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Discover tools, strategies, and activities for teaching reading. Explore resources to inspire a love of literacy and enhance student learning.

ANTON
ChromebooksContent AreasCurricular StandardsEnglish Language Arts Reading (ELAR)Foreign LanguageMathMusicReadingSpanishTEKS

ANTON: Free Digital Activities and Games for K-8 Students

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

ANTON is at first glance, a German-based free learning app now available in the United States. The system works on a variety of devices, including Chromebooks. With over 200 interactive exercises for students in grades K-8, you can make your free account now.

“As a teacher, this app is excellent! Easy to use with scaffolded exercises to progress students through a variety of standards and skills. Visually it is not overwhelming while still engaging and has games. I love the multiple response types and organization of content. I highly recommend this app for continued support across learning standards.”

– U.S. Teacher

That’s 200+ exercises for each school subject, from math to language arts to science, and more. Plus, there is multi-language content aligned to state standards, including Texas.

image of Anton app features

Let’s dig a little into Anton to learn more about it.

ANTON login processes
Overview of New Account Creation Process for a Teacher

Wait, What About Student Privacy?

Worried about creating an account and compromising student privacy? No worries, teachers and students can create accounts without giving out personal information. If you’re a teacher, you can create a classroom and assign exercises to your class. You can even check student progress. It also appears that Anton does not use login authorization through popular services. Those services include Google, Facebook, etc.

What’s more, ANTON meets the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). It also adheres to European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). And, more important for some, it is free from advertising. All data is deleted after 12 months of no use (unless you have an ANTON-Plus school contract).

ANTON getting started quick guide for teachers

When I signed up for an account, I provided an email and a password. I did not see an option to skip providing my email address or school location. Students would be asked to provide a nickname, a school, and at which subject they would like to start. Students who are at least 16 years of age may enter their email address or mobile phone number in the Settings of the app.

Screenshot by author with permission of publisher

Aligned to Texas Standards

ANTON is also aligned to Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. Here’s a quick example as an animated GIF:

Here’s a short video overview (updated):

A Short Introduction

“This app has everything. For a free app, it teaches and lets your student practice and then test what they learned,” said one teacher. You can get started with a free teacher account, choosing from human or monster avatars. Once you create your class, students can connect and start to work inside ANTON. It works as a learning management system, allowing teachers to track student progress. These features make grading and offering feedback easy. This video provides a quick overview of the login process:

You can find more relevant videos about how to use and navigate ANTON online. Here are a few you can explore right away:

Don’t be afraid to explore. Get started now.

Anton grade 1 math activity with subject menu

Grades and Subjects Available

“I like the way ANTON breaks down a lesson into very small steps but builds the lesson back up with more info with each step taken making it easier to understand the concept,” said a classroom teacher. There are a lot of amazing subjects you can access in Anton. Each is replete with instructional activities that include images and sound, like this science activity for grades 3-5:

ANTON example science activity

Here’s a quick video tutorial:

Subjects addressed for K-8 include:

  • English/Language Arts: reading, phonics, the alphabet, grammar, and more.
  • Math: numbers, counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and geometry.
  • Science: plants, animals, the solar system, and more.
  • Music: instruments, melody, rhythm, and reading music.

Of course, Spanish and other languages are included, as is social studies.

ANTON example social studies activity

ANTON Games

Love to share games with your students? ANTON offers quite a few. Every time students finish a lesson, they earn a gold coin. These coins can “buy” games that students can play. A few games from the long list include:

  • Hidden
  • Sports: Long Jump
  • Astro Bang
  • Avatar Superstar
  • Bat Cave
  • Block Puzzle

There are many more games in ANTON that students can play. Of course, they can only do so after completing an exercise.

What can you do with ANTON infographic

Is It ALL Free?

While ANTON appears to offer a lot of value at no cost, you can choose to use ANTON-Plus, a paid service. This paid service offers additional functions. In the Terms of Service, you can read:

2.8 Schools can purchase an ANTON school license and thus unlock additional functions that improve their use in school. In addition to the ANTON school license, schools can also activate ANTON-Plus for all school students and teachers.

A teacher could adapt the use of the free activities for the classroom, as well as assign them to students. Given that the activities range from K-6, the content is easy to work through.

best practice for ELL in ANTON graphic

“Intuitive app, easy to use, and creative exercises for easy understanding and learning,” reported one educator. ANTON is also available via the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and/or Amazon Appstore. If you need a cross-platform app that works in the browser, ANTON meets your needs there as well.

Try it for yourself and then watch the fun and learning begin!

This blog entry was updated with new content on 10/14/2024.

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ClassQuiz
AssessmentChromebooksContent AreasEducational ResearchEnglish Language Arts Reading (ELAR)Instructional CoachingMathReading

ClassQuiz: A Free Tool Supporting High-Effect Size Instructional Strategies

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Educators are buzzing around a new Kahoot and Quizziz-like tool available at no cost. This quiz website offers a host of features, the most important being that it doesn’t collect data. If you’ve used other quiz tools, you know data is collected about you and your students for their own use. ClassQuiz asserts that, unlike these other quiz tools, it doesn’t send information to third parties.

Let’s take a closer look at ClassQuiz to see what it can do. You will also see how it aligns with evidence-based instructional strategies as well as see new research updates about those strategies.

Screenshot by author

Git ClassQuiz

Unlike it’s commercial, closed-source competitors, ClassQuiz offers a GitHub website. That means that you could, if you chose, set up ClassQuiz internally in your own server farm. The benefit? You would have sensitive data under organizational control. This is like hosting your own WordPress or Moodle installation.

