A teacher, an idea and a new way to inspire reading

Jermaine Robinson kept coming back to one question during his first year at DSST Conservatory Green Middle School: "What would actually make students want to read?"

It sounds simple. But for Robinson, a Special Education teacher who joined DSST just over a year ago, that question became the seed of something much bigger than he initially imagined. That question became A.R.I.S.E. (Advocating for Resilience, Inclusion, Support & Empowerment) Reader.

A.R.I.S.E. Reader is a free reading and quiz platform Robinson built entirely from the ground up. Students choose books they're interested in, complete comprehension quizzes and earn points, coins, leaderboard rankings and rewards, all with the goal of making students develop a genuine interest in reading. In his latest iteration, Robinson has built in customizable avatars, virtual pets, arcade- and multiplayer-style games, a live classroom quiz game and an entire virtual environment students can explore and unlock as they read.

“Teachers can lock or limit gaming features, and students can gain more access as they complete and pass reading quizzes,” Robinson said. “Instead of games competing against academics, I’m trying to make the two work together. … Students can earn things for their avatar and take care of pets by feeding them, giving them treats, walking them, and keeping them happy. The goal is for students to think, ‘I want to unlock that,’ and then understand that reading is how they get there.”

The A.R.I. is a tribute to his daughter Ariana, who has most influenced the way Robinson thinks about education. Watching Ariana work hard toward milestones that might seem small to an outside observer but were genuinely monumental up close changed how Robinson thinks about celebrating progress.

"One of the biggest lessons she has taught me is that growth doesn't always happen on somebody else's timeline,” he said. “Sometimes in education, we become so focused on where a child is ‘supposed’ to be that we don’t stop and recognize how far that individual child has come. I don't want students to have to wait until they reach some predetermined benchmark before they get to feel successful."

That philosophy is woven into every layer of A.R.I.S.E., and it shows up most clearly in how Robinson thinks about motivation.

"Accountability can make a student complete something," he said, "but it doesn't necessarily make them care about it."

As a Special Education teacher, he works daily with students who have vastly different reading levels, learning needs, interests and ways of engaging with content. That reality made a one-size-fits-all approach a non-starter. One student might be driven by seeing their name on a leaderboard. Another might want to earn coins for a new avatar item. Another might want to unlock more game time with their friends.

"The reward gets them through the door," Robinson explained. "But my hope is that somewhere along the way they find a book, a character, a series or an author that makes them forget they started reading for the reward in the first place. That's where the real win happens."

Robinson also made sure the platform could reach students who need more than a standard quiz format. A.R.I.S.E. offers inclusive alternatives like eye gaze tech (which lets users control a computer screen or communication device using only eye movements) and non-verbal quiz options for students who need alternative formats. The platform also features text-to-speech on every quiz, AI-assisted quiz generation with built-in teacher review, a parent dashboard and progress-monitoring tools that let educators track reading growth and analytics over time. He's even launched Reading Club where students earn 100 points per session just for showing up and reading together.

Building all of this while teaching full-time is, by any measure, a remarkable undertaking.

“I’m a teacher,” he said. “I didn’t start this as a software developer or as somebody running an education technology company. A.R.I.S.E. started with an idea, and I’ve had to learn how to turn that idea into something students can actually use.

There have been plenty of times when something broke, something didn’t look the way I imagined or I finished building a feature and immediately thought, ‘No, the kids are going to need this to work differently.’”

But he kept going. Already, 50 students have joined the platform, a number he expects to keep growing.

His vision for A.R.I.S.E. at DSST is a school culture where students talk about what they're reading, compare progress, ask about new books, and encourage each other. Beyond DSST, he hopes to one day make the platform available to other schools, especially for students who haven't connected with traditional reading programs.

"I want a student who doesn't consider themselves a reader to find one book that changes that perception," he said. "I want them to be able to say: I did that. I'm getting better. I want to keep going."

Visit arisereader.com to explore the platform, create an account, and get your students started today. And if you have a favorite book you think students should discover. Robinson is featuring a Teacher's Pick spotlight on the site and would love your recommendation.