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What is CommonLit and How Does It Work? Best Tips and Tricks

CommonLit is an all-in-one literacy program to help with reading using assessments and more

CommonLit is an online-based literacy resource that offers standards-based training and assessments for students.

Created for students of a wide range, from grade 3 up to grade 12, it covers a lot of reading progression. As such, there is a broad selection of levelled texts of varying types that are available for free.

Built to common-core standards, this can be a useful resource for teachers to add to their current tools. It can also provide a way for students to learn at their own pace outside of the classroom.

Thanks to a clear and easy layout, which is filled with rich content, this is a very appealing way to engage students with reading.

So is CommonLit for you?

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What is CommonLit?

CommonLit  is a digital resource for teaching and learning literacy skills. That means it offers a wide selection of common-core standards-aligned reading as well as assessment tools.

CommonLit is web-based and can be accessed from most devices. Everything is helpfully categorized and presented in an intuitive way that makes searching and browsing very easy, even for younger students.

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Texts range from news articles and short stories to poems and historical documents. A selection of curated texts is also available, which organizes information by literary or historical periods, making it all very helpful as teaching resources. 

A selection of languages is available, plus speech-to-text, all of which help to make the various texts more widely available to a broad range of students.

How does CommonLit work?

CommonLit allows you to browse by category, with a specific Themes section, but also to filter by features such as grades, genders, lexile range, and more. Or simply type in a specific title to search.

Once you've found what you want to read, select the title to be brought into the lander page. Here you have the option to begin reading right away, to select to have it read aloud, or to translate to another language. You can also download the written content as a PDF if you want to read offline or save it for later. 

Tabs across the top provide extra resources, including a Teacher Guide, Parent Guide, Related Media, and Paired Texts. You can adjust font size to suit and favorite to come back to later. The option to share is also available, ideal for teachers who want to distribute specific titles to the class, groups, or individual students. 

Texts also usually feature images either in-line or to the side, which are a fixed size and generally don't require a fast internet connection or a lot of data to access.

What are the best CommonLit features?

CommonLit translates texts into more than 13 languages for access immediately, including Spanish, Arabic, and Russian. Each passage usefully comes with annotations that allow students to define words at the click of a button. But you can also make your own annotations -- which is super helpful if you want to leave guidance or instructions for students. 

CommonLit also offers assessments alongside the texts with varying levels, including guidance and discussion. From multiple choice questions to short answers, there are various types of assessment questions that help provide an idea of student understanding. Guiding questions are also available, which can be turned on or off and that students must answer correctly to progress. 

The offering of extension texts and related content make for a great way to continue to learn around a subject and also to offer reading for students to continue at home.

Integration tools such as Google Classroom and Clever help to make the process of signing in students easier. Lots of features are in the paid-for premium versions though. More on that next. 

How much does CommonLit cost?

CommonLit comes in various forms with a free option as well as paid-for premium tiers. 

The Free account includes the CommonLit Digital Library plus the CommonLit 360 Curriculum. 

The Essentials plan, at $2,000 per school , gets you the above plus introductory webinars, priority customer support, ClassLink and Clever rostering integrations, and on-demand professional development.

The Essential Pro tier, at $3,250 per school , gets you all the above plus the CommonLit Assessment Series, Canvas integration, and administrator data.

Go for the Essential Pro Plus package, at $5,500 per school , and you get all the above plus quarterly virtual 360 PD and consulting, and 360 unit skills assessments. 

CommonLit best tips and tricks

Use the themes Work through a theme in a lesson or across a week to explore things such as Family, America, Prejudice and Discrimination, Resilience, and more.

Use Text Set Select the Text Set feature for 50 options in order of historical period, literary movements, or more, to lay out tasks for the class.

Annotate Have students use the annotation tool to provide feedback and highlight questions that are needed for you to look at in class so you can help.

Luke Edwards is a freelance writer and editor with more than two decades of experience covering tech, science, and health. He writes for many publications covering health tech, software and apps, digital teaching tools, VPNs, TV, audio, smart home, antivirus, broadband, smartphones, cars and much more.

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8 Ways to Use Commonlit in Middle and High School

We ❤️using this free digital tool across the curriculum.