What Is ClassQuiz?

ClassQuiz works in a simple way. It allows you to take three primary actions:

  • Create a quiz that allows the insertion of pictures/images
  • Explore and find quizzes others have created
  • Import quizzes from Kahoot! that you can then edit in ClassQuiz

As you might imagine, this import option gives you access to the content in a more established tool. Once the quiz has been set up, students select responses, view results, and see a leaderboard.

Screenshot by author

What Security Safeguards Does ClassQuiz Offer?

ClassQuiz boasts of the following features that safeguard student data:

  • No tracking
  • Self-hosting
  • Cost-free
  • Multilingual
  • Dark mode
  • Save quizzes
  • Save quiz results
  • Community-driven

Hot to Get a ClassQuiz Account

Getting an account is easy. Click on the Register button at the top left of the screen, then fill in your desired information, as shown below:

Screenshot by author

You will need to confirm your email address via an email in your inbox. Using your school district or organization email? Be sure to allow emails from classquiz@mawoka.eu.

Once you have a registered account, you can log in and get access to options that include create, import, results, settings, explore, and search.

How to Import a Kahoot!

You can import a Kahoot! by selecting Import, then pasting the link (a.k.a. URL) to a Kahoot! quiz into the box. To keep it simple, I found a Technology and Robots with Star Wars quiz on Kahoot. Note that I did not create the Kahoot! quiz, but I was still able to import it into ClassQuiz.

Screenshot by author

Here’s what the import process looks like in ClassQuiz:

Screenshot by author

And once complete, the imported quiz appears in ClassQuiz ready to be edited, if needed:

Screenshot by author

Two Strategies to Use with Digital Quiz Tools

Tools like Kahoot, Quizziz, and ClassQuiz offer educators access to digital quiz tools. Each of these tools can be useful for teachers and students. That’s because, when used in alignment with research, they can impact student achievement. How? Through the use of high-effect size instructional strategies.

Did You Know?

“When repetition leads to long-term memories, there are physical changes in the brain. Brain memories disappear very quickly unless they are repeated. Our brains are made up of billions of nerve cells or neurons, all connected together. We form memories when some of these pathways become strengthened by being repeatedly used. (Source: Mike Bell, The Fundamentals of Teaching)

Two powerful strategies can inform our use of quiz tools, like ClassQuiz. Those include:

  • Rehearsal (d=0.73). This is a high-effect size strategy that accelerates student learning. It refers to mental techniques designed to help us remember information.
    • It includes memorizing information through repetition. It can involve repeating information upon seeing a visual cue (like images or flashcards).
    • What’s more, team competition as a rehearsal strategy works. That is, the teacher asks questions requiring rehearsed information. Students answer on their own to gain points for their team. (Learn more!)
  • Retrieval Practice (d=0.46) is often referred to as Practice Testing.
    • It is a way to support long-term information retention. It also assists learners in increasing access to the “to-be-remembered” information (source).
    • This strategy can strengthen learning. It does so when the teacher or student draws out information through a variety of approaches. The information is “pulled out” of students’ brains when they are prompted to retrieve it. Example approaches include flashcards and low-stakes quizzes.

With these two strategies in mind, you can approach the use of ClassQuiz to see how effective it is.

If the rehearsal strategy relies on repetition through the viewing of visual cues, how does ClassQuiz work? You can create flashcards in ClassQuiz that feature images. Then, students can select responses to match.

Retrieval practice (or practice testing) relies on students retrieving information from their minds on cue. Low-stakes quizzes, entry/exit cards (a.k.a. bell ringers) work well in ClassQuiz.

Screenshot by author

Shocking Research Update

A new study published in “Psychological Science in the Public Interest“ provides evidence that these strategies are ineffective:

  • Re-reading
  • Highlighting
  • Mnemonics

Pretty shocking, no? If those strategies are ineffective, what strategies are MOST effective?

Whenever you see these three strategies, think of this diagram:

Created by author as adapted from a workshop presentation

Leverage ClassQuiz for Effective Learning

Don’t be afraid to leverage ClassQuiz. It can enhance student use of effective learning strategies. This includes strategies like retrieval practice and rehearsal. Teaching students to engage in distributed and interleaved practice amplifies strategies’ effect. It can ensure long-term information retention beyond re-reading and highlighting.

Feature Image Source

Screenshot by author, ClassQuiz

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AccessibilityLibrariesReading

Five Ways to Engage Your School Community with Ebooks

by Jenny Dean
written by Jenny Dean

Today, as many librarians host visitors in their libraries, they hear the same questions being repeated over and over: “Do you have less books?” However, the answer is not a simple yes or no. As spaces change and shelf space decreases, libraries are seeing huge growth in their digital collections. Ebooks have become readily available for every title and digital shelves are bursting at the seams. So, while it may seem that there are fewer books on the physical shelves, there are more books on the digital shelves than ever before. And it is time that we used those books to their fullest potential. 

Ebooks are becoming increasingly popular in libraries and classrooms. Through the use of ebooks, we are able to reach students in ways that we never have before. Here are five ways that you can use ebooks in your space to encourage literacy and learning throughout your school community.

1. Engage your struggling readers through interactive ebooks.

For a struggling reader, even the task of looking at a screen and reading can seem daunting. Using interactive ebooks in large group settings or during quiet reading time allows the student to feel like they are participating in reading by being able to do more than just understand the phonics of the words. Invite your classes with struggling readers into the library and show them that books can truly be fun for every student! If you are unable to have the classes come to you, introducing this to your library can be as easy as making a display with QR codes or links to access the interactive ebooks. You can also post links and QR codes in Google Classroom or send them via email to teachers. 

