I just learned about SoundGecko on twitter from Todd Nesloney and Stacey Huffine. It is an amazing web site and app that will read aloud websites, news, and documents. Stacey does an excellent job of describing the tool and how to get started with it on Todd's blog. Please check it out if you want to know more!
I would like to share one way we will be using it in class. We use NewsELA daily. We usually read an article as a class and work on the highlighting together to make it meaningful for everyone. NewsELA makes learning about current events so engaging that I often find my students logged in on their own trying to read articles of interest to them. The problem I have is that some of my students are unable to independently read the articles. They want to read them, but their reading ability is lower than the lowest lexile level of the articles. Enter SoundGecko! Now my struggling readers can choose the article that they want to read, enter it's url on SoundGecko, and it is read to them. If they are using separate windows they can follow along with the text and pause the reading at any time.
I just love how technology opens doors and makes learning easier for all of my students! The fact that their curiosity is no longer limited by their reading ability is fabulous! Thank you Todd and Stacey for sharing this tool!
I would like to share one way we will be using it in class. We use NewsELA daily. We usually read an article as a class and work on the highlighting together to make it meaningful for everyone. NewsELA makes learning about current events so engaging that I often find my students logged in on their own trying to read articles of interest to them. The problem I have is that some of my students are unable to independently read the articles. They want to read them, but their reading ability is lower than the lowest lexile level of the articles. Enter SoundGecko! Now my struggling readers can choose the article that they want to read, enter it's url on SoundGecko, and it is read to them. If they are using separate windows they can follow along with the text and pause the reading at any time.
I just love how technology opens doors and makes learning easier for all of my students! The fact that their curiosity is no longer limited by their reading ability is fabulous! Thank you Todd and Stacey for sharing this tool!