Writable scaffolds student learning and builds lifelong writing and reading skills for students in grades 3-12, while saving teachers time on daily instruction and feedback.

Writable is research-backed and an award-winning solution used by over 16,000 schools and districts. It’s proven to save teachers time, increase assessment scores, and grow proficient student writers.

Writable has long been a leader in AI support for teachers and students with popular features like GrammarAid, Originality Check, and RevisionAid. Writable’s new generative AI-powered tools for teachers help to increase teacher confidence and agency, scale the impact of teaching by reaching every student in the moment with targeted, skill-aligned feedback, and save a ton of time without any setup needed. These tools help to:

• Unlock creativity and save time on prep with AI-powered prompt suggestions and AI assisted assignments (including AI-generagted multiple choice questions and answer keys).
• Increase the impact of your feedback with AI-suggested comments that drive revision.
• Save time and build grading confidence with GradeAssist (AI-generated scores).
• Protect authentic learning with the AI-writing indicator from TII and Authorship Alerts from Writable.
• AI scoring and commenting are configurable at the district level.

Writable also offers student safe AI features. As students write and review they can access (teacher-selected) on-demand feedback tools. These AI-powered tools guide students to improve their writing in the moment. These include GrammarAid, which provides suggestions for grammar, mechanics, and styfle, RevisionAid, which provides students with on-demand feedback on structure and organization, and Originality Check from Turnitin to help students cite sources and check authenticity.

For these reasons and more, Writable earned a Cool Tool Award (finalist) for “Best AI Solution” as part of The EdTech Awards 2024 from EdTech Digest. Learn more. 

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Some friends of the newsletter at Demco made my book truck dreams come true and shipped me this yellow beauty.

Inspired by the librarians at my local branch who give their book trucks names like “Shelvis Presley” and “Trolley Parton,” I’ve decided my new truck needs a name.

You can cast your vote in today’s newsletter.

Here’s an AI-driven reading app for K-5th grade students to help with independent reading practice, boost reading scores to meet benchmark levels as parents/educators track progress. It offers advanced AI and speech recognition prompts, corrects, encourages and assesses in real time as a child reads a story/passage out loud. Readability was designed by tech entrepreneuers. 

From struggling readers to readers who are just starting their reading journey, it’s also for children with dyslexia, those that are on the autism spectrum and ELL students. It is perhaps the first reading app that assesses a child’s reading in real-time, providing feedback much like an in-person tutor/educator or parent. Readability is economical and equitable. 

According to a recently published independent case study conducted in a third grade classroom in Salisbury, Pennsylvania, in just 6 short weeks students advanced a reading level and increased fluency by more than 41% over their peers who didn’t use Readability. 

The app is based on years of research and development including studies that have demonstrated its effectiveness. Readability aligns with best practices in reading instruction, including the National Reading Panel Report. The developers behind this app have more case studies on the way and a 4.5 rating in the App Store with many parents reporting similar results for their children. Learn more.

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An edtech founder provides advice applicable to anyone working in education and technology. 

GUEST COLUMN | by Nick Gaehde

The pandemic exacerbated a problem that has long existed: many middle and high school students are struggling readers. With learning interruptions and instructional inconsistencies (among other COVID-related disruptions), students who were already struggling to read fell even further behind in their literacy skills—even as they advanced to the next grade.

‘With the right professional learning and supporting materials, including age-appropriate reading content and tools for tracking and monitoring student performance, teachers in the middle grades can help close reading gaps…’

The latest Nation’s Report Card continues to demonstrate just how much work still needs to be done in this area. The good news is that we know from the science of reading, which components are most effective for teaching reading and which of those components need to be emphasized, and the intensity of instruction needed for students in middle and high school. And although there is often a focus on teaching elementary school teachers about the science of reading, it is equally important that we provide teachers in middle school and high school the same opportunity to learn. It is estimated that about 85% of curriculum is taught through reading so although many subject area teachers don’t think of themselves as reading teachers, students’ reading abilities impact their ability to access the content. Therefore, all schools should explore, high-impact professional learning around literacy for all of their teachers.  

A large body of gold-standard research collected by cognitive scientists and other reading experts, the science of reading, tells us how we learn to read and the most effective way to teach reading. Understanding the science of reading is critical for educators to provide the best possible literacy support to their students, and this includes students in the middle grades who still struggle with their reading skills. 

