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Reading Comes Easy As A Song

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By RONNIE BLAIR

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 16, 2008

WESLEY CHAPEL - This particular club at New River Elementary evokes images of amateur singers belting out popular songs as their friends cheer or chuckle.

But the Principal's Karaoke Club is more than just another variation on a school chorus.

The nearly 25 students in the club meet regularly to tap into "Tune In to Reading," a computer software program that improves their reading skills, even as it gives them a chance to rehearse their vocal talents.

"It's just amazing," Principal Lynn Pabst said. "We're seeing behavior changes, too."

Pabst and her staff are eagerly awaiting the results of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test to see whether this musical approach to reading remediation lifts the scores of the children, all of whom had been struggling readers.

The students, meeting in small groups of six, wear headphones and speak into a microphone as they work their way through "Tune In to Reading" on Macintosh computers. They sing such traditional songs as "I've Been Working on the Railroad" and "Home on the Range."

The computer gives the students a score after they sing. The software measures whether they pronounce the words correctly, and a pitch-tracking mechanism makes sure they are singing the words at the right moment in time with the music.

Scores come in low if a student stumbles over unfamiliar words. The scores pick up as the student's literacy increases.

The increase in reading skills has produced more confidence and self-esteem for many of the students, the school reports.

"There is not a day these kids don't want to come into 'Tune In to Reading,'" said Donna Shoen, the school's reading specialist. "I have seen them run to this room."

Olin Ortiz, 11, a fifth-grader, is one of those students excited about what happens at the Principal's Karaoke Club gatherings.

"I started off slow and built my way up," Olin said. "Now it's easy."

He said he used to read, at most, 20 minutes in a sitting at home.

"Now I read almost 50," Olin said.

Shoen oversees the Principal's Karaoke Club with the assistance of Laurie Howard, the technology specialist. Pabst also joins the group on occasion. After all, as the name suggests, it's her club.

The "Tune In to Reading" software is produced by Electronic Learning Products of Tampa and, since its introduction two years ago, has found its way into 165 elementary, middle and high schools. Most are in Florida, but some are scattered among 10 other states.

Carlo Franzblau, the company's president, said a bit of serendipity led to the software's development.

Franzblau set out several years ago to create software that would help him improve his singing. He fine-tuned the software over two or three years, and by 2003 was ready to give it a trial run with a selected group of users.

In spring 2004, he learned the program came with unexpected benefits. The parents of a middle school student reported their daughter's reading skills had improved since she began using Franzblau's product.

Just like that, he was off in a new direction.

"These kids are making a year's gain, sometimes two years' gain, in nine weeks," Franzblau said.

In 2007, The Wall Street Journal gave Electronic Learning Products one of its Technology Innovation Awards.

Professors at the University of South Florida have been researching the effectiveness of "Tune In to Reading" and found the program "facilitated student growth in fluency, vocabulary and comprehension."

Pabst learned about "Tune In to Reading" two years ago when she attended a Just Read, Florida conference in Orlando. At that time, the product had been used only in middle schools.

Last year, when she again attended the summer conference, Palm River Elementary in Hillsborough County had used the software, and the principal there did a presentation on the Principal's Karaoke Club.

Pabst liked what she heard.

New River Elementary is a new school this year. Construction on the building wasn't complete at the start of the academic year, so the students and staff began their year in portable classrooms at Sand Pine Elementary.

The Principal's Karaoke Club also held its inaugural meetings in a portable classroom. In February, the building was ready for the school to move in.

When it came time for the school's dedication ceremony and ribbon cutting this month, Pabst had a special assignment for the Principal's Karaoke Club.

She asked the group to sing the national anthem.

"These guys stepped up to the plate," Shoen said. "They performed and did a great job with it."

To hear and see the New River Principal's Karaoke Club perform in an audio slideshow, go to TBO.com, Keyword: Karaoke. Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218 or rblair@tampatrib.com.

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