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Share and Blog a Content Area Resource

  • Posted by Susan Ruckdeschel
  • On 8 July, 2015
  • 4 Comments
  • content area literacy, content area literacy resources, literacy solutions and more, susan ruckdeschel

Let’s share some content area resources. They can be those to differentiate with, resources for inclusive classrooms, or resources focused specifically on struggling readers. Organizers, rubrics, checklists, strategy aides – anything that has research or field-testing behind it to show that it works. Let’s share a research-based resource that you’ve used in your classroom and talk about it in this blog.

  1. First, tell us why you chose the resource, and what the research behind it is (what study and/or where it was published).
  2. Next, provide us with a link to the resource and a brief description of it.
  3. Tell us about your students: how they reacted, what the demographics are, the classroom make-up, and explain how the resource worked particularly well.

4 Comments

Theresa Fontana
Love using the website below. I am able to differentiate easily and provide scholastic news opportunities for students while building background knowledge and vocabulary in current events depending on the assignment/article. http://www.readworks.org/
Patrica
I use https://newsela.com/#, a current events news website that provides leveled texts, reading standards, and high interest articles across content areas. Other features include: articles are available in Spanish,annotating and highlighting capabilities,and the stories include graphics, photos, and links to more news about the topic. I use newsela for many reasons. One is for the relatable content. Last year I focused on the issue of migration. My students were also reading A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. Students compared texts (Twin Text strategy) and also made connections to their own stories of moving to the United States. This year I focused on the election. In 7th grade social studies, students learn about the forming of the U.S. government. We also discussed governments in other countries and compared those governments with the U.S. My students did not know very much about the government in their native country so they were able to research in pairs and then jigsaw their findings. I like to veer off topic one or two times a month and pick an article about a topic that my students are unfamiliar with, such as in science or math. My students seem to enjoy the articles and there is always a great discussion. Students have so much to share and get lots of practice speaking English and using the new vocabulary from the articles. I encourage them to relate the topic to cultural aspects of their native country. For example, recently students read an article about grass-fed cattle farming. I have a student from Israel. Her father is a goat farmer and found a job in the U.S. milking goats and pasteurizing the milk. My student was able to explain the process and even brought in some goat's milk for the class to taste. Myself and my students learned so much from this experience. Other students in the class have parents who work on local farms so they made connections to this article as well. Other reasons for using this website include challenging vocabulary words, differentiated instruction possibilities, and active learning/student engagement. newela.com is a great literacy resource.
Amy Webber
Reading A-Z is a go to resource for me. This website is awesome because it allows you to search by skill level and offers a ton of resources to support struggling readers. The site offers lesson plans, activities, leveled readers, etc in order to make our jobs as teachers more manageable.
Susan Owens
My resource is ReadWorks https://www.readworks.org/ When I need a short story on a subject, check comprehension or check a skill, this is my go to. Our reading series is not the best and doesn't do a good job of aligning the standards. You can sign up your class for free and assign as much or as little as you like. Some stories have a lot of questions while others a few. You can meet the needs of all your children by assigning the story at different lex levels. Some stories are graded for you, but some you have to grade online yourself. I prefer the ones that I grade. It gives your students much needed keyboarding skills, and it makes them think and put things in their own words. I do not allow my students to copy and paste. Everything must be in their own words and I give extra points for using antonyms,synonyms, and figurative language. The students love to do this in reading centers while I am working with my small groups. The stories are high interest and like I said, you can choose the reading level of most all of the stories. A teacher plus, your desk isn't piled high with student work!

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