When assistive technology hits the mark, it’s truly transformative. But when it falls short, it can add to the already heavy load teachers carry each day. Lumped in with all the other challenges teachers face, searching out the best assistive technology and all the ways we can use it is a very big lift.
That’s where Bookshare comes in. This inclusive education tool offers specialized audiobooks and ebooks that empower struggling readers to learn in ways that work for them.
With access to over 1.3 million titles for every age and interest of readers, every student can find the books they want for school as well as for recreational reading. And are you ready for the best part? It’s completely free for U.S. schools and students with differences that prevent them from reading traditional books. You can visit Bookshare to get your school signed up, but first take a look at how this nonprofit resource will help you with some of the common challenges teachers face every day.
Problem: My class is full of students with different learning needs.
A few years ago, in addition to the normal list of adaptations and SDIs, I had four students in one class who all required different adaptations to work with printed text. One student needed the text enlarged, so I had to figure out how to make the pages bigger without cutting off sentences. Another student needed their article printed on colored paper. The other two required audio versions. None of these adaptations were impossible to manage on their own, but all together they were time-consuming. As more and more responsibilities are heaped onto teachers’ plates, finding time to meet each student’s unique learning needs can become overwhelming.
Solution: Lots of adaptations all done with one app.
With Bookshare, so many of those adaptations can be made in one place with one device. Using the Bookshare app, which is available on web, mobile, and Alexa smart speaker devices, students can listen to digital and human-narrated audiobooks. Here are just a few things the app allows students to do:
Problem: I want to inspire a love of reading in my students who are struggling readers.
We see students like this every day. Some may have a formal diagnosis of a learning difference, other indications that Bookshare can help determine. Reading barriers like dyslexia, vision impairments, and physical disabilities put students behind their peers, and after several years of struggling to keep up, they give up. Who can blame them? We provide books in formats they cannot access effectively, and they lose confidence and the desire to read, even though they might love it.
Solution: Empower struggling readers with alternative formats and assistive reading features.
Every Bookshare ebook comes in multiple formats. These include audio, audio + highlighted text, large font, and braille, giving students more ways to read than any other library. Plus, assistive reading features like the ones mentioned in the graphic above can make reading easier. So students spend less time decoding, tracking, or trying to see text, and more time learning (and even better enjoying a reading experience that works for them). And students do not require an IEP or 504 plan or official diagnosis of a print disability to join. If, as the classroom teacher, you observe a learning, visual, or physical barrier that prevents a student from reading a traditional book, they are free to access this great resource! Check out these students talking about how Bookshare has opened up the world of reading for them:
Problem: With staffing shortages, I’m teaching three classes more than usual.
There are so many reasons for our nation’s growing teacher shortage, but if you’re one teacher who’s doing the work of two (or three!), the reasons may not feel as important as solutions for how to teach way more kids than one person normally can.
Solution: Increased student independence
Think about the things that take up time in your classroom. Answering students’ questions about a text. Helping students find answers when they don’t understand what they read. Keeping students on task while you’re working with others. While Bookshare acknowledges it isn’t going to fix every classroom problem, they do want to help teachers reclaim some of this lost time.
Problem: I have parents who want to help, but I want to make sure I’m sending home useful tools.
This is one of those “good” problems, right? As we head into the new school year, the requests for supplemental instructional materials start hitting our inboxes. At parent-teacher conferences, parents ask how they can encourage their reluctant reader to pick up a book over the summer. Special education teachers start thinking about how to help their students continue to make progress on their goals over the break. While it’s wonderful to have opportunities to help our students continue to learn outside of our classroom, the fact is the burden of providing that instructional material almost always lands at the feet of the teacher.
Solution: Home access to all Bookshare’s offerings
If a student qualifies for Bookshare, they have access to it anywhere. With the new Bookshare Reader app, students can access books on web, mobile, and even Alexa smart speaker devices. Because of this, it’s a wonderful tool to provide parents who want their child to read more at home. It also serves as a powerful resource in the classroom, allowing teachers to provide all students with equal access to the texts being read and used during instruction. Bookshare has an enormous library of popular fiction and nonfiction books. Students will be able to find books on almost any topic that interests them, that their teachers assigned, or that their friends are currently reading. Parents can learn more about how to use the app on the company’s website.
Want to learn more about how to bring Bookshare into your classroom? Click the button below.
