About the only positive thought I’ve had regarding the most recent outbreak of relentless American gun violence, is that at least it didn’t happen in a school. But of course that’s due to the season, not any actual change to our world. And it is back to school time.
This time, this school year, with your help we may have something positive to contribute. I’ve written two web sites that may help with literacy, with classwork memorization, with pronunciation. They are free but I don’t know how to get them into the right hands. They also need feedback to make them easier to use.
Do you know people
- who need to use them: Students or Parents
- who help others learn: Teachers
- who work in organizations around literacy: Angels
The first is https://drill.school. “Drill yourself with verbal flashcards for pronunciation or memorization.” It can play a phrase, record your version, then play both so you can hear yourself for feedback. Or, ask a question, record your answer, then play the correct answer. You can record something, chop it up and repeat it. Or, type in text and the computer will read it to you and record your answers. I think it helps mostly with learning another language, but should help with memorizing any set of facts.
The second is https://PlayItAgainKid.com. It helps parents to record reading any book to a child, and helps the child play back the recording, page by page (plus a lot of stuff to encourage creativity, like illustrating the page and recording alternative versions, which is not all present in the current online version). I want to get it into hands as a tool to read to children,but hope it turns into a way to encourage new authors to draw and illustrate their own ideas.
The school year is starting!
I have been hoping to partner with a charity in the literacy space, but can’t seem to attract attention in time (that, and I keep working on them rather than trying to market). I’m doing this in my spare time after work, but at 55 I don’t always have a lot of extra energy. It would be nice to do this full time, or find someone who knows how to get this to the next level (which is really any level at all outside of my head).
I’ve fantasized that these websites would be hosted locally by schools, churches, newspapers, or local bookstores rather than globally by some monster company, and would thus help drive traffic locally. But that’s probably less important that getting them into the hands of people who would use them.
I feel like there is so much potential here, that it’s too big for me to do on my own. This is my “Hail Mary pass” to see who wants to help. And yes, I’m shamelessly looking for a little encouragement.
What can we do to get this out in time to help for this coming school year?
I have taught English as a second language (ESL) a few times as a volunteer. The students were adults who had lived here a while, and often the problem was more of confidence than anything. They would not speak loud enough, out of fear of being wrong. This approach allows a teacher to prepare a lesson, record it once, then the students can practice against it as many times as they care to. The lesson could record each word distinctly, then together as a sentence at native speed.
Teachers will need a place they can ‘publish’ their lessons like a shared dropbox or other cloud storage. The student can sync to their device while in school, then practice without using any bandwidth.
Or, students can record something in real life, and bring it to the teacher for help in understanding, or use the tools to chop it up and practice inparts.
So, the next time you’re reading a favorite book to your child, you grab your cell phone and go to PlayItAgainKid. You can take a selfie of both of you, plus the book. Then record your reading, page by page.
Now this can be played back on a tablet, phone or PC, any time they wish just by clicking on thatselfie. It can play straight through, or page by page while the babysitter interacts over the illustrations. After your child plays it, you can get an email so you know they spent some time with your recording, and they can press a button to record a message, a picture of themselves, or a drawing by them, which is sent to you and saved for posterity. Maybe they wake up from a noise at night, and turn to the recording to comfort themselves back to sleep –now you’ll know.
And if they are learning to read, they can play it back word by word and learn to sight read to yourvoice, at their own speed.
On any page they want, you can prompt them to draw what is happening, retell you the story,or take a picture of them acting that page out in real life. All saved permanently so you can see their progress as they develop. Before you know it, your child’s favorite literature has become a rich multi-media creative interaction - fun to watch their own version of the book,saved for them to play to other family members.
If you would like to record a book for a kid, you will need a free dropbox account. All your files will be kept there. You will need a smartphone, laptop, ordesktop with webcam. Click the upper left corner icon to get to a menu where you can record.
(I look at it now and am embarrassed by some obvious things being missing, and am tempted to delay this again. Instead, I will push through, and hopefully attract someone better at UI/UX to help redesign the interface).
Thank you for any comments you have,
Jim
Read More