Secondary Classrooms

What Is a Baseline Reading Assessment, and When Should You Give One?

A practical guide to what baseline reading assessments measure, why they matter, and how to time them so the data actually shapes your instruction. Planning reading instruction without data means...

10 Free Short Stories for Middle School Students (and What to Teach With Each)

A roundup of 10 free CommonLit short stories for grades 6-8, with what each one is best for teaching. A good short story can get a room of 12-...

5 Free Texts that Get Middle Schoolers Excited About Reading

Getting middle schoolers excited about reading can be hard, but it doesn't take a magic trick, just a text that feels like one they'd pick themselves....

5 Free Texts that Get High Schoolers Excited About Reading

You know the look. Chin on fist, one eye on the clock, someone asking if this will be on the test. Getting high schoolers excited about reading doesn't...

10 Free Short Stories for High School Students (and What to Teach With Each)

Ten free CommonLit short stories for 9th and 10th grade, from a town stuck in a haunting to a chess set that says more than it should, plus what each...

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with 10 Inspiring Texts

These engaging texts help students explore identity, family, and belonging through Hispanic and Latino voices and experiences. Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from September 15 to October 15, is an...

8 New Texts About AI, Social Media, and Algorithms for Secondary Classrooms

Your students already have opinions about this stuff. They know which app is dying, which one their parents don't understand, and exactly how long they spent on their...

How to Teach The Great Gatsby: A Full 5- to 7-Week Unit, Plus 5 Book Pairing Lessons

Whether you're building a complete Great Gatsby unit from scratch or already teaching it and need support for specific chapters, here's what CommonLit offers for both....

How to Teach Frankenstein: A Full 5- to 7-Week Unit, Plus 5 Book Pairing Lessons

Whether you're building a complete Frankenstein unit from scratch or already teaching it and need support for specific chapters, here's what CommonLit offers for both. Victor...

5 Text Lessons to Pair With Ghost by Jason Reynolds

Castle "Ghost" Cranshaw has a temper, a talent for running, and a father he doesn't talk about. Jason Reynolds spends the whole novel showing how those...

5 Text Lessons to Pair With The Odyssey

Odysseus spends ten years getting home from a war that also lasted ten years, which means the trip home took exactly as long as the reason he left. Along the...

5 Text Lessons to Pair With The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Ponyboy Curtis narrates his own coming-of-age story in real time, which means your students get his hindsight built right in. Handy, since the book covers a house fire,...

Make Your Novels Come Alive for Middle Schoolers with Book Pairings

Every fall, you pick the novels, order the class sets, and map out the reading schedule. You're ready to go. But the novel is only half the work....

Make Your Novels Come Alive for High Schoolers with Book Pairings

Every fall, you pick the novels, order the copies, and block out weeks of your syllabus for The Crucible or The Odyssey. You feel ready. Prepared, even. Then week three...

Engaging Short Stories about Identity for Middle and High School Students

Boost reading comprehension and engagement with seven relatable short stories for students in grades 6-12. With CommonLit’s digital library, you can introduce your students to hundreds of texts...

10 Inspiring Texts to Start the New School Year

Start the new year with these inspiring texts about education. For students, coming back from summer vacation means getting back into the swing of things with school routines, teachers, and...

10 Texts to Celebrate AAPI Heritage Month in Your ELA Classroom

These engaging texts help students explore identity, culture, and belonging through Asian American and Pacific Islander voices and experiences. Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is an opportunity to...

The Science of Reading: What It Is, What It Demands, and How CommonLit 360 Delivers It

Learn how CommonLit 360 is aligned to the Science of Reading’s best practices for teaching reading comprehension to secondary students. What the Science of Reading Actually Is The “science...

9 Impactful Texts for Arab American Heritage Month

These engaging texts help students explore identity, culture, and belonging through Arab American voices and experiences. Arab American Heritage Month offers an opportunity to center stories and perspectives that reflect...

10 Engaging Poems to Teach for National Poetry Month

These engaging poems help students explore voice, identity, imagination, and the power of language. National Poetry Month is the perfect time to bring poetry into your classroom in ways that...

Why Teachers Love the CommonLit Text Library

With engaging texts, built-in supports, and flexible lesson options, the CommonLit Text Library makes it easier for teachers to plan meaningful reading instruction. Teachers are always looking for texts...

Powerful Women’s History Month Speeches for Middle and High School Classrooms

These influential speeches help middle and high school students explore women’s leadership, equality, and social change through powerful primary sources. Women’s History Month is an opportunity to examine...

10 Spring Poems and Stories for Your ELA Classroom

These spring-themed poems and stories for elementary, middle, and high school classrooms help students explore nature, change, and the season ahead. As the weather warms and signs of new...

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. Educators are always looking for ways to build...

CommonLit 360 Edition 2.0 for grades 9-10 is here!

CommonLit 360 is a comprehensive, full-year ELA curriculum for grades 6-12 designed to support student growth in reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. Our curriculum provides teachers with...