Rob Fleisher

Students discuss CommonLit lesson around table.

5 Steps for Great Extended Constructed Responses

In this post, teacher Cara Popecki gives tips to make writing effective, collaborative, and fun. It’s on every major college readiness and state exam, and it also elicits the...

Rob Fleisher

May 2, 2018 4 min read

Students work on CommonLit reading lesson.

Multiple Choice Relay Races for Test Prep

Students use text evidence to quickly support their choices This is our second post in the test prep series. At CommonLit, we’re all about getting students prepared, while still...

Rob Fleisher

April 16, 2018 4 min read

This Jigsaw Game Will Make Test Prep Fun and Productive

Students dive deep and discuss a universal theme It’s finally spring! For most, this means a welcome break from the cold, dark days of winter. But for teachers, spring...

Rob Fleisher

April 3, 2018 3 min read

Student looks at a CommonLit reading lesson on her laptop.

Use Clever with CommonLit Today

Simplify student login and manage class rosters through secure Clever integration CommonLit has partnered with Clever [https://clever.com/] to simplify online learning for students using CommonLit. Through this partnership,...

Rob Fleisher

March 30, 2018 3 min read

CommonLit and Clever Announce Partnership

Clever to simplify student logins and provide secure data integration for CommonLit users Washington, DC —CommonLit [https://www.commonlit.org/], a free edtech literacy tool for readers in grades 3–...

Rob Fleisher

March 20, 2018 2 min read

Using CommonLit's Benchmark Assessments to Ensure Student Growth

A Q&A with a District Curriculum Supervisor Jayne VanNosdall is the Curriculum Supervisor of English (6–12) for Brick Township Public Schools in New Jersey. For this Q&...

Rob Fleisher

February 19, 2018 4 min read

Six Simple Ways to Get Your Students Talking

In this post, history teacher Lucas Richardson shares strategies to increase student talk time. Does anyone remember Ben Stein’s part as the boring economics teacher in Ferris Bueller’s...

Rob Fleisher

January 30, 2018 6 min read

Two students sitting at a table and looking at each other while working.

10 Reading Passages Celebrating African Americans

Diverse poetry, short stories and informational texts African Americans are an integral part of our nation’s history and literary traditions. It always surprised me when high school students in...

Rob Fleisher

January 29, 2018 5 min read

Photo of Kayce, a Reading Coach and English Teacher.

How One School Invigorated Their Reading Program with CommonLit

A Q&A with a Reading Coach/English Teacher Update January 19, 2019: In this Q&A from January 2018, “CommonLit for Leaders” is referenced several times. That...

Rob Fleisher

January 10, 2018 6 min read

Photo of Roxanne Friday, a District English Curriculum Specialist.

An Administrator's Advice for Rolling Out CommonLit in your District

A Q&A with a District English Curriculum Specialist Roxanne Friday is the English Curriculum Specialist for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. Roxanne has worked closely with the CommonLit team to...

Rob Fleisher

January 9, 2018 4 min read

5 Reasons Teachers Love CommonLit

Why teachers everywhere are using the edtech literacy tool With tears in her eyes, a teacher I had just met hugged me after I introduced her to CommonLit at a...

Rob Fleisher

January 9, 2018 3 min read

Everything You Need to Present CommonLit

Impress everyone with this Ready-to-go Presentation on CommonLit Do you love CommonLit and have plans to share it with fellow educators? If so, you’re in luck! We’...

Rob Fleisher

December 5, 2017 1 min read

CommonLit's Reports Turn Data into Action

Dive deeper with student performance data Looking to more closely analyze students’ strengths and weaknesses? We’ve added new features to the Student Performance page to help you improve instruction....

Rob Fleisher

November 30, 2017 4 min read

Teach Young Readers Metacognition Skills

In this guest teacher post, Debra Rook describes how to help students chunk complex texts as they read. No More One and Done On our first official day of class,...

Rob Fleisher

November 9, 2017 5 min read

Guest teacher Tammy Anfang with a student, both looking at a computer.

Help Your Students ACE Reading Assessments

In this guest teacher post, Tammy Anfang describes a writing framework to improve student learning. Making the Invisible Process of Reading and Responding Visible About ten years ago when I...

Rob Fleisher

October 12, 2017 3 min read

A student's desk with paper, markers, and open laptop.

10 Texts to Integrate STEM and Literacy

Encouraging science literacy in all classes I’ll admit that while I was a strong student in most areas, I had a very uneven interest in my subjects; I was...

Rob Fleisher

September 26, 2017 6 min read

4 Creative Ways to Use Nonfiction Text Sets

Learn how to engage your students with nonfiction Text sets are groups of reading passages that share a common topic. Currently, we have over 60 of these sets of texts...

Rob Fleisher

September 25, 2017 4 min read

Guest teacher Sarah Cooper is standing, facing four students who are looking at her and sitting.

Meaningful Discussions with Nonfiction Texts

In this guest teacher post, Sarah Cooper describes how to motivate students to take ownership of their learning. Participation has always been one of the most difficult things to assess...

Rob Fleisher

September 6, 2017 4 min read

Students work on CommonLit reading lessons on laptops.

Action! 5 Ways Videos Can Energize Your Lessons

How to use videos before, during, and after readings When I first started teaching, I worked really hard to create lessons that taught students a clear skill. However, I quickly...

Rob Fleisher

September 5, 2017 4 min read

Black and white photo of two teenage students looking at CommonLit lesson on laptop.

16 Lesson Ideas for CommonLit Texts

In this post, teacher Leah Dekle shares ideas for using CommonLit texts. When I started teaching, I felt pretty isolated because I was the only 9th grade social studies teacher...

Rob Fleisher

August 29, 2017 3 min read

Albertia’s Story

Getting Struggling Readers on Grade Level For the past 10 years, Albertia has been enthusiastically helping some of the most at-risk students in North Carolina. She teaches at a...

Rob Fleisher

August 28, 2017 2 min read

LaVelda’s Story

Asking Real Questions to Get Real Answers When most teachers are enjoying a summer break, LaVelda is hard at work teaching her summer school students. She is unfazed by the...

Rob Fleisher

August 17, 2017 2 min read

Tabatha’s Story

Engaging Advanced Readers with CommonLit Tabatha’s decision to become a teacher can be traced back to her experiences as an undergraduate in New York. She was living there during...

Rob Fleisher

August 13, 2017 2 min read

Roster Management Tools for Easy Organization

Welcome Back Series: Part I -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Happy August, teachers! We hope you were relaxing and recharging for the next school year. Here at CommonLit [http://www.commonlit.org], summer is a...

Rob Fleisher

August 3, 2017 4 min read

New and Improved Assignment Reports

Welcome Back Series: Part II -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By now, you may have already read about updates to our class roster systems on CommonLit [http://www.commonlit.org]. If not, check out that...

Rob Fleisher

August 3, 2017 2 min read

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