Improving Understanding and Comprehension

Students who still struggle to read in the middle grades are less likely to understand increasingly complex texts as their education advances. As a result, they’re more likely to hit academic failures that, in turn, lead to fewer opportunities once they become adults. The problems don’t end there: according to the Lucy Project, more than 40% of adults with the lowest literacy levels live in poverty. Low literacy is also linked to a greater likelihood of health problems and prison time. On the positive side, being a proficient reader can also directly impact informed decision making, active civic participation, personal empowerment and improved self-esteem.  

‘…being a proficient reader can also directly impact informed decision making, active civic participation, personal empowerment and improved self-esteem.’

Teachers can have a substantial positive impact on their students’ reading ability, but not all teachers receive the same literacy education training. And teachers of older students rarely get such training. With the proper professional learning and support, teachers of adolescent students can weave literacy skills and strategies into their instruction to help students learn how to read, comprehend, and articulate their ideas across various grade levels and subject areas.

For example, school-wide professional learning that incorporates the science of reading into literacy instruction can help all teachers accelerate student literacy, regardless if they are a reading teacher or a content area teacher. This doesn’t mean all secondary teachers need to become literacy experts. Instead, subject-area teachers can learn some simple ways to weave a few strategies rooted in the science of reading into their instruction to support students throughout their day, not just in their ELA class.

3 Steps to Better Professional Learning 

Training late elementary and middle school teachers in the science of reading and helping them understand how to include explicit reading instruction into their classroom curriculum, even content area classes, helps improve the reading abilities of adolescent learners. 

Here are three ways to deliver effective professional learning to teachers of adolescent learners:

1. Create the right content. Ground teachers’ lessons in the science of reading by focusing on what the research says about how students learn best. Lessons should address what adolescent learners require to improve their literacy, which should be informed by assessment data as we know the needs of adolescent students can vary greatly.

If students are struggling to read proficiently, they will most likely need explicit instruction in foundational skills such as decoding and language skills, like the structure of a sentence and vocabulary skills or if their skills are more developed, they may benefit from instruction in higher-level skills such as inferencing and synthesizing information across text.

The instruction should also emphasize that adolescent learners who are struggling to learn to read need age-appropriate texts and materials with proper support/scaffolding —not just resources for early readers that are repurposed for older students—to help them learn how to read.

Because every student has unique learning needs, the professional learning teachers receive should help them apply proven, evidence-based strategies to a classroom of students who have varying levels of literacy competency. For best results, professional learning should help teachers understand the tools and strategies that are best for specific students.

2. Deliver the professional learning in a flexible, engaging way. Teachers don’t have much time for professional learning in reading instruction, especially upper-grade teachers who are focused on their own specific content areas. Professional learning delivered online in flexible, bite-sized chunks lets teachers learn at their convenience and acquire the skills and strategies they need to support literacy for all students in a manner that fits into their busy schedules. Short, online modules can also be revisited as many times as necessary to support teachers’ ongoing development.

Every teacher’s learning journey is different, similar to how each student’s needs are different, and the professional learning they receive should reflect these differences by offering choices in what they learn through highly targeted, personalized, and scaffolded instruction. This will help instructors develop the skills needed to support students’ literacy in a relevant and engaging manner (i.e.., highlighting how some explicit strategies can be easily woven into content area classes to help more students access the content).

3. Give teachers the right tools and resources. Teachers don’t have time to hunt for specific resources to put their professional learning into practice. They need easy-to-access resources to ensure practical and transferable learning (i.e., ready-to-use materials they can implement immediately in their classrooms). They also need low-lift data tracking tools to measure their students’ growth in reading skills and adjust the instruction accordingly.

‘They also need low-lift data tracking tools to measure their students’ growth in reading skills and adjust the instruction accordingly.’

The professional learning teachers receive should be accompanied by powerful data that school and district leaders can use to monitor their teachers’ progress, provide guidance and direction, and celebrate teachers’ accomplishments. This information should help K–12 leaders visualize and understand the impact that professional learning is having on their district, schools, individual educators and ultimately the students.

