CommonLit 360 CommonLit 360 Foundations: Empowering Students to be Leaders of their Learning
Here at CommonLit, we have 4 Guiding Principles that represent our foundational beliefs about teaching and learning. Our curriculum team - all experienced former educators - have carefully developed CommonLit 360 to align with these guiding principles and ensure that each unit and lesson is designed to support the growth and success of all learners.
In this blog series, we have invited members of CommonLit’s Curriculum Team to share a bit more about the practices that support the design of our curriculum. This article is connected to Guiding Principle 3: Deep Engagement Fosters Deep Learning. We believe that deep learning arises when students are genuinely engaged with content that matters to them. Learn more about our Guiding Principles in our CommonLit 360 Program Guide!
Empowering Students to be Leaders of their Learning
Across classrooms, teachers and school leaders share a powerful vision: helping students become independent, engaged thinkers. At CommonLit, one of our most energizing guiding principles is fostering student engagement—providing opportunities for students to pursue their passions, lead their own learning, and see the relevance of rigorous academics in their daily lives.
To explore how that vision comes to life in CommonLit 360, we spoke with two of our senior curriculum writers—Adrienne Zimmerman and Maria Mayo—both former educators who bring deep classroom insight to curriculum design. We reflected on what it looks like to center student choice, encourage inquiry, and support teacher creativity through a flexible, high-quality curriculum.
From the Classroom to the Curriculum: Designing with Engagement at the Core
In CommonLit 360, student engagement isn’t an afterthought—it’s the foundation.
Zimmerman and Mayo spoke passionately about how meaningful student engagement shaped their own teaching experiences. “Even when students disagreed with a text,” Zimmerman shared, “that emotional response became the hook. Whether they loved it or hated it, they were engaged.”
Mayo added, “When you tell a student that their personal passions—music, sports, fashion, gaming—have academic merit, it changes how they see themselves. That moment of validation builds motivation and relationships.”
“We’re always asking: would this spark something in a student?” Zimmerman added. “If it doesn’t light a fire, it doesn’t make the cut.”
Building Autonomy Through Gradual Release
CommonLit 360’s design ensures students don’t just consume content—they gradually take charge of their learning.
In early units and middle school grades, students receive plenty of scaffolding: think reference sheets, sentence stems, and structured tasks. As they move into later units and upper grades, supports gradually fade and student agency grows. In other words, once students learn about tools and how to use them, they become empowered to determine which tools - if any - make the most sense for the support they need.
Take 9th Grade Unit 3 Ed2.0 as an example. “Students write and deliver an original speech proposing a change in their school or community,” Mayo said. “They choose the topic. They shape the message. Their voice is at the center.”
The unit even builds in supports for public speaking anxiety and provides guidance for teachers to create authentic presentation experiences—like inviting guests or showcasing speeches to a school-wide audience.
Real-World Tasks That Resist Shortcuts
In CommonLit 360’s units, culminating tasks are designed to be authentic, challenging, and resistant to AI shortcuts.
“These aren’t tasks you can just plug into ChatGPT,” said Mayo. “We’re asking students to apply literary analysis in real-world scenarios—like staging a play, joining a debate, or designing a community initiative.”
Zimmerman added that student responses will look different from classroom to classroom—and that’s intentional. “A student in Arizona might interpret A Raisin in the Sun differently than a student in Brooklyn. That diversity of thought is the point.”
Structured, Not Scripted: A Message for Teachers
Both writers underscored this essential truth: CommonLit 360 is a structured curriculum—not a scripted one.
“You know your students best,” Zimmerman said. “We provide the standards, the high-quality texts, the thoughtfully designed tasks—but it’s your voice and your relationships that bring them to life.”
Mayo encouraged teachers to personalize: “If Socratic seminars work well in your classroom, lean into them. If your students thrive in debates or creative projects, adapt the structure to support that. We want you to make it your own.”
What Engagement Looks Like in Action
So what should school leaders expect to see in a 360 classroom? Not silence. Not uniformity.
“Look for purposeful activity,” said Mayo. “Sometimes it’s loud, sometimes it’s messy—but if students are owning their learning, pushing each other’s thinking, and following clear protocols, that’s engagement.”
Zimmerman emphasized the value of productive struggle. “Whether it’s working through a tough text or building an argument, we want students figuring it out—with teachers guiding from the side, not standing at the front.”
Final Thoughts: Autonomy and Rigor Go Hand in Hand
There’s a myth that you can’t have both engagement and rigor—that you have to sacrifice one for the other. But as Zimmerman and Mayo made clear, student autonomy can deepen rigor. The design of 360 ensures students are supported toward complex thinking through intentional scaffolding, culminating tasks, and inquiry-driven learning.
“CommonLit 360 isn’t a script,” Mayo said. “It’s a blueprint. You get to build what’s best for your students.”
Ready to See Student-Led Learning in Action?
Teachers – Explore how you can leverage 360 to connect to your students’ passions. Start with one protocol, project, or inquiry-based task and let student voice lead the way.
Administrators – When visiting 360 classrooms, look for evidence of student ownership, critical thinking, and purpose. This might look and sound like excited debate amongst partners or small groups, peers sharing, reviewing and discussing their work, or students all independently working towards the same goal but at their own pace, making their own choices within the teachers’ parameters.
Curious to learn more? Explore CommonLit 360 or reach out to our team to connect. We’d love to show you how CommonLit 360 can empower your teachers and transform student learning.
