This digital tool is great for ELA practice because it helps readers slow down and digest the material that they are reading. The site contains numerous articles and pieces of reading material for students and teachers to choose from. Once an article is chosen, students are guided through the material through a series of text dependent questions, examples, reflections, and vocabulary assistance. One of the major strengths of this tool is that it lets teachers know the lexical measure of the text and grade level recommendations which will assist in choosing the appropriate articles for students. Teachers can even select which lexile level they are searching for and narrow down choices to meet the appropriate standards.
By having students utilize this digital tool to increase their reading literacy they will also be enhancing their digital and informational literacy skills. Today’s world requires people to be able to locate, comprehend, and analyze information from the web constantly. Adults need to have the skills to evaluate this information for accuracy and relevancy (Kohsrow-Pour, 2236). ActivelyLearn helps students enhance these skills by requiring students to pause periodically throughout each article to reflect upon and/or answer questions about the validity, authenticity, purpose, and comprehension of the piece.
While having students read articles is helpful and important, for the purpose of ELA it would be beneficial to include a larger catalog of works of fiction. This may be located on the premium version but the free edition is somewhat limited.
This digital tool is great for ELA practice because it helps readers slow down and digest the material that they are reading. The site contains numerous articles and pieces of reading material for students and teachers to choose from. Once an article is chosen, students are guided through the material through a series of text dependent questions, examples, reflections, and vocabulary assistance. One of the major strengths of this tool is that it lets teachers know the lexical measure of the text and grade level recommendations which will assist in choosing the appropriate articles for students. Teachers can even select which lexile level they are searching for and narrow down choices to meet the appropriate standards.
By having students utilize this digital tool to increase their reading literacy they will also be enhancing their digital and informational literacy skills. Today’s world requires people to be able to locate, comprehend, and analyze information from the web constantly. Adults need to have the skills to evaluate this information for accuracy and relevancy (Kohsrow-Pour, 2236). ActivelyLearn helps students enhance these skills by requiring students to pause periodically throughout each article to reflect upon and/or answer questions about the validity, authenticity, purpose, and comprehension of the piece.
While having students read articles is helpful and important, for the purpose of ELA it would be beneficial to include a larger catalog of works of fiction. This may be located on the premium version but the free edition is somewhat limited.