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Thankful for Read & Write

By Samantha Wilkinson, Elementary Teacher Specialist

Hope everyone had a wonderful and rejuvenating Thanksgiving break. As we often do this time of year, I spent some time reflecting on the things I am thankful for. Near the top of my list were our OIT applications which make lessons engaging and easy to design, and also the Read & Write Extension. Yes, I said it. I know many teachers are annoyed by the R&W pop-up toolbar during instruction but did you know about the wonderful tools of Read & Write? I am here to tell you why that purple puzzle piece should be something you are grateful for, too!

Due to the teacher shortage, I spent several weeks back in the classroom as an AACPS 5th grade teacher this fall. One of the first things I noticed about my students was the range in ability and language. While all classrooms have mixed capacities and students with special needs, this group in particular had an expansive span of writing and reading skills. Some students were ready for multi-paragraph essays, adding dialogue and figurative language to their narratives, while others struggled to sound out CVC words and compose a sentence with all the parts of speech included. 

With many English Language Learners in my group, some students were working on verbal expression and did not yet have the writing skills to communicate. And in case you didn’t know already, by 5th grade kids are hyper-aware of their abilities and the abilities of their peers leading to some students doing absolutely nothing during our writing class. When I asked why they were not working they admitted that they didn’t want to be embarrassed and “exposed” for not knowing how to spell certain words. During Science and Social Studies, where the reading material is robust and full of new vocabulary, my reluctant readers shut down immediately. Just one glance at an article about “Maryland’s Declaration of Rights” and I lost them. 

I just kept thinking about how I could make the learning more accessible to ALL the students. How could I make it so that everyone could work independently, feel appropriately challenged, but also feel confident? To put it plainly, I just wanted them to TRY. I knew support was needed to reach this goal, and with so many needs I couldn’t reach them all simultaneously so I began exploring Read & Write.

Here is what I found out: It’s Amazing.


What is it exactly? Well according to our AACPS Resource Site, “A digital literacy support tool called Read & Write for Google Chrome for all K-12 students. Read & Write is a Google Chrome Extension that students can use to access over 20 different features to help them read, write, and study independently! The toolbar works within any website, Performance Matters, and all Google Suite Products, including Google Classroom, Google Docs, Google Forms, and Google Slides.”

Once the extension is installed and clicked on students can click on a word and have it read to them, or an entire section, or an entire page! They can get a picture dictionary for an unknown word, which is amazing for ELL students and our littlest learners. For students who don’t feel confident typing and spelling, they can talk to text to get ideas out. There is a spell checker which even checks for grammar, and homophone errors in Google docs activities. It even has a word prediction tool. The highlighter tool and simplify page feature allows students to focus on the words on the page. Students can bring out key ideas so they don’t have to re-read the entire text later. Look at all the other awesome features here:


If you are not sold on this tool yet or don’t know how to start implementing it in your classroom, there are several premade activities to help you and your students explore the tools. The Office of Special Education created this website with templated practice pages and activities for you to utilize. One my favorites is the Escape Room activity. Kids of all ages will love this one! You can also visit the Read and Write Help page from the app on Classlink.

Pro Tip: Teach the ENTIRE CLASS how to use this tool. It is not just for struggling students! Everyone can use these tools, even to just increase engagement and interaction with the text or writing assignment. When using the toolbar becomes common practice in your classroom, students are way more likely to use it and complete their work. It makes everyone feel comfortable which a is universal design for learning principle that propels ALL students forward.

So there you have it. Why I am thankful for the R&W toolbar. I hope you will explore it for yourself. Let us know in the comments your favorite tool or how you use it in your classroom!


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