Read for Good with Simbi

“Who read my book this week, mom?”, Liv asked me. I pull up my screen and show her the weekly impact report that shows that her narration was read by 288 people in Jamaica, 55 in France, 237 in the Philippines, and 136 in Sri Lanka. “Wow!”, she exclaims. And I have to agree. Wow.

I’m so excited to introduce you to my new favorite literacy app, Simbi! If you know me at all, you’ll know that when I get excited about something, I can’t keep it to myself (remember the Spanish pastries? ;) Well, whether you are a parent, educator, learner, or another ordinary globe-dweller, I know that you are going to love using Simbi.

Here’s how it works. As an educator, parent, or narrator, I can set up a Simbi account for myself and my learners at Simbi.io. When the learner signs into their account, they can read books that you assign to them or choose from a diverse library of e-books. They choose to either read along or narrate a book. Then, they have the option to do a “TellMe” retelling afterward. On your account, you can see the learner’s words-correct-per-minute rate and track when and what they read. You also get weekly impact reports that show how many students around the world have read the books that you narrate.

Simbi Foundation

As someone who cares about literacy on a global scale, I admire that Simbi works in collaboration with simbifoundation.org to build solar-powered classrooms to improve access to education in many areas of the world. It’s encouraging to know that the story I narrate into Simbi might be used to help someone else, in another part of the world, learn to read. At the beginning of 2020, I wrote down my personal and professional goals for the year. One of my top goals was, “To increase literacy for children around the world”.

Simbi’s mission resonates deeply with me.

For Parents

As a homeschool parent, I love that my children can choose books based on their interests and reading levels. They are motivated to “read for good” because they want to help other learners around the world and can improve their own reading fluency at the same time. I can listen to their Simbi reading anytime and monitor their progress through the app. This is very helpful for me, especially since I also have a 3-year-old to care for on our homeschool days. As a travel homeschooler, I love that we can take a quality library with us wherever we go, and still travel light!

For Teachers

As an elementary classroom teacher, I appreciate how well Simbi integrates into the normal flow of a Daily 5 and Guided Reading classroom. My students can read independently and are accountable because they know that I will check to see that they did their best reading, even when I’m not right there. After reading, students can easily leave a “TellMe”, which is when they record a retelling through the app. I can listen to my students’ retellings and check their comprehension. This information guides my instruction and helps me flag students who need extra help.

Simbi is an excellent resource for educators to use in a distance-learning plan because it requires no physical materials, provides accountability for students, and allows educators to actually listen to and assess their students’ reading from a distance.

Research-Based

As a reading specialist, I know that there are specific, research-based practices that lead to reaching achievement. There is nothing more exciting than watching a striving, reluctant reader develop into a successful, joyful reader!

I’m grateful that Simbi uses these three research-based strategies to help learners succeed:

1. Reading Motivation

Research shows that intrinsic reading motivation is strongly associated with reading outcomes, such as students’ reading comprehension, use of effective strategies, and course grades. Simbi motivates students by giving them a variety of reading choices. The books in the library are interesting and appeal to different interests. Many of the books include quality images that engage readers. Read this post to learn more about reading motivation.

2. Reading for Real Purposes

Reading for real purposes, as opposed to “learning to read” purposes increases motivation and leads to improved reading achievement. The quality of a student’s reading is higher when they are given a true reason for reading. When a student reads into the Simbi app, their narration will be used to help other students read along to a story. Their reading has a meaning and is helpful to others.

3. Reading While Listening & Paired Reading

After learning about the benefits of reading while listening, I wanted my students to do this as often as possible! However, I had 19 students in my class and I couldn’t possibly read along with all of them! Instead, I set up my own system for students -a reading station that used short passages and a simple web app called “Vocaroo”. On Vocaroo, students could click “record”, read their passage into the computer, and then read their passage again while listening to themselves read along. I noticed that my students loved reading along with themselves and this was a highly motivating reading experience for even my most reluctant readers. Now, I’ve discovered Simbi and it is WAY better than my Vocaroo station! I saw the need for this app years ago, so when I finally found Simbi … I was thrilled.

Reading while you are listening to someone else (or yourself) read improves reading fluency. It decreases stress levels, increases motivation, and supports decoding. Striving readers who struggle to decode require this additional support to read the more difficult text. The support of reading along as you are reading also exposes learners to new vocabulary that they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to read.

You can’t wait to get started, right? Check it out at simbi.io and sign up for your free account. I’d love to hear how you’re using Simbi in your home or classroom! Let’s read together to improve global literacy and build stronger readers along the way.

https://www.janessaferrell.com/

References

• Friedland A, Gilman M, Johnson M, Demeke A (2017). Does Reading-While-Listening Enhance Students’ Reading Fluency? Preliminary Results from School Experiments in Rural Uganda. Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org ISSN 2222–1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222–288X (Online) Vol.8, №7, 2017
• Guthrie JT, Wigfield A, You W. Instructional contexts for engagement and achievement in reading. In: Christensen S, Reschly A, Wylie C, editors. Handbook of research on student engagement. New York: Springer Science; 2012. pp. 601–634.
• Rasinski, Timothy V. The Fluent Reader: Oral Reading Strategies For Building Word Recognition, Fluency, And Comprehension. New York, N.Y. : Scholastic Professional Books, 2003.