Shortly after my last post, which is now two and a half months in the rear view mirror, I purchased my first iDevice–an iPhone.  It was a two-step process.  The first step was to purchase a 32 GB iPod Touch.  Within a week, I discovered that I really couldn’t do without a built-in microphone.  Fortunately,  I was able to do a straight exchange.

Despite experiencing some of Apple’s over-the-top control issues, I’ve enjoyed the first two months with my iPhone more than I expected.  With available apps, the iPhone is a versatile little tool box!  The potential of iStuff to support learning is impressive.

While using an amazing 99 cent app called GoodReader I made a discovery that strikes me as counter intuitive.  GoodReader is for reading pdf and txt files of virtually any size, so I decided to give it a try with a full length book

I’ve gone on to read other books because I discovered that reading on the small iPhone screen is by far the best book -reading experience I’ve ever known.  It’s better for me than reading on a larger computer screen, and it’s also better than reading from a typical book.

What do I mean by better?  There are at least three things.  I am able to stay more focused on what I’m reading.  I can read faster.  Retention also seems improved.  There is nothing scientific about these personal observations, but I believe they are valid and useful.

I must hasten to add a disclaimer.  Although I’ve never been diagnosed with a “learning disability”, reading has always presented me with challenges.  Reading is typically a painstakingly slow process, and I often have to re-read text multiple times before “getting” it.  It has never been easy  for me to stay focused on the page, whether it’s a paper page or a digital screen.

All I’m offering here is my observation of a personal experience, but I believe my experience may be helpful for others who are support learners in classrooms.  I suspect that the act of reading is unique for each of us.  So it is probably never safe to assume that anyone else reads just like you.  Last year, I worked with a 16 year old whose reading comprehension is excellent–as long as there are no more than four words on a line.  Comprehension was almost impossible with more than four words across a line of text.

It is wonderful that in our era of flexible digital text, we can almost always optimize the readng experience!  Here’s what a “page” of text looks like in GoodReader on my iPhone.