Closing the Reading Gaps

Adolescent learners have unique requirements when it comes to literacy learning with needs ranging from reading at a level more consistent with first or second grade all the way through advanced reading abilities similar to a college level student.

With the right professional learning and supporting materials, including age-appropriate reading content and tools for tracking and monitoring student performance, teachers in the middle grades can help close reading gaps and ensure that their students have the foundational reading skills required for life-long success.

—

Nick Gaehde is President of Lexia and a lifelong literacy advocate. His compassionate and respectful approach to customers, employees, and partners makes him an effective leader and mentor. Known for his ability to apply those leadership skills with a focus on growth, Nick has guided companies through successful transactions and launched numerous product lines and distribution channels. Nick holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a focus on early childhood development from Pitzer College and a master’s from Boston University’s School of Management. Connect with Nick on LinkedIn. 

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During the recent ISTELive 2024 in Denver, Discovery Education unveiled Mystery Writing by Discovery Education by offering elementary educators nationwide the unique opportunity to participate in the development of its latest product through a free, year-long trial. 

Mystery Writing is a dynamic and engaging writing program designed specifically for students in grades K-5. This innovative curriculum captivates young learners with “wow!” content that not only sparks their interest but also builds their confidence in writing.

One of the standout features of Mystery Writing is its no-prep, open-and-go lesson plans, which make it exceptionally easy for multi-subject elementary educators to implement. Teachers can effortlessly provide differentiated lessons tailored to the varying needs of their students, ensuring that each child receives instruction appropriate to their skill level.

The program’s structure explicitly teaches the writing process through a series of step-by-step written, visual, and auditory directions. This comprehensive approach ensures that no young writer is left struggling with the daunting “fear of the blank page.” By featuring stories and visuals that are of high interest to students, Mystery Writing maintains student engagement and enthusiasm throughout the learning process. The inclusion of visual and auditory directions caters to different learning styles, making the lessons accessible to all students, including those who might need additional support. 

Moreover, Mystery Writing’s content is thoughtfully designed to seamlessly integrate various subjects, making learning multidimensional and holistic. Students are not only improving their writing skills but also enhancing their overall academic knowledge. 

In summary, Mystery Writing is an invaluable resource for elementary educators, providing an effective and enjoyable way to teach the writing process. Its innovative design ensures that students remain engaged, confident, and fear-free when it comes to writing. With Mystery Writing, teachers can foster a love for writing in their students that will last a lifetime.

Elementary school educators interested in claiming their free trial can visit the Mystery Writing website here. 

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Here is the reading shelf in our bathroom. For the past month or two, I’ve been reading a few pages of G.C. Lichtenberg’s The Waste Books in there every day.

Here’s how Lichtenberg himself described a “waste book”:

Merchants and traders have a waste book… in which they enter daily everything they purchase and sell, messily, without order. From this, it is transferred to their journal, where everything appears more systematic, and finally to a ledger, in double entry after the Italian manner of bookkeeping, where one settles accounts with each man, once as debtor and then as creditor. This deserves to be imitated by scholars. First it should be entered in a book in which I record everything as I see it or as it is given to me in my thoughts; then it may be entered in another book in which the material is more separated and ordered, and the ledger might then contain, in an ordered expression, the connections and explanations of the material that flow from it.

Read more in today’s newsletter about always having a book with you.

BuddyBooks, funded through a National Science Foundation grant, helps struggling readers, such as students with dyslexia, ADHD or other reading disabilities, improve their reading skills. It works by students and a computer take turns reading passages from a book together. Since the student is reading every other sentence, it’s a lower cognitive load. That means students can read at their interest level, not their reading skill level, that they might think are “kiddie” books.

For students with dyslexia or other reading disabilities, BuddyBooks comes with over 1 million fiction and non-fiction books.

Using Natural Language Processing, the computer verifies the student has read each sentence correctly. BuddyBooks uses this assessment information to provide feedback to the student and to provide to teachers an oral reading assessment, so the teacher can quickly target their reading instruction based on the student’s individual needs. Teachers are seeing a 24% improvement in fluency when students use BuddyBooks.

For these reasons and more, BuddyBooks from ObjectiveEd is a Cool Tool Awards Winner for “Best Special Needs / Assistive Technology Solution” as part of The EdTech Awards 2024 from EdTech Digest. Learn more. 

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