Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1515721
includes some students with specialized IEPs. But they 're all responsible for learning the same concepts. To make it easier for all students to keep pace, she swears by AI text levelers, such as Diffit (web.diffit.me) and Magic- School AI (magicschool.ai). In less than a minute, the tools can transform a challenging passage into language tailored to any grade level from two through 11 and attach handy vocabulary lists and multiple choice questions to gauge comprehension. These tools, and others like them, can also be used to translate materials from one language to another — ideal for multilingual learners, writes educator Tan Huynh, who often uses AI to generate mentor texts, a task that previously took him hours to fine-tune. "With AI, that time is reduced to mere seconds," he explains. The down- side: Passages run through AI are often shortened and truncated, as essential details are left out in favor of brevity. 4. Increase comprehension with (collaborative) annotation tools. One of the best ways to engage with text is by marking it up, reading specialist Mark Penning- ton tells MindShift. By interacting directly with the text , students are engaging in a kind of conversation, learn- ing "to create an internal dialogue with the text." To set students up for the activity, model the behavior, reading passages while asking questions, rereading areas that cause confusion, and identif ying important concepts, says English teacher Mackensi Crenshaw. Middle school language arts teacher Frank Ward uses Chrome extension Scrible (scrible.com) to annotate with his class. The tool saves files and webpages to a cloud-based library and lets students annotate them either individually or collaboratively. Likewise, the free, open-source tool Hypothe- sis (web.hypothes.is) lets users mark up texts publicly, with edits viewable by anyone, or privately (e.g., just a class). Before asking students to annotate a text, high school English teacher Lauren Gehr hands out guided analysis prompts — e.g., write two extended comments and pose one question. After students finish annotating on Google Docs, they might analyze a different class's responses to the same prompt "to find inspiration, discover similarities or ask questions," writes Gehr. "At the end, students had a collection of annotations that showed several different pro- cesses of reading a text." 5. Help students deconstruct reading habits. Eye-tracking research on digital reading habits shows that we sometimes scan from left to right before scanning vertically for points of interest, making what's known as an "F-pattern." Websites with less text can draw eyes in a Z-pat- tern. Both approaches may indicate skimming, leaping ahead in the text or taking in less information. Educator Jennifer Wood suggests introducing these pat- terns to students and asking them to read a webpage to see where their eyes are drawn and "to discuss how the text on the page impacts what they notice." Write a word or concept on the board and ask students to keep it in mind while they reread the text independently. Afterward, you can reflect as a class on what students have learned about their digital reading habits. Eye movements aside, good digital literacy is just good literacy. Former educator Devin Hess tells MindShift that his students still need to break down complicated texts, identify key ideas and formulate arguments regardless of whether they 're reading in print or digital. Many of his lessons adapt standard reading comprehension lessons to take advantage of collaborative tools like Google Docs. He describes a "Headings and Highlight" lesson where students read a text on their own and highlight unfamiliar concepts and vocabulary. Then they pair up to discuss key ideas. Later, students summarize a portion of the text into a four-word header on their own and compare it with their partner 's effort. 6. Scaffold reading with assistive learning tools. Research into assistive technology, particularly text-to- speech tools, shows that these supports can improve the way students with disabilities feel about reading and school, along with their perceptions as independent learners. Literacy expert Jessica Hamman suggests text-to-speech reader ReachDeck (texthelp.com/products/reachdeck), which reads websites and other digital materials aloud. (Dragon, VoiceNote, and similar tools are also available.) Simple tricks like turning on video captions can benefit all students, by tying together reading and listening compre- hension, writes special education expert Jennifer Sullivan. "It is crucial for students who are hard of hearing and can support students' reading skills," she explains. Students of any level may also benefit from visual timers, which count down how much time they have to complete a task and may particularly help those with executive func- tioning challenges. Teachers can place a physical clock or project one on a whiteboard. Using a timer can "help stu- dents prepare for transitions and ease test anxiety, as they are able to see at a glance how much time is left." This story originally appeared in Edutopia. "Assistive technology, particularly text-to- speech tools, can improve the way students with disabilities feel about reading and school." 51 F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 24