Author: Jessica Sanders of Whooo's Reading
It seems like educators are swimming—would you say drowning?—in a sea of edtech options for their schools and classrooms. Despite being a “strong swimmer,” it’s hard to dig through the masses and find the best tech tools for the students in your community. Luckily, some stand out among the rest thanks to a number of factors, including:
- Features
- Effectiveness
- Ease of integration
Whooo’s Reading is one of those tools, motivating students to read more of what they love every day. If you’re skeptical, we totally understand. So, instead of believing me, let’s allow the people who already love Whooo’s Reading do the talking.
It Makes Teachers’ Lives Easier
“With Whooo's Reading, I can log on and pull up my student data table from any computer. I can check minutes, number or responses, and response scores all on one page in seconds.” – Amanda S., 5th grade teacher
The ease with which teachers can interact with students and assess student progress makes Whooo’s Reading an automatic winner for many teachers. Within one dashboard, teachers can set reading and response goals, assess progress, score reading responses, and print data sheets for reading interventions and parent conferences.
Teachers can also write a custom rubric for reading responses, encouraging students to do everything they can to earn a “4” (the highest score) on every question, review and blog post.
It Makes Teachers’ Lives Easier
“With Whooo's Reading, I can log on and pull up my student data table from any computer. I can check minutes, number or responses, and response scores all on one page in seconds.” – Amanda S., 5th grade teacher
The ease with which teachers can interact with students and assess student progress makes Whooo’s Reading an automatic winner for many teachers. Within one dashboard, teachers can set reading and response goals, assess progress, score reading responses, and print data sheets for reading interventions and parent conferences.
Teachers can also write a custom rubric for reading responses, encouraging students to do everything they can to earn a “4” (the highest score) on every question, review and blog post.
It Motivates Students to Read More… Without You Telling Them To
“I started my 6th graders on this last week. They’ve already logged almost 5,000 minutes and 39 books!” – Patty G., 6th grade teacher
There are a number of features that make this one of the most appealing reading tools your school will use, starting with gamification. Students earn Wisdom Coins when they log reading, answer comprehension questions, and interact with their peers via the Facebook-like student newsfeed. These Wisdom Coins can then be spent in the Owl Shop, where students can “buy” virtual accessories for their Owlvatar.
The private, student newsfeed, encourages students to talk about the books they’re reading and comment on reading responses, encouraging collaboration and communication between teacher, admins and students. Many students call the platform, “Facebook for reading!”
Students read so much more, that on the weekend of September 19th, 2015 students logged more than one million minutes of reading!
It’s an Effective Alternative for Tools Like AR
“I love Whooo’s Reading. It beats Accelerated Reader by a thousand miles. It fosters deep thinking. It isn’t just multiple choice, “lucky pick” answers.” – Julie P., K-8 teacher
Many schools still use bulky software, that is not only expensive, but also ineffective at engaging students. In fact, some of these tools discourage students because they lack student choice and make reading a chore. Whooo’s Reading is not only affordable—$3-$8 per student, depending on the school’s size—but it promotes student choice.
Students are able to read any book they want, and then choose the comprehension question or blog post prompt that they want to answer. The recent addition of badges allows them to take their own personalized journey toward mastery, rather than just proficiency.
Whooo’s Reading is also a great supplement to some of these other reading platforms, providing students with more opportunities to engage with their peers, discuss the books they’re reading and more.
It Engages All Readers, Especially the Reluctant Ones
“This is a great tool to motivate struggling readers. These kids are now eager to want to pick out a book and read it.” – Annemarie L., Dyslexia and ASD teacher
While all students are more engaged and motivated to read with Whooo’s Reading, a study of 2,700 students found that struggling readers improved the most over a 6-month period. At the end of 6 months, students who were reading below grade level were choosing books 300L higher than when they started—that’s a increase of nearly three grade levels.
It Puts Teachers and Admin in the Driver’s Seat
“Our administrators and teachers can compare reading habits, analyze individual and class-wide progress as well as each class’s mastery of Common Core reading anchors from their data center.” – Kimberly M., Literacy Coach
Whether your school follows Common Core or not, teachers and admin have access to valuable data from the data dashboard. This tab, easily accessed from the main dashboard, provides information for each student on number of responses answered, average Lexile level of books chosen, and average reading comprehension scores.
This information is available to all admins and teachers using the platform, including principals, reading specialists, and literacy coaches, allowing everyone to monitor reading comprehension school-wide. With this information, educators are able to personalize their curriculum, book recommendations, and interactions with students.
The platform will soon be integrated the Lexile Measure cloze assessment, giving administrators and teachers an even closer look at the progress of students.
It Engages Students in Higher-Level Thinking
“The questions are deep, and hit on all levels of Costa’s and Bloom’s Levels of Questioning and Depth of Knowledge. The students love that they have choice in the type of questions they can respond to.” – Cheryl R., K-8 teacher
After logging reading students answer a standards-aligned, open-ended question to show their comprehension. They can also write a book review or a “blog post,” which simply encourages students to write longer passages in a way that feels fun for them. Few tools combine reading and writing, two of the most important skills for young students, allowing Whooo’s Reading to truly stand out of from crowd
Is It Right For Your Classroom or School?
Currently Whooo’s Reading is in more than 35,000 classrooms around the world, from California to Australia. If you’re interested in bringing this tool to your classroom or school you can request a demo to learn more about how it can engage your students and improve independent reading. Request a demo at WhooosReading.org or sign up for just $15 a month!
About the Author:
Jessica Sanders is the Director of Social Outreach for Whooo’s Reading, a San Diego-based education organization that motivates students to read more every day. It’s available to teachers, schools and districts. Jessica grew up reading books like The Giver and Holes, and is passionate about making reading as exciting for young kids today as it has always been for her. Follow Learn2Earn on Twitter and Facebook, and check out their new ebook, How to Bring Technology Into the Classroom, just $2.99 on Amazon.com.