2. Invite students to participate in an online book club.

While we are all busy talking about getting back to normal, many of our students have adapted to the life that they have been living and their normal looks different than ours. One of the ways that this might be showing itself more than ever right now is through your book club attendance. A multi-access and multi-user ebook allows students to all access the books from their phones, eReaders, or laptops and still have the enriching experience of reading a book together. Digital communication is completely at our fingertips now and discussions online with students can still be rich and rewarding – sometimes more so, because the student is in their comfort zone. The introduction of a completely online book club experience will not only allow you to interact with students you might not have had the opportunity to work with before, but it will also put books into the hands of students who might not have some in otherwise.

3. Highlight and celebrate assistive technology in ebooks.

All too often students see assistive technology as something that should make them feel shame. They don’t want anyone to know that they use the online dictionary, the translator, or the text to speech feature. However, these groundbreaking tools can offer every student that steps into your library something beneficial, and it is time that we begin to promote them as tools for all students. Use your ebooks as an opportunity to show how exciting these tools can be! This can be as easy as setting up an interactive display with an eBook and instructions on how to highlight text, get definitions, and notes. Every time you see a class for check out, remind them about the ebooks and the technology behind them. As students continue to move into a digitized world, they will see even more success if we arm them with those tools now and remind them that every student can benefit from assistive technology.

4. Host a community ebook night.

There is certainly trepidation about online reading for many parents and community members. The idea of students looking at a screen for any extended amount of time can be an unsettling thought to many who have not used or accessed an ebook before. Hosting a night where parents and community can come in and interact with your ebooks, ask questions, and learn about the technology, will help put their minds at ease and also give them the knowledge that they need to help their students check out books through the online catalog while at home. Have parents or community members who can’t make it? It can be digital, too! One of the best parts of embracing one part of technology is it lends itself to many other parts. Host a digital night, live stream, or have a digital read aloud with community members using one of your ebooks.

5. Help your teachers embrace ebooks.

Many teachers see another added digital component as a distraction and worry that this will hinder their classroom instruction rather than help it. However, textbooks are almost all completely digital now, and students are becoming more acclimated to online reading. Sometimes your teachers just need you there to offer a little support. If there is a class with students who cannot look at their phone without immediately going to social media, work with the teacher to start with small literature ebook circles where students can be actively monitored. If they have students on completely different learning levels, work with them to encourage the use of the assistive technologies in ebooks. Reminding teachers that you are there to help with hiccups and hurdles can ease their mind when moving into something completely new. 

5 Ways to Engage Your School Community with ebooks Infographic with the 5 tips from the article

Here’s the bottom line: the digital world isn’t going to stop coming. In fact, it has already arrived. Technology like ebooks can do wonders for our libraries and our students. Let’s learn to use it to our advantage and to teach our students that a love of reading can stem from anywhere – even the screen right in front of them.

Did you know that April is School Library Month? TCEA will feature a guest article written by a member librarian once a week throughout the month! April also includes:

How will you show appreciation for your librarian, media specialist, and library staff?

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English Language Arts Reading (ELAR)Reading

How to Close the Reading Gap Before Summer

by Terrie Noland, Ph.D., CALP
written by Terrie Noland, Ph.D., CALP

As the end of another school year is coming into sight, is it too late to see accelerated learning gains from students who are struggling to find success? What if there was something that could have a positive domino effect on the students who are still struggling in their classes, even at this point in the year? Closing the reading gap to improve reading can have that domino effect.

Reading is the foundational skill that permeates all other subjects. A student who struggles to read faces insurmountable challenges in any subject area, while a student who reads at proficiency engages in school subjects on a level playing field. While there is no shortage of reading supplements and tools, there is one option that can accelerate reading growth before school ends for summer.

Audiobooks for Students

For students struggling with reading proficiency, an audiobook solution designed for education, which features high-quality, human-read audiobooks and a suite of resources educators need to drive outcomes, can be the missing element to success. But how do audiobooks specifically help improve reading proficiency to close the reading gap?

  • Listening to real people narrate while following highlighted text on a screen helps students model fluent reading.
  • Using audiobooks designed for the classroom, students can read the same books as their peers, allowing them to participate in class discussions with confidence.
  • A proven audiobook solution developed specifically for schools can help students master basic reading skills and build reading independence lacking in those struggling with literacy.
  • Access to math, science, and other textbooks in audiobook format ensures students don’t fall behind in other classes and supports growth and development as the curriculum gets more advanced.
  • Audiobooks help students stay on top of classwork and promote staying in school and reaching their potential.
Screenshot of the first page of chapter 1 in the book "Wonder."
Example Audiobook from Learning Ally Audiobook Solution

Five Steps to Set up a No-Cost Audiobook Solution

But is it too late in the year to get started? Simply put– no. It’s never too late to remove barriers preventing students from succeeding. Breakthrough results can be achieved with struggling readers, some of whom have realized rapidly accelerated reading growth– with an ease of effort and time investment for educators– through the implementation of the Learning Ally Audiobook Solution.

Here are the steps you can take today to accelerate reading growth, improve reading, and close the reading gap before the end of the school year. Best of all, you can address student reading gaps and make an impact with no cost to you, your school, or your district. 