Commonlit.org is a FREE digital tool that helps students in grades 5-12 in the areas of reading and writing. Commonlit has a free library that includes thousands of high interest, standards-aligned lessons. Teachers can easily track students’ progress towards mastery on literacy skills using the analytics tools that are available. The best part…other than it being FREE, of course, is that it can be used for all subject areas! Here are 8 ways that Commonlit can be used in the classroom!

1. Try Articles of the Week.

Invite students to pick their own article to read based on a specific topic you’re studying in class. Since Commonlit can be filtered by over 20 themes, the theme could also be one of the requirements students could choose from. 

2. Introduce STEM topics.

Use Commonlit to introduce rigorous STEM topics that ask students to think critically. Even if students struggle to read grade-level texts, Commonlit can be a huge help.

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3. Assign lessons based on your students’ needs.

For example, struggling readers can be assigned a text using the Guided Reading mode where they have to answer questions correctly before they can proceed with the text. More advanced learners can skip ahead to the discussion and assessment questions.

4. Try Commonlit to introduce a social studies topic.

For example, let’s say you’re teaching African-American heroes. There are a variety of texts that are available for each grade level. Some examples are, “The Story of Ida B. Jones,” ”How Jackie Robinson Changed Baseball,” and “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” 

5. Use Commonlit as a supplement to a novel you’re reading in class.

There is even a tab called “Book Pairings” where articles are already paired up with additional texts that relate to the novel. However, if you don’t see a pairing for your specific novel, you can easily find a relatable text by searching for a specific theme or main idea. 

6. Use the video option in “Related Media” to introduce a unit of study or text.

Using video clips is a great way to hook students so that they are more engaged in the material. It also helps to build background knowledge on the topic of study. This is also a great way to build text-to-media connections and promote a stronger understanding of the content.

7. Assist your English Language Learners. 

Not only can you choose between English or Spanish for the entire text, but you can also select a word or phrase and have it translated between 13 different languages. 

8. Search by standard.

All Commonlit texts are standards-aligned. If you are teaching a specific standard(s), you can modify your search by selecting the standard in which you want to focus. 

We’d love to hear—how are you using Commonlit in the classroom? Come and share in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.

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CommonLit's Free, High-Quality, Common-Core-Aligned Reading Passages and Literacy Resources

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A few months ago, the English Department at my school found itself faced with a serious — but familiar — problem: the reading and writing that our students were doing was not relevant or rigorous enough for the requirements of the Common Core Era.

To solve this problem, I asked my department members to recommend one online resource capable of providing all of us with free, high-quality, Common-Core-aligned reading passages and literacy resources.

The most highly-recommended suggestion was Commonlit.org.

What is CommonLit?

Commonlit.org is a great resource for English, social studies, science and CTE courses, but it can be useful for all courses, regardless of the subject you teach. To learn more about Commonlit.org, watch the short video below:

The following list of perks is what has impressed most about Commonlit.org. It’s also what keeps me coming back to use it.

• Commonlit.org is user-friendly, and the relevant and rigorous readings the website provides are outstanding. They’re clear, organized, color-coded…need i say more?
• Commonlit.org has resources for grades 3-12, so it’s useful for nearly all grade levels.
• Commonlit.org is free , and by that, I don’t mean it’s “free for a year,” or “free if you don’t want the data.” It is free.  
• Commonlit.org will work with most technology devices: Chromebooks, iPads, Macs, etc.
• Commonlit.org has all of its assignments in PDF format, just in case you have to print them (which is great for times when WiFi unexpectedly shuts down!).

And, most importantly, it improves student learning. Commonlit.org can help with differentiation, interdisciplinary integration, and rigorous reading and writing practice.  

Differentiation

We hear this word so much as a teacher that I think we’ve become numb to the word. We go to the IEP (Individualized Education Program)  meetings and get the documents from the EL (English Learner) teachers that list all the things we need to do to tailor our instruction to meet individual needs. In other words, we are expected to always have options built into our class for any student to receive support where and how they need it, whether by using visuals, having clear written directions (with pictures), or allowing peer tutoring. Commonlit.org provides your students with built-in support to match their abilities and learning styles with the materials and the skills.  

