Reading is one of the most important subjects taught in the classroom. It is the basis for every other subject that a child will study throughout the day. Cultivating a love of reading and literacy early in their education is essential to helping promote better reading habits long-term. You may have already tried some of the traditional methods for teaching reading, but they seem to fall short of engaging your class. With the Amazon Alexa, you can get to a place where your students gain a better grip on reading.
What can this small device do for your classroom reading time? Be sure to ask your Alexa to perform these tasks with your students!
Teachers who have room in their budget might want to consider signing up for an Audible account. At the end of the day, you can set Amazon Alexa to read a professionally recorded audiobook to your class while they follow along. Audiobooks can be an entertaining way to encourage reading while still giving teachers a relaxing break at the end of the day or just after recess. Choose from a wide variety of genres to expose your class to a little bit of everything.
Test your class’s reading comprehension with Article Reader. This program allows you to save interesting articles in your Pocket and read them aloud later. All you have to do is ask Alexa to read a particular article whenever you’re ready. Students can listen to the short piece and follow along with a printed version in front of them. This allows you to cater to both auditory and visual learners at the same time. When the reading is over, ask comprehension questions or give a short quiz.
Definitions
Help students to read harder pieces of literature with Alexa. She can give them the definitions of words they don’t understand without the need for dictionaries or help from the teacher. This is a great way to encourage students to read harder materials because they will love asking Alexa questions.
Listening Comprehension Practice
Have students tune up their listening skills with Listening Comprehension Practice. This app speaks from the perspective of a fifth-grade boy named Hutch who makes up his own stories and adventures. In the end, it will quiz you to see if you were really paying attention to his adventures. Students can choose whether they want to hear a happy story, a silly story, something spooky, or a tall tale.
Spelling
Do your students have a difficult time spelling out the vocabulary they use on a regular basis? Now, you can teach them the right way to spell those tricky words which can ultimately improve their reading comprehension. All they have to do is ask, “Alexa, spell” and she will rattle off the right order for their letters. This can make children more self-sufficient and reduce the workload to educators.