  1. Learn more about the funding the Texas Education Agency has provided for K-12 public schools and open enrollment charters to support struggling readers with the Learning Ally Audiobook Solution.
Screenshot of an example audiobook library for a student
Example Student Library in Learning Ally Audiobook Solution
  1. Enroll your school using the Texas-funded Institutional Membership Application. Once the form has been submitted, you will receive emailed instructions on how to get your account set up and get started. 
  2. Set up your school access once your account is active. Determine eligible students, identify educator roles, and assign access accordingly.
  3. Launch the audiobook library for your students. Browse titles and assign books individually or in groups. Integrate instructional strategies with the app, which allows for note-sharing, onboard dictionary, and more.
  4. Monitor student progress and tailor instruction to meet goals. Use reporting dashboards to easily track student advancement toward reading targets and monitor growth.

Make Independent Reading Time More Effective

With audiobooks available to struggling readers who need them, independent reading time will be more effective. Students can don their headsets and dive into an audiobook from the library, anytime from any device. Some suggestions to extend and explore include pairing with a classmate to discuss the story and demonstrate their comprehension in the form of a book report, giving an oral report, acting out a scene, designing a poster, playing a guessing game of “who am I,” or doing a Q&A with their teacher.

A proven audiobook solution developed specifically for students with reading difficulties can be the key to unlocking potential. It’s simple to implement, easy to set up, and proven to accelerate reading growth. And with the funding the Texas Education Agency has provided, there is no financial impact for K-12 public and charter schools in the state to offer this resource to students. 

Summer is right around the corner. Get started with this no-cost audiobook solution today.

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The title "6 Strategies to Boost Reading Comprehension" is shown on the left side of a rectangular box in blue and white text. On the right, the strategies are listed in white text.
English Language Arts Reading (ELAR)Reading

Six Strategies for Boosting Reading Comprehension

by Emily Horn
written by Emily Horn

One big area of learning on most elementary educators’ minds? Reading comprehension. We all want our students to be strong readers who read for both information and enjoyment. Additionally, we want our students to become independent, autonomous readers who can support their own understanding of texts. Luckily, there are many fantastic strategies out there for improved reading comprehension. Let’s take a look at six big skills that students can build and some correlating strategies for advancing reading comprehension, increasing understanding, and building confidence when it comes to reading.

1. Visualizing

Have students close their eyes and create a movie in their minds as they listen to the story, then describe what they visualized in a class discussion or with a partner during a “turn and talk.” Students can also make drawings to represent their visualization and comprehension. For example, you can skip an illustration in a book you’re reading aloud and have students draw their own illustration as you read the coordinating page. You can do a gallery walk or have students “show and tell” with a partner, in small groups, or with the class. Then, show the students the illustration in the book you’re reading.

2. Using Context Clues

I found that teaching students to use context clues to help them understand a story better is invaluable. Reminding students that they don’t have to know every single word in a story is critical to making them comfortable with unfamiliar words and trying to find meaning on their own. Autonomy is so important! This a great post from The Stellar Teacher Company about teaching the five context clues: inference, definition, example, antonym, and synonym.

3. Making Inferences

This can be tough, especially in the lower grades of elementary when students are used to more straightforward texts! However, making inferences is a skill that students must be explicitly taught, and The Classroom Nook has some great ideas on how to teach students to infer. They suggest starting out using pictures, mystery bags, and modeling and then moving to “It says, I say, and so I infer.” They also offer a few suggested picture books for practicing making inferences with students.

4. Summarizing

Summarizing can often be difficult for students. They aren’t always quite sure how much detail, or what details, to include! I recommend teaching this skill using a text that students are already familiar with. Model summarizing yourself or review exemplars with students. You can also provide rubrics or an anchor chart to clarify the expectations for summaries. In the lower grades, this can be done orally. And in the upper grades, students can move into written summaries. Use graphic organizers or visual tools to help students understand the elements that should be included in a summary. Think, Grow, Giggle suggests three strategies to help students with summarizing:

  • The 5 Ws– Focus on answering these questions: Who, what, when, where, and why?
  • SWBSA– Using a graphic organizer, students outline information about the “somebody, wanted, but, so, and” parts of a story.
  • Story Maps– After reading, have students complete a story map outline and use it to write their full summary.

5. Monitoring Comprehension

According to Reading Rockets, monitoring comprehension teaches students to:

Be aware of what they do understand.

Identify what they do not understand.

Use appropriate strategies to resolve problems in comprehension.

Source

In this article, C.R. Adler suggests five strategies for comprehension monitoring: 1) identifying where the difficulty occurs, 2) identifying what the difficulty is, 3) restating the difficult sentence/passage, 4) looking back through the text, and 5) looking forward in the text. Adler also offers clear examples for each of these five strategies.

6. Activating Prior Knowledge

A great way to start out with reading is by activating prior knowledge. You can do this by encouraging students to make connections between the text and their lives, the text and previously read texts, or the text and previously taught topics or concepts. Four strategies for activating prior knowledge are:

  • The KWL Chart– Have students brainstorm what they already know, what they want to know, and then what they learned.
  • The Power Preview– Students can preview a text, paying attention to titles, subtitles, words in bold, definitions, and any special images or text features. Students pay attention to and identify what they recognize and are familiar with already.
  • Turn and Talks– When introducing a new text, students can turn and talk to a peer about what they know about the story or topic already before discussing as a class.
  • The Brain Dump– Students dump everything they know about a text or topic on paper or using a digital tool. This can be done as a class, with a partner, in a small group, or individually.

