Choosing the right reading program

Technology is great and if implemented in the classroom in an effective manner would improve our students’ aptitude tremendously. However, we need to note that before we buy into all the technologies and software that purport enhancement in our children’s reading life especially, there are a few things that we must note. Fisher and Ivey (2006) authored a paper entitled “Evaluating the Intervention for struggling adolescent readers” in which they highlighted some concerns about certain programs. They state that:
The teacher should play a critical role in assessment and instruction. They postulated that students who were most successful in reading were students who spent quality time with expert teachers.
The intervention should reflect a comprehensive approach to reading and writing. Programs need to concentrate on all skills in both reading and writing and not just one skill. Instruction in the processes of reading and writing ought to facilitate student engagement and understanding with real texts rather than take centre stage in the program.
Reading and writing in the intervention should be engaging.
Interventions should be driven by relevant and useful assessments. Students need assessments that will take into consideration their literate strengths, needs and preferences. This would entail ongoing assessments and assessments that would see them engaging in literate tasks in a variety of contexts.
The intervention should include authentic opportunities for reading and writing. These interventions should provide students with many opportunities to read and write and not programs that concentrate on skill-and-drill activities with the exclusion of reading and writing activities.
I believe that these pointers should be duly considered as we tend to buy into programs based on their popularity and not on their ability to meet the needs of struggling readers.