ILA Newsletter Weekly Project: Effective Literacy Website #6

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Balmeo, Shirley
ED 638

Actively Learn (https://www.activelylearn.com/)

ILA Newsletter Weekly Project: Effective Literacy Website #6

How can we promote active learning?

    Actively Learn is an application that provides teachers with resources to work with students in close reading techniques in literature and informational text in Social Studies and Science.  It’s a great tool for across content literacy.  The platform offers a wide variety of reading resources based on curriculum units, genre, or themes.  It is a digital curriculum that drives student engagement and equity through deeper learning.  

       Teacher sign up is free, but for the upgraded resources, a paid subscription is required. Actively Learn has a number of useful features that allow teachers to assess student progress using innovative techniques. Teachers may include questions and comments in the text that point students to the main ideas of the reading. Students may then highlight and annotate the text. This feature teaches students to identify important details or ideas (a lost art) in reading complex texts).   

    Teachers may also narrow the selected text via grade level and Lexile reading levels.  Interestingly, the site also offers “Diverse Voices” selections on the Genre section such as Asian and Pacific Island History and Literature as well as Indigenous Literature. The inclusion of these assorted texts is unique as compared to some platforms available.

    The data collected from student interaction with the assignment is vast and useful.  For example, information on the amount of time student spent reading the assignment may indicate the student struggling with the text. Students are also able to answer text that teachers can assess for student understanding, and provide four point, rubric-based assessment that directs students to ideas they are expressing well and for those ideas that may need more information.  Data may be obtained for the whole class or for individual students, making Actively Learn an ideal instrument for formative assessment in reading and writing.



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