Do you have any strategies you love to use with students for improved reading comprehension? Comment below so we can all add them to our list!

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accelerating learning
CommunicationDigital CitizenshipDigital LiteracyEnglish Language Arts Reading (ELAR)MathMicrosoftReadingSocial-Emotional Learning

What Are Microsoft’s New Learning Accelerators?

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Announcing a host of new tools, Microsoft seeks to accelerate learning and reporting in the classroom. These tools expand on their ongoing effort to reimagine education with technology. Their tools seek to empower teachers and students with coaching and progress tracking.

“We formed our partnership with OpenAI around a shared ambition to responsibly advance cutting-edge AI research and democratize AI as a new technology platform,” said Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “In this next phase of our partnership, developers and organizations across industries will have access to the best AI infrastructure, models, and toolchain with Azure to build and run their applications.”

Source: Microsoft Blog, 01/23/2023

What will resonate with educators in Microsoft’s February announcement? These are AI-powered tools blended into Microsoft 365 products, including Bing, Teams and OneNote. PowerPoint, Word, and Immersive Reader have also been supercharged. These Microsoft 365 integrated tools, a.k.a Learning Accelerators, target critical skills, including:

  1. Reading and Literacy
  2. Information Literacy
  3. Mathematics
  4. Speaking and Presenting
  5. Social-Emotional Learning
Immersive Reader now features Reading Coach.

1. Reading and Literacy

Reading Coach and Reading Progress focus on helping “students practice fluency,” ostensibly through individualized instruction in critical literacy skills. Included in Teams and Immersive Reader, students get guided reading support. They can practice reading with exercises that aid with a variety of skills, such as:

  • Pronunciation
  • Syllabification
  • Reading Speed
  • Vocabulary Recall

Additionally, teachers are able to track students’ reading skills. This allows them to provide timely feedback that is actionable. With Reading Coach, teachers can upload a reading selection of their own or browse a catalog. The catalog allows you to filter by these criteria in search of “the perfect passage:“

  • Grade Level
  • Genre
  • Lexile Level
  • Word Count

These two Learning Accelerators offer a few more features of interest in the classroom.

2. Informational Literacy

Worried about fake news and misinformation finding their way into the classroom? You may need to be. Consider these statistics:

  • 62% of all Internet information can be fake
  • 80% of US adults have consumed fake news
  • 64% of US. adults believe that fabricated information causes much confusion about basic facts (source)

Worse, NPR reports that 80% of students surveyed believe fake news is actual news. Getting to the truth involves teaching critical thinking skills.

We tempted the AI chatbot [ChatGPT] with 100 false narratives from our catalog of Misinformation Fingerprints™. 80% of the time, the AI chatbot delivered eloquent, false and misleading claims about significant topics in the news, including COVID-19, Ukraine and school shootings.

ChatGPT generated false narratives — including detailed news articles, essays, and TV scripts — for 80 of the 100 previously identified false narratives. For anyone unfamiliar with the issues or topics covered by this content, the results could easily come across as legitimate, and even authoritative.

(Source: NewsGuard)

Microsoft’s Search Coach seeks to assist students in distinguishing fact from opinion. Their goals include assisting students with the following:

  • Forming effective search queries
  • Finding trusted sites
  • Thinking critically about search results in ad-free environments

Students can find Search Coach in Microsoft Teams. They can then rely on filters such as domains, date range, operators, and other sites. Search Coach includes NewsGuard results, a search progress component. Search Coach allows teachers to:

track the development of information literacy skills. It creates a window into students’ search activity and behaviors.

3. Mathematics

Math is not far behind reading in Microsoft’s Learning Accelerator Suite. Scheduled for release in the 2023-2024 school year, Math Coach and Math Progress (along with Speaker Progress mentioned below) will become available in Microsoft Teams. You can watch a demo of Math Coach and Math Progress in this @petrijamsen TikTok video:

@petrijamsen

Quick view of the new upcoming Math Coach #teams #microsoft #microsofteducation

♬ alkuperäinen ääni – Petri Jämsen

4: Presenting and Speaking

PowerPoint, Teams, and LinkedIn now feature Speaker Coach and Speaker Progress.

Preparing students to speak can be tough. Microsoft’s Speaker Coach and Speaker Progress offer information and analytics. Teachers and students can now measure speaking performance using criteria such as:

  • Pitch
  • Filler Word Usage
  • Pacing

Find these two Learning Accelerators in PowerPoint, Teams, and LinkedIn.

5: Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)

Recognizing the importance of SEL, Microsoft has another enhancement for its digital classroom. Microsoft Teams, a learning management system, now has a reflection tool for students. Students are able to identify and express how they feel in “safe and fun ways” through emojis, emotional vocabulary, and a “Feelings Monster.”

With Learning Accelerators, Microsoft is making its student learning surveillance efforts more transparent. Data tracked and reported includes students, classrooms, and schools.

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ReadingSTAARTestingWriting

Reading Language Arts STAAR Test Resources

by Emily Horn
written by Emily Horn

As Texas teachers are well aware, the Reading Language Arts (RLA) STAAR test has new items for writing on this year’s 2022-2023 test including editing, revising, and constructed response. I highly recommend logging in to the practice test (if you’ve not already) and working through some of these. You can log in as a guest and access many different practice tests at every grade level just by clicking “Sign In.” Also, you may have seen some of the new STAAR resources I’m sharing already, but I’m going to share them here for context. And here is the Accompanying Guide to New Question Type Samples for RLA. All that said, let’s get going!

