As announced in ACLS' July mailing, all ACLS-funded programs have access to the statewide Newsela account for use in their programs. If you have never used Newsela before or if you need a refresher, join us for an overview of Newsela's content and tools, and learn how to navigate within the extensive Newsela environment.
- Adult education practitioners (ABE and ESOL) who are new to Newsela
- Current Newsela users who want a review
- Teachers and tutors of adults reading at GLE 3–12
This professional development activity/course is designed for:
SABES and Newsela are partnering to provide five online trainings this year, supporting practitioners in using the statewide license available to ACLS-funded programs. This first training, Discover Newsela, is for those who are new to Newsela or who need a refresher. In this session, explore and practice:
- Logging in to Newsela
- Creating a class roster
- Finding and saving content
- Creating an assignment
►Register directly for Discovering Newsela.
Future trainings will include (but are not limited to) differentiating instruction, supporting student engagement, and guiding inquiry using Newsela.
Please note: You cannot access this online course from the SABES website.
What is Newsela? According to Common Sense Education,
- "Newsela is an online news-as-literacy platform that features high-interest articles on everything from current events to myths and legends and from literature to science."
- "Content is updated daily, with stories from a wide range of sources (from the Associated Press to Scientific American to the Washington Post) in English and also often in Spanish. "
- "All articles are available in five Lexile levels, ranging (roughly) from 3rd to 12th grade. Each leveled text features a quiz tailored to that particular article plus a writing prompt that asks students to write and respond to what they've read."
- Log in and navigate around the Newsela website
- Search for and save content
- Create a class roster
- Create an assignment
Upon completion of this professional development activity/course, you will be able to:
If you have never used Newsela before, you can set up your Newsela account using one of these methods at newsela.com:
- Create a username and password using your agency email.
- If you have a Gmail address provided by the institution where you work, log in using your agency Gmail address.
- If you have a Microsoft address provided by the institution where you work, log in using your agency Microsoft email address.
Any program that wishes to use Newsela but has difficulty creating accounts should contact Paula Jurigian, ACLS Distance Education and Digital Literacy Specialist, at paula.jurigian@mass.gov.
United States
