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Month: August 2011

Let Reading Come Alive! Download 5!

If you, our teachers in schools with Bookshare accounts, could do one thing to help turn your non-reading students with print disabilities into readers, would you do it? This fall, we’d like you try something. For each student, download 5: 3 for school and 2 for cool. Get them their textbooks – let’s say at least 3 – and then get 2 more that you think your students will enjoy reading for fun. Many students tell us that using Bookshare for their school work has opened up the world of books.  They now read on their own and even download…

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Hidden Gems

Many thanks to Judy S., a Bookshare member and volunteer, for this guest post! If you have a horse-crazy kid, or were one yourself, you’ve undoubtedly discovered the standard horse book fare, ranging from Walter Farley’s The Black Stallion to Dick Francis’ best-selling horse-racing mysteries in Bookshare’s collection. But did you know that Bookshare’s library contains many other hidden gems relating to horses? Here’s ten of my favorite lesser-known horse books, ranging from young-reader chapter books to adult mysteries to non-fiction titles. For the younger set, don’t miss Kristin Earhart’s Big Apple Barn series.  It’s a great introduction to the…

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Making Research Fun With Bookshare – Part Three

Guest post by Deborah Armstrong, Alternate Media Specialist, DeAnza Community College, CA Different Reading Devices…Is it Time for a Change? If you don’t like reading books on your computer, have you tried portable reading devices?  I found portable devices tedious so I taught myself how to use the two screen-reader friendly DAISY readers for Bookshare members –Victor Reader Soft and Amis.  Both applications let me sort through books on my computer first.  After I do that, I move the books to my portable device to read them. Also, consider downloading the free Read:Out Loud Bookshare edition text reader. This way…

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Making Research Fun With Bookshare – Part Two

A guest post, the second in a three-part series, by Deborah Armstrong, the alternate media specialist at De Anza Community College in Cupertino CA. Now that you can navigate through an accessible book and record notes and relevant information, it is time to search Bookshare and find books on a topic you enjoy or one that makes you curious. Keep your topic broad, but not too broad.  If your subject is Animals, you will have too many books in your search results making it hard to select one.  If your subject is poodles, you might not find enough.  If your…

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