Click Sign In to log in as a guest for STAAR practice tests.

Student Typing: Stop the Pecking

Ok, so maybe we can’t actually teach typing. But if students can start off the year in a typing program that increases their speed, accuracy, and efficiency (in hopes of forever bidding adieu to the one-finger keyboard pecking) it will inevitably help them on the online STAAR. Learning to type will be beneficial when it comes to completing the new written response answers. Also, students can’t copy and paste text to revise it. They will have to retype it. Here are Seven Keyboarding Tutorials from Miguel Guhlin with some suggestions for typing programs, and here are 25+ Typing Apps from We Are Teachers for you to check out.

The Highlighter: Your Students’ Best Friend

I will tell you, and this is my personal opinion, that the tools on the online STAAR test are not great for elementary students. They are clunky and don’t make it easy for them to annotate text or take notes. And there is no pencil/annotation tool outside of sticky notes to type on. So, there’s that. The easiest tool for them will likely be the highlighter. You can practice using other digital tools with highlighters, like Edji, outside the test to help students prepare to use it on the test itself. I’d also recommend using the practice test with students to familiarize them with tools.

To use the highlighter on the test, students will need to first select all the text they want to be highlighted with their mouse, right-click on top of the text, and choose a highlighter color. Once they click the color, the text will highlight. To reset the text, they can right-click on the highlighted text and choose “Reset Highlighting.”

highlighter tool in STAAR online test

The Highlighter for Editing and Revision Questions

When STAAR test questions refer to specific sentences that have errors, when students are asked to rewrite a specific sentence or sentences, and when they are asked to change a word in a sentence, the highlighter can help them see the sentence as a whole. As you can see, the questions break up sentences with a drop-down menu and don’t restate the sentence(s) for students.

STAAR test sample question for grade 3
Grade 3 example of highlighting text that needs a word replaced.
STAAR test sample question for grade 4
Grade 4 example of highlighting text to correct an error.
STAAR test sample question for grade 5
Grade 5 example of highlighting text that needs to be rewritten.

STAAR Written Response Resources

Short Constructed Response – Reading

Scoring Guides with Exemplar Texts for Responses to Reading

*Updated October 7, 2022

In grades 3-8, students will be asked to write short responses to reading (worth two points) to demonstrate understanding of the content. I’d recommend taking a look at the rubrics and the scoring guides with exemplar texts to see exactly what they are looking for in these responses.

For these questions, I really like the RACES and RAPP strategies which can be applied to shorter or longer writing assignments. They will work well for any grade level and can be adapted! Use color coding when you’re practicing with students to help them recognize and check the different parts of their responses. For example, have students highlight the section restating the question in green, the answer in yellow, the text evidence in orange, etc. Here are some templates for you to download and/or edit to your heart’s content!

Short Constructed Response – Writing

Editing and Revising Sample Items

Also in grades 3-8, will be short and extended constructed responses for writing. Short responses (worth one point) are meant to assess specific skills in editing and revision. Students may be asked to write a new sentence, rewrite a sentence, or make an inline choice (choose a correct response from a drop-down style menu).

Extended Constructed Response – Writing

STAAR Writing Rubrics

*Updated October 18, 2022.

Extended responses (worth up to ten points; five-point rubric scored by two scorers) are more complex and are meant to assess a student’s ability to analyze, explain, and evaluate the information given to them in a text. For the extended response, you can use and/or adapt the RAPP or RACE checklists above to help students practice. But here is a RACERR checklist that I created which has been adapted for extended writing based on the writing rubric:

Get All the Templates!

Additional STAAR Test Redesign Resources

I hope you find this information and these resources helpful. What do you want to know about STAAR testing? What would be helpful to you? Let us know in the comments or send me an email!

Additional STAAR and TEKS Articles You May Find Useful

STAAR Prep: A K-5 Argumentative/Opinion Writing Strategy

STAAR Prep: Spelling Strategies, Resources, and Downloadable Posters

The K-5 ELAR TEKS and Free, Editable Spreadsheets

The K-5 Math TEKS and Free, Editable Spreadsheets

A Practical Strategy for Teaching Editing Skills

A Powerful and Easy Strategy for Teaching Text Evidence

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Learning Management System (LMS)Reading

Digital Lit Circles: A Process and Templates for Any LMS

by Jennifer Rushing
written by Jennifer Rushing

What Are Lit Circles?

Literature (Lit) circles, what we used to call book clubs, are not some new fancy way to teach reading. In fact, they have been around forever. Unlike many educational fads that come and go, lit circles have sustained the test of time simply because they are effective. What is the first thing you want to do after reading a good book? I bet it’s not answer some comprehension questions or complete a book report. No, you want to share the compelling story that drew you in with your friends and family. You want to TALK about it. Lit circles give students the opportunity to share and discuss what they are reading. It brings back the excitement of picking up a new book and just talking about it. It is our job as educators to encourage natural discussion and interest in books while ensuring students understand what they are reading and continue to grow as readers. 

Our Digital Lit Circle Journey

During the pandemic, I had teachers reach out to me, asking for suggestions on conducting an online book club. At first, we kept it pretty simple, and students would gather in a Zoom meeting and breakout rooms to discuss what they were reading. The downfalls were that the students and teacher all had to be available at the same time. The teacher could only be in one breakout room at a time; therefore, they missed dynamic discussions the students were having.

