Newsela

Christina Sablan Toves
ED638 Intercession 2017
Dr. M. Rivera
IRA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Website #6

Newsela (www.newsela.com) is a course management system designed specifically to increase student’s literacy skills in non-fiction texts. The website includes up to date news and articles for grades 2-12. Each article on the website includes different lexile levels for students to be able to read successfully.  Teachers are able to manage classes and personalize each student’s assignments to fit their needs and reading levels.
    Newsela Pro allows teachers to create an unlimited amount of courses. Students are assigned class codes to be able to register. When students are given access to their course, they are able to find assignments in their binders. The binders include articles that were assigned by the teacher. Every article includes different lexiles that a student can set their reading to. This option allows for students to be successful in reading the articles by choosing the level that they are comfortable with. It could also help give students who need a challenge the option to increase the lexile level. The great thing about this feature is the teacher is able to view the lexile levels each student chose and score them accordingly.
    The articles on the website also include ready made quizzes that students can take after reading the text. This is a resourceful tool for teachers to check for understanding. The scores will be shown to the students through their binder and teachers will also have access to all student’s scores and lexile level the article was read with. This is a great tool for students to monitor their progress and an alternative for teachers to assess their students.
    The website’s search option makes aligning texts to specific Common Core standards convenient and easy! Teachers can search the library by subject, grade level, and reading standards. The assessments will also align to the standard that was indicated on the search engine. This can be a very effective way for teachers to ensure alignment between standards, texts, and assessments.
    The website’s extensive amount of non-fiction texts can help improve children’s literacy skills all around the world. Teachers who expose their student’s to these types of texts can help increase their students chances of becoming literate members of society. The website’s many features can help teachers save time that is normally used on searching for articles related to the standard being taught and also increases the likelihood of text and assessment alignment.