Common Core ELA Standards: Secondary level
We are looking forward to our presentation at the METC 2013! On the pages that follow we have dozens of apps (most of them free), which are excellent tools
to increase students’ engagement and motivation in learning. The focus of our session is to present ways to increase secondary students’ reading and
expression as related to the Common Core ELA standards.
We will be exploring several of these apps through demonstrations and activities. If you will be participating in our BYOD session, please try to install these apps
before the session; that way your time for exploration during the session is maximized!
We will be using the following free apps:
NearPod
Evernote
Edmodo
Dictionary
DropBox
Trading Cards
iBooks
iBrainstorm
Educreations
We will also be demonstrating:
ReadNRespond ($.99)
Visual Thesaurus ($1.99)
To join our Edmodo session, please create an Edmodo account (if you do not already have one). Be sure to create a free teacher’s account. If you enroll as a
student for our session that could make it difficult to later create your own class account on Edmodo.
Go to: http://www.edmodo.com
To join our group, use this URL: http://www.edmodo.com/home#/join/7337af98ea681998cfa13d5a868a41d7
The password to join the group is: 1m708o
We will see you next week!
Laura Kieran, Christine Anderson, and Melinda Grimm
If you have questions feel free to send any of us an email!
Laura: L-Kieran@wiu.edu
Chris: CJ-Anderson2@wiu.edu
Melinda: MJ-Grimm@wiu.edu
Common Core ELA Standards: Secondary level
Informative Reading
Key Ideas and Details
Standards
Overview of the
 Cite textual evidence to
informative reading
support analysis of what
skills addressed at
the text says explicitly as
the secondary level
well as inferences drawn
from the text
 Determine a central idea
of a text and analyze its
development, including
how it emerges; provide
a summary of the text
 Analyze how the author
unfolds a series of ideas
or events, including the
order in which the points
are made, how they are
introduced/developed
Apps to support skill
development
iBooks
Craft and Structure



Determine the meaning of
words and phrases in text,
including figurative,
connotative, and technical
meanings; analyze the
cumulative impact of specific
word choices on meaning and
tone
Analyze in detail how an
author’s ideas or claims are
developed and refined
Determine an author’s point
of view or purpose in a text
and analyze how an author
uses rhetoric to advance that
point of view or purpose
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas



Dictionary
DocsTeach
Inkling
Visual Thesaurus
Lincoln Telegrams
Inkling
Adobe Reader
The Opposites
Picturing Modern America
Adobe Reader
Evernote
Biography
Trading Cards
Science360
ReadNRespond
Wordle (website)
Trading Cards
Today’s Doc
Coach’s Eye
Smithsonian Channel for iPad
iBrainstorm
©Laura Kieran, 2013
Analyze various accounts of a
subject told in different
mediums, determining which
details are emphasized in each
account.
Evaluate the argument and
specific cla1ims in a text, assess
whether the reasoning is valid
and the evidence is relevant;
identify false statements and
faulty reasoning.
Analyze U.S. documents of
historical and literary significance
including how they address
related themes and concepts.
Range of Reading and
Level of Text Complexity
 By the end of the grade
level, read and
comprehend literary
nonfiction in the grade
or grade band
proficiently, with
scaffolding as needed
at the high end of the
range.


YouTube
Flipboard
Zinio
News apps
Museum apps, for archived
video, artifacts, letters, personal
accounts, and documentaries
iBooks
Common Core ELA Standards: Secondary level
Writing standards
Text Types and Purposes
Overview of
nonfiction writing
skills addressed at
the secondary
level


Apps to support
skill development
Write arguments to support
claims in an analysis of
substantive topics or texts,
using valid reasoning and
relevant and sufficient
evidence
Write
informative/explanatory
texts to examine and convey
complex ideas, concepts,
and information clearly and
accurately through the
effective selection,
organization, and analysis of
content.
iBrainstorm
Production and Distribution of
Writing
 Produce clear and coherent

writing in which the
development, organization,
and style are appropriate to
task, purpose, and audience.
 Develop and strengthen writing
as needed by planning,
revising, editing, rewriting, or

trying a new approach
 Use technology, including the
Internet, to produce, publish,
and update individual or shared
writing products, taking
advantage of technology’s
capacity to link to other
information and to display

information flexibly and
dynamically.

iBrainstorm
Book Creator
Pages
Pages
Smart Office 2
Smart Office 2
Evernote
Skitch
Word Mover
Educreations
Essay Writing Guide
Explain Everything
KaBaam
Comic Book
Lino
Learnist
iMovie
Snapguide
Videolicious
©Laura Kieran, 2013
Tr. Cards
Research to Build and Present
Knowledge
Conduct short as well as more
sustained research projects to
answer a question or solve a
problem; narrow or broaden the
inquiry when appropriate;
synthesize multiple sources on
the subject.
Gather relevant information from
multiple authoritative print and
digital sources, using advanced
searches effectively; assess the
usefulness of each source in
answering the research question;
avoiding plagiarism and following
a standard format for citation.
Draw evidence from literary or
informational texts to support
analysis, reflection, and research
See apps related to integrating
knowledge and ideas for digital
sources
Range of Writing