The following year, our district was back at school in person. It was decided that Schoology would be purchased as our LMS to continue a blended learning model. I quickly realized that Schoology could seamlessly transform classroom in-person lit circles into digital, blended, or even flipped lit circles. Students can participate in the classroom, at home, on the bus, or anywhere they can connect to the internet. 

Our Process for Digital Lit Circles  

Book Selection

We made sure to select books in a variety of book levels that were not too difficult for the students. Also, we chose books that covered many genre interests. We didn’t have too many options available, so each group would have at least five students to carry out book talks and cover all the lit circle jobs. Students had a chance to explore the book options on the Book Trailer Site and even had the option to thumb through the actual book itself. Then, they completed a Google form with their top three choices. Teachers made sure the groups were even, and the readers were assigned to a book at their ability level.

Screenshot of the Book Trailor Site home page.

Planning and Sharing

Planning documents to help guide students and teachers were created in Google and shared with teachers. Since we are a Schoology district, teachers shared and assigned these documents to students in Schoology, but this can be done with any LMS, including Canvas and Google Classroom. This year we also plan on using TeacherMade for some of the assignments. Our planning documents currently include the following:

  • Weekly To-Do List
  • Questions to Ask Yourself While Reading
  • Weekly Checklist (for teachers)
  • Lit Circle Book Choice Form
  • Group and Job Assignments (for teachers)
  • Assignment Calendar

Jobs and Assignments

The teachers assigned jobs that would be rotated weekly, giving each student the opportunity to fulfill every role. Teachers also posted a weekly slide outlining what students should read that week, and the students worked on a collaborative document to perform their job responsibilities. Once the collaborative document was completed by the students, they would come together and have their book talk in person. In addition to the jobs and group assignment, students also had a collaborative vocabulary document in which they would add a word they did not know from their reading each week. This was one of our students’ favorite activities! Independently, the students would complete their Lit Circle Weekly Response, self-reflection doc, and a discussion post in Schoology.

Examples of a digital lit circle assignment and job from Mrs. Rowe's 3rd Grade Class.

A Few Things We Learned

It won’t be perfect.

Our biggest takeaway from this process is that it won’t be perfect overnight. There will be failure, but that is OK! We just reminded ourselves: “I have not failed. I’ve found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison.

Student excitement can drive technology use.

Not all teachers were confident in their technology skills. Some were hesitant to go all in with the digital assignments. So they took baby steps and did one or two digitally, while the rest were done in class the traditional way. What these teachers quickly learned was that the students loved the digital assignments and requested more. This got teachers out of their comfort zones and pushed them to attempt to do something new.

Routine and consistency are the keys to success.

The puzzle pieces that continually made a difference in the success of the process were routines and consistency with the activities. Students needed to feel safe to fail themselves and learn from their mistakes in order to succeed the next time.

Do you see yourself using digital lit circles with your students? Give them a try, and let us know how things go in the comments.

Click here for resources.

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ELAR TEKS
Content AreasCurricular StandardsEnglish Language Arts Reading (ELAR)ReadingTEKSWriting

The K-5 ELAR TEKS and Free, Editable Spreadsheets

by Emily Horn
written by Emily Horn

Well, I know you’ve been waiting your whole life for a post on your favorite topic: the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Look no further. Here it is, folks. Let’s take a gander at some information about the TEKS, and you can also take advantage of downloading some freebies today! We are offering editable spreadsheets with the ELAR (English/Language Arts/Reading) TEKS and coordinating “I Can” statements for grades K-5.

What Are the TEKS?

In short, the TEKS are the curricular standards adopted by the Texas State Board of Education. These standards outline what students should know and be able to do in each content area for each grade level. State-mandated tests are aligned with these standards to measure student achievement and skills acquisition.

Are the TEKS Reviewed?

The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) reviews and revises the TEKS periodically, and the full review process can be found on the Texas Education Agency’s website. For subject-area reviews, the board will determine whether or not the standards should be fully revised or streamlined. The SBOE forms work groups composed of various constituents (for example, educators, parents, industry representatives, etc.) nominated by the SBOE. These work groups will make revisions and recommendations to the board. Anyone can apply to be a part of a work group during the review and revision process, and nominations for work group members are made throughout the process. This is because there are multiple work groups that work separately on tasks at different points in the process.

Full Revision

A full revision of the TEKS will lead to either modifying the standards or developing new standards. When the TEKS go through a full revision, instructional materials will usually be aligned to the new standards as called for by the SBOE. During a full revision, the TEKS may go through significant changes or minor modifications based on the determined needs of that particular subject area. According to TEA, the purpose of a full revision is to “ensure the standards are rigorous, reflect current topics and up-to-date research, and address the essential knowledge and skills at the appropriate grade levels.”

Streamlining

When the TEKS are streamlined, the required content within the standards is reduced. Reducing content will consequently reduce the requirements of student mastery during a school year and for state-mandated testing. According to TEA, the purpose of streamlining the TEKS “is to ensure the standards are focused on only the knowledge and skills that are essential in each course/grade level.” The SBOE does not require coordinating instructional materials to be provided for streamlined TEKS since this process focuses on reduction rather than augmentation.

