Digital Resources: Newsela

We live in an age of a 24-hour news cycle. Not only can anyone can find the news (if they have internet access and access to a search engine or social media), but anyone can contribute to the reporting of news (if they have internet access and a device that allows them to type a post or record images or video). CNN even has a feature called iReport, encouraging news consumers to become news producers. This is reflective of the time we live in - consumers becoming producers (and is also something I strive to support my students in as well)

It puts the English language arts teacher in a bit of a tough situation. While these voices are valuable, it is difficult to ask students to find information that they can rely upon to give them the whole story that is also easily accessible for their reading level. All of this comes at a time when teachers are emphasizing the nonfiction text more and more (thanks either to shifting best practices or Common Core requirements). Newsela aims to help teachers find the resources they need that fit their curricular needs while also differentiating so that students of all ages and reading abilities can access high-quality nonfiction texts.

In many ways, Newsela looks like any other news website. The home page has a variety of headlines accompanied by photographs, there are different sections (such as War & Peace, Science, Kids) and the page is divided into top stories, latest news, featured text sets, most loved, editor's picks and most annotated. What sets Newsela apart, however, are a few features that both teachers and students will find valuable.

First of all, all Newsela stories are available at different Lexile levels. For those of you who don't know, a Lexile is a measurement of readability. The lower the Lexile score, the easier the piece is to read (think simpler vocabulary and sentence structures). Conversely, pieces with higher Lexile scores present information in a more complex way. Essentially, Newsela presents the same content at varying levels of complexity. This is a pretty powerful tool for differentiation.

This is a sample of a Newsela article. The Lexile controls are in the toolbar in the side; otherwise the article looks similar to what you might find on a non-leveled news source.

While all of these elements are great for both teachers and students to use, Newsela also has a subscription services that does more than just provide reliable news articles at different reading levels. At the free level, there are multiple new articles provided each day at five different reading levels, anyone can access thousands of previously-published articles, students can take quizzes on the articles they have read, teachers can assign articles with just one click and articles are free of advertisements.

At the PRO level, which is a paid service, gives teachers the ability to organize students into a class, monitor the students' individual and classwide results, and sort and filter performance data. All valuable, but also costly (about $18/student, according to a tweet from the company in February 2014).

Some features of the free vs. the PRO versions.

Where: www.newsela.com

Cost: Free (with paid upgrade)

What: News articles with customizable reading levels

Students! Try Newsela if you...

Need to find reliable information about a variety of topics

Want to learn more about important events 

Need easier-to-manage nonfiction texts

Teachers! Try Newsela if you...

Want to easily provide students with a set of reliable articles about a topic

Want to provide differentiated materials to your students (both high and low)

Need nonfiction resources for curricular or cross-curricular units of study

Shout out to Mrs. White and Mr. Minsinger for introducing me to Newsela!