Using Speech Selection to support proof reading in Book Creator

I have been working in a class where the teacher was trialling some scaffolds to support some reluctant writers and she was looking for ways to engage them in the writing process, while at the same time improving their writing capabilities and proofreading skills.

We used a combination of apps to motivate the students to write. I suggested we use AR Dinopark for the students to take photos with a partner which they could then use for writing in Book Creator.

AR Dinopark is a free augmented reality app for making photos of dinosaurs with learners. You get the triceratops  free and buy other dinosaurs via in app purchases. The children really enjoyed framing and taking the photos of each other using AR Dinopark and we found this to be a great motivator for writing.

The students worked collaboratively to bring their photos into Book Creator. They needed to import their images, record their writing using the microphone and then add their text.

Once they had written their text, they used the Speak function from the Accessibility Menu to hear their writing read back to them.

Before using the Speak Function we needed to have enabled it by going to

• Settings
• General
• Accessibility
• Speech Turn on Speak Selection

There are options available under Voices, such as English UK, US or Australian.

You are also able to adjust the Speaking Rate. Slower is better for younger children.

Highlighting text as it is being read also supports struggling readers.

When hearing his writing in this example Jayden was very surprised that it did not sound as he had wanted it to be when he wrote it  As he didn’t have full stops the speech function read right through where the pauses should have been.

He decided his writing needed some punctuation and expression. He took the iPad to a quiet spot and replayed it as he edited his writing.

This experience of using Speak Selection helped support the learners in becoming independent writers with evolving skills in self review and self reflection. Book Creator made it easy for the students to build their stories.

For more ideas on using Book Creator in the classroom, visit the Red Jumper website.