Clicker 6 - an Educational Software Tool

Click 6 is an educational software tool available to elementary and middle school teachers.  The tool, which can be used through the computer and SmartBoards, allows teachers and students to experiment with reading and writing and aims to make the students more independent and able readers and writers.  There are so many different features that can be used in the software:

The ability for students to copy and paste text from anywhere on a computer or online (ebooks included) and have the text read to them through the program.


The students are also able to use the software to create their own writing and books using the software.


One neat feature is the "powerful adjectives" feature which reads what the students are writing and suggests places stronger words and adjectives can be inserted and even gives the students an automatic thesaurus to use to find new words.


Another feature the program offers is the ability for the teacher to create and save a book or assignment template for the students to use, which they can load vocabulary words or other information and words they would like the students to use.


There is also a huge library of images and pictures that the students can include to enhance their books and writing.  They can also use their own pictures or a webcam to upload images to be used in their writing.


When the students write, they have the option of using a feature that reads their work back to them, which allows for active editing and more conscious writing and punctuation.  They can also use the feature to create "talking books" which can be shared with the whole class.

Another useful feature that can be activated by the teacher and/or students is the "parts of speech" feature, which highlights words in the students' writing and color codes them according to which part of speech they are.

The software is great for encouraging creativity and strengthening writing and reading skills for students.  It also encourages the students to be more self-sufficient by using the program to help answer thier questions and to guide them in their writing.  It even helps with reading!

Click HERE to watch a video about Clicker 6

Here is part of a review one teacher wrote about Clicker 6 and how she uses it:

The initial introduction to the activity takes about 20 minutes to explain how to use the grids. On the first page the name of the story appears and an explanation of what the student will be doing. These explanations were given using buttons that had my voice recorded. On the next page the student is asked to read part of the story. Any words that may be difficult for these students are typed into another box. These words act as audio clues. The student clicks on the word and a computer voice tells them the word. This allows the student to get help on demand while still doing most of the reading alone.
The next step involved the writing of a summary about the reading. A series of questions were asked using numbered buttons, all of the words needed to answer the questions were put into grids. These grids, along with the vocabulary grids that come with Clicker, were color-coded for nouns, verbs and others. By using these grids the students were able to produce a summary of the reading that they were proud to turn in.

Clicker 6 is also a great tool for the special education classroom! Click HERE to see how Clicker 6 can be used for students with several different disabilities.

There are, however some major downfalls to the program, mainly the price.  For a single computer license, the program costs $300.  This goes all the way up to $3000 for unlimited computer use.  If it is in the budget, I feel that this is a great program for the classroom.