IRA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Project #1

When I signed up for this course, I thought I was pretty comfortable with my internet skills.  To my surprise, I realized that I had a lot more learning to do.  Since ED451 in 2010,  I completely forgot how much the internet has to offer and how to navigate through different internet resources.

  Over the years, I have grown to be very content with Google and Youtube. However, since this course started something clicked in my brain and I realized that I need to catch up with the updated websites and resources.  I believe by taking the time to sit and play around with new internet resources and with the help of my peers, I know I can catch up. Everyday, I am gaining and will continue to gain more knowledge of the many internet resources that are being offered.  It is like one presenter said "In order to teach in the 21st century, we must be a 21st century teacher!" and I believe I am on my way.

ReadWorks (www.readworks.org) is a New York-based nonprofit that provides research-driven, grade-specific lesson plans and reading materials which are all completely free and available online. The sole mission of the website is to help educators teach reading and to close the achievement gap in reading comprehension throughout the United States.  ReadWorks material is primarily geared for elementary school teachers, however, this website provides over 1,400 K-8 non-fiction and literary passages.

ReadWorks has hundreds of lesson plans and more than 1,000 non-fiction reading passages each with a research based  question set to support student comprehension that are aligned to Common Core standards. Once you sign up for a free ReadWorks account you will be able to search for lessons and passages by grade, skill, or by lexile levels. Tabs are labeled to help guide you as to how to find lessons and units and help narrow down your search for reading passages.  What is very fascinating with this website is the breakdown of skill and strategy units provided. For example, if you want to teach your students how to find the main idea of the story, all you have to do is click on one strategy and the website will bring up units and lessons by grade levels. When you have found your grade level and the lesson you will like to teach, ReadWorks will provide you a lesson plan, worksheets, and the standards that the lesson aligns with. Once you have found all the lessons and passages you want you can automatically save them in a digital binder. Isn’t this cool?! And remember it is all free!

So, if you will like to increase your student’s reading comprehension scores or need help in teaching reading, ReadWorks is the site for you.                                                                                      

                                                                                                                                                               Image Source: https://www.google.com/search?q=readworks&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=pH29Ute2J8nAoASV-4HQBg&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=620#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=odaqhywbiHquMM%3A%3BjYv8lQ_LtzjI7M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.readworks.org%252Fsites%252Fdefault%252Ffiles%252F1m_slide.jpg%253F1385430062%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.readworks.org%252F%3B943%3B423 

                                                                                                                                                     Information Source: http://www.readworks.org/

"ReadWorks Offers 1,000+ Reading Passages Aligned to Common Core Standards" (April 22, 2013 - freetech4teachers.com)

"ReadWorks Free Online Reading Resources for Teachers… and Volunteer Tutors" (May 29, 2012 - New York Nonprofit Press)