By the end of the year, read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 6-8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
Readworks
https://www.commonsense.org
- The Readworks App is a phenomenal app for teachers and students. Teachers can use the app to find reading passages that meet the needs of the student. Teachers are able to search for passages by grade level, skill, or by key words. Passages can be assigned to an entire class or specific students in a class. From the teacher side, you are able to select for passages to be read out loud to students. You are able to link your Google Classroom classes to your Readworks classes. Students can log in using their Google Accounts. They can read the assigned passages and answer comprehension questions or questions based on a reading skill.
- Readworks is free.
- The app is for grades k -12.
- The app is compatible for most tablets.
- Common Sense is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to providing information parents, teachers, and students need to succeed in a 21st Century classroom.
Newsela
- Newsela is an app that allows teachers to access news articles to assign to their students. Newsela is the best for differentiating content. Teachers do not have to find a totally new article to assign to lower level students, but they are able to select different lexile levels for the same passage to assign. Teachers can create classes and students can log in to access their assignments. Teachers can select which multiple choice questions and writing questions to assign. Teachers are able to create their own written response questions in place of the ones provided. Different leveled texts have different questions which help with differentiating the text.
- Newsela is free.
- The app is for grades 2-12.
- The app is compatible for most tablets.
- Edsurge is a company that provides information on technological tools and how they can help all learners.
Smithsonian: Tween Tribune
- The Smithsonian: Tween Tribune is another great app that allows teachers and students access to different news articles. Teachers can assign students articles to read and questions to answer. Students have the freedom to browse articles to read by themselves. Teachers have to create classes and set up student accounts by creating usernames and passwords for each student.
- Smithsonian: Tween Tribune is free.
- This app is for ages 10 - 14.
- The app is compatiable for most tablets.
- Common Sense is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to providing information parents, teachers, and students need to succeed in a 21st Century classroom.
I feel like Newsela is the best app out of the three. All three apps are very similar, but Newsela gives the best options for differentiating content. Instead of assigning totally different passages to students, I can assign the students the same passages with different lexile levels. I can select which questions I want to assign or create my own written response question. The other apps make me use their questions, so I like the idea of selecting and creating my own to meet the needs of my students.
Many of the ELA teachers at my school have had great success with Newsela! As teachers, we all want to meet our students where they are and help them grow, and this app allows teachers to do that with just a click. The other fabulous part of this program is that you can use it across the curriculum. You can find articles on Math and Science, which are often hard to find.
ReplyDeleteI have not heard of any of these apps prior to your presentation; however, I have been out of public education for a while now. I do think the idea of Newsela is intriguing and could even be utilized in higher education applications. I am actually already contemplating ideas of how to use it in some of my courses.
ReplyDelete