I have found several ways to use NewsELA in class. We read articles together so that we can keep up on current events. I am able to teach, review, and reinforce how to read for information using the highlighting tools to help identify the main ideas and supporting details. I assign articles for the students to read that go with topics that we are studying, and students choose articles of interest to read on their own. I really like how most articles present both sides of an issue/topic. Discussions and relevant debates flow naturally, forcing students to think critically about what they have read, and giving them evidence to back up what they think.
Ms. Bauer, a teacher in South Carolina, and I worked together for the Global Read Aloud this past year. We were thrilled with how well our students excelled using the connections that they made through the GRA. We were eager to find a way to keep that momentum going. We decided to try using NewsELA and edmodo to accomplish the task. We take turns posting an article from NewsELA in our edmodo group along with questions for the students to answer. Students can then log into edmodo which will take them to the article which they read, highlight, take the quiz, and finally respond on edmodo to the questions we have written and to each other. It is working very well! I have shared this resource with many teachers and I am eager to learn how others are using this valuable tool!