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Teaching with this Title

This software title is useful for supporting reading as part of the overall English curriculum. It concentrates on:
• developing reading
• developing  comprehension skills
• developing response to fiction
• developing creative writing skills.

The software is suitable for use with students with special educational needs. There are three levels of difficulty – easy, normal and hard. By selecting the appropriate level, each student can work to their own ability in a non-threatening atmosphere. The text-to-speech facility enables non-readers and students who have poor word attack skills to access the stories.  One of the most appealing features of Spinout Stories is the high graphical content on each page enticing the reader to get involved with the story.

I  used Spinout Stories to introduce the concept of developing ideas for creative writing based on the story ’Shark Ride Bay’. The story acted as a stimulus for discussion and for planning the students’ own creative writing. It assisted in developing students’ vocabulary skills and their ability to formulate simple sentences of their own within the overall framework of a story.  It also encouraged the students to draft and edit their own stories and to discuss their ideas in a group setting.

Spinout stories contributed to the learning scenario by enabling students were able to listen to the stories as they read and replay any words they found difficult. This meant that the lesson could proceed without the teacher continually having to give individual assistance with reading.. It also gave the students some sense of being in control of their own learning.

I found that this title is most suitable for use with a small group within a class or with an individual student. It can be used with a whole class but may require a lot of monitoring. If the class is well motivated and able to navigate the controls effectively whilst moving from one activity to another then it allows the teacher more time to spend with individual students. However, for weaker students who require constant monitoring the use of a Special Needs Assistant or classroom assistant is necessary when working with Spinout Stories.

The stories are clearly laid out and well illustrated. However, there might have been more variety in their subject matter and a greater selection to choose from.

A sample exemplar using this software.

Spinout Stories Exemplar

d2950.PDF