| RATING: 3.9 | |
| SUBJECT AREA: | Reading |
| PUBLISHER: | New Readers Press
Publishing Division of Laubach Literacy International 1320 Jamesville Avenue, Box 888 Syracuse, NY 13210 (800) 448-8878 FAX: (315) 42-5561 http://www.laubach.org |
| COST: | $112.00 (Four 3.5" or 5.25" disks (copy protected) correlated to Laubach Levels 1-4, back-up disks, and teacher's guide) |
USE: Beginning Adult Readers, Literacy students
COMPUTER: MS-DOS
GRADE LEVEL: 1 - 4
SPECIFIC SKILLS: Reading Comprehension (modified cloze), sentence meaning, use of context clues, spelling, and sight vocabulary.
DESCRIPTION: The Laubach Way to Reading Software program provides a computerized supplementary review of all four Laubach skill books. Each disk is correlated to a skill book level and contains text lessons that correspond to those found in the skill book. The vocabulary and the characters will be familiar to the student, but the situations and stories are different from the skill book. Three modified cloze exercises are presented with each lesson. Every exercise screen displays the following layout: 1) the reading passage containing four to ten blanks, dependent on the difficulty level; 2) a list of four word choices to the right; 3) an instruction line at the bottom of the screen; and 4) the student's cumulative score for the exercise. At the beginning of each exercise the student may choose to type in the correct response or use the arrow key method to to choose an answer. In each exercise the student must read the paragraph and fill in the blanks with an appropriate word choice. After two incorrect responses, the correct word is displayed in the passage. Students may repeat an exercise, but only the latest score is recorded to the management system. The passages are usually two paragraphs in length and contain vocabulary found in the Laubach skill books, correlated readers, Focus on Phonics series, and common sight words. No graphics are presented. Teachers can have students log on by picking their name from a list or by typing a "student ID" if confidentiality is a concern. Through the Instructor Menu, two types of reports can be displayed or printed. The Detailed Report displays which lessons each student has completed, the number of correct responses for each lesson, and a cumulative total. The Summary Report displays the total number of lessons completed and the total correct responses on the first and second try. Scores for 25 students can be recorded on each disk.
EVALUATION SUMMARY: This program is moderately priced and provides a good review of the Laubach vocabulary and practice in reading comprehension. Students do not need keyboarding skills to use this program if they use the arrow key method for word choice. Many of our students like to type in the word to improve their spelling skills. However, be sure the student is familiar with the "shift" and "apostrophe" keys because the word must be typed exactly as it appears in the word list to be counted correct. Students in Laubach Level 1 may not be able to read all the words in the menu and directions at first, so a tutor may be needed until the student is comfortable with the process. Students can choose the order of the lessons and the exercises, but our tutors recommend that students not advance to a lesson that has not been completed in the skill book. We found this program to be most effective as a follow-up or supplementary practice to the skill books because many literacy students need additional review and the computer provides a different format. Students benefited from the practice in vocabulary usage and sentence meaning that this program provides. Many of our literacy students used this program independently, before their tutor arrived. They felt it was very easy to use and they liked reviewing their lessons on the computer.