For my English 9-10 classes I've begun to use the site NEWSELA. It is an online source of non-fiction articles that are current and relevant. They can be selected and assigned individually or as text sets, and there are text sets to accompany many classic novels, including The House on Mango Street, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Things Fall Apart, all of which I teach. Articles can be chosen based on the following general topics: art, money, sports, politics, kids, health. In the past I had difficulty finding non-fiction texts for my kids to read, as I would typically fall down the proverbial rabbit hole while searching for them. This site allows for me to select texts by standard, grade level, and article length. It offers a writing task and a 4-question quiz, the results of which are digitally stored and assessed, keeping track of standards mastered. Students can select from one of four Lexile levels, so it is differentiated, which can be both a benefit and a detriment. It's great for students who are not at grade level, but I've also found students who are proficient selecting Lexile levels that are lower, simply for the purpose of acing the quizzes. To combat this, I've had to give dozens of 0's on the quizzes for students who choose to ignore my instructions to read at or above their Lexile. If we read an article as a class, I have students all select MAX LEVEL, and we use close reading strategies after reading the article once as a group. I have not yet mastered this tool, as I still can't quite figure out how to only find the assignments for students who did them later due to absences. As with any digital tool, the only difference between myself and other teachers who may have "mastered" using them is time! Exploration, trial, and error are the only things that separate veterans from newbies. Additional drawbacks with this site are that anytime students switch periods or enter my class as new students, I have to take the time to add them or move them into the class group. I also don't like the fact that there are only 4 quiz questions and that the writing prompts are always the same unless I take the time to customize them. In all honesty, I've only assigned writing tasks twice because I don't want to have to go back and read/grade them all. The quiz scores are graded automatically though, and that's invaluable to me! My primary goal in using this site was to get more non-fiction into my class, and it's perfect for that! I also love that I don't have to feel guilty about printing more.
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Kirstin
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