CommonLit (Effective Literacy Website #6

CommonLit (https://www.commonlit.org ) is a website that delivers high-quality, free instructional materials to support literacy development for students in grades 5-12. The resources on this site are flexible, research-based, aligned to the Common Core State Standards, and created by teachers for teachers. CommonLIt provides a tailored curriculum development, customized professional development, and analyzes student performance with actionable data reports and analytics. In addition, CommonLit is 100% free for teachers and students. To sign up for a CommonLit account, one would simply need their work email, a zip code to find your school, and then confirming the email in order to fully access all the resources.

CommonLit is a reliable tool as it is entirely research-based firmly believing that college success starts in middle school and that the best predictor of college readiness is 8^th grade literacy. CommonLit firmly believes that students learn best when texts are differentiated by reading level, that grouping texts by theme helps students relate what they read to their lives, and that student perform better when they discuss what they read, form opinions, and defend their claims. CommonLit is an excellent literacy resource that provides teachers with best reading passages paired with common literature books and historical events. CommonLit is a unique tool that encourages students to use critical thinking skills, enables students to explore themes and make connections, and impacts student learning.

An educator with a CommonLit account will be able to create/manage classes (which can be imported from Google Classroom), create assignments for students in the created classes, track student progress, and have access to download full lesson plans and units. Passages are organized by book title, genre, grade level, text set, or theme for easy finding. For example, if I searched for the book “Holes”, I would then get a list of reading passages picked to supplement this book. Reading passages are listed with the title, a passage summary, and a recommendation of when and how to pair the passage with the book for before, during, or after reading the book. The grade level, type of text (poem, informational text, essay, etc.), and Lexile measurement is also listed with the passage.

As a CommonLit user, one would have full access to download and use the lesson plans. The “teacher’s lounge” offers the texts with lesson plans. So far, there are 16 lesson plans organized by books/themes. Grade level, type of text, and Lexile measurement are also given to help teachers easily identify the appropriate lesson to use. After clicking on the desired lesson plan, a brief summary is given about the lesson plan and what the text is great for and the skills students will be applying. Short films may also be attached to supplement the lesson. Teachers have the option to also download the lesson plan and student handouts.

Another fascinating feature that CommonLit offers are the tools available after clicking on a desired reading passage. After choosing the passage, educators are able to assign the text to the classes which been created on the dashboard or to download and print the PDF version. At the start of the passage, an introduction of the passage is given followed by an annotation task for the students. The second tool is the question icon. Clicking on the question icon will navigate students to guided questions about text to assess comprehension skills. On the bottom of the passage, notes are provided which consist of definitions and footnotes.  A tool for struggling readers are the option to look up unknown words, hear the text read aloud, translate text into different languages, and highlight important details. Students are also able to change the font size of the text. Lastly, media (YouTube videos) related to the passage is given as well.

    Overall, CommonLit is a useful classroom tool that is absolutely free for educators. Signing up and creating an account is fast and simple. Once signed into your account, navigating through the website is easy and user friendly. I would recommend this resource to be used at the secondary level. CommonLit is a tool that could definitely be used to build prior knowledge or used as supplemental text for students to create a deeper understanding and connection with the text which is an important aspect needed in literacy.