Promotes collaborative close reading and discussion!
Community Review for Genius
My Take
There is very little not to love about Genius.com in the English Language Arts classroom!
Setup is fairly quick and simple, saving teachers precious time and becoming a verified educator is as simple as sending an email.
In the classroom, there is little question that Genius.com promotes close reading and lively discussion. Students are interested to read how their classmates interpret text in comparison to their own views and subsequently, how their classmates respond to their ideas. It is not uncommon to hear voices rise up of the clatter of keys in the classroom as students begin to debate the finer points of literature, using textual evidence for support!
How I Use It
Students log into Genius.com and access the assigned task on the Assignments and Lesson Plans page.
Genius is effective as both a support and a close reading tool. In using Genius.com as a support for reading comprehension, students may access text and read annotations that the teacher has created. These personalized annotations remain hidden from students until they click the text. This assists in students using Genius as a support as opposed to a crutch. I utilize this feature in Genius.com primarily as a tool to be used outside of the classroom.
As a close reading tool, the teacher may provide students with the desired text on the Genius platform. Students may the work collaboratively to annotate the text. I prefer to provide students with a focus question for reading that they use as a guide for their annotation. Students collaborate on annotations both in and out of the classroom.
I particularly enjoy the collaborative annotation feature of Genius.com for use in the classroom. It serves to hold students accountable for their reading and responses.
Genius is also beneficial for providing feedback to multiple students at a time!