Write routinely over
extended time
frames (time for
research, reflection,
and revision) and
shorter time frames
(a single sitting or a
day or two) for a
range of tasks,
purposes, and
audiences.
Pages
Smart Office 2
Common Core ELA Standards: Secondary level
App
Cost
Description
Presentation
Free An app for sharing PowerPoint presentations with students’ iPads, controlling the pace, incorporating survey
questions
NearPod
Free An app for viewing and sharing PowerPoints
Slide Shark
Collaboration
Free A secure forum for class discussions and file sharing between teachers and their students.
Edmodo
Free A web-based venue for secure file sharing with students, and between your devices
DropBox
Free
Brings the Microsoft Office suite to your iPads, documents can be shared via email, Dropbox, and cloud
accounts
Free
A collaborative note board; create groups and invite others for collaboration through the website; make
revisions on the iPad
Free
Access thousands of book titles (including MANY free books); use built-in features of highlighting, sticky
notes, and audio support, create flashcards from highlights and notes, build in quizzes, multimedia, and
other supports into teacher-created books (interactive features are i-device dependent)
Works with the FollettShelf; the reader is free, but like iBooks, not all titles are free. Also like iBooks there
are built-in tools to interact with the text
Cognitive mapping tools; brainstorm ideas, save and organize evidence from text, share note boards via
email
From Read, Write, Think; this app allows students to create trading cards for characters, settings, vocabulary,
etc. Prompts are used to increase the content of student responses
Reads PDF files
CloudOn
Lino
Accessing Reading/Metatextual
Thinking
iBooks
Free
Follett Reader
Free
iBrainstorm
Free
Trading Cards
Free
Adobe Reader
Free
Another platform for interactive books and textbooks, but is not i-device dependent. The app is free, not all
of the book titles are free.
$.99
Prompts students to respond to questions at each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy; the questions are open-ended
making this flexible for just about any reading assignment; turn in via email or Dropbox.
Free
Has the benefits of an electronic dictionary—easier searches and audio support for students with difficulty
using print dictionaries
Inkling
ReadNRespond
Vocabulary/Academic Language
Dictionary.com
Common Core ELA Standards: Secondary level
$1.99 Interactive thesaurus that shows relationships between words, and allows students to search other words in
the given word map.
Visual Thesaurus
Free
For ages 7+, increases in difficulty as the player progresses, includes vocabulary across content areas
Free
Organize, tag, and search notes, embed multimedia, and share notes in email and social media
Free
Annote images and maps, create images; share via social media and email
Free
Simulates a recordable whiteboard, syncing voice recordings with annotations; can upload jpeg files for
annotation; can share the videos.
$2.99
Also acts as a recordable whiteboard; can upload PDF and jpeg files for annotations. Save videos as MP4 files,
can save to Dropbox and email.
$3.99
Gives definitions and examples of the elements of essay writing related to content, style and organization
Free
A unique way to provide students with model, or mentor text from which to build their own text; with the
‘word wall’ format makes editing easy.
$4.99
Can be used to annotate any uploaded video clip; excellent for finding video evidence to compare to textbased sources.
$.99,
$1.99
A creative way for students to use their own pictures to tell a story or report information; can be shared as
via email and social media.
Free
Create and view multimedia eBooks
$4.99
Allows students to create books for a variety of purposes, a creative way for students to express what they
know
Allows students to create movies with video footage or images, a creative way for students to express what
they know
The Opposites
Student Expression/Creation
Evernote
Skitch
Educreations
Explain Everything
Essay Writing Guide
Word Mover
Coach’s Eye
KaBaam;
Comic Book
Learnist
Book Creator
iMovie;
$4.99;
Free
Snapguide
Videolicious
Pages;
Smart Office 2
Content/Curriculum Resources
Nova
3D Brain
Science360
NASA
Gene Screen
$9.99
each
Word processors for mobile devices, used to create, edit, and share documents
Free
There are many free apps which have science content (videos, images, interactive activities) which can be
used to synthesize information with text-based resources, to provide background knowledge for reading, or
to make abstract vocabulary/academic language more concrete.
Common Core ELA Standards: Secondary level
Free Archived primary source documents and activities; also available in a web-based format
DocsTeach;
Today’sDoc
$4.99 Access to biographies of 100 influential people through history; some entries include photo and audio files
Biography
Free Helps provide geographic context for social studies and literature
Google Earth
Free Access news and magazine articles (free and subscription) related to the topics you designate; both have an
option for sharing articles.
Flipboard;
Zinio
Free Good source for newsreels, primary source videos
YouTube
Free Explore history, life, and culture; share videos, integratable with AirPlay
Smithsonian Channel for iPad
News apps and Museum apps
Varied There are thousands of newspaper apps and hundreds of museum apps (many of them are free); good
potential sources for primary sources.
Modeled Historical Thinking
Free Shows actual and transcribed telegrams, gives historical background and context for each message, models
analysis of the telegram messages
Lincoln Telegrams
Web- Walks students through how to be ‘picture detectives,’ provides background information related to the
based picture, and provides a model for summarizing picture analysis from historians’ perspectives.
Picturing Modern America
©Laura Kieran, 2013