Best Practices

Analyzing Individual Student Performance with CommonLit

Diving into an individual student’s data is a great way for teachers to develop a deep understanding of the student’s strengths and areas for growth. By analyzing different aspects of their performance, teachers can plan targeted instruction to give students exactly what they need to improve. CommonLit’s

What Are Common Teaching Methods Used By Teachers That Boost Classroom Engagement?

CommonLit is on a mission to empower educators to better support their students by optimizing teaching practices. Through CommonLit’s online digital literacy program, teachers gain access to thousands of high-quality texts and comprehension questions. We will highlight three common teaching methods that are research-backed and share how teachers can

Windows and Mirrors in Literature | Diverse Stories on CommonLit

Our library provides an array of texts that serve as windows and mirrors, to help students both see themselves and learn about others in the literature they explore in class. CommonLit believes in the importance of exposing students to diverse literature that reflects experiences both similar and different from their

CommonLit’s Professional Development Saves Teachers’ Time and Helps Them Effectively Implement 360

Looking to effectively implement CommonLit 360? CommonLit’s Professional Development modules set both teachers and students up for success. Get a quote CommonLit 360 is our research-backed ELA curriculum for grades 6-12. At CommonLit, we know that implementing a new curriculum can come with challenges. Luckily, we are committed to

4 Ways to Use CommonLit for Standardized Test Prep

CommonLit has thousands of practice lessons, a free reading assessment, and targeted skills-based lessons teachers can use for standardized test prep. We know that schools are always looking for ways to build student reading skills and prepare students for state testing. Fortunately, CommonLit has a wealth of resources for teachers

Elevate Instruction in Spanish Immersion and World Language Classes with CommonLit Español

CommonLit Español has over 800 Spanish texts. The library features a variety of literary and informational texts by influential authors and poets like Alma Flor Ada, Federico García Lorca, and Gabriel García Márquez. We also have over 70 Lecciones Guiadas, interactive lessons that ask students to find evidence, write, and

Supporting Struggling Readers with CommonLit 360

Vocabulary activities, differentiated reading lessons, scaffolded writing, and more to accelerate learning for all students. Teaching ELA units to struggling readers can be daunting. CommonLit 360 is intentionally designed to support all learners. In this blog post, we will share some strategies and recommendations for teachers to best support all

All the Ways CommonLit Supports English Language Learners

CommonLit’s free digital literacy program helps support English language Learners with digital accessibility tools, scaffolded reading comprehension, explicit vocabulary instruction, and more. CommonLit’s free online digital literacy program makes it easy to support English Language Learners. Through inclusion and differentiation, both CommonLit’s library and our ELA curriculum

CommonLit: Built for All Learners

Text-to-speech, translation in over 30 languages, digital annotations, scaffolded comprehension questions, and more are available on CommonLit. “I teach students from our lowest performers to our honors students, and I use (CommonLit) with all of them the same way. It’s well-suited for all my students’ needs.” - Kayce Giglio,

5 Strategies to Increase Motivation and Engagement in the Classroom

Challenge all of your students with CommonLit's compelling reading curriculum to increase motivation and engagement in the classroom The best lesson is one that challenges students without overwhelming them. It gets students excited to learn and conquer the challenge in front of them and results in students feeling proud that

CommonLit for Co-Teachers

Tips for adding a co-teacher to your classes on CommonLit At CommonLit, we believe that with the right support, all students can access high-quality, rigorous texts. Students are more successful when co-teachers work collaboratively to plan and modify lessons as needed. We’ve gathered tips from expert teachers to show

3 Ways to Maximize Student Learning with CommonLit

Engage students in meaningful learning with these three purposeful strategies! As teachers, we always want to make sure students are engaged in meaningful learning. It’s important to provide them with opportunities to extend their thinking and make connections while building key skills. That’s why we’re excited to

3 Ways to Use CommonLit in Social Studies Classrooms

Check out these strategies for effectively using CommonLit in social studies classrooms! Literacy is an essential component of social studies classes, but it can be really hard to find relevant, high-quality texts to use with students. At CommonLit, we aim to ensure that all teachers can access a wide range

Easy Tips for Data Analysis with CommonLit

Analyzing student performance is easy with CommonLit’s data tracking tools for teachers and administrators! Developing a deep understanding of student data is critical for all educators. It helps teachers drive classroom instruction and helps administrators determine school-wide priorities to support all learners. That’s why CommonLit offers tools for

5 Ways CommonLit Helps Teachers Monitor Student Understanding

CommonLit’s technology helps teachers understand how students are growing. Providing students with targeted feedback is critically important. It helps to hold students accountable, makes them realize that you care about their progress, and provides them with actionable steps to develop their skills. In this blog post, I’ll share

Encourage Students to Embrace a Growth Mindset

Use CommonLit’s library and data tools to help students learn from their mistakes! Creating a classroom culture where mistakes are celebrated is a great way to promote student progress. Of course, students need the right support to learn from their mistakes and develop a growth mindset. CommonLit has a

Strategically Utilizing CommonLit Lessons to Track Meaningful Data as a Team

Embed CommonLit’s lessons into your district’s curriculum to facilitate data driven instruction & progress monitoring. Schools and district administrators are constantly bombarded with data. With many teachers assigning different types of reading lessons from many different digital literacy programs, it can be a real challenge for administrators to break

4 Ways to Use CommonLit to Support Differentiation

Innovative ways CommonLit's literacy program supports differentiation in the classroom Differentiation — a buzzword in education that can mean many different things. Small-group instruction. One-on-one support. Different versions of the same homework packet. The list goes on and soon the hours of data analysis and lesson planning pile up. We all

3 Ways to Effectively Use CommonLit's Annotation Tool with Students

CommonLit’s annotation tool is a great way to have students interact with a text! Annotating a text is an important way for students to track their thinking about what they read. In this post, we’ll explain how CommonLit’s Annotation Tool works and share instructional strategies for incorporating

Making Meaning out of Standards Performance Data

Leverage CommonLit’s standards data for individual students The most important thing for a teacher to know is how her students are doing. A good teacher understands this, and has a clear sense of what students can do (and can’t do) at any point in the year. So, how

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 most groans from students and teachers alike: the dreaded extended constructed response. Students are generally asked to read and answer

Leveraging Guided Reading Mode

The best tool for reading comprehension As a right-brained English teacher, I did not jump for joy when it came to grading and analyzing data. Although I knew that data-driven instruction was really valuable, spending hours grading and analyzing student performance trends was not my ideal use of a Sunday.