In today’s post, I am want to bring your attention to this interesting platform called CommonLit. This platform offers a comprehensive literacy program designed to accelerate students’ reading, writing, speaking, and problem-solving abilities. Whether you’re an educator looking to enrich your curriculum or a parent seeking ways to support your child’s educational journey, CommonLit offers a treasure trove of resources that promise to make a significant impact.
Let’s explore what CommonLit has to offer, its features, and ways to use it in your own teaching.
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What Is Commonlit?
CommonLit is a transformative literacy platform offering a wealth of resources including thousands of engaging reading lessons, a comprehensive full-year English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum, benchmark assessments, and detailed standards-based data for educators.
CommonLit is designed to significantly boost students’ reading, writing, speaking, and problem-solving abilities by integrating seamlessly with popular educational tools like Clever, ClassLink, Canvas, and Google Classroom. At its heart, CommonLit’s mission is to unlock the potential of every child through literacy, providing a cohesive and accessible solution that connects curriculum, assessment, and professional development in a single, user-friendly platform.
Moreover, CommonLit offers a streamlined pathway for teachers to create a digital classroom environment tailored to their specific needs and student groupings. Teachers can create their own classes, add students, and assign reading tasks, and assess students learning.
CommonLit Library
The CommonLit Library is a repository of educational content, meticulously organized to cater to a wide range of learning needs and preferences. You can browse the library by:
- Grades (3-12): The library is structured to serve a broad spectrum of grade levels, ensuring that content is age-appropriate and challenging enough to stimulate intellectual growth. Whether you’re teaching elementary, middle, or high school students, the library offers tailored reading materials that align with their developmental stages and educational standards.
- Genres: CommonLit Library provides texts across a multitude of genres. From fiction and non-fiction to poetry and historical documents, the library ensures that students can explore a wide array of literary forms, fostering a love for reading and expanding their understanding of different textual styles.
- Standards: CommonLit adheres to standards-based content. The library’s offerings are aligned with state and national educational standards, including the Common Core, making it easier for teachers to integrate texts into their curriculum and ensure that their teaching meets rigorous educational benchmarks.
- Content Type: The library’s content is not just varied in genre but also in type, including:
- Texts: Free, standards-aligned reading passages from a diverse range of renowned authors, catering to various interests and academic needs.
- Target Lessons: Ready-to-use, skills-focused lessons designed to address and close learning gaps, providing specific interventions in key areas.
- Collections: Curated selections of compelling passages grouped by popular topics, themes, and novels, making it easy to find related materials for thematic units.
- Supplemental Units: Comprehensive, research-backed instructional units designed for 1-2 weeks of learning, offering in-depth exploration of specific themes or skills.
To further tailor the educational experience, the CommonLit Library provides additional filters such as theme, literary device, and lexile level, allowing educators to fine-tune their search for materials that best suit their instructional goals and students’ learning preferences.
CommonLit Assignments
Crafting assignments on CommonLit offers a streamlined and intuitive process that empowers teachers to deliver customized reading experiences to their students. Here’s a closer look at how educators can navigate the CommonLit platform to assign tailored Library Lessons:
When you’re logged in as a teacher, head over to the library and search for texts. When you find the one that aligns with your lesson objectives, click on the Assign button. You can select which class(es) or individual student(s) the text is assigned to, adapting the assignment to fit different learning groups or needs. The option to disable or enable Guided Reading Mode offers an additional layer of customization, allowing you to cater to varying reading proficiencies within your classroom.
You also have the autonomy to select which Assessment Questions to include, ensuring that the questions align with your learning objectives. Setting the due date adds a timeline to the assignment, while the option to customize the Annotation Task gives students a focused, interactive way to engage with the text.
Interactive Features
CommonLit truly enhances students reading experience by infusing it with interactive elements that make learning both engaging and effective. Imagine a student diving into a text, armed not just with curiosity but with tools that invite them to become active participants in their learning journey. The Annotate feature is a prime example of this.
As students navigate through their readings, they can highlight key phrases or jot down their thoughts and questions directly on the text. It’s like having a conversation with the author or with the text itself, allowing for a deeper understanding and personal connection to the material. Students can revisit their annotations anytime through the Assignment’s Dashboard, reinforcing their learning and reflections.
CommonLit also encourages a communal learning experience with its Discussion feature. Here, students can engage with thought-provoking questions related to the text, opening up a world of perspectives and interpretations that enrich their comprehension and analytical skills.
And for those moments when a student might struggle with language barriers or prefers auditory learning, CommonLit offers translation capabilities and a read-aloud feature. These tools ensure that all students, regardless of their learning preferences or backgrounds, have access to the riches of literature and the empowerment of understanding.
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Final thoughts
In wrapping up, CommonLit is a powerful educational platform to use to enhances students literacy and critical thinking skills across grades 3-12. With its extensive library, tailored assignments, and interactive features, CommonLit not only supports educators in delivering a rich, standards-aligned curriculum but also captivates students by making reading an interactive and deeply engaging activity.
