Tar Heel Shared Reader

How do I write a book in Tar Heel Reader and then add comments in Tar Heel Shared Reader? These two sites work together. First, you write and publish the book in Tar Heel Reader.  Then you use Tar Heel Shared Reader to add comments.  Here are the directions. 

How do I add comments to a book in Tar Heel Shared Reader? The books must already be published in Tar Heel Reader. Then follow these directions. 

How do I format the symbols in Tar Heel Shared Reader? The onscreen symbols can be formatted to meet your needs. Learn more at https://tarheelreader.org/2020/09/30/how-do-i-format-the-symbols-in-thsr/ 

How should I use the communication symbols during shared reading? The onscreen symbols are intended to support communication and interaction during shared reading. They may provide support to students who do or do not use speech to communicate.

The symbols in Tar Heel Shared Reader are picture communication symbols (PCS) used with permission from Tobii Dynavox.  The symbols can be turned on or off.

If you have a student who has a personal communication system that uses a different set of symbols, you might want to turn the symbols OFF in Tar Heel Shared Reader.

If you have a student who cannot rely on speech to comment during shared reading and does not have a personal communication system, turn the symbols ON.

During shared reading, demonstrate how to use communication symbols by pointing to the words that match the things you say. You will not point to a symbol for each word you say, but point to symbols that match your spoken comments when they are available. This is called aided language input.  The goal is to show students how the symbols can support communication. The goal is NOT for you to model a comment that you expect the student to repeat.

If your students have their own communication systems, provide aided language input on their systems instead of using the communication symbols in THSR. For more information about aided language input, please go to the Project Core website at http://www.project-core.com/aided-language-input-module/ 

For more information about aided language input, please go to the Project Core website at http://www.project-core.com/aided-language-input-module/

How do I use the onscreen symbols during each step of Follow the CAR?  You can point to one or two symbols that match what you are saying when you demonstrate Comments (C in CAR), when you Ask for participation (A in CAR), or when you Respond and add a little more (R in CAR). Learn more about the Follow the CAR and other strategies for shared reading at https://www.sharedreader.org/professional-development-modules/ 

How do I support the shared reading lesson while someone else leads? During a shared reading lesson, it’s common to have one adult leading the lesson while other adults help support students. These adults include paraprofessionals, related service providers, and others. The goal is to help students stay focused on the reader, the text, and their classmates in order to maximize interaction and learning. There are several ways that other adults may assist the reader in keeping the attention of all students. For example, the support adult might:

• use nonverbal gestures to draw the student’s attention to the reader and the text (i.e., pointing, eye and head movements).
• make simple comments paired with a gesture (i.e., “Look”, “Wow!”, “Cool” while pointing to the reader and text).
• alert the reader, if s/he misses a student’s communication attempt. (i.e., “Ms. Edwards, Talia has something to say.”) and repeat the message for the student if the student will not.
• demonstrate things the reader says on the student’s individual AAC system.

 How can I learn more about using Tar Heel Shared Reader?  This site was developed as part of a larger project designed to help teachers, families, and others provide high quality shared reading to students with significant cognitive disabilities. There are training modules and other resources available at http://sharedreader.org

How can I get the registration code? Simply send email to tarheelreader@cs.unc.edu requesting the code, and we will email it to you. We are requiring the code to keep bad spammers from taking over the site.

Why can’t I read draft books? Tar Heel Shared Reader and Tar Heel Reader are separate sites. Tar Heel Shared Reader is only able to access books that are published in Tar Heel Reader. 

Why can’t I use comments that are saved as drafts? For now, using comments must be published in Tar Heel Shared Reader for you to have them appear on screen in reading mode. You can edit draft comments by searching Your Comments in the Your Books section that you can access by clicking on the Old Well symbol in the upper left corner.

How do I reset my password?  Here are some step-by-step directions.