Give Struggling Readers a Better Way to Read

As the school year begins, you might discover that you have students who struggle to read. The fact of the matter is that many of our students find reading challenging. The good news is that reading intervention resources, such as BeeLine Reader, are available to help.

About BeeLine Reader

BeeLine Reader is a Chrome extension that changes the color of regular text from black to a color gradient. It allows students to transition between lines quickly and effortlessly by easily moving from one colored line to the next, differently colored line. The colors keep readers on track from line to line and are especially helpful when reading on a mobile device such as a phone or tablet. Readers are less likely to lose their place, since alternating lines are colored differently.

Nick Lum, CEO, BeeLine Reader

In addition to color-coding lines of text for easier reading, the extension will also make text clearer. An obstacle struggling readers have is sorting the “extra stuff” from the actual content. BeeLine Reader strips a website article of the fluff and leaves just the text. The extension also includes a setting option for an Open Dyslexic Font, allowing students with dyslexia to read in an adjusted font.

While at the ISTE 2016 Conference in Denver, Colorado this past June, I was so excited to meet the creator of BeeLine Reader, Nick Lum. I had no idea who he was and that he was the one who created BeeLine Reader. As he started explaining BeeLine Reader to me, I told him I already knew about it and showcase it in many of my workshops. He was thrilled to hear that!

How It Works

BeeLine Reader can easily be added to any Chrome browser. Once added, teachers can prompt students to click the BeeLine icon on their Chrome web browser and choose their color scheme before reading long passages of text online.

Teachers should encourage students to use reading-comprehension strategies while using BeeLine Reader, such as making note of keywords, important characters, or making connections to important details. Students should also get in the habit of summarizing each passage they read to ensure they are understating.

BeeLine is also available as an app on an iPhone and an iPad. However, to get the best user experience, use the Chrome browser version. There is also a PDF converter that allows you to convert textbooks in PDF form to the BeeLine Reader format. You can read as much as you want with BeeLine for 30 days. After that, you can use BeeLine up to five times every day for free. If you would like to use it more than that, then you can subscribe to BeeLine Reader Pro for just $10 a year. Additional educational pricing is available on the BeeLine Reader website.

Try It

The potential to increase reading speed and proficiency when using this extension, especially for struggling readers, makes it worth the try. To use it:

1. Add the BeeLine Reader extension to your Chrome browser.
2. Go to DOGO news and select an article to read. If you aren’t familiar with DOGO news, it is a site that has fun articles for kids on current events, science, sports, and more.
3. Click on the BeeLine Reader extension icon located in the upper right side of your Chrome browser.
4. Watch what happens! Feel free to adjust some of settings for better reading.

Conclusion

According to Nick’s research, more than 90 percent of users report an increase in ease of reading when using the tool’s color-gradient feature. Give it a try and judge for yourself. This is a tool that will be a huge help to some students, and it’s worth a shot for helping build reluctant readers’ fluency.

In addition, don’t forget about the TCEA Recommended Chrome App and Extension List if you are looking for more Chrome resources to improve your student’s literacy skills. If you use the BeeLine Reader extension, we would love to hear from you.

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This blog entry was also published at http://tcea.org/blog.