Teachers can assign individual articles or groups of articles (Text Sets). When teachers assign articles, students see the assignments on their Newsela homepage. Even if the teacher does not customize the assignment, when students go to an assigned article at newsela.com or on the Newsela mobile app they can complete the following actions:
Read the article at all reading levels
Take the quiz at all reading levels
Highlight and annotate at all reading levels
Submit a writing response to the Newsela writing prompt
Complete Power Words activities (when the school has Newsela ELA and the article has Power Words)
Teachers can customize Newsela assignments with Class Instructions, Annotations, and Writing Prompts. In the rest of this section, you can find instructions for using these features.
Assign an Article
Find an article you want to assign and click “Assign” at the bottom of the article's tile.
This will open the full article's view
At the top left corner of your screen you’ll see the options for setting the lexile level, and selecting the language
The Assignment Builder panel will be displayed on the right side of your screen
Adjust the title of the assignment to your preference, add instructions and select which activities to include
Once ready, click 'Assign'
Proceed to define your assignment settings
Click 'Create assignment' to finalize the assignment or 'Save Draft' to save it for future use.
Assign Multiple Articles
From a Text Set, Collection, or Topic
Find a Text Set, Collection, or Topic you want to assign and click 'Assign' at the bottom of the card.
This will take you to the assignment page, where you have the option to edit the title, student instructions, locked level and select the Assignees for the assignment (individual students or classes).
Click 'Assign' to finalize the assignment or 'Save Draft' to save it for future use
From an Article page or Article Card
Find an article that you'd like to assign.
Click the blue “Assign” button
This will take you to the article page, where you have the option to edit the title, student instructions, and activities. Click 'Assign' when you're ready
Adjust the assignment settings and click 'Create assignment' to finalize the assignment or 'Save Draft' to save it for future use.
Find an additional article you'd like to add to the assignment.
Click Add to Assignment.
Checkmark the assignment(s) you'd like to add the article to in the popup window.
Click Add to assignment.
You can view the updated assignment in your Assignments tab
Save an Assignment as a Draft
Find an article you want to assign.
Adjust the Assignment Builder details and click the “Assign” button when ready.
In the next pop-up adjust the assignment settings to your preference and click “Save Draft”.
You can see your drafts in the Assignments page. They will have a blue Draft tag at the top of the assignment bar.
On your Assignments page, you can also select the Draft button at the top to see all your drafts.
To assign a draft, select it from the Assignments view.
Select “Assign” when directed to the article assignment page and proceed to select "Create Assignment" in the popup window.
Assign Articles with Multiple Quizzes
When you have access to Newsela Science, Newsela Social Studies, or any combination of our subscriptions, you'll have access to some articles with multiple activities that align to subject skills and reading skills.
To assign an article that contains multiple activities,
Find an article you want to assign and click on it or click Assign.
This will take you to the article page, where you have the option to edit the title, student instructions, and select activities to include in the assignment
You can click on Assign to select lexile levels and select the “Assignees” for the assignment.
If you'd like to have students complete only specific activities, tell students which you'd like them to complete in the editable instructions.
Update or Delete Assignments
On the assignment page, teachers can update or delete assignments.
Update Assignments
To update the class instructions, lexile levels, or article(s) in an assignment, follow these steps:
At the top of the page, click Assignments.
Click on the assignment you want to edit. This will take you to the assignment page.
On the assignment page, click Edit.
After making your updates, click Save changes.
To make edits to the lexile level or assignees, click the drop down next to save changes. Select Assignment settings. Once you update everything there, click save changes.
Note: To update writing prompts or annotations, go to the article page. Scroll down the Assignment Builder panel to the right of the page. Look under Activities to make edits to annotations, polls, and write prompts. Click Save after you have finished updating or editing the activities.
Delete Assignments
To delete an assignment, follow these steps:
At the top of the page, click Assignments.
On each assignment bar, you can click on the little trash can icon above the article title to delete it.
You can also click on the assignment title. This will take you to the assignment page.
On the assignment page, click the Delete button on the top-right.
Finally, from the actual article itself, you can click on the drop down next to Save changes, and select delete assignment.
Share Assignments
To share an assignment, click the share icon at the top right of an assignment
Share with your LMS or Google
For Schoology and other LMSs, you'll need to create an assignment in Newsela, then share the assignment link in your LMS. Newsela will not automatically share an assignment.
Share with your colleagues
Newsela allows sharing an assignment with other educators. To share assignments with your colleagues, follow these steps:
Open the assignment page.
Click the Share icon at the top right of the assignment.
Click the "Off" icon to allow sharing with other teachers.
Copy the link and send it to your colleagues via email, social media, or direct message.
Share with families and caregivers
Open the assignment you'd like to share.
Click the Share icon at the top of the assignment page.
Click "✉Email" to share with caregivers via email
Click "🧠Remind" to share via the Remind app
Scheduling Assignments for a Later Date
Teachers can create assignments and select a date for when they become available to their students. All features of assigning articles, like using small groups are still available when doing so.
To assign an article to go live at a later date:
Find an article you want to assign and click Assign.
This will take you to the article page where you can use the Assignment Builder panel to adjust the activities for the assignment, then click 'Assign' again
In the pop-up window select your assignees and adjust any other assignment setting such as to your preference adding instructions or adjusting the reading level your students will see
Proceed to schedule your assignment for a later date using the calendar drop-down
Click on the calendar icon to choose a date and time for the assignment to go live and become available for your students.
Finalize your assignment creation
Small Group Assignment
For more information on assigning to individual students or groups of students, see this article