Description

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Newsela is an instructional content platform that provides students access to a variety of news style articles on a wide range of articles.  Its unique attribute is the ability to adjust the length and difficulty level of individual articles.  One article might have 4 or 5 different difficulty settings which can allow students to read the same content at their individual reading level.  The site is a freemium service with a selection of news articles available for free.  Subscriptions increase the number of accessible articles and allows creation of assignments and lessons for students.  It also allows educators to track the progress of students and store assessment results.

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Examples and Rationale

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The allure of Newsela is its application in differentiated learning.  Adapting curriculum to accommodate the skill level of students is an important component of modern curriculum (Ontario Ministry of Education 2008 and 2013) It can allow a class of students at different reading levels read the same article at an appropriate reading level.  This can facilitate follow-up discussion with the entire class able to participate and prevents segregation of the classroom discussion based upon ability level.  This is an important consideration for making a classroom inclusive and judgement free.  This represents a significant augmentation level of enhancement as evaluated by the SAMR model (Peuntedura, 2013).

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The website does a good job publishing content with broad appeal and potential for creating curriculum connections.  Articles reflect diverse subjects with potential connections to history and geography, science, art, health and sports.  It can also be useful for a wide range of language curriculum expectations and to promote general literacy (Ontario Ministry of Education 2013b)  Newsela is a simple concept that has a wide range of practical applications in the classroom.

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References

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Ontario Ministry of Education (2008). Supporting English Language Learners:  A practical Guide for Ontario Educators Grades 1 to 8. Toronto, On. Queens Printer for Ontario. retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/esleldprograms/guide.pdf

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Ontario Ministry of Education (2013a). Learning for All:  A Guide to Effective Assessment and Instruction for All Students, Kindergarten to Grade 12. Toronto, On. Queens Printer for Ontario. retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/elemsec/speced/LearningforAll2013.pdf

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Ontario Ministry of Education (2013b). Paying Attention to K-12 Literacy. Toronto, On. Queens Printer for Ontario. retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/paying_attention_literacy.pdf

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Puentedura, R (2013, January 7) Technology in Education:  A Brief Introduction [video] retrieved from https://youtu.be/rMazGEAiZ9c