Each assignment comes with this toolbar (on left). It includes a dictionary, audio recording of the text, translation of the word into various languages and a highlighter tool. There is also a related media tab which links to videos and images that are connected to the text or the theme of the text. The important part of this toolbar is that the students control the type of support they need for that text. They might only need one word translated and they can choose that. They may want to highlight a particular word or section. They might want to see a video related to what they are reading. They can get that, too. The toolbar puts the students in control of their differentiation.

I used this program in my Practical English course for seniors. Every one of my students had required accommodations and I wanted them to learn how to accommodate their learning styles by themselves, instead of me providing that for them. Students need to learn how to learn effectively. They need to learn how to read more than they need to simply read.

There are additional things that the teacher can choose to help with differentiation. Each reading is labeled with a grade level and a lexile number so you can pick the right piece for your students. You can also choose to turn on the “Guided Reading” option to an assignment. This setting forces the students to read one section at a time: it stops the student after certain sections and forces the student to answer questions about that section before they continue.

Interdisciplinary Integration

Commonlit.org is not an “English teacher resource” as much as it is a reading and writing resource. The website is designed to group the materials together by theme and text set, as well as by literary device and book supplementals. Therefore, a social studies teacher can find a text set about the Holocaust which would provide the students with a variety of media texts about that historical event. There could be a poem, article, interview and primary document all in the same text set. There are relevant articles, essays, speeches, etc. Materials are added every year that are relevant to students’ lives, interests and experience.

I teach for the Multimedia and Technology pathway.  The students are grouped by similar interests so that they can be given experiences and education specific to that industry. Therefore, when I am teaching argumentative writing to my students, I make the conscious decision not to teach the same reading materials as everyone else. I go on Commonlit.org and find materials from varying perspectives on topics like the costs and benefits of technology. It connects what they are learning in English with their Career Technical Education.   

Rigorous Reading and Writing Practice

It is essential that students learn how to read and write about complex texts. However, complex reading and writing practice take time to prepare and time to grade. On Commonlit.org, each of the texts have various question types that require critical thinking. For example, “How does the author’s discussion of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four contribute to the text?” The next question will ask for students to find textual evidence that supports their answer.

It takes time for our students to get in the habit of thinking for themselves instead of looking for the right multiple choice answer. The rigor comes when we give them questions that provide opportunities for them to justify their thinking. The short answer questions take that rigor one step further by asking the students to write a complete paragraph with their evidence and analysis to support their answer. Commonlit.org offers example answers for each of those questions for the teachers to use when they score. Both the reading questions and the writing practice provide students with opportunity to express their thinking and learning.  

How I Have Used CommonLit in my 11th Grade English Class

Just a few days after first having learned about CommonLit, I introduced this wonderful resource to the students in my 11th grade English class.

At the time, my students were engaged in a unit on oppression and reading Uncle Tom’s Children — a collection of short novels detailing the lives of black people in the Deep South during the post-slavery era and exploring their resistance to white racism and oppression. Originally published in 1938, Uncle Tom’s Children was the first book by Richard Wright, the author of the highly acclaimed novel Native Son .

To provide my students with a description of the difficulties African Americans faced during the slavery era, rather than after it, and to have my students learn how controlling literacy of others is a form of oppression, I directed my students to go to Commonlit.org and find the poem “ Learning to Read .”

Very soon the Yankee teachers    Came down and set up school; But, oh! how the Rebs did hate it,—    It was agin’ their rule. Our masters always tried to hide    Book learning from our eyes; Knowledge did’nt agree with slavery—    ’Twould make us all too wise. But some of us would try to steal    A little from the book. And put the words together,    And learn by hook or crook. I remember Uncle Caldwell,    Who took pot liquor fat And greased the pages of his book,    And hid it in his hat. And had his master ever seen    The leaves upon his head, He’d have thought them greasy papers,    But nothing to be read. And there was Mr. Turner’s Ben,    Who heard the children spell, And picked the words right up by heart,    And learned to read ’em well. Well, the Northern folks kept sending    The Yankee teachers down; And they stood right up and helped us,    Though Rebs did sneer and frown. And I longed to read my Bible,    For precious words it said; But when I begun to learn it,    Folks just shook their heads, And said there is no use trying,    Oh! Chloe, you’re too late; But as I was rising sixty,    I had no time to wait. So I got a pair of glasses,    And straight to work I went, And never stopped till I could read    The hymns and Testament. Then I got a little cabin    A place to call my own— And I felt independent    As the queen upon her throne.  

