Integrating News ELA in the classroom: Lesson 4

Learning Objective

Participants will implement Newsela as a differentiation tool for a lesson plan

Pre-requisities for this lesson

*Before this lesson, be sure to have a lesson that is CCSS aligned*

*Before this lesson, be sure to have the reading level of your focus students*

Activities

Activity 1: Choosing an article

1. Review your lesson plan and identify the Common Core State Standard that you will be focusing on for this lesson
2. Go to Newsela.com and click "Library". Once you are here you will be able to narrow down the articles in which you are viewing.
3. Narrow down your choices by selecting which Standard you are focusing on and if you want to, the grade level of your students'
4. Choose an article to incorporate into your lesson. ( Ideally choose an article that has a similar topic to the one you are teaching)
5. If you already have a topic in mind, you can find related articles by pressing "search" and typing in the topic

Activity 2 A: Aligning the article to your students' reading level

1. Review the reading level of your focus students. A.K.A the lower 1/3 of your class
2. Look at the top of the Newels article you chose for your lesson. Next to the word "Activities" you will see "1040L". This indicates the current grade/reading level of the article you chose. Change the reading level according to the reading level of your students.
3. Print the article on the reading level(s) of your choice
4. Optional: you may print out the activities for the assigned article or create your own assessments

Activity 2 B: Integrating the article into your lesson

1. During your independent practice, allow time for your focus group (lower 1/3) to work on their assigned Newsela article.
2. Provide students with the assessment of your choice

Proceed to the next lesson: https://tccl.arcc.albany.edu/knilt/index.php?title=Integrating_News_ELA_in_the_classroom:_Lesson_5