About the ELAR TEKS

In 2017, the SBOE adopted revised K-8 ELAR TEKS, which were implemented in the 2019-2020 school year. Here are the top ten things to know (from the ELAR TEKS introduction):

  1. There are four domains of language within the ELAR TEKS, which are reading, writing, speaking, and listening. And a big emphasis is placed on the integration and interconnectedness of these four domains.
  2. There are now seven strands instead of five (as there were in the previous ELAR TEKS): 1) developing and sustaining foundational language, 2) comprehension, 3) response, 4) multiple texts, 5) author’s purpose and craft, 6) composition, and 7) inquiry and research.
  3. The seven strands are highly focused on oral language proficiency for the development of speaking and understanding, authentic reading, and reflective writing.
  4. It is clearly stated within the TEKS that each strand is of equal value, although some strands may require more instructional time than others. The strands can be presented in any order but they should be integrated throughout the instructional year.
  5. The ELAR TEKS take a spiraling, recursive approach to strands. Students will revisit certain standards from previous years in more depth later in order to build complexity, increase critical thinking, and adapt to the changing nature of language and literacy.
  6. The goal is for students to become “self-directed, critical learners who work collaboratively while continuously using metacognitive skills.”
  7. There should be daily opportunities for students to read, write, engage in academic discussions, and be read to.
  8. English Language Learners (ELLs) are expected to meet standards in a second language, and their language development affects their ability to demonstrate mastery of skills in English. Therefore, they should be provided scaffolding for text comprehension and linguistic accommodations to help ensure mastery.
  9. ELLs should also be encouraged to use their first language to help them develop and build English vocabulary. Making connections between a native language and English is important to English language development (affective, cognitive, and academic).
  10. Within the standards, “such as” is used to illustrate examples, whereas “including” alludes to content that must be mastered.

Helpful TEKS Documents

Freebies from TCEA

Whew! That was a lot. Let’s get to the freebies. Below, you will find links to editable spreadsheets for the K-5 ELAR TEKS. Within these spreadsheets, you will find a tab for the TEKS and a second tab for “I Can” statements based on the TEKS. Feel free to make a copy of the spreadsheets and use them in whatever ways would best benefit you. Is there something else TEKS-related that would be helpful? If so, let me know in the comments or send me an email (ehopkins@tcea.org). I’d love to hear from you!

Click to Make a Copy of the Kindergarten TEKS and
“I Can” Statement Spreadsheet
Grade 1 ELAR TEKS
Click to Make a Copy of the Grade 1 TEKS and
“I Can” Statement Spreadsheet
Click to Make a Copy of the Grade 2 TEKS and
“I Can” Statement Spreadsheet
Grade 3 ELAR TEKS
Click to Make a Copy of the Grade 3 TEKS and
“I Can” Statement Spreadsheet
Click to Make a Copy of the Grade 4 TEKS and
“I Can” Statement Spreadsheet
Click to Make a Copy of the Grade 5 TEKS and
“I Can” Statement Spreadsheet

Additional STAAR and TEKS Articles You May Find Useful

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ELA
Content AreasEnglish Language Arts Reading (ELAR)ReadingWriting

Favorite ELA Resources from Our Members

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

We asked our TCEA members to share their favorite reading and writing websites, apps, or tools to use for student learning and would like to share that great list with you. Feel free to add your favorite ELA resources at the bottom!

  • ReadWriteThink – Free website for grades K-12 that focuses on all things dealing with literacy and ELA and includes lessons, interactives, calendar activities, and more
  • Newsela and ReadWorks – While only some of the content provided is free, they both provide Lexile levels, word counts, and vocabulary.
  • Epic! for Educators – Thousands of books to read; free for teachers and librarians
  • Wonderopolis – Features Daily Wonders with short summaries and videos for students
  • Book Creator – Online creation and publishing tool that works on web-based devices (including Chromebooks) or as an app on iPad; not free
  • NoRedInk – Builds stronger writers through interest-based curriculum, adaptive exercises, and actionable data; can group by grade bands K-3, 4-6, 7-9 , 10-12
  • Actively Learn – Digital reading platform with ability to scaffold; free and premium plans
  • Literator – This app for iOS and Google helps teachers track their students’ reading success; this is basically a digital binder for guided reading groups and conferring.
  • Automatic Readability Checker – Great to use with students who paste their written text in and receive the number of sentences, words, syllables, and characters in their sample. The program then takes the output of these numbers and plugs them into seven popular readability formulas that let them know the reading level and grade level of the text.
  • WriteReader – Designed for K-2 students with an easy interface, an uncomplicated student login process, and space for both students and teachers to create/edit work
  • The Literacy Shed – A great site full of short films and images that connect to so many literary elements taught in ELA. Scarlett is one of my favorite new ones added in the Inspiration Shed. It has wonderful writing prompts too. This site also has the Mysteries of Harris Burdick  with great lesson ideas in the Mystery Shed. My students also really liked Alma in the Ghostly Shed.  Titanium in the Music Video has some great inference opportunities.  You need to fully preview anything from the Literacy  Shed as some can be pretty out there.  The Lighthouse is a shed by itself, but great for teaching plot. 
  • Storybird – The vibrancy of the images and the simplicity of static font sizes and styles makes the product publisher ready.
  • Phonics Hero – Builds from sounds to single words and then sentences, with children making daily leaps toward conquering reading and spelling; 7-day free trial
  • Flipgrid – Great for book talks
  • Pear Deck Addon for Google Slides – If you haven’t used it, it is similar to Nearpod and its drawing feature allows students to annotate text and respond to readings all in the same presentation; free and premium plans
  • The Writing Center – Perfect for secondary students who need additional writing help; includes handouts and videos for virtually every writing issue your students could come across
  • Crash Course – These YouTube videos are engaging and great for teaching literary themes and important works.
  • Big List of Websites for Elementary Teachers – Check out all of the resources for ELA for elementary teachers.
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