TOP PICKS | 18 TOOLS
Resources for Close Reading and Literary Analysis Lessons
Top Picks
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Reading Platforms and Texts
Newsela
Great stories, just-right leveled reading; now mostly by subscription
Bottom line: Up-to-date, high-interest articles will meet students right at their level, and help teachers bolster students' nonfiction reading skills.
CommonLit
Feature-rich literacy resource offers superb support for readers
Bottom line: Access a hefty collection of reliable, ready-to-print, leveled passages that allow you to tailor lessons, assign online reading, and track progress.
Curriculet
Elegant, customizable e-reader empowers close reading, boosts skills
Bottom line: An excellent tool for in-text assessment. Maximize the platform's usefulness by uploading your own texts and setting up CCSS-aligned checkpoints.
ThinkCERCA
Well-structured lessons encourage deep analysis, thoughtful writing
Bottom line: This is a ready-to-go, research-backed resource that focuses intently on CCSS-aligned and AP-level critical reading and writing skills.
Actively Learn
Empowering reader keeps kids actively, independently engaged
Bottom line: Far beyond the average e-reader, this tool helps students connect and stay engaged while teachers easily measure progress.
StudySync
Superb ELA resource features engaging activities, stellar support
Bottom line: An exceptional, ever-growing resource for helping your students become close readers, careful writers, and critical thinkers.
Annotation and Analysis Tools
NowComment
Rich collaboration and close-reading tool invites deep, easy-to-assess discussions
Bottom line: Versatile, free discussion platform for teaching, peer review, assessment, and fostering active reading.
Kami
Versatile annotation tool helps users critically connect with content
Bottom line: Kami is an effective way to promote student interaction with texts, authentic documents, and pictures.
Hypothes.is
Browser extension adds layer of annotation and discussion to the web
Bottom line: Free, user-friendly tool opens up the web to in-context annotation and discussion.
InsertLearning
Useful Chrome extension lets teachers add interactivity to websites
Bottom line: A potential go-to tool for teachers focused on building critical reading skills, especially those in Chromebook classrooms.
Weava
Chrome extension helps organize web-based research
Bottom line: For Chrome users and mostly digital classrooms, this is a fairly intuitive tool that'll help students wrangle their research.
Genius
Collaborative tool lets users annotate songs, literature, web content
Bottom line: Students can collaboratively engage in the process of annotation and analysis with various texts -- both within the forum and on the web.
Scrible
Browser extension helpful for annotation and research organization
Bottom line: A solid -- with room to grow -- annotation and research tool; serious users will need to pay for premium.
Supplemental Resources for Teachers and Students
ReadWriteThink
Excellent free resource for all things reading and writing
Bottom line: A language arts teacher's dream; lesson plans, professional development, and all-around quality support.
ReadWorks
Differentiate reading instruction with high-quality texts and lessons
Bottom line: The quality and scope of texts, lesson plans, assessments, and supports on this platform can help facilitate targeted reading instruction in any classroom.
Critical Media Project
Relevant media clips get students examining identity, culture
Bottom line: Teachers will need to take time to build effective lessons, but if they do, this is a useful, relevant, high-interest resource for deconstructing identity and building critical thinking and empathy skills.
CliffsNotes
A decent support for understanding reading, but not a replacement
Bottom line: Sometimes it’s OK to make friends with the enemy; there's potential to support students as they decipher challenging texts.
SparkNotes
Study aids for required texts can help struggling readers
Bottom line: Used properly, students can boost comprehension and gain insights for class discussion; teachers can be aware of the contents to gain greater insights into their students' analysis.