Even though the poem was only at the 5th grade reading level, the content and diction was unfamiliar to my students. We therefore used collaborative learning strategies to read through the poem together.

Then we watched the introductory video clip appearing on the CommonLit website (with this video accessible only to registered users).

I then let them work in groups to answer the Guided Reading questions. 

Then I had the groups share out and justify their answers with the text or resource that best supported their answers.

I then projected their answers onto a screen located at the front of the room and graded their answers on a score of 0-4 using a rubric that can be found by clicking here .

You should have seen me during the grading process. The entire time, I had on my “my-class-got-it” smile.  

I then assigned another poem, “ If We Must Die .” This one didn’t call for any short answers, but it did call for answers to several thought-provoking, evidence-based questions.  

When the students first started to answer these questions, I was so confident that my students could ace it as well that I again plastered my “my-class-got-it” smile onto my face. Then I opened the results page and saw that the class average had dropped by 20 percent.  

After evaluating the well-thought out and itemized data, I was able to identify two needs. My students could define words using context clues, but they couldn’t identify what evidence guided those context clues and they couldn’t follow simple instructions beyond choosing one multiple choice answer.  

This is vital feedback for a teacher and certainly the perfect formative assessment for me. And what did I learn from it? Above all else, that though none of my students wanted to admit that they had a hard time transitioning from the traditional multiple choice question to more demanding thought-provoking evidence-based question, the data was clear. More than 50 percent of my students got the final “thought-provoking evidence-based question” at least partially wrong, in large part because they did not choose two statements as the question had prompted.  

In any event, by the end of this unit on oppression, most of the students had a favorite poem, speech, interview or video that helped them form their answers to the essential question presented at the start of the question “What role does literature play in the area of pre- and post-American civil war oppression? “

Better yet, I watched a few students fall in love with reading.  

Commonlit.org is anything but common. It is a powerful resource and you don’t have to believe me because I am an English teacher, but don’t disregard me just because I am an English teacher. Try it for yourself, especially if you are tired of jumping from one resource to another. You might just find the resource love of your life.

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How can I use CommonLit texts in my instruction?

CommonLit is designed to be a flexible resource that can support a variety of instructional purposes. Many teachers use different types of lessons and features based on their classroom needs. Texts serve as the basis for both Library and Target Lessons, and both types of lessons can be found in the CommonLit Library. However, these lessons and their features serve different instructional needs.

Library Lessons

Library Lessons focus on a variety of standards and include Guided Reading Mode (GRM) Questions, Assessment Questions, and Discussion Questions. Furthermore, Library Lessons include paired texts and related media, allowing teachers to expand on the ideas and topics covered in the lesson.

Teachers can also edit the Annotation Task or change the assessment options for these lessons to adapt a reading passage to better suit existing lesson plans or units. For example, teachers can assign only annotations and short answer questions when working on a writing unit, or assign only Guided Reading Mode when working on comprehension or background knowledge. 

Finally, each Library Lesson provides additional information such as a summary of the text and unique Teaching Tips to help teachers incorporate the text into their classroom instruction. 

Target Lessons

Target Lessons focus on a single standard or skill . Each Target Lesson includes a warm-up for students, an instructional video, a review of the skill, During Reading questions solely aligned to the one standard, and a two question assessment. Furthermore, each Target Lesson includes a Teacher Copy, Student Copy, and a customizable slide deck.

Target Lessons can be used to teach a new skill to a whole class or in small groups or stations. They can also be used as additional practice on a skill that has already been covered. Finally, Target Lessons are an excellent way to remediate skills gaps teachers identify based on standards-specific data provided by CommonLit assessments and assignments.

Teachers can customize the instructions when assigning these lessons digitally. However, as these lessons are designed to hone in on a specific skill, it is not possible to edit the assessment options for Target Lessons. 

Related Articles

• How do I view and analyze Free Reading Assessment data?
• How are Target Lessons different from a regular CommonLit Digital Lesson or CommonLit 360 Lessons?
• How do I teach a Target Lesson?

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