Read and Write Gold Software: Helping All Readers and Writers Succeed

1. Read and Write Gold Software: Helping All Readers and Writers Succeed For Educators Educators can use Read and Write GOLD to help develop lesson plans and presentations/lectures. Educators can meet the needs of diverse student populations, including: • Individuals with reading and writing difficulties • Students with learning disabilities such as dyslexia • English Language Learners (ELL) Useful tools on Read and Write Gold’s toolbar for educators are: Teacher’s Toolkit: Enables teachers to control the features used, add and edit features, configure user settings, monitor the progress of individuals or groups, and analyze usage patterns. Speech Input: Converts speech to text to be read aloud. Online Translator: Allows single words, paragraphs, or blocks of text to be translated into multiple languages – perfect for ELL students! Works with any digital content. Phonetic Spell Checker: Analyzes students' spelling and returns suggestions with definitions for common spelling errors. Phonetic spelling and flexible spelling errors, such as typing without vowels, are also identified. A log collects student data for teachers to review. Screenshot Reader: Reads aloud inaccessible text including text embedded within an image or Flash, locked PDFs, or online applications! The user surrounds, hovers, or draws freehand around the text they are interested in. The text is then read aloud with highlighting and can even be exported directly into a Word document. For Students Read and Write Gold is an excellent tool for students. Students can access digital content and have text read aloud with dual color highlighting, which boosts reading comprehension and improves the quality of written work. Read and Write GOLD is available in a mobile addition using a USB so that students have access to literacy support that they need anytime or anywhere. Useful tools on Read and Write Gold’s toolbar for students are: Study Skills Tools: Users can highlight and and extract text from any document or webpage to create study guides and outlines. Users can even collect highlights from multiple sources and gather them into a single document, with bibliography information. These tools facilitate active reading, writing, and learning. Text to Speech: Reads text aloud with dual color highlighting using natural sounding male and female voices. International voices are also available. What Students are Saying: “Read and Write Gold has allowed me to comprehend the text that is assigned to me from school quicker than if I read it on my own.” –Logan “As a student teacher I will be able to use Read and Write Gold with my students who all need extra help with reading. This gives me the ability to send the program with my students, which comforts me in knowing they are able to read at home as well. This program could change the way teacher and students use reading comprehension software.” Hannah Dorothy Muller, Mike Thompson, Diane Majewski, Logan Jones www.collegestar.com and www.texthelp.com Read and Write Gold software allows students to access any curriculum and complete reading, writing, and research assignments, as well as take tests independently. It integrates mainstream applications and includes powerful teacher support tools that allow students full access to course curriculum and independence to complete work on their own. The software tools included support Universal Design for Learning (www.cast.org) and complement innovative, technological teaching practices used in the classroom. College STAR, in collaboration with ITCS, has made this software available to all members of the ECU community for FREE. Read & Write GOLD: Improves Reading Fluency and Comprehension Facilitates Research, Writing, Studying, and Test Taking Encourages Independence and Inclusion Provides UDL Designed Tools that Benefit ALL Students across all RTI Tiers Prepares Students for Success in College and Careers Integrates with Mainstream Applications Includes Powerful Teacher Support Tools Read and Write GOLD is easy to install and can be used on PC, MAC, and iPads. Instructions can be found at: https://download.ecu.edu/SitePages/NavItems/AllSoftware.aspx