Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Ways You can use Microsoft Resources in Schools or at Home

I have used programs such as Read Write Gold for students with reading/comprehension disabilities om the past, but this program appears easy and user friendly. I would use Narrator in my classroom to assist struggling readers. Or, I can have the students listen to the word documents they create being read back to them. Many times I find that students do not actually read what they write. In fact, when they read their writing to me they always read the document as they think it is written. By listening to their work they will catch more mistakes. Another way I can implement this program is to have non-readers listen to stories or direction in this manner. If I really wanted to save some time in repeating myself I could also make written directions of tasks for students to re-listen to if I am not available to chat with them.

Finding the narrator software is quite simple. If you have Windows 7, all you need to do is find the Windows icon at the bottom left hand side of your screen. Once you have located the icon, left click it. the viewer will notice a blank search box at the bottom of the selection page. In the search box, type "Narrator."

Once you have found the "Narrator" tool, you can use various keyboard combinations to control the functions of Narrator. The most useful keyboard combination I can see a student learning to use is ctrl+shft+spacebar;This combination reads the entire text of the page you select as a reader. If a reader needs to walk away from the reading or pause their work they can simply hit ctrl. Using insert+f6 allows the reader to hear the current paragraph. Lastly, insert+f8 will read an entire document.

Microsoft narrator

This Link will give you access to more in depth instructions.

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