can assist them confidently method no matter textual